Fredegunde

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Fredegunde

Fredegunde († 597 ) was the concubine and from around 570/571 the wife of the Merovingian King Chilperich I of Neustria and mother of the heir to the throne, Chlothar II.

Life

Fredegunde was originally an unfree maid of the lowest origin. She belonged to the servants of King Chilperich and his first wife Audovera . From 565 at the latest, she was Chilperich's concubine.

Chilperich separated from Audovera around 565/567 and wed Gailswintha , the daughter of the Visigoth king Athanagild , in 567 , after his half-brother and rival, King Sigibert I of Austrasia , married Gailswintha's younger sister Brunichild in 566 . But Chilperic was not ready to renounce his connection with Fredegunde, although he had promised Athanagild this. Gailswintha then wanted to return to her father, but Chilperich refused. In 570/571 he had his wife strangled by one of his servants. A few days later he married Fredegunde.

Gailswintha's murder exacerbated the already existing political antagonism between Chilperich and Gailswintha's brother-in-law Sigibert. In the war that broke out between the two empires, Chilperich achieved initial successes, but then got into a desperate situation due to a counteroffensive by Sigibert in 575. He was only saved by the fact that Fredegunde Sigibert had two servants murdered with poisoned knives at Vitry's . Fredegunde later organized a similar assassination attempt on Sigibert's son and successor Childebert II , but it failed.

Chilperich had no children from Gailswintha, from his first wife Audovera three sons, of whom the eldest, Theudebert, died in 575 in the war against Sigibert. The second, Merowech , married Brunichild, who was widowed after Sigibert's death. He stood against his father and especially against his stepmother Fredegunde, who at that time already had young sons, which endangered Merowech's succession to the throne. Merowech rose against Chilperich; when the uprising failed, he allowed a confidante to kill him so as not to fall into the hands of his father. This made Chlodowech, Audovera's third son, the only surviving male descendant from Chilperich's first marriage. Like Merowech, he came into conflict with Fredegunde because he wanted to be the sole heir. Chilperich had him arrested in 580 and handed him over to Fredegunde, who had him murdered in Noisy-le-Grand , where he was being held. Fredegunde told the king that his son's death was suicide. Audovera was now also murdered - apparently at Fredegundes instigation - whereupon Fredegunde appropriated the treasures of the clan that had been eliminated. In this way Fredegunde secured the succession to the throne for her own descendants.

Fredegunde had five sons and a daughter with Chilperich. The four oldest sons were Chlodobert (* 565, † 580), Samson (* 575, † 577), Dagobert († 580) and Theuderich (* 582, † 584); they died at a young age during Chilperich's lifetime. The youngest son, Chlothar II , was therefore the only heir to the throne. He was only four months old when Chilperich was murdered in 584.

The only daughter of Chilperich and Fredegunde was called Rigunth . She was betrothed to the son of the Visigoth king Leovigild , Rekkared I , to confirm Chilperich's alliance with Leovigild. In September 584 she left for Spain. On the way she received news of her father's death. Under these circumstances she could not continue the journey but returned to her mother; the marriage project had failed. In 589 there were serious, sometimes violent, arguments between mother and daughter.

After Chilperich death, Fredegunde had under the protection of King I. Guntram make. Guntram was a half-brother of Chilperich, who resided in Orléans . In the end he had been an opponent of Chilperich; In the time before Chilperich's death, war seemed imminent between the two empires. The Austrasian King Childebert II unsuccessfully requested Fredegundes extradition for the murder of his father Sigibert I.

Since Fredegunde was suspected of adultery, she had to swear at Guntram's request with three bishops and three hundred noble men as oath assistants that Chlothar was a son of Chilperich. She then ran government for her son until she died in 597. Fredegunde was - like her husband - buried in the Church of St. Vincent in Paris .

reception

The main source is the historical work of Bishop Gregory of Tours , a contemporary of Fredegundes, who portrays her and her husband in a very unfavorable light. His description shaped the image of Fredegunde for posterity and is still believed to be credible by researchers today. Since political murder was one of her favorite weapons, she was even trusted to murder her husband Chilperich, to whom she owed everything. However, it should be noted that we are only informed about their lives from an opposing perspective.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Fredegund  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Gregory of Tours , Historiae 9.34; Liber historiae Francorum 31.
  2. ↑ Eugen Ewig: The naming of the oldest Franconian kings and the Merovingian royal house , in: Francia 18/1 (1991) p. 60.
  3. ↑ The details of these operations reported Gregory of Tours, Historiae 4.28. On the dating Ewig (1991) p. 60.
  4. ↑ These operations describes Gregory of Tours, Historiae 5:39; see Brigitte Kasten: Königssöhne und Königsherrschaft , Hannover 1997, pp. 45–52; Grahn-Hoek pp. 203-211; Reinhard Schneider: The election of the king and the elevation of the king in the early Middle Ages , Stuttgart 1972, pp. 96f., 110f.
  5. ^ Gregory of Tours, Historiae 9.34; see Ewig (1991) p. 62.
personal data
SURNAME Fredegunde
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of King Chilperic I.
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century
DATE OF DEATH 597