<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (July 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Numerous small Frankish kingdoms existed during the 5th century around Cologne, Tournai, Le Mans, Cambrai and elsewhere . The kingdom of the Merovingians eventually came to dominate the others, probably because of its association with Roman power structures in northern Gaul . Aegidius, was originally the magister militum of northern Gaul appointed by Majorian, but after Majorian's death apparently seen as a Roman rebel who relied on Frankish forces . Gregory of Tours reported that Childeric I was exiled for 8 years while Aegidius held the title of "King of the Franks". Eventually Childeric returned and took the same title . Aegidius died in 464 or 465 . Childeric and his son Clovis I were both described as rulers of the Roman Province of Belgica Secunda, by its spiritual leader in the time of Clovis, Saint Remigius . </P> <P> Clovis later defeated the son of Aegidius, Syagrius in 486 or 487 and then had the Frankish king Chararic imprisoned and executed . A few years later, he killed Ragnachar, the Frankish king of Cambrai, and his brothers . By the 490s, he had conquered all the Frankish kingdoms to the west of the River Maas except for the Ripuarian Franks and was in a position to make the city of Paris his capital . He became the first king of all Franks in 509, after he had conquered Cologne . After conquering the Kingdom of Soissons and expelling the Visigoths from southern Gaul at the Battle of Vouillé, he established Frankish hegemony over most of Gaul, excluding Burgundy, Provence and Brittany, which were eventually absorbed by his successors . </P> <P> Clovis I divided his realm between his four sons, who united to defeat Burgundy in 534 . Internecine feuding occurred during the reigns of the brothers Sigebert I and Chilperic I, which was largely fuelled by the rivalry of their queens, Brunhilda and Fredegunda, and which continued during the reigns of their sons and their grandsons . Three distinct subkingdoms emerged: Austrasia, Neustria and Burgundy, each of which developed independently and sought to exert influence over the others . The influence of the Arnulfing clan of Austrasia ensured that the centre of political gravity in the kingdom gradually shifted eastwards to the Rhineland . </P>

Who was the king that unified the franks