Chilperic II had begun his reign in 473 after the partition of Burgundy with his brothers Godegisel, Gundobad and Godomar; he ruled from Valence and his brothers ruled respectively from Geneva, Vienne, and Lyon.

They are all sons of Gundioc.

Sometime in the early 470s, Chilperic had been forced to submit to the authority of the Roman Empire by the magister militum Ecdicius Avitus.

In 475, he had probably sheltered the exiled Ecdicius after the Visigoths had obtained possession of the Auvergne.

After his brother Gundobad had removed his other brother Godomar (Gundomar) in 486, he turned on Chilperic.

In 493, Gundobad assassinates Chilperic and drowns his wife, then exiled their two daughters, Chroma, who became a nun, and Clotilda, who flees to her uncle, Godegisel, in Geneva.

When the Frankish king, Clovis I, requests the latter's hand in marriage, Gundobad is unable to decline.

Clovis and Godegisel soon ally against Gundobad in what will prove to be a long, drawn out civil war.