Childeric I Childeric I ( c . 440 – 481 / 82 ) was a Merovingian king of the Salian Franks and the father of Clovis I , who would unite the Franks and found the Merovingian dynasty . Career . Childeric succeeded his father Merovech as king of the Salian Franks , traditionally in 457 or 458 . With his Frankish warband he established his capital at Tournai , on lands he had received as a " foederatus " of the Romans , and for some time he kept the peace with his allies . In 463 Childeric fought in conjunction with the Roman General Aegidius , the magister militum of northern Gaul based in Soissons , to defeat the Visigoths , who had hoped to extend their dominion along the banks of the Loire River . After the death of Aegidius , Childeric assisted " Comes " ( " count " ) Paul of Angers , together with a mixed band of Gallo - Romans and Franks , in defeating the Goths and taking booty . Saxon raiders under the command of a certain " Adovacrius " ( perhaps but not surely Odoacer ) reached Angers , but Childeric arrived the next day and a battle ensued . Count Paul was killed and Childeric took the city . Childeric , having delivered Angers , followed a Saxon warband to the islands on the Atlantic mouth of the Loire , and massacred them there . In a change of alliances , he joined forces with Odoacer , according to Gregory of Tours , to stop a band of the Alamanni who wished to invade Italy . Marriage , children , and death . Gregory of Tours , in " Libri Historiarum " ( Book ii . 12 ) , records the story of the expulsion of Childeric by the Salian Franks for seducing their wives . He was exiled for eight years in Thuringia with King Basin and his wife , Queen Basina . He returned only when a faithful servant advised him that he could safely do so by sending him half of a gold piece that Childeric had split with him before his exile . The book also describes his arrival in Tournai with Basina , who had left her husband to be with him . Childeric married Basina and they had the following children : Childeric died in 481 and was buried in Tournai . His son Clovis succeeded him as king of the Salian Franks . Tomb . Childeric ' s tomb was discovered on 27 May 1653 by a mason doing repairs in the church of Saint - Brice in Tournai , Belgium . Numerous precious objects were found , including a richly ornamented sword , a torse - like bracelet , jewels of gold and garnet cloisonné , gold coins , a gold bull ' s head , and a ring with the inscription ( " of Childeric the king " ) , which identified the tomb . Some 300 golden bee s were also found . Archduke Leopold William , governor of the Southern Netherlands ( today ' s Belgium ) , had the find published in Latin . The treasure went first to the Habsburgs in Vienna , then as a gift to Louis XIV , who was not impressed with the treasure and stored it in the royal library , which became the Bibliothèque Nationale de France during the Revolution . Napoleon was more impressed with Childeric ' s bees and when he was looking for a heraldic symbol to trump the Bourbon fleur - de - lys , he settled on Childeric ' s bees as symbols of the French Empire . On the night of November 5 – 6 , 1831 , the treasure of Childeric was among 80 kilos of treasure stolen from the Library and melted down for the gold . A few pieces were retrieved from where they had been hidden in the Seine , including two of the bees . The record of the treasure , however , now exists only in the fine engravings made at the time of its discovery and in some reproductions made for the Habsburgs .