Nantechild

Nantechild (also Nanthild ) († 642 ) was a Saxon woman at the Austrasian court, who was first wife and widow of a king in the 7th century and then queen mother and regent of his son.

Life

The Merovingian king Dagobert I took her as his wife in 629 after he had cast out his previous wife Gomatrud . In 634 their son, Clovis II, was born. In 639 Dagobert I died. Clovis II became king of Neustria-Burgundy .

The reign was taken over by the house keeper Aegas and Queen Nanthild. The royal treasure of Dagobert I was divided into three parts: Sigibert III. , Clovis II and Nanthild each received a part - Nanthild's importance as regent was thus emphasized.

When Aega's son-in-law committed murder in court in 641, Nanthild authorized the victim's family to revenge.

In 642, the year she died, Nanthild convinced the Burgundians to reintroduce the office of housekeeper. She also seemed to have filled this position with one of her loyal followers, the Franconian Flaochad . To strengthen the bond between Flaochad and Nanthild, he married the niece of the regent. With the establishment of the caretaker's office in Burgundy, Nanthild tried to achieve a strengthening of the central authority: However, after her death the caretaker's office in Burgundy could not last long and was united in 662 under the neustrian caretaker Ebroin .

Nantechild was buried in the tomb of the French kings, the Basilica of Saint-Denis . When the royal tombs of Saint-Denis were sacked during the French Revolution , their grave was opened and looted on October 19, 1793, and their remains were buried in a mass grave outside the church.

swell

• Chronicarum quae dicuntur Fredegarii scholastici liber IV . (MGH SS rer. Mer. II 1888, ND 1984).

literature

• Patrick J. Geary : The Merovingians. Europe before Charlemagne . Munich 1996.
• Ian Wood: The Merovingian Kingdoms . 450-751. London 1994.