In 511, on the death of King Clovis, his four surviving sons, Thierry (or Theodoric), Clodomir, Childebert and Clothar (or Chlothaire) shared his kingdom.

[10] The king died in 561, and the kingdom was divided between four of his sons: Caribert (or Charibert), Guntram, Sigebert (or Sighebert) and Chilpéric (or Chilperich).

[12][13][14] Chilperic's first queen was the Frankish Audovera, from whom he had three sons, Thibert (or Théodebert), Mérovée (or Mérowig), Clovis and a daughter Basine.

[15][16] In 566, his brother Sigebert made a prestigious marriage by obtaining the hand of Brunhilda (or Brunehaut), daughter of the Visigoth king of Spain.

[17] After abandoning Audovère for a servant named Frédégonde, Chilpéric asked Brunehilde's sister Galswinthe to marry him in 568.

[23][24] As Sigebert set out against his brother, he chose two military dukes from his staff to oppose the prince: Godegisel and Gontran Boson.

Duke Godegisel managed to escape before the Manceaux arrived, but Gontran Boson, who had brought his family to the city, was unable to do so.

[47][36][48] On hearing of the prince's misadventures, Gontran Boson sent the sub-deacon Ricou to tell him to take refuge in the Basilica of Saint-Martin in Tours.

Meanwhile, Gontran Boson consults a fortune-teller who predicts Chilperic's death, Merovee's accession to the throne, and a dukedom for himself, followed by a bishopric.

[42] At the beginning of 577, aware that his future in Touraine was limited, Mérovée decided to join his wife in Metz, accompanied by Gontran Boson and their respective men.

[42][43][50][49] At Auxerre, one of the latter's dukes captured the prince, but he managed to escape and eventually joined Gontran Boson at Metz.

[51][3][54] At the end of 577, Gontran Boson, accompanied by a few men, returned to Tours to collect his daughters, whom he had left in the Basilica of Saint-Martin.

[55][56] Early the following year, Gontran and his men returned to Poitiers to get the girls out but were spotted by Duke Dracolene, the city's new governor.

[57][56] In 581, Gogon (or Gogo), King Childebert's fosterer, died; he was replaced by Waldalenus (or Wandelin), a close associate of Bishop Gilles of Reims.

The pretender withdrew to an island in Provence, while Gontran Boson and Duke Dynamius of Marseille shared part of the imperial treasury.

Gontran Boson recruited a small troop of Auvergnats and Vellavii and set off for Avignon via the road to Uzès.

[77][78] To counter this, Queen Brunhilda (or Brunehaut) and the great men of Metz approached Mummolus to recruit the pretender Gundoald once again.

[79][65][80] In December 584, King Gontran organized a plea in Paris to divide with his nephew Childebert the lands that Chilperic had illegally conquered from their two kingdoms.

[81][1][67][note 4] In 585, King Gontran launched an army against Gundoald (or Gondowald), who was eliminated after being besieged in the stronghold of Comminges.

[92][93][94] Gontran took refuge in the church of Verdun and begged for help from bishop Agericus (or Agherich), the king's godfather.

Childebert agreed to lift the death sentence and authorized Agéric to keep Boson with him until he was judged by King Gontran himself.

[92][93][66][94] In October 587, envoys from King Gontran arrived at the home of his nephew Childebert and asked him to meet them on the borders of the two kingdoms.

In November 587, King Childebert was accompanied by his mother Brunehilde, his sister Chlodosinda (or Clodosinde), and his wife Faïléouba (or Faileuba).

[100][66] Bishop Gregory of Tours, who spent several months with Gontran Boson, passed judgment on him in his Histoire des Francs.

He criticized him for being “light in his conduct, inclined to avarice, inordinately greedy of other people's goods, swearing his faith to everyone and keeping his promises to no one”.

[96] The historian Bruno Dumézil believes that Grégoire “has only an aesthetic fascination for Gontran Boson, the kind one might feel for the baroque figure of the pathological traitor”.

[101] Grégoire admits that, although Gontran is a worthy man, he is “too accustomed to perjury, and to none of his friends has he sworn an oath that he has not immediately violated”.

[105] Journalist and historian Roger-Xavier Lantéri concede that, while his versatility is mocked, he is nonetheless a seasoned leader and “has proved his boldness many times over".

[107] In 577, during his battle against Duke Dracolene, Gregory reports that Gontran, “seeing death ready to fall upon him, invoked the name of God and the great virtue of Blessed Martin”.

[108] Aimoin de Fleury's Histoire des Francs also indicates that Gontran made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land before his embassy to Constantinople.