Hildegard (wife of Charlemagne)

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Hildegard (* approx. 758; † April 30, 783 in Diedenhofen on the Moselle in the Lorraine Palatinate) was the third wife of Charlemagne and mother of Louis the Pious . Little information can be found about her life, because like all of Karl's wives, she was in the political background and was only mentioned with regard to her wedding, her death and as a mother.

origin

She was the daughter of the Swabian Count Gerold from the Geroldon family and Imma, daughter of the Alemannic Count Hnabi and Hereswintha from Lake Constance. Her father owned extensive possessions in the territory of Karl's younger brother Karlmann , which makes this marriage one of Karl's most important long-term relationships, as he was able to strengthen his position in the areas east of the Rhine and bind the Alemannic nobility to himself.

Life

It is not known whether this connection was planned by Charlemagne before the sudden death of Karlmann or whether it was only part of the determined incorporation of the empire of his younger brother, ignoring any claims of his nephews. In any case, Charles and Hildegard were married at the end of 770 / beginning of 771. Karl had previously disowned his previous wife Desiderata .

Since Hildegard's exact dates of birth are not available, it can be assumed that she was between 12 and 14 years old at the time. A marriage at this age is not uncommon for the time, as the marriageable age was determined with sexual maturity. In Roman law, which was widely accepted by the Church, the minimum age for marriage for girls was set at 12 years.

An intensive physical relationship between the spouses is proven by the fact that Hildegard had 8 pregnancies in 12 years of marriage, including one with twins, not including possible miscarriages . She accompanied Karl on many of his campaigns. So he had her follow pregnant in 773/774 while he was besieging the capital of the Longobard Empire , Pavia . His first daughter Adelhaid was born there, but she died on the way back across the Alps. In 778 Hildegard accompanied the king to Aquitaine , where she gave birth to the twins Lothar and Ludwig . In 780/781 she traveled to Rome with Karl and four of her children . There the sons Ludwig and Karlmann were anointed as sub-kings over their own territories. Louis received Aquitaine and Karlmann was baptized in the name of Pippin and became sub-king over Italy. This helped to strengthen the alliance between the Carolingians and the Popes. Because of the frequent pregnancies, it can be assumed that she accompanied Karl on further campaigns at least temporarily.

Hildegard died on April 30, 783 shortly after the birth of her last daughter and was buried on May 1 in the Abbey of Sankt Arnulf in Metz . It was Karl's wish that candles should always be lit on her grave and that prayers should be said daily for the various people.

Work and afterlife

Excerpt from the Kempten monastery chronicle from 1499: Hildegard is shown together with Charlemagne on the far right.
The Hildegard fountain on Lindauer Strasse in Kempten
Wall painting by Franz Weiß with Hildegard, the founder of the monastery, as a motif on the country house on Hildegardplatz, Kempten

Hildegard made various donations to the monasteries St. Denis and St. Martin in Tours . She was friends with St. Lioba , who is said to have lived with her at court for some time. She gave Hildegard religious education and offered her spiritual advice. Together with her husband, she commissioned the Godescalc Gospel and is expressly mentioned for the first time as Queen - also of the Lombards - through the joint signing of documents with her husband.

Hildegard already enjoyed a high reputation during her lifetime and received various appreciations in her obituary from Paulus Diaconus . However, these should be viewed with a certain degree of skepticism. Her epitaph contains various phrases and topoi common at the time, which may have been introduced to flatter Karl. For example, there is a reference to the fact that Hildegard was the epitome of beauty, wisdom and virtue. These are established idioms that were used by medieval authors to describe the rulers appropriately. Pope Hadrian I expressed his condolences to the early death of Hildegard in a letter to Karl.

Hildegard used her royal position and the opportunities associated with it to prevent her brother from being deposed of Tassilo III. to let Bavaria benefit. As far as is known, she was the only one of Karl's wives who managed to secure an office for a family member after marriage. It can also be assumed that, like other early medieval queens, she performed various tasks, for example as the director of the royal court in various decisions about the stays of the court, or as a representative of the ruler in his absence. It can be assumed that she was in close contact with him in all decisions.

Together with her husband, she richly furnished the Kempten monastery, which had been in existence since 752 . After the Lombard campaign in 773/774, she brought the relics of the martyrs St. Gordian and St. Epimachus to Kempten from Italy , which have since been the patrons of the monastery church (together with the Mother of God Mary).

Hildegard was intensely venerated as a founder in Kempten; her portrait bust adorned the monastery coat of arms and some coins of the prince abbey. In the late Middle Ages it was claimed - and supported by falsified chronicles - that Hildegard was buried in Kempten (as was her son Ludwig the Pious ); their burial chapel ( Hildegard chapel ) was expanded into a place of pilgrimage, for which miracle lists have also been handed down. This explains why Queen Hildegard was venerated like a saint in the Allgäu and was always depicted with a nimbus. A burial chapel for Hildegard was built in one of the courtyards of the baroque residence in the 17th century, which was demolished after the secularization. Even in modern Kempten , Hildegard and her importance for urban development are still very noticeable: The central square in front of the former St. Lorenz monastery church is named after her Hildegardplatz . In 1862 the neo-Gothic Hildegardsbrunnen was erected on the square, which was demolished in the 1950s. Her picture is painted on some house facades, e.g. B. at the country house by the painter Franz Weiß . The Hildegardis Gymnasium , originally reserved for girls, is another place of remembrance in Kempten. The Hildegard fountain is located on Lindauer Strasse in the immediate vicinity of the school. It is depicted on the facades of some houses. On the edge of the Kempten forest stood the Hildegard oak, which was replaced by a new plant a few years ago. Until the 1950s, many girls born in Kempten were named after Hildegard.

children

Although Karl already had a son by his first wife, in the will of 806 ( Divisio Regnorum ) the empire was divided among the three sons of Hildegard who reached adulthood. Because her son Ludwig the Pious succeeded Karl as emperor, Hildegard was referred to as the "mother of kings and emperors".

  • Charles the Younger (* 772/773, † December 4, 812) inherited the core area of Neustria and was - for a long time together with Pippin the Hunchback (before his rebellion and deportation to the monastery) - intended as the main heir, but died before his father.
  • Adelhaid (* 773/774, † July / August 774) was named after a sister of Karl who died early.
  • Rotrud (* 775, † June 6, 810), named after the grandmother of Charlemagne, was born in Rome at the age of 6 with the then about 10-year-old Emperor Constantine VI. betrothed by Byzantium . The marriage did not materialize, however, due to the growing estrangement of the two realms.
  • Karlmann (* 777, † July 8, 810) was baptized on April 15, 781 by Pope Hadrian I in Rome in the name of Pippin and was crowned King of Italy.
  • Lothar (born April 16, 778, † 779/780)
  • Ludwig (* 778, † June 20, 840) was appointed Sub-King of Aquitaine in Rome and later known as Emperor Ludwig the Pious .
  • Bertha (* 779/780, † after January 14, 823) was named after Karl's mother, who was still alive at the time of her birth. She was to be married to an Anglo-Saxon heir to the throne. The King Offa von Mercien proposed to marry Charles the Younger to one of the Anglo-Saxon princesses, but this was felt by Karl as an imposition, and he had the Franconian Empire closed to Anglo-Saxon merchants.
  • Gisela (* before May 781, † after 800) was named after the still living sister of Charlemagne and baptized in Rome, with the Archbishop of Milan as godparent.
  • Hildegard (* 782, † June 8, 783), named after her still living mother, which was unusual for the time, soon followed her into the grave and was buried with her in St. Arnulf in Metz.

Source example: Epitaphium Hildegardis reginae

Latin German
[1] Aurea quae fulvis rutilant elementa figuris,

Quam clara extiterint membra sepulta docent.
Hic regina iacet regi praecelsa potenti
Hildegard Karolo quae bene nupta fuit.
[5] Quae tantum clarae transcendit stirpis alumnos,
Quantum, quo genita est, Indica gemma solum.
Huic tam clara fuit florentis gratia formae,
Qua nec in occiduo pulchrior ulla foret.
Cuius haut tenerum possint aequare decorem
[10] Sardonix Pario, lilia mixta rosis.
Attamen hanc speciem superabant lumina cordis,
Simplicitasque animae interiorque decor.
Tu mitis, sapiens, solers, iocunda fuisti,
Dapsilis et cunctis condecorata bonis.
[15] Sed quid plura feram cum non sit grandior ulla
Laus tibi, quain tanto complacuisse viro?
Cumque vir armipotens sceptris iunxisset avitis
Cigniferumque Padum Romuleumque Tybrim,
Tu sola inventa es, fueris quae digna tenere
[20] Multiplicis regni aurea sceptra manu.
Age from undecimo iam te susceperat annus,
Cum vos mellifluus consotiavit amor
Age from undecimo rursum te sustulit annus,
hay genitrix regum, hay decus atque dolor!
[25] Te Francus, Suevus, Germanus, and ipse Britannus.
Cumque Getis duris plangit Hibera cohors.
Accola te Ligeris, te deflet et Itala tellus,
Ipsaque morte tua anxia Roma gemit.
Movisti ad fletus et fortia corda virorum,
[30] Et lacrimae clipeos inter et arma cadunt.
Hay, quantis sapiens et firmum robore semper
Ussisti flammis pectus herile viri.
Solatur cunctos spes haec sed certa dolentes,
Pro dignis factis quod sacra regna tenes.
[35] Iesum nunc precibus, Arnulfe, exores eorum
Participem fieri hanc, pater alme, tuis

[1-14]
Here lies Hildegard,
once Karl's happy wife,
who surpassed other women through her charm, but
even more through the virtues of her heart
.

[15 - 35] But
her greatest fame is the pleasure
of
having aroused such a man as Karl is .
She alone was worthy of being queen of
such a mighty empire.
Now all nations mourn their deaths,
and even defiant warriors
cannot refrain from tears.
Pain consumes the husband's heart.
There was only one consolation left for all,
that she would find her reward in heaven.

swell

literature

Web links

Commons : Hildegard  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ No exact date of birth is known. This is not unusual for a queen-in-law at this point in time, as she was not yet part of the ruling family at birth and was therefore insignificant for their chronicles, see Achim Thomas Hack: Age, Illness, Death and Rulership in the Early Middle Ages. Stuttgart 2009, p. 42.
  2. ↑ Reinhard Barth: Charlemagne. Munich 2000, p. 97.
  3. ↑ There is a discussion in research as to whether the first wife of Charlemagne, Himiltrud , was possibly just a concubine , as Einhard and Notker claim. There are various points that speak against this thesis, such as the fact that their son was given the name Pippin , the name of Karl's father , and a letter from Pope Stephen III. , in which he protests against the marriage of Charles and a Lombard princess and reminds both Karl and Karlmann that both are already in permanent marriages. At least in the Pope's opinion, Charles was married. See Silvia Konecny: The women of the Carolingian royal family. The political significance of marriage and the position of women in the Frankish ruling family from the 7th to the 10th century. Vienna 1976, p. 65 and Martina Hartmann : The Queen in the Early Middle Ages. Stuttgart 2009, pp. 90-91.
  4. ↑ Ingrid Heidrich: From Plectrud to Hildegard. Observations on the property rights of noble women in the Franconian Empire of the 7th and 8th centuries and on the political role of women. In: Rheinische Vierteljahresblätter. Vol. 52, 1988, pp. 1-15, here p. 10.
  5. ↑ Reinhard Barth: Charlemagne. Munich 2000, pp. 97-98.
  6. ↑ Matthias Becher: Charlemagne. Munich 1999, p. 108.
  7. ↑ Martina Hartmann: The Queen in the Early Middle Ages. Stuttgart 2009, p. 97.
  8. ↑ Achim Thomas Hack: Age, Illness, Death and Rule in the Early Middle Ages. Stuttgart 2009, p. 51.
  9. ↑ Martina Hartmann: The Queen in the Early Middle Ages. Stuttgart 2009, p. 100.
  10. ↑ Wilfried Hartmann: Charlemagne. Stuttgart 2010, pp. 50-51.
  11. ↑ Klaus Schreiner: "Hildegardis regina". Reality and legend of a Carolingian ruler. In: Archives for cultural history. Vol. 57, 1975, pp. 1-70, here p. 10.
  12. ↑ Klaus Schreiner: "Hildegardis regina". Reality and legend of a Carolingian ruler. In: Archives for cultural history. Vol. 57, 1975, pp. 1-70, here p. 8.
  13. ↑ Rosamond McKitterick: Charlemagne. Darmstadt 2008, p. 91.
  14. ↑ Klaus Schreiner: "Hildegardis regina". Reality and legend of a Carolingian ruler. In: Archives for cultural history. Vol. 57, 1975, pp. 1-70, here pp. 9-10.
  15. ↑ Silvia Konecny: The women of the Carolingian royal family. The political significance of marriage and the position of women in the Frankish ruling family from the 7th to the 10th century. Vienna 1976, p. 65.
  16. ↑ Klaus Schreiner: "Hildegardis regina". Reality and legend of a Carolingian ruler. In: Archives for cultural history. Vol. 57, 1975, pp. 1-70, here pp. 4-5. - The "Epitaphium Hildegardis reginae" is printed in Monumenta Germaniae Historica . 5: Antiquities. 1: Poetae Latini medii aevi. 1: Ernst Dümmler : Poetae Latini aevi Carolini. Volume 1. Weismann, Berlin 1881, pp. 58-59 . Cf. Franz Bittner: Studies on the praise of rulers in medieval poetry. Würzburg 1962, pp. 43-44, (Würzburg, Universität, Dissertation, 1961).
  17. ↑ Klaus Schreiner: "Hildegardis regina". Reality and legend of a Carolingian ruler. In: Archives for cultural history. Vol. 57, 1975, pp. 1-70, here pp. 4-5.
  18. ↑ Rosamond McKitterick: Charlemagne. Darmstadt 2008, p. 91.
  19. ↑ Matthias Becher: Charlemagne. Munich 1999, p. 111.
  20. ^ Dates of birth were taken from Rosamond McKitterick: Charlemagne. Darmstadt 2008, p. 92, taken.
  21. ↑ Silvia Konecny: The women of the Carolingian royal family. The political significance of marriage and the position of women in the Frankish ruling family from the 7th to the 10th century. Vienna 1976, p. 65.
  22. ↑ Wilfried Hartmann: Charlemagne. Stuttgart 2010, p. 50.
  23. ↑ Rosamond McKitterick: Charlemagne. Darmstadt 2008, p. 91.
  24. ↑ Wilfried Hartmann: Charlemagne. Stuttgart 2010, p. 50 ff.
  25. ↑ For information on the topoi used and a more precise translation, see Karl Neff: Critical and explanatory edition of the poems of Paulus Diaconus , in Ludwig Traube (Hrsg.): Sources and studies on the Latin philology of the Middle Ages , third volume, fourth booklet, Munich 1908.
predecessor Office Successor
Desiderata Queen of the Franconian Empire
770/771 until April 30, 783 		Fastrada
personal data
SURNAME Hildegard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Blessed Hildegard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of Charlemagne
DATE OF BIRTH 758
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 783
Place of death Diedenhofen