This dynasty of medieval kings had a secret weapon – and you probably have it too

But for many of their subjects and rivals, it wasn’t only their piety or their battlefield triumphs that were remarkable. It was also the symbols they employed to cement their status as European overlords.

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One of those symbols was something that you might have access to, too: their now-famous hair. The Merovingians were known as the reges criniti – the long-haired kings – and they understood that their hair could become a potent symbol of virile authority and strength.

As Professor James Palmer explains on the HistoryExtra podcast, this was all part of the fact that the Merovingians were masters of mythmaking. “They managed to supplement their success in war with some wonderful storytelling, and that helps build up a bit of mystique,” he says. “They have such immaculate hair.”

A medieval dynasty born of legend

The Merovingians emerged in the late 5th century AD, in the fractured world left behind by Rome’s decline in the west – the same fractured world that would go on to allow space for the emergence of the Viking Age. They were the first major Frankish dynasty to unify large parts of Gaul (modern-day France), and their name comes from a semi-legendary warlord named Merovech.

It was his descendant, Clovis I, who turned the family into a dynasty that would dominate his part of Europe.

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Clovis conquered rival tribes, forged political alliances through marriage and famously converted to Christianity, laying the groundwork for centuries of Christian kingship in Europe.

But in a post-Roman world of fragile legitimacy, the Merovingians looked for visual symbols to cement their status and power.

Hair as kingship

“Famously, they are the long-haired kings,” Palmer explains. And their locks weren’t just for show.

“There’s a little bit of a Samson-from-the-Bible kind of vibe – that their strength rests in their hair. As long as they’ve got that, nobody else is really allowed to have long hair.”

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This was much more about canny political branding than personal grooming habits.

“It’s a symbol that they are the special people; that only they can be kings,” Palmer says.

A style with substance

Despite modern assumptions about ‘barbarian’ kings of the early medieval period, the Merovingians were more stylised than savage.

“These aren’t barbarians with shorter length, classic fantasy-style hair and open-chested shirts,” says Palmer. Instead, their aesthetic choices, from their hair to their clothes, was deliberate, and reflected a calculated intention to emulate those who had ruled Europe before them.

Their clothing called back to Roman imperial fashion: richly coloured tunics, garlands or diadems, and clean-shaven faces also became part of the image.

“We know this from pictures of them – mostly on coins,” he adds. “But like the Romans – the Romans are clean-shaven – they’re clean-shaven too.”

Power, cut short

In a world where long hair symbolised power and royal legitimacy, you might wonder what it meant to cut it.

One potential consequence was disinheritance.

“One king – Theuderic III – was deposed when he was quite a young boy, because the nobles would rather his older brother, Childeric II, become king,” says Palmer.

The solution to this problem was simple, but effective. “They just cut his hair and send him to live in a monastery. Because who else cuts their hair really short? Monks.”

But hair grows back, and so did Theuderic’s prospects.

“After a couple of years, when the nobles decide that actually Childeric II is a really nasty guy … he’s deposed and killed,” Palmer says. “Then they just invite his younger brother back from the monastery and say: ‘Oh, you’ve grown your hair back – now you can be king.’”

The drawbacks of a simple system

As well as being a useful political tool to wield, however, the simplicity of long hair as a symbol of royalty also had drawbacks.

“Several times, people appear out of nowhere claiming to be Merovingians, saying ‘Look, I’ve got the right hair and everything!’”

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This was an age that long-predated birth certificates, and with Merovingian kings fathering children across many relationships, the appearance of a long-haired man claiming royal descent was hard to disprove and could create genuine challenges.

“There are usurpers – or wannabe pretenders – who come in and say, ‘I’m actually a Merovingian!’” Palmer explains. “And who’s to say they’re not?”

Of course, long hair alone didn’t guarantee the throne. But it could, at least, prompt some awkward questions. “Policing the family inheritance can get quite confusing,” Palmer notes.

An end, and a medieval moustache

The Merovingians ruled until the 8th century, when their dynasty was replaced by the Carolingians, the family of Charlemagne. Even this transition came with a symbolic hair-related shift.

“When the Merovingians are finally overturned,” Palmer says, “one of the things the Carolingian family does is wear moustaches as a symbol that they are different from the Merovingians.”

It was a new era, and that came with a new aesthetic. But the importance of image and visual symbolism had carried over.

Stepping in to claim power in the vacuum left by their Roman predecessors, the Merovingians understood that royal authority could be bolstered by the image you projected, and the symbols you prioritised, especially in a world where myth and monarchy were deeply interconnected.

For them, that was their hair: kept long, immaculate and woven into the fabric of medieval power.

This article is based on an interview with Professor James Palmer , speaking to Kev Lochun on the HistoryExtra podcast. Listen to the full conversation.

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