 Chlothar was forced to cede rule over Austrasia to his young son Dagobert I in 623.Unusually for a Merovingian monarch, he practised monogamy, though early deaths meant that he had three wives.He was generally an ally of the church and, perhaps inspired by the example of his uncle Guntram, his reign seems to lack the outrageous acts of murder perpetrated by many of his relations, the execution of Brunhilda excepted.