Editing Childeric I (section)

==Tomb==
Childeric's tomb was discovered in 1653<ref name=Long162>Wallace-Hadrill ''Long-Haired Kings'' p. 162</ref> not far from the 12th-century church of Saint-Brice in [[Tournai]],  now in Belgium.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archeurope.eu/index.php?page=site-of-childeric-s-grave|title=Location of Childeric's grave: A plaque at the site reads (in French): "Childeric King of the Franks Died in his palace in Tournai the year 481. His tomb was found in this place in the year 1653"|publisher=Archaeology in Europe|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701130952/http://archeurope.eu/index.php?page=site-of-childeric-s-grave|archive-date=2015-07-01}}</ref>  Numerous precious objects were found, including jewels of gold and [[garnet]] [[cloisonné]], gold coins, a gold bull's head, and a ring with the king's name inscribed. Some 300 golden winged insects (usually viewed as [[bee]]s or [[cicada]]s) were also found which had been placed on the king's cloak.<ref name=Long162/> [[Archduke Leopold William]], governor of the Southern Netherlands (today's Belgium), had the find published in Latin.  The treasure went first to the [[Habsburgs]] in Vienna, then as a gift to King [[Louis XIV of France]], who was not impressed with the treasure and stored it in the royal library, which became the [[Bibliothèque Nationale de France]] during the [[French Revolution|Revolution]].

On the night of November 5&ndash;6, 1831, the treasure of Childeric was among 80&nbsp;kg of treasure stolen from the Library and melted down for the gold. A few pieces were retrieved from where they had been hidden in the Seine, including two of the bees.  The record of the treasure, however, now exists only in the fine engravings made at the time of its discovery and in some reproductions made for the Habsburgs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/hydrionoframes/bees.xhtml|title=A note on Childeric's Bees|author=James Eason|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|access-date=2020-02-03}}</ref>

===Origin of Napoleonic bees===

When [[Napoleon]] was looking for a heraldic symbol to trump the Capetian [[fleur-de-lys]], he settled on Childeric's bees as symbols of the [[First French Empire|French Empire]]. The minutes of a meeting of the ''[[Conseil d'État (France)|Conseil d'État]]'' held at [[Château de Saint-Cloud|Saint-Cloud]] in June 1804 suggest that it approved the symbolism of the bees on a suggestion by [[Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès|Cambacérès]]. The design was made by [[Vivant Denon]], Director of the [[Louvre]].<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Belin|page=68|title=La France avant la France, (481–888)|author1=Geneviève Bührer-Thierry|author2=Charles Mériaux|date=2010|location=Paris}}</ref>