Brunhilda of Austrasia
Encyclopedia
Brunhilda was a Visigothic princess, married to king Sigebert I
of Austrasia who ruled the eastern kingdoms of Austrasia
and Burgundy
in the names of her sons and grandsons. Initially known as a liberal ruler of great political acumen, she became notorious for her cruelty and avarice.
, the Visigothic capital, the daughter of the Visigoth
king Athanagild
and Goiswintha, his queen. She was the younger of his two daughters. She was only eleven years old when her father was elevated to the kingship (554). She was educated in Toledo as an Arian Christian
.
of Austrasia (a grandson of Clovis I
) who had sent an embassy to Toledo loaded with gifts. She joined him at Metz
. Upon their marriage, she abjured Arianism
and converted to Catholicism
.
Sigebert's father, Clotaire I
, had reunited the four kingdoms of the Franks, but when he died, Sigebert and his three brothers divided them again. According to historian and bishop Gregory of Tours
, Sigebert's marriage to a Visigothic princess was a criticism of his brothers' choices in wives. Instead of marrying low-born and promiscuous women as they did, Sigebert chose a princess of education and morals.
In response to Sigebert's noble marriage, his brother King Chilperic
of Soissons
sent to Spain for Brunhilda's sister, Galswintha
. Gregory of Tours suggests that he proposed because he envied his brother's marriage to Brunhilda; however, Galswintha ordered him to purge his court of prostitutes and mistresses, and he soon grew tired of her. He and his favourite mistress, one Fredegund
, conspired to murder her. Galswintha was strangled to death in her bed as she slept (by whom is not known). Chilperic then married Fredegund.
Brunhilda so detested Fredegund for the death of her sister—and this hatred was so fiercely reciprocated—that the two queens persuaded their husbands to go to war. Sigebert persuaded their other brother, the elder Guntram
of Burgundy
, to mediate the dispute between the queens. He decided that Galswintha's dower
of Bordeaux
, Limoges
, Cahors
, Béarn
, and Bigorre
should be turned over to Brunhilda in restitution. However, Chilperic did not easily give up the cities and Brunhilda did not forget the murder. Germanus
, Bishop of Paris, negotiated a brief peace between them. Between 567 and 570, Brunhilda bore Sigebert three children: Ingund
, Chlodosind, and Childebert
.
The peace was then broken by Chilperic, who invaded Sigebert's dominions. Sigebert defeated Chilperic, who fled to Tournai
. The people of Paris hailed Sigebert as a conqueror when he arrived with Brunhilda and their children. Germanus wrote to Brunhilda, asking her to persuade her husband to restore the peace and to spare his brother. Chroniclers of Germanus' life say that she ignored this; certainly Sigebert set out to besiege Tournai. Fredegund responded to this threat to her husband by hiring two assassins, who killed Sigebert at Vitry-en-Artois
with poisoned daggers (scramasaxi, according to Gregory). Brunhilda was captured and imprisoned at Rouen
.
, went to Rouen on pretext of visiting his mother Audovera. While there, he decided to marry the widowed Brunhilda and thus strengthen his chances of becoming a king. His stepmother, Fredegund, was determined that only her sons should succeed as kings, and she eliminated her husband's sons by other women. Merovech and Brunhilda were married by the bishop Praetextatus, though as Brunhilda was Merovech's aunt, the marriage was contrary to canon law, as Gregory is quick to note. Chilperic soon besieged them in the church of St Martin on the walls. Eventually he made peace with them, but he took Merovech away with him to Soissons.
In an effort to nullify the marriage, Chilperic had Merovech tonsure
d and sent to the monastery of Le Mans
to become a priest. Merovech fled to the sanctuary of St Martin at Tours, which was Gregory's church (who was thus an eyewitness to these events), and later to Champagne. He finally returned to Tours in 578, and when his bid for power failed, he asked his servant to kill him.
, but she was resisted fiercely by her nobles and had to retire briefly to the court of Guntram of Burgundy before obtaining her goal. At that time, she ruled Austrasia as queen. Not being a fighter, she was primarily an administrative reformer, with a Visigothic education. She repaired the old Roman roads, built many churches and abbeys, constructed the necessary fortresses, reorganised the royal finances, and restructured the royal army. However, she antagonised the nobles by her continued imposition of royal authority wherever it was lax. To reinforce her positions and the crown's prestige and power, she convinced Guntram, newly heirless, to adopt Childebert as his own son and heir. This he did in 577. In 579, she married her daughter Ingunda, then only thirteen, to the Visigothic prince Hermenegild
, allying her house to that of the king of her native land. However, Hermenegild converted to Catholicism and he and his wife both died in the ensuing religious wars which tore apart the Visigothic kingdom in Spain.
Brunhilda ruled Austrasia until Childebert came of age in 583, at the traditional Merovingian majority of thirteen.
Many of the dukes strongly opposed her influence over her son Childebert, the king. Three of them—Rauching, Ursio, and Berthefrid—conspired to assassinate Childebert; however, their plot was found out. Rauching was killed and Ursio and Berthefrid fled to a fortress. Upon this, Guntram immediately begged for Childebert, Brunhilda, and Childebert's new sons to take refuge at his court. This they did and soon Ursio and Berthefrid were killed. In 587, Guntram, Childebert, and Brunhild settled the Pact of Andelot securing for Childebert the Burgundian succession and a continuing alliance of the two realms of Austrasia and Burgundy for the rest of Guntram's life.
In that same year, King Reccared I of the Visigoths sent embassies to both Childebert and Guntram, the former accepting them and consolidating an alliance and the latter refusing to see them for some reason or another. Thus, when Brunhilda and Childebert negotiated a marriage for the king's sister Chlodosind with the king of Spain, it was rejected by Guntram and abandoned. In 592, Guntram died and Childebert, as per the treaty, succeeded to his kingdom, immediately making war on Clotaire II
of Neustria, Chilperic's son of Fredegund.
and Theuderic II
, respectively. Though she attributed the death of Childebert to Fredegund, the latter died in 597 and the direct conflict between her and Brunhilda ended. Peace would elude the Franks, however, for many years more as the conflict raged between the two queens' descendants.
In 599, Brunhilda's elder grandson, Theudebert, at whose court she was staying, exiled her. She was found wandering near Arcis in Champagne by a peasant, who brought her to Theuderic. The peasant was rewarded with the bishopric of Auxerre, as the legend goes. Theuderic welcomed her and readily fell under her influence, which was now inclined to vengeance against Theudebert. Soon the brothers were at war.
It is at this point that Brunhilda, now in her later 50's and having survived all the previous tribulations, begins to display that ruthlessness which led to her especially violent demise. Brunhilda first took Protadius as lover and, desiring to promote him to high office, conspired to have Berthoald
, the mayor of the palace
, killed. In 604, she convinced Theuderic to send Berthoald to inspect the royal villa
e along the Seine
. Clotaire, in accordance with Brunhilda's bidding, sent his own mayor Landric
(ironically, a former paramour of Fredegund) to meet Berthoald, who had only a small contingent of men with him. Realising that he had been the victim of courtly plotting, Berthoald, in the ensuing confrontation, overchased the enemy until he was surrounded and killed. Protadius was promptly put in his place.
Brunhilda and Protadius soon persuaded Theuderic to return to war with Theudebert, but the mayor was murdered by his warriors, who did not wish to fight to assuage the ego of the queen. The man who ordered Protadius' execution, Duke Uncelen
, was soon arrested by Brunhilda and tortured and executed. He was not the first ducal victim of the queen's revenges.
It was also during these later regencies that Desiderius
, Bishop of Vienne (later Saint Didier) publicly accused her of incest and cruelty. Desiderius finally enraged her with a pointed sermon on chastity preached in 612 before her and Theuderic, with whom she then hired three assassins to murder the bishop at the village now-called Saint-Didier-sur-Chalaronne
.
In that year, at the battle of Tolbiac, Theuderic defeated and captured Theudebert, whom the queen was now claiming was in fact the son of a gardener, and brought him and his royal paraphernalia to Brunhilda, who subsequently had him put up in a monastery. She probably also then had him murdered (along with his son Merovech) to allow Theuderic to succeed to both thrones unhindered. This he did, shortly thereafter dying of dysentery
in his Austrasian capital of Metz
, in late 613.
, a child. The mayor of the palace of Austrasia, Warnachar, fearing that at his young age he would fall under the influence of his great-grandmother, brought him before a national assembly, where he was proclaimed king by the nobles, who then did homage to him ruling over both his father's kingdoms. Nonetheless, he could not be kept out of the influence of Brunhilda. Thus, for the last time in a long life (now in her 70's), she was regent of the Franks, this time for her own great-grandson.
But Warnachar and Rado
, mayor of the palace of Burgundy, along with Pepin of Landen and Arnulf of Metz
, resentful of her regency, abandoned the cause of Brunhilda over the young king and joined with her old antagonist Clotaire II, promising not to rise in defence of the queen-regent and recognising Clotaire as rightful regent and guardian of Sigebert. Brunhilda, with Sigebert, met Clotaire's army on the Aisne
, but the dukes yet again betrayed her: the Patrician Aletheus, Duke Rocco, and Duke Sigvald deserted her and she and her king had to flee. They fled as far as the city of Orbe (in today French Switzerland), hoping to enlist the aid of certain German tribes, but Clotaire's minions caught up with them by Lake Neuchâtel
. The young king and his brother Corbo were both killed: Thus ended the long and bloody feud between Austrasia and Neustria, and, reuniting the two kingdoms, Clotaire held the entire realm of the Franks.
Clotaire then accused Brunhilda of the death of ten kings of the Franks.
The identity of the ten kings comes from the Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar
. It is usually said to include Sigebert I, Chilperic I, Theudebert II, Theuderic II, Sigebert II, Merovech (Chilperic's son), Merovech (Theuderic's son), Corbo (Theuderic's son), and Childebert (Theuderic's son) and the sons of Theudebert;
along with many churchmen, including Desiderius. According to the Liber Historiae Francorum
:
One legend has her being dragged by a wild mare down the Roman road
La Chaussée Brunehaut at Abbeville
.
, but upon her marriage to Sigebert, converted to Roman Catholicism. In general, she protected the church and treated Pope Gregory the Great
with great respect. He wrote a series of positive letters to her; in 597 he wrote to her about interdicting pagan
rites such as tree worship
. Gregory of Tours was another favoured cleric; he was a trusted courtier to her and her son from 587 until his death. She also took a keen personal interest in the bishoprics and monasteries within her dominion. This brought her into conflict with Columbanus
, abbot
of Luxeuil, whom she eventually exiled to Italy, where he founded Bobbio
. Brunhilda also played a role in perpetuating the diocese of Maurienne as a suffragan bishopric of the archdiocese of Vienne. In 576, Brunhilda's protector, Sigebert's brother Guntram, had founded the new bishopric at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne
, separating the Maurienne
Valley and the neighboring Susa Valley
from the Diocese
of Turin
. The Bishop of Turin protested this to Brunhilda for more than twenty years, but even when Pope Gregory the Great
supported his complaint in 599, Brunhilda dismissed it.
Brunhilda was buried in the Abbaye de St. Martin at Autun
that she founded in 602 on the spot where the bishop of Tours had cut down a beech-tree that served as an object of pagan worship. The abbey was destroyed in 1793 and Brunhilda's sarcophagus
is now in the Musée Lapidaire in Avignon
.
Brunhilda commissioned the building of several churches and the abbey of St. Vincent at Laon
(founded in 580). She is also credited with founding the castle of Bruniquel
and having a Roman road resurfaced near Alligny-en-Morvan
(where the name of a nearby hill Terreau Bruneau is believed to be derived from hers). The part of Mauves-sur-Loire
known as la Fontaine Bruneau is named after Brunhilda who may have cooled herself with the fountain's water when she suffered heat exhaustion.
and Kriemhild, two rival characters from the Nibelungenlied
. Kriemhild married Siegfried
, who in many respects resembles Sigebert, Brunhilda's husband. There is resemblance between a multitude of characters and events in the Nibelungenlied and those of the latter half of the sixth century in Merovingian Gaul. As Thomas Hodgkin remarks:
Sigebert I
Sigebert I was the king of Austrasia from the death of his father in 561 to his own death. He was the third surviving son out of four of Clotaire I and Ingund...
of Austrasia who ruled the eastern kingdoms of Austrasia
Austrasia
Austrasia formed the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, comprising parts of the territory of present-day eastern France, western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Metz served as its capital, although some Austrasian kings ruled from Rheims, Trier, and...
and Burgundy
Kingdom of Burgundy
Burgundy is a historic region in Western Europe that has existed as a political entity in a number of forms with very different boundaries. Two of these entities - the first around the 6th century, the second around the 11th century - have been called the Kingdom of Burgundy; a third was very...
in the names of her sons and grandsons. Initially known as a liberal ruler of great political acumen, she became notorious for her cruelty and avarice.
Life
She was possibly born about 543 in ToledoToledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
, the Visigothic capital, the daughter of the Visigoth
Visigoth
The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...
king Athanagild
Athanagild
Athanagild was Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania. He had rebelled against his predecessor, Agila, in 551. The armies of Agila and Athanagild met at Seville, where Agila met a second defeat...
and Goiswintha, his queen. She was the younger of his two daughters. She was only eleven years old when her father was elevated to the kingship (554). She was educated in Toledo as an Arian Christian
Arianism
Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
.
First marriage
In 567, she was married to King Sigebert ISigebert I
Sigebert I was the king of Austrasia from the death of his father in 561 to his own death. He was the third surviving son out of four of Clotaire I and Ingund...
of Austrasia (a grandson of Clovis I
Clovis I
Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
) who had sent an embassy to Toledo loaded with gifts. She joined him at Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
. Upon their marriage, she abjured Arianism
Arianism
Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
and converted to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
.
Sigebert's father, Clotaire I
Clotaire I
Chlothar I , called the Old , King of the Franks, was one of the four sons of Clovis. He was born circa 497, in Soissons .-Life:...
, had reunited the four kingdoms of the Franks, but when he died, Sigebert and his three brothers divided them again. According to historian and bishop Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours
Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
, Sigebert's marriage to a Visigothic princess was a criticism of his brothers' choices in wives. Instead of marrying low-born and promiscuous women as they did, Sigebert chose a princess of education and morals.
In response to Sigebert's noble marriage, his brother King Chilperic
Chilperic I
Chilperic I was the king of Neustria from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund....
of Soissons
Soissons
Soissons is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France, located on the Aisne River, about northeast of Paris. It is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital of the Suessiones...
sent to Spain for Brunhilda's sister, Galswintha
Galswintha
Galswintha was the daughter of Athanagild, Visigothic king of Hispania , and Goiswintha...
. Gregory of Tours suggests that he proposed because he envied his brother's marriage to Brunhilda; however, Galswintha ordered him to purge his court of prostitutes and mistresses, and he soon grew tired of her. He and his favourite mistress, one Fredegund
Fredegund
Fredegund was the Queen consort of Chilperic I, the Merovingian Frankish king of Soissons.All her wealth and power came to her through her association with Chilperic...
, conspired to murder her. Galswintha was strangled to death in her bed as she slept (by whom is not known). Chilperic then married Fredegund.
Brunhilda so detested Fredegund for the death of her sister—and this hatred was so fiercely reciprocated—that the two queens persuaded their husbands to go to war. Sigebert persuaded their other brother, the elder Guntram
Guntram
Saint Guntram was the king of Burgundy from 561 to 592. He was a son of Chlothar I and Ingunda...
of Burgundy
Kingdom of Burgundy
Burgundy is a historic region in Western Europe that has existed as a political entity in a number of forms with very different boundaries. Two of these entities - the first around the 6th century, the second around the 11th century - have been called the Kingdom of Burgundy; a third was very...
, to mediate the dispute between the queens. He decided that Galswintha's dower
Dower
Dower or morning gift was a provision accorded by law to a wife for her support in the event that she should survive her husband...
of Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, Limoges
Limoges
Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....
, Cahors
Cahors
Cahors is the capital of the Lot department in south-western France.Its site is dramatic being contained on three sides within an udder shaped twist in the river Lot known as a 'presqu'île' or peninsula...
, Béarn
Béarn
Béarn is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the...
, and Bigorre
Bigorre
Bigorre is region in southwest France, historically an independent county and later a French province, located in the upper watershed of the Adour, on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, part of the larger region known as Gascony...
should be turned over to Brunhilda in restitution. However, Chilperic did not easily give up the cities and Brunhilda did not forget the murder. Germanus
Germain of Paris
Saint Germain was a bishop of Paris, who was canonized in 754. He is known in his early vita as pater et pastor populi, rendered in modern times as the "Father of the Poor".-Biography:...
, Bishop of Paris, negotiated a brief peace between them. Between 567 and 570, Brunhilda bore Sigebert three children: Ingund
Ingund (wife of Hermenegild)
Ingunde, Ingund, Ingundis or Ingunda born 568 first child to Sigebert I, king of Austrasia, and his wife Brunhilda. Following the tradition of the time, it would follow that Ingund was named after her father's mother. Siblings include a sister, Chlodosind and a brother Childebert...
, Chlodosind, and Childebert
Childebert II
.Childebert II was the Merovingian king of Austrasia, which included Provence at the time, from 575 until his death in 595, the eldest and succeeding son of Sigebert I, and the king of Burgundy from 592 to his death, as the adopted and succeeding son of his uncle Guntram.-Childhood:When his father...
.
The peace was then broken by Chilperic, who invaded Sigebert's dominions. Sigebert defeated Chilperic, who fled to Tournai
Tournai
Tournai is a Walloon city and municipality of Belgium located 85 kilometres southwest of Brussels, on the river Scheldt, in the province of Hainaut....
. The people of Paris hailed Sigebert as a conqueror when he arrived with Brunhilda and their children. Germanus wrote to Brunhilda, asking her to persuade her husband to restore the peace and to spare his brother. Chroniclers of Germanus' life say that she ignored this; certainly Sigebert set out to besiege Tournai. Fredegund responded to this threat to her husband by hiring two assassins, who killed Sigebert at Vitry-en-Artois
Vitry-en-Artois
Vitry-en-Artois is a commune and in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Vitry-en-Artois is situated some northeast of Arras, at the junction of the N50, D39 and the D42 roads. The river Scarpe flows through the town, which is also served by the SNCF...
with poisoned daggers (scramasaxi, according to Gregory). Brunhilda was captured and imprisoned at Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
.
Second marriage
Merovech, the son of Chilperic and his first wife AudoveraAudovera
Audovera was the first wife or mistress of Chilperic I, king of Neustria.They had four children.*Theudebert, died in the war of 575*Merovech , married the widow Brunhilda and became his father's enemy*Clovis, assassinated by Fredegund in 580...
, went to Rouen on pretext of visiting his mother Audovera. While there, he decided to marry the widowed Brunhilda and thus strengthen his chances of becoming a king. His stepmother, Fredegund, was determined that only her sons should succeed as kings, and she eliminated her husband's sons by other women. Merovech and Brunhilda were married by the bishop Praetextatus, though as Brunhilda was Merovech's aunt, the marriage was contrary to canon law, as Gregory is quick to note. Chilperic soon besieged them in the church of St Martin on the walls. Eventually he made peace with them, but he took Merovech away with him to Soissons.
In an effort to nullify the marriage, Chilperic had Merovech tonsure
Tonsure
Tonsure is the traditional practice of Christian churches of cutting or shaving the hair from the scalp of clerics, monastics, and, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, all baptized members...
d and sent to the monastery of Le Mans
Le Mans
Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...
to become a priest. Merovech fled to the sanctuary of St Martin at Tours, which was Gregory's church (who was thus an eyewitness to these events), and later to Champagne. He finally returned to Tours in 578, and when his bid for power failed, he asked his servant to kill him.
First regency
Brunhilda now tried to seize the regency of Austrasia in the name of her son Childebert IIChildebert II
.Childebert II was the Merovingian king of Austrasia, which included Provence at the time, from 575 until his death in 595, the eldest and succeeding son of Sigebert I, and the king of Burgundy from 592 to his death, as the adopted and succeeding son of his uncle Guntram.-Childhood:When his father...
, but she was resisted fiercely by her nobles and had to retire briefly to the court of Guntram of Burgundy before obtaining her goal. At that time, she ruled Austrasia as queen. Not being a fighter, she was primarily an administrative reformer, with a Visigothic education. She repaired the old Roman roads, built many churches and abbeys, constructed the necessary fortresses, reorganised the royal finances, and restructured the royal army. However, she antagonised the nobles by her continued imposition of royal authority wherever it was lax. To reinforce her positions and the crown's prestige and power, she convinced Guntram, newly heirless, to adopt Childebert as his own son and heir. This he did in 577. In 579, she married her daughter Ingunda, then only thirteen, to the Visigothic prince Hermenegild
Hermenegild
Saint Hermenegild or Ermengild , was the son of king Leovigild of Visigothic Spain. He fell out with his father in 579, then revolted the following year. During his rebellion, he converted from Arian Christianity to Roman Catholicism. Hermenegild was defeated in 584, and exiled...
, allying her house to that of the king of her native land. However, Hermenegild converted to Catholicism and he and his wife both died in the ensuing religious wars which tore apart the Visigothic kingdom in Spain.
Brunhilda ruled Austrasia until Childebert came of age in 583, at the traditional Merovingian majority of thirteen.
Relations with King Guntram
The conflict with Fredegund flared up once more upon the death of Chilperic. Now in the regency in Neustria, Fredegund was in a position to renew the war with her old enemy. Simultaneously, Brunhilda had to deal with her own internal enemies.Many of the dukes strongly opposed her influence over her son Childebert, the king. Three of them—Rauching, Ursio, and Berthefrid—conspired to assassinate Childebert; however, their plot was found out. Rauching was killed and Ursio and Berthefrid fled to a fortress. Upon this, Guntram immediately begged for Childebert, Brunhilda, and Childebert's new sons to take refuge at his court. This they did and soon Ursio and Berthefrid were killed. In 587, Guntram, Childebert, and Brunhild settled the Pact of Andelot securing for Childebert the Burgundian succession and a continuing alliance of the two realms of Austrasia and Burgundy for the rest of Guntram's life.
In that same year, King Reccared I of the Visigoths sent embassies to both Childebert and Guntram, the former accepting them and consolidating an alliance and the latter refusing to see them for some reason or another. Thus, when Brunhilda and Childebert negotiated a marriage for the king's sister Chlodosind with the king of Spain, it was rejected by Guntram and abandoned. In 592, Guntram died and Childebert, as per the treaty, succeeded to his kingdom, immediately making war on Clotaire II
Clotaire II
Chlothar II , called the Great or the Young , King of Neustria, and, from 613 to 629, King of all the Franks, was not yet born when his father, King Chilperic I died in 584...
of Neustria, Chilperic's son of Fredegund.
Second regency
Upon Childebert's death in September or October 595, Brunhilda attempted to govern Austrasia and Burgundy in the name of her grandsons Theudebert IITheudebert II
Theudebert II , King of Austrasia , was the son and heir of Childebert II. He received the kingdom of Austrasia plus the cities of Poitiers, Tours, Vellay, Bordeaux, and Châteaudun, as well as the Champagne, the Auvergne, and Transjurane Alemannia, on the death of his father in 595, but was...
and Theuderic II
Theuderic II
Theuderic II , king of Burgundy and Austrasia , was the second son of Childebert II...
, respectively. Though she attributed the death of Childebert to Fredegund, the latter died in 597 and the direct conflict between her and Brunhilda ended. Peace would elude the Franks, however, for many years more as the conflict raged between the two queens' descendants.
In 599, Brunhilda's elder grandson, Theudebert, at whose court she was staying, exiled her. She was found wandering near Arcis in Champagne by a peasant, who brought her to Theuderic. The peasant was rewarded with the bishopric of Auxerre, as the legend goes. Theuderic welcomed her and readily fell under her influence, which was now inclined to vengeance against Theudebert. Soon the brothers were at war.
It is at this point that Brunhilda, now in her later 50's and having survived all the previous tribulations, begins to display that ruthlessness which led to her especially violent demise. Brunhilda first took Protadius as lover and, desiring to promote him to high office, conspired to have Berthoald
Berthoald
Berthoald was the mayor of the palace of Burgundy from some time before 603 until his death in the next year...
, the mayor of the palace
Mayor of the Palace
Mayor of the Palace was an early medieval title and office, also called majordomo, from the Latin title maior domus , used most notably in the Frankish kingdoms in the 7th and 8th centuries....
, killed. In 604, she convinced Theuderic to send Berthoald to inspect the royal villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
e along the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
. Clotaire, in accordance with Brunhilda's bidding, sent his own mayor Landric
Landric
Landric was the mayor of the palace of Neustria. According to the Vita Aldegundis, he and his probable brother Gundoland were uncles of Saint Aldegunda. The chief sources for his reign are the Chronicle of Fredegar and the Liber Historiae Francorum.Landric was a supporter of Fredegund in her...
(ironically, a former paramour of Fredegund) to meet Berthoald, who had only a small contingent of men with him. Realising that he had been the victim of courtly plotting, Berthoald, in the ensuing confrontation, overchased the enemy until he was surrounded and killed. Protadius was promptly put in his place.
Brunhilda and Protadius soon persuaded Theuderic to return to war with Theudebert, but the mayor was murdered by his warriors, who did not wish to fight to assuage the ego of the queen. The man who ordered Protadius' execution, Duke Uncelen
Uncelen
Uncelen, Uncelin, or Uncilin was the Duke of Alemannia from 587 to 607. He was appointed to replace Leutfred by the Austrasian king Childebert II....
, was soon arrested by Brunhilda and tortured and executed. He was not the first ducal victim of the queen's revenges.
It was also during these later regencies that Desiderius
Desiderius of Vienne
Desiderius of Vienne was archbishop of Vienne and a chronicler.In conflict with Brunhilda of Austrasia, the legitimacy of whose children he had attacked, he was deposed in 603 when she combined forces with Aridius, bishop of Lyon...
, Bishop of Vienne (later Saint Didier) publicly accused her of incest and cruelty. Desiderius finally enraged her with a pointed sermon on chastity preached in 612 before her and Theuderic, with whom she then hired three assassins to murder the bishop at the village now-called Saint-Didier-sur-Chalaronne
Saint-Didier-sur-Chalaronne
Saint-Didier-sur-Chalaronne is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France.-Geography:The Chalaronne flows westward through the southern part of the commune, then flows into the Saône, which forms part of the commune's south-western border....
.
In that year, at the battle of Tolbiac, Theuderic defeated and captured Theudebert, whom the queen was now claiming was in fact the son of a gardener, and brought him and his royal paraphernalia to Brunhilda, who subsequently had him put up in a monastery. She probably also then had him murdered (along with his son Merovech) to allow Theuderic to succeed to both thrones unhindered. This he did, shortly thereafter dying of dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
in his Austrasian capital of Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
, in late 613.
Third regency
The successor of Theuderic II was his bastard son SigebertSigebert II
Sigebert II was king of Burgundy and Austrasia . Bastard son of Theuderic II, he succeeded his father in 613; but the mayor of the palace of Austrasia, Warnachar, feared that at his young age he would fall under the influence of his great-grandmother Brunhilda.Brunhilda had brought him before a...
, a child. The mayor of the palace of Austrasia, Warnachar, fearing that at his young age he would fall under the influence of his great-grandmother, brought him before a national assembly, where he was proclaimed king by the nobles, who then did homage to him ruling over both his father's kingdoms. Nonetheless, he could not be kept out of the influence of Brunhilda. Thus, for the last time in a long life (now in her 70's), she was regent of the Franks, this time for her own great-grandson.
But Warnachar and Rado
Rado (mayor of the palace)
Rado was the mayor of the palace of Burgundy from 613 to 617.He, along with Warnachar, Pepin of Landen, and Saint Arnulf, abandoned the cause of the queen Brunhilda and the young king Sigebert II and joined with Clotaire II, promising not to rise in defence of the queen-regent and recognising...
, mayor of the palace of Burgundy, along with Pepin of Landen and Arnulf of Metz
Arnulf of Metz
Saint Arnulf of Metz was a Frankish bishop of Metz and advisor to the Merovingian court of Austrasia, who retired to the Abbey of Remiremont....
, resentful of her regency, abandoned the cause of Brunhilda over the young king and joined with her old antagonist Clotaire II, promising not to rise in defence of the queen-regent and recognising Clotaire as rightful regent and guardian of Sigebert. Brunhilda, with Sigebert, met Clotaire's army on the Aisne
Aisne
Aisne is a department in the northern part of France named after the Aisne River.- History :Aisne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Île-de-France, Picardie, and Champagne.Most of the old...
, but the dukes yet again betrayed her: the Patrician Aletheus, Duke Rocco, and Duke Sigvald deserted her and she and her king had to flee. They fled as far as the city of Orbe (in today French Switzerland), hoping to enlist the aid of certain German tribes, but Clotaire's minions caught up with them by Lake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel is a lake in Romandy, Switzerland . The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by the cantons of Vaud, of Fribourg, and of Bern....
. The young king and his brother Corbo were both killed: Thus ended the long and bloody feud between Austrasia and Neustria, and, reuniting the two kingdoms, Clotaire held the entire realm of the Franks.
Clotaire then accused Brunhilda of the death of ten kings of the Franks.
The identity of the ten kings comes from the Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar
Chronicle of Fredegar
The Chronicle of Fredegar is a chronicle that is a primary source of events in Frankish Gaul from 584 to around 641. Later authors continued the history to the coronation of Charlemagne and his brother Carloman on 9 October 768....
. It is usually said to include Sigebert I, Chilperic I, Theudebert II, Theuderic II, Sigebert II, Merovech (Chilperic's son), Merovech (Theuderic's son), Corbo (Theuderic's son), and Childebert (Theuderic's son) and the sons of Theudebert;
along with many churchmen, including Desiderius. According to the Liber Historiae Francorum
Liber Historiae Francorum
Liber historiae Francorum is a book that briefly starts as secondary source for early Franks in the time of Marcomer, and it gives a short breviarum of events until the time of the late Merovingians, where it becomes an important primary source of the contemporaneous history...
:
"Then the army of the Franks and Burgundians joined into one, all shouted together that death would be most fitting for the very wicked Brunhilda. Then King Clotaire ordered that she be lifted on to a camel and led through the entire army. Then she was tied to the feet of wild horses and torn apart limb from limb. Finally she died. Her final grave was the fire. Her bones were burnt."
One legend has her being dragged by a wild mare down the Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
La Chaussée Brunehaut at Abbeville
Abbeville
Abbeville is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Location:Abbeville is located on the Somme River, from its modern mouth in the English Channel, and northwest of Amiens...
.
Religion
Brunhilda was raised as an Arian ChristianArianism
Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
, but upon her marriage to Sigebert, converted to Roman Catholicism. In general, she protected the church and treated Pope Gregory the Great
Pope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I , better known in English as Gregory the Great, was pope from 3 September 590 until his death...
with great respect. He wrote a series of positive letters to her; in 597 he wrote to her about interdicting pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
rites such as tree worship
Tree worship
Tree worship refers to the tendency of many societies throughout history to worship or otherwise mythologize trees. Trees have played an important role in many of the world's mythologies and religions, and have been given deep and sacred meanings throughout the ages...
. Gregory of Tours was another favoured cleric; he was a trusted courtier to her and her son from 587 until his death. She also took a keen personal interest in the bishoprics and monasteries within her dominion. This brought her into conflict with Columbanus
Columbanus
Columbanus was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries on the European continent from around 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil and Bobbio , and stands as an exemplar of Irish missionary activity in early medieval Europe.He spread among the...
, abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
of Luxeuil, whom she eventually exiled to Italy, where he founded Bobbio
Bobbio
Bobbio is a small town and commune in the province of Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is located in the Trebbia River valley southwest of the town Piacenza. There is also an abbey and a diocese of the same name...
. Brunhilda also played a role in perpetuating the diocese of Maurienne as a suffragan bishopric of the archdiocese of Vienne. In 576, Brunhilda's protector, Sigebert's brother Guntram, had founded the new bishopric at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department....
, separating the Maurienne
Maurienne
Maurienne is one of the provinces of Savoy, corresponding to the arrondissement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in France. It is also the original name of the capital of the province, now Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.-Location:...
Valley and the neighboring Susa Valley
Susa Valley
The Susa Valley is a valley in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, located between the Graian Alps in the north and the Cottian Alps in the south. It is the longest valley in Italy. It extends over in an east-west direction from the French border to the outskirts of Turin. The valley takes its...
from the Diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
of Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
. The Bishop of Turin protested this to Brunhilda for more than twenty years, but even when Pope Gregory the Great
Pope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I , better known in English as Gregory the Great, was pope from 3 September 590 until his death...
supported his complaint in 599, Brunhilda dismissed it.
Brunhilda was buried in the Abbaye de St. Martin at Autun
Autun
Autun is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in Burgundy in eastern France. It was founded during the early Roman Empire as Augustodunum. Autun marks the easternmost extent of the Umayyad campaign in Europe.-Early history:...
that she founded in 602 on the spot where the bishop of Tours had cut down a beech-tree that served as an object of pagan worship. The abbey was destroyed in 1793 and Brunhilda's sarcophagus
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
is now in the Musée Lapidaire in Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
.
Brunhilda commissioned the building of several churches and the abbey of St. Vincent at Laon
Laon
Laon is the capital city of the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-History:The hilly district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance...
(founded in 580). She is also credited with founding the castle of Bruniquel
Bruniquel
Bruniquel is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in southern France.-Geography:The tiny fortified village of 561 inhabitants is at an altitude of 250 metres by the river Aveyron....
and having a Roman road resurfaced near Alligny-en-Morvan
Alligny-en-Morvan
Alligny-en-Morvan is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.-Demographics:At the 1999 census, the population was 656. On 1 January 2004, the estimate was 651.-References:*...
(where the name of a nearby hill Terreau Bruneau is believed to be derived from hers). The part of Mauves-sur-Loire
Mauves-sur-Loire
Mauves-sur-Loire is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France.It is twinned with Hythe in England.-See also:*Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department...
known as la Fontaine Bruneau is named after Brunhilda who may have cooled herself with the fountain's water when she suffered heat exhaustion.
In legend
Many scholars have seen Brunhilda as inspiration for both BrunnhildBrynhildr
Brynhildr is a shieldmaiden and a valkyrie in Norse mythology, where she appears as a main character in the Völsunga saga and some Eddic poems treating the same events. Under the name Brünnhilde she appears in the Nibelungenlied and therefore also in Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des...
and Kriemhild, two rival characters from the Nibelungenlied
Nibelungenlied
The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge....
. Kriemhild married Siegfried
Sigurd
Sigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) is a legendary hero of...
, who in many respects resembles Sigebert, Brunhilda's husband. There is resemblance between a multitude of characters and events in the Nibelungenlied and those of the latter half of the sixth century in Merovingian Gaul. As Thomas Hodgkin remarks:
Further reading
- Hodgkin, Thomas. Italy and her Invaders. Clarendon Press, 1895.
- Joseph Henry Dahmus, Seven Medieval Queens, 1972.
- Ian Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms, 1994.
- Nicolas and Paul Chalmin, "L'Etrange Histoire de la Chaussée Brunehaut" (Calais, Nordmag, 2004).
- Andrew Gillett, "Love and Grief in Post-Imperial Diplomacy: The Letters of Brunhild," in Barbara Sidwell and Danijel Dzino (eds), Studies in Emotions and Power in the Late Roman World: papers in honour of Ron Newbold (Piscataway (NJ), 2010), 141-180 (Gorgias Précis Portfolios, 8).
Sources
- Gregory of ToursGregory of ToursSaint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...
, History of the Franks: Books I-X - John Michael Wallace-HadrillJohn Michael Wallace-HadrillJohn Michael Wallace-Hadrill CBE was Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of Manchester , a Senior Research Fellow of Merton College in the University of Oxford , Chichele Professor of Modern History, University of Oxford and a Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford...
(translator), The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its Continuations, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1960. - Bernard S. BachrachBernard BachrachBernard S. Bachrach is an American historian and a professor of history at the University of Minnesota. He specialises in the Early Middle Ages, mainly on the topics of Medieval warfare, Medieval Jewry, and early Angevin history...
(translator), Liber Historiae Francorum, 1973. - Encyclopædia Britannica 2004: