Chlodio (Civ5)/Civilopedia

Chlodio was king - or more accurately chieftain - of the Salian Franks from 414 until his death, and considered by some historians to be the founder of the Merovingian dynasty that created France. Controlling the region of what is now Thérouanne from his fortress in Duisburg, Chlodio looked to lead his people away from the growing threat posed by migrating Germanic tribes from the east that had been displaced by the advancing Huns.
In 428 Chlodio challenged Roman limits on the territories held by the Salian Franks, defeated a Roman force at Cambrai, and settled his family and retainers in northern Gaul. In 431, he extended his borders south to the Somme River. By 432 AD the Salian Franks formed a semi-autonomous kingdom within the Roman Empire with the city of Tornacum (Tournai) as capital.
The Salian expansion did not end until 448, when Chlodio was defeated by a Romano-Gallic force under Flavius Aetius. The resulting treaty recognized his family's rule in the region, and pledged that the Franks would support Rome's interests in perpetuity. A few years later, the Salian Franks under his son Childeric would join Aetius in halting the advance of the Huns into Europe. His grandson Clovis would unite the Frankish tribes and found the Frankish kingdom that spanned Gaul after his defeats of the Alemanni in 496 and the Visigoths in 507 AD.