Clovis Raised on the Shield

This illustration is taken from the school textbook Histoire de France, cours élémentaire by Ernest Lavisse, published by Armand Colin in 1913, page 13. It depicts Clovis, king of the Franks, raised on a shield by his warriors according to a ritual of acclamation of Germanic origin, a scene traditionally associated with his accession to the leadership of the Salian Franks in the late fifth century. This imagery, widely disseminated in primary education under the French Third Republic, contributed to a national narrative placing Clovis at the symbolic origin of the French monarchy.