Brunhild is undoubtedly the most forceful figure of this period, and it would be a gross injustice to put her on the same footing with Fredegund. It is true she was exceedingly ambitious and eager for power, but she attempted by means of this power to carry out a policy. She upheld with unrivalled energy the rights of the king against the aristocracy. She treated the Church with firmness but with respect, made gifts to the bishoprics and built a number of abbeys. She entered into relations with Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) who addressed to her a large number of letters, sent her relics, and requested her to take under her protection the estates of the Church of Rome which lay in Gaul. He urged her to reform the Frankish Church, to call councils and to protect Augustine and his companions who were going across the Channel to carry the Gospel to the pagan Anglo-Saxons. But while maintaining these relations Brunhild knew how to control the Frankish Church, as she did the lay aristocracy. She disposed of the episcopal sees at her pleasure, and expelled from his monastery of Luxeuil the abbot Columbanus who had refused to obey her orders. In short in all her conduct Brunhild displayed the qualities of a great statesman.
After Brunhild's death Chlotar II found himself, as Clovis had done before him, sole master of the whole of Gaul. But how different are the two periods! Clovis had been strong in his recent victories, victories due to his own courage and political ability. Chlotar II owed his success not to himself but to the treason of the Austrasian and Burgundian nobles, whom he was consequently obliged to conciliate. In his constitution of 18 October 614, as well as in a praeceptio of which the date is unknown, he had to make large concessions to the aristocracy. He proclaimed, under certain restrictions, freedom of episcopal elections, extended the competence of the ecclesiastical courts, and promised to respect wills made by private persons in favour of the Church. He suppressed unjust taxes and pledged himself to choose the counts from the districts they were to administer, which was equivalent to making over this important office to the landed aristocracy. Moreover Chlotar was forced to accord a measure of independence to Australia and Burgundy; each of these countries had its own Mayor of the Palace, who was as much the representative of the interests of the local nobles as of those of the king. In 623 he was even obliged to give the Austrasians a king in his young son Dagobert. In the latter's name, Arnulf, bishop of Metz, and Pepin, the Mayor of the Palace, exercised the actual authority. Thus ancient Gaul became once more distinctly divided into three kingdoms: Neustria, Burgundy and Austrasia, having each a distinct character and a separate administration. Already within these kingdoms the local officials, strong in the possession of vast estates, were endeavouring to usurp the royal prerogatives: already these three kingdoms were being parcelled out into seigniories.
