kingdom · France and the Low Countries
Kingdom of Cologne
Origins
The Franks of the middle Rhine, later called Ripuarian Franks, took over Cologne in the mid 5th century as Roman power collapsed. By the late 5th century they had their own king, Sigibert, who ruled from the former Roman capital of Germania Inferior.
Rule and society
Sigibert, called the Lame from a wound received fighting the Alemanni at Zülpich, was an ally of Clovis and sent his son Chloderic to fight the Visigoths at Vouillé in 507. The Ripuarian Franks kept their own law, the Lex Ripuaria, written down in the 7th century.
Decline and legacy
Gregory of Tours relates that Clovis incited Chloderic to murder his father, then had Chloderic killed and was raised on a shield as king by the people of Cologne, around 509. The realm became part of the Kingdom of the Franks and later of Austrasia.
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- Kingdom of Cologne was conquered by Kingdom of the Franks509 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kingdom of Cologne. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-cologne
- MLA
- “Kingdom of Cologne.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-cologne. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Kingdom of Cologne.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-cologne.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kingdom of Cologne’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-cologne (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻