Audofleda

Audofleda (* around 470; † after 526) was the daughter of Merovingian Childerich I and Basena of Thuringia and the sister of the later King Clovis I and Lantechild.

In 493 Audofleda married the Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great , who had asked Clovis I for her hand immediately after his victory over Odoacer . This marriage was part of Theodoric's power-political system against Ostrom . The only child of this marriage was Amalasuntha , who determined the fate of Italy for a few years after Theodoric's death in 526. Otherwise almost nothing is known about Audofleda itself.

Amalasuntha is said to have run away with the slave Traguila around 530. Her mother Audofleda sent an army. Traguila was killed and Amalasuntha was returned to court. Soon after, Amalasuntha is said to have murdered her mother with a poisoned communion cup. The German historian Martina Hartmann considers this story by Gregor von Tours to be very untrustworthy, but at least admits that the claims made by Gregor - as the only source - that Audofleda, who was born a pagan , converted to Arian Christianity because of her marriage and had hers Spouse survived, a certain probability will arise.

literature

Eduard Hlawitschka : Audofleda . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , Sp. 1197.
Hartmann, Martina, Gregor von Tours and Arian queens or did Clovis I have two or three sisters ?, MIÖG 116, 2008, 130–137.

Web links

Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks Book III Chap.31 (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Form of the name Audefleda at Jordanes , De origine Getarum 295; Augoflada at Anonymus Valesianus 63.
↑ Jordanes, De origine Getarum 295f. (who calls Clovis I Lodoin and incorrectly calls him the father of Audofleda); Gregory of Tours , Historiae 3, 31; Anonymous Valesianus 63.
^ Gregory of Tours, Historiae 3, 31.
↑ Martina Hartmann, The Queen in the Early Middle Ages , Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-17-018473-2 , pp. 27 and 32f.

personal data
SURNAME	Audofleda
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Daughter of the Merovingian Childerich I and the Basena of Thuringia
DATE OF BIRTH	at 470
DATE OF DEATH	after 526

[1] Form of the name Audefleda at Jordanes , De origine Getarum 295; Augoflada at Anonymus Valesianus 63.

[2] Jordanes, De origine Getarum 295f. (who calls Clovis I Lodoin and incorrectly calls him the father of Audofleda); Gregory of Tours , Historiae 3, 31; Anonymous Valesianus 63.

[3] Gregory of Tours, Historiae 3, 31.

[4] Martina Hartmann, The Queen in the Early Middle Ages , Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-17-018473-2 , pp. 27 and 32f.