Bathilde

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Monument to Sainte Bathilde by Victor Thérasse (1796–1864) in the Jardin du Luxembourg , Paris

Bathilde von Askanien , also Balthild, Baldhilda, Bathildis , (* around 630 in England ; † 30 January probably 680 in the Abbey of Chelles ) was the wife of the Frankish Merovingian king Clovis II of Neustria .

Life

As a little girl, Bathilde was abducted from England by the Danes . Around 641 she was sold cheaply as a slave to the court of the Frankish housekeeper Erchinoald . This made her his cupbearer, but after the death of his wife wooed her unsuccessfully. Because of her cleverness and beauty, King Clovis II, who had met her on a visit, noticed her.

In 649 King Clovis II married Bathilde. Her ascent did not make her haughty, she cared for the poor. She turned against slavery among Christians . As queen, she enacted laws to prevent the enslavement of prisoners of war , which had been accepted as a tribal custom until then. Slaves freed from her were taught in monasteries, regardless of their origin, or used as helpers on estates. She founded the nunnery Chelles (664) near Paris and the Corbie Abbey (657/661) for monks. In other abbeys she introduced the monastic rule of Luxeuil.

Clovis II died at the end of 657 and Bathilde acted as regent for Chlothar III with the caretaker Erchinoald and from 658 Ebroin until around 664 . in Neustria. In the year 657/658 Chlothar III. and Bathilde to the monastery “in civitatis Trecassinæ”.

Bathilde was probably not involved in the murder of Bishop Aunemund / Annemundas of Lyon by Ebroins soldiers around 658. Except for a bloodily suppressed uprising by the Burgundian opposition, their rule was peaceful.

After Grimoald's coup failed in Austrasia , she set up her son Childerich II as King of Austrasia in 662 .

Around 664 she was exiled after an intrigue between Ebroins and the nobility, and after her adult sons took over government, she retired to the monastery of Chelles. There she is said to have wanted to hold the lowest rank and to have distinguished herself through special humility and charity . Bathilde died on January 30th, probably in the year 680, in the monastery of Chelles and was buried there in the église Sainte-Croix .

In 833 their bones were raised . Pope Nicholas I canonized them in 860 .

Her Catholic Memorial Day is January 30th. She is considered the patron saint of the infirm, sick, children and widows. In art she is represented with a church model and crown, as an almsgiver or with a ladder to heaven on which angels descend and hand her a child.

children

swell

literature

Web links

Commons : Bathilde  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Bathilde  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c Ekkart Sauser:  Balthild. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 22, Bautz, Nordhausen 2003, ISBN 3-88309-133-2 , Sp. 52-53.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  2. ↑ a b Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. 1000 biographies in words and pictures. Munich 1963, p. 46.
  3. ↑ Fredegar (Continuator), 1, MGH SS rer Merov II, p. 169.
  4. ↑ a b Article in Catholic Encyclopedia .
  5. ↑ Fredegar (Continuator), 1, MGH SS rer Merov II, p. 169, and Liber Historiæ Francorum 44, MGH SS rer Merov II, p. 317.
  6. ↑ MGH DD Mer (1872), Diplomata Regum Francorum, No. 33, p. 31.
  7. ^ Beda Venerabilis : Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum V, 19.
  8. ↑ a b Hartmann, The Queen in the Early Middle Ages, pp. 83f.
  9. ^ A b Bathildis at Foundation for Medieval Genealogy.
personal data
SURNAME Bathilde
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Balthild; Baldhilda; Bathildis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of the Frankish Merovingian king Clovis II and saint of the Catholic Church
DATE OF BIRTH around 630
PLACE OF BIRTH England
DATE OF DEATH January 30 at 680
Place of death Chelles