EBROIN (d. 681), Frankish "mayor of the palace," was a Neustrian, and wished to impose the authority of Neustria over Burgundy and Austrasia. In 656, at the moment of his accession to power, Sigebert III., the king of Austrasia, had just died, and the Austrasian mayor of the palace, Grimoald, was attempting to usurp the authority. The great nobles, however, appealed to the king of Neustria, Clovis II., and unity was re-established. But in spite of a very firm policy Ebroin was unable to maintain this unity, and while Clotaire III., son of Clovis II., reigned in Neustria and Burgundy, he was obliged in 66o to give the Aus trasians a special king, Childeric II., brother of Clotaire III., and a special mayor of the palace, Wulfoald. His efforts to maintain the union of Neustria and Burgundy were opposed by the great Burgundian nobles, who rose under St. Leger (Leodegar), bishop of Autun, defeated Ebroin, and interned him in the monastery of Luxeuil (67o). Soon, however, Leger was defeated by Wulfoald and the Austrasians, and was himself confined at Luxeuil in 673. Ebroin and Leger then left the cloister. Each looked for support to a different Merovingian king, Ebroin even proclaiming a false Merovingian as sovereign. Leger was besieged in Autun, was forced to surrender and had his eyes put out, and, on Oct. 12, 678, he was put to death after undergoing prolonged tortures. The church honours him as a saint. After his death Ebroin became sole and absolute ruler of the Franks, imposing his authority over Burgundy and subduing the Austrasians, whom he defeated in 678 at Bois-du-Fay, near Laon. He was assassinated in 681.
See Liber historiae Francorum, edit. by B. Krusch, in Mon. Germ. hist. script. rer. Merov. vol. ii.; Vita sancti Leodegarii, by Ursinus, a monk of St. Maixent (Migne, Patr. Latina, vol. xcvi.) ; "Vita metrica" in Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, vol. iii. (Mon. Germ. hist.) ; J. B. Pitra, Histoire de Saint Leger (1846) ; and J. Friedrich, "Zur Gesch. des Hausmeiers Ebroin," in the Proceedings of the Academy of Munich (1887, pp. 42-61) .