Waldelenus

Waldelenus , also Waldhelm or Wandalenus (* around 531 ; † around 615 in Besançon ), was a Gallo-Roman nobleman and in the Merovingian period Dux the Pagi Ultrajoranus and Scodingorum in today's Swiss-French-German border area.

Life

Origin and family

Waldelenus came from a Gallo-Roman family in northern Burgundy , which was particularly wealthy in the area around Besançon . Waldelenus and his wife Aelia Flavia had several children who later held high administrative or clerical offices, thus promoting the family's far-reaching political interests: their eldest son Donatus was Archbishop of Besançon from 625 to 660 and was canonized after his death, their second son Chramnelenus succeeded his father as Duke , her daughter Sirudis later worked as the first abbess in the convent Jussamoutier in Besançon and another daughter, Aquilina, married Amalgar , the Dux des Pagus Attoriensis .

Dux and Hausmeier

It is documented that Waldelenus already held the office of Dux des Ducat Transjuranien before the reign of Childebert II - he belonged to the group of Franconian-Burgundian nobles who, in the turmoil of the Merovingian Brotherly War, after the disempowerment of Queen Brunichild, the reign of their underage Son Childebert II in Austrasia . In 581, after the death of the house master Gogo , Waldelenus was appointed to the Austrasian court in Metz as his successor and held this office until 583. Waldelenus survived the violent overthrow by the Austrasian army and Brunichild's renewed takeover of power and returned to Besançon that same year back.

Support to the Colombian Mission

Waldelenus is of particular historical importance as an influential promoter of the missionary work of Columban , which contributed decisively to the Christianization of the areas north of the Alps. Both men shared a deep friendship, as the Vita Columbani of Jonas von Bobbio reports - Columban took over the sponsorship of Donatus, the Duke's eldest son.

Around the year 590, Columban received from Waldelenus permission to found a monastery in Luxeuil in his ducat . Starting from Luxeuil with the rule of the order created by Columban, there was a movement to found monasteries in the rural regions throughout the Franconian Empire , which, in contrast to the cities that had already been Christianized under Roman rule, were mainly still based on pagan traditions. With the help of the extensive relationships of Waldelenus, a movement supported by the Franconian nobility emerged, which founded around 300 new monasteries in the Franconian Empire in the 7th century. The family's influence on the Colombian mission increased considerably in the years and decades that followed, as two direct relatives of Waldelenus, Eustasius and Waldebert, succeeded Columban as abbots of the Luxeuil monastery.

Saint Paul Abbey

Aftermath

Waldelenus died around the year 615 and was buried in the Abbey of Saint Paul in Besançon, which his son Donatus founded. Research generally assumes that Waldelenus is to be regarded as the founder and first representative of the Franconian aristocratic clan of the Waltriche , which rose to one of the most influential families in the Franconian Empire in the following two centuries, especially during the Carolingian reign . Through a clever marriage policy, Waldelenus and his descendants succeeded in integrating the Gallo-Roman family into the Germanic-Franconian power structure and establishing a network of political connections that would extend from Bavaria to Provence .

literature

• Gérard Moyse: La Bourgogne septentrionale et particulièrement le diocèse de Besançon. In: Joachim Werner , Eugen Ewig (Ed.): From late antiquity to the early Middle Ages. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1979, ISBN 978-3-7995-6625-4 .
• Yaniv Fox: Power and Religion in Merovingian Gaul: Columbanian Monasticism and the Formation of the Frankish Aristocracy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2014, ISBN 978-1-107-58764-9 .
• Jonas von Bobbio : Life of the Columban. In: Karl Suso Frank (ed.): Life of the Columban. Life of Gallus / Wetti (= monk life. Volume 3). EOS, Sankt Ottilien 2011, ISBN 978-3-8306-7489-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Marilyn Dunn: The Emergence of Monasticism. From the Desert Fathers to the Early Middle Ages. Blackwell, Oxford 2003, ISBN 978-1-405-10641-2 , p. 161.