Theodoric and Theodebert

This entry conflates two Merovingian Frankish kings addressed jointly as recipients of letters. The pairing 'Theuderic and Theudebert' most plausibly refers to the brother-kings Theuderic II of Burgundy and Theudebert II of Austrasia, grandsons of Sigebert I, who together received letters from Pope Gregory the Great around 595-602 concerning church discipline, the suppression of simony, and support for the Augustine of Canterbury mission to the English; Cassiodorus's Variae likewise preserves diplomatic correspondence between the Ostrogothic court and the Frankish royal house. Because the two names are merged here as a single correspondent, the entry should be read as a joint Frankish royal addressee rather than one individual. The kings ruled the eastern Frankish realms (Austrasia and Burgundy) from seats such as Metz and Chalon in the decades around 600, a period when papal and Italian courts cultivated the Merovingians as allies and intermediaries in Gaul.