Chlodio (probably died after 450), also Clodio, Clodius, Clodion, Cloio or Chlogio, was a Frankish king who attacked and then apparently ruled Roman-inhabited lands around Cambrai and Tournai, near the modern border of Belgium and France. He is known from very few records. His influence probably reached as far south as the River Somme. He was therefore the first Frankish ruler to become established so deep within the Roman empire, and distant from the border regions where the Franks had already been established for a long time. He was possibly a descendant of the Salian Franks, who Roman sources report to have settled within Texandria in the 4th century. Gregory of Tours reported that in his time people believed that the Merovingian dynasty, who were still ruling, were descended somehow from Chlodio. Name Chlodio is a short form of Frankish names such as *Hlodowig (Clovis) or *Hlodhari (Chlothar), which are derived from the Germanic root *hlod- ('famous'). Ancestry In later medieval chronicles, several different ancestries were given, naming Franks who were known from earlier Roman historical records. These pedigrees are considered unreliable today. The non-contemporary Liber Historiae Francorum says his father was Pharamond, a Frankish King only known from medieval records. Pharamond in turn was said to be the son of a real Frankish king, known to have fought the Romans, named Marcomer. The Chronicle of Fredegar, on the other hand, makes Chlodio a son of Theudemeres, another real Frankish king who Gregory of Tours reported to have been executed with his mother by the Romans. Attestations Gregory of Tours (II,9) reported that "Chlogio" (as he spells his name in Latin) attacked from a fort (castrum) named "Dispargum" on the edge of the "Thoringian" land, which is described as being west of the Rhine. One translation of what Gregory wrote, adding some Latin key words in square brackets, is as follows: It is commonly said that the Franks came originally from Pannonia and first colonized the banks of the Rhine. Then they crossed the river, marched through Thuringia [Thoringiam transmeasse], and set up in each country district [pagus] and each city [civitas] long-haired kings chosen from the foremost and most noble family of their race. [...] They also say that Clodio, a man of high birth and marked ability among his people, was King of the Franks and that he lived in the castle of Duisberg [Dispargum castrum] in Thuringian