Those sons inherited parts of the Frankish kingdom, and now Clotilde wanted revenge on Sigismund for his father's murder of her father. She persuaded her sons— kings Chlodomer, Childebert I, Clothar I, and Theuderic I—to invade Burgundy in 523 and depose Sigismund (who was their cousin).
Sigismund tried to flee disguised as a monk, but he was found by Chlodomer and beheaded. The widow and children were killed. Sigismund's body was thrown into a well. The body was retrieved in 535, and a chapel built on the site of the well. A village and monastery of St. Sigismund developed there. The illustration shows a reliquary with relics of Sigismund.
Sigismund's brother Godomar rallied the army and called on an ally, Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths. Together they drove the Frankish army out of Burgundy.
When the successor of Theodoric the Great, Athalaric, died in 534, a succession crisis gave the Franks another opportunity to invade Burgundy, since they were not being protected by the Ostrogoths. Burgundy was being administered by Amalasuintha (495 – 30 April 535), Athalaric's mother, for the next year.
Amalasuintha was not popular; it was felt that she raised Athalaric in a way that was counter to the Gothic culture She brought in a co-ruler, Theodahad, in order to help assuage the objections to her regency, but it didn't really help. Why, and what her fate was, will be tomorrow's post.
