queenfredegund:MEROVINGIAN REGINAE | Brunehilde Regina († 613)Chief wife of Sigebert I Rex, to whom

queenfredegund:MEROVINGIAN REGINAE | Brunehilde Regina († 613)Chief wife of Sigebert I Rex, to whom she gave two daughters, Ingund II Regina and Chlodosuinda III Regina, and one son, Childebert II Rex, she is probably one of the most powerful women of her time. Although her date of birth remains unknown, we know that she was the youngest daughter of Athanagild of Toledo and his wife Goiswintha, and that she had an older sister, Galswintha Regina. “Nam Galsuintha aetate senior a Brunichilde erat.Galswinth was older than Brunhild.”DLH, IV, 28. Quod Sigiberthus Brunichildem accepitIn 566, she married Sigebert I Rex, and remains his only known consort. As Sigebert’s wife, she may have lived in Mettis (Metz) or Colonia (Cologne), principal civitates of his regnum. “Porro Sigyberthus rex cum videret, quod fratres eius indignas sibimet uxores acciperent et per vilitatem suam etiam ancillas in matrimonio sociarent, legationem in Hispaniam mittit et cum multis muneribus Brunichildem, Athanagilde regis filiam, petiit.King Sigibert observed that his brothers were taking wives who were completely unworthy of them and were so far degrading themselves as to marry their own servants. He therefore sent messengers loaded with gifts to Spain and asked for the hand of Brunhild, the daughter of King Athanagild.”DLH, IV, 27. De uxoribus ChilpericiThe next year, in 567, her sister married too in the Gauls, and became the principal wife of Chilperich I Rex, half-brother of Sigebert. However, the marriage did not last long and Galswintha was found dead in her bed after only one year of marriage.“Quae cum ad Chilpericum regem venisset, cum grande honore suscepta eiusque est sociata coniugio; a quo etiam magno amore diligebatur. Detulerat enim secum magnos thesauros. Sed per amorem Fredegundis, quam prius habuerat, ortum est inter eos grande scandalum. Iam enim in lege catholica conversa fuerat et chrismata. Cumque se regi quaereretur assiduae iniurias, perferre diceretque, nullam se dignitatem cum eodem habere, petiit, ut, relictis thesauris quos secum detulerat, libera redire permitteretur ad patriam. Quod ille per ingenia dissimulans, verbis eam lenibus demulsit. Ad extremum enim suggillari iussit a puero, mortuamque repperit in strato.When [Galswinth] reached the court of King Chilperic, he welcomed her with great honour and made her his wife. He loved her very dearly, for she had brought a large dowry with her. A great quarrel soon ensued between the two of them, however, because he also loved Fredegund, whom he had married before he married Galswinth. Galswinth was converted to the Catholic faith and baptized with the chrism. She never stopped complaining to the King about the insults which she had to endure. According to her he showed no respect for her at all, and she begged that she might be permitted to go back home, even if it meant leaving behind all the treasures which she had brought with her. Chilperic did his best to pacify her with smooth excuses and by denying the truth as convincingly as he could. In the end he had her garrotted by one of his servants and so found her dead in bed.”DLH, IV, 28. De uxoribus ChilpericiAs she was childless, according to the law, all her possessions and properties had to pass to her legal heir, i.e. her sister Brunehilde Regina. As this inheritance would have deprived him of major cities of his regnum, Chilperich I Rex refused Brunehilde’s rights on it, and Sigebert called for a mediation, but the two brothers did not reach an agreement and grew an hostility between them.In 575, due to this common hostility and to several military assaults, Sigebert called a war against his brother and successfully led an army to the west, in the future Neustria. Brunehilde followed him with her children, and was present in Parisius (Paris) when her husband was ultimately killed, perhaps on the orders of Chilperich I Rex who had been forced to retreat in the civitas of Turnaco (Tournai). Taken as a prisoner and deprived of all of her treasuries, she was exiled in Rotomagus (Rouen), separated from her daughters who were send to Meldicus (Meaux), meanwhile her son was taken in charge by nobiles and crowned new rex over Mettis (Metz) at 5. “Igitur interempto Sigybertho rege apud Victuriacum villam, Brunichildis regina cum filiis Parisius resedebat. Quod factum cum ad eam perlatum fuisset et, conturbata dolore ac lucto, quid ageret ignoraret, Gundovaldus dux adpraehensum Childeberthum, filium eius parvolum, furtim abstulit ereptumque ab immenente morte, collectisque gentibus super quas pater eius regnum tenuerat, regem instituit, vix lustro aetatis uno iam peracto. Qui die dominici natalis regnare coepit. Anno igitur primo regni eius Chilpericus rex Parisius venit adpraehensamque Brunichildem apud Rodomaginsem civitatem in exilio trusit thesaurisque eius, quos Parisius detulerat, abstulit; filias vero eius Meledus urbe tenire praecipit.At the moment when King Sigibert was killed in Vitry, Queen Brunhild was in residence with her children in Paris. When the news was announced to her, she was prostrate with anguish and grief, and she hardly knew what she was doing. Duke Gundovald took charge of her little son Childebert and removed him from her in secret, snatching him from certain death. Gundovald assembled the people over whom Sigibert had reigned and proclaimed Childebert King, although he was barely five years old. Childebert began to reign on Christmas Day. In the first year of Childebert’s rule, King Chilperic came to Paris, seized hold of Brunhild, banished her to the city of Rouen and took possession of the treasure which she had brought to Paris. He ordered her daughters to be held in custody in Meaux.”DLH, V, 1. De Childeberthi iunioris regno et matre eiusDuring her captivity, she was visited by Merovech Rex, son of Chilperich I Rex, who then married her with the help of his godfather, Bishop Praetextatus, perhaps in order to strengthen his own power; Brunehilde’s consent on this matter is unknown, and it is probable that she was actually married by force rather than falling in love with a young man, as some scholars want to see it… However, since they were aunt and nephew, the marriage was contrary to the canon law, and Chilperich rapidly intervened to separate them: Merovech was tonsured to nullify the ceremony, and Brunehilde sent away with her daughters to reunite with her son, in Austrasia.She then sought the regency on behalf of her son, even if she had to face the strong disapprobation of the nobiles, mostly the powerful Gogo. From 576 to 583, she nonetheless personified the true power in Austrasia, building up political alliances, such as with her brother-in-law Guntchramn Rex or with Hispania through the marriage of her daughter Ingund II Regina to prince Hermenegild, and was known as an excellent administrative reformer. She also had to face some opposition against her, such as the conspiration led in 587 by three nobiles, Rauchingus, Ursio and Berthefredus, who tried to assassinate her and Childebert. As the regina-mother, she seemed to maintain herself within in her family, as she had a devoted (and perhaps low-ranking) daughter-in-law, Faileuba Regina, who never tried to challenge her superiority.In 587 again, she attended with her daughter Chlodosuinda III Regina and Faileuba Regina, to the Treaty of Andelao (Andelot), where Childebert and Guntchramn agreed on Guntchramn’s succession and the future of the women when they both would be dead: she was reaffirmed in her own rights as the heir of her sister and as the mother of the rex. She also initiated a correspondence with both byzantine emperors and pope Gregorius, and personally intervene when her daughter Ingund II had to fled the Hispania and tried her best to take her home with her child, however in vain.Upon the death of her son in 596, she pursued her ruling by being appointed regent again on behalf of her two grandsons, Theodorich II Rex, rex over Burgundia, and Theodebert II Rex, rex over Austrasia. But she started to find resistance in the person of her granddaughter-in-law, Bilichildis I Regina, a former slave-girl she had trained. With new opposition from the nobiles, she was forced in 599 to retire from Austrasia, where she was actually living, and joined Theodorich in Burgundia with her granddaughter, Theodelina Regina. “Eo anno Brunechildis ab Austrasies eiecta est et in Arciacinsem campaniam a quidam homini paupero singula reperitur. Secundum eius peticionem ipsam ad Teuderico perduxit. Teudericus aviam suam Brunechildem libetner recipiens gloriose honrat.This year, Brunhild was driven out by the Austrasians. A poor man meets her, all alone, near Arcis in Champagne. In accordance with her wishes, he led her to Theuderic. Theuderic welcomes his grandmother Brunhild and covers her with honor.”Chron, IV, 19. De Brunechilde, qualiter de Auster est egectaShe quickly became a prominent figure of Theodorich’s immediate entourage, and dominated his inner-court, even avoiding, according to the sources, the consumption of his marriage with the wisigothic princess, Ermenberga.With her new advisor, Protadius, she started to form a faction waging war against Chlothacar II Rex, who was actually growing in importance, and tried to maintain diplomatic relationship with Theodebert II Rex and Bilichildis, with whom she entertained a regular correspondence. She was an important religious builder with three major foundations in Augustodunum (Autun), even if she also had troubles with religious men, especially with Colombanus who accused her great-grandchildren of being bastards because they were born from concubines and not from a wedded wife. In 613, after the death of Theodorich II Rex, and in absence of a powerful mother to claim the guardianship, she became regent for the third time, for her great-grandson, Sigebert II Rex, still a child. But Warnacharius II, Maior Palatii of Burgundia, alongside Pippin I and Arnulf of Mettis, resentful towards her, abandoned her cause and joined Chlothacar II Rex that they recognized as the rightful leader of the Franks.Betrayed by the rest of her leading nobiles, she fled with Theodelina, but they were arrested and delivered in Rionava (Renève) to Chlothacar, who accused her of the murders of ten reges and then sentenced her to death with her young great-grandsons. She was tortured and humiliated in front of the whole army, then tied by foot and hair to a wild horse and torn apart. The remains of her body were burnt and the ashes buried in the Abbey of Saint-Martin d’Autun that she had founded in 602.“Factionem Warnachariae maioris domus cum reliquis maxime totis procerebus de regnum Burgundiae Brunechildis ab Erpone comestaboli de pago Vltraiorano ex uilla Orba una cum Theudilanae germana Theuderici producitur et Chlothario Rionaua uico super Vincenna  fluuio presentatur. […] Chlotharius, cum Brunechildis suum presentatur conspectum et odium contra ipsam nimium haberit, repotans ei eo quod decem reges Francorum per ipsam interfecti fuissent - id est Sigybertus et Meroeus et genitor suos Chilpericus, Theudebertus et filius suos Chlotharius, item Meroeus filius Chlothariae, Theudericus et eiusdem filiae tres, qui ad presens estincti fuerant - per triduo eam diuersis tormentis adfectam, iobetque eam prius camillum per omne exercito sedentem perducere, post haec comam capitis, unum pedem et brachium ad ueciosissemum aequum caudam legare: ibique calcibus et uelocitate cursus membratim disrumpetur..Following the maneuvers of Warnacharius, the mayor of the palace, and of almost all the other great men of the kingdom of Burgundy, Brunhild, at the same time as Theodelane, Theuderic’s sister, was led out of the domain of Orbe by the count Herpo in the district of Jura and was presented to Clothar in the village of Renève, on the Vingeanne. […] Clothar, before whom Brunhild is presented and who harbored a lively hatred towards him, imputes to her the murder of ten kings, namely Sigebert and Merovech, as well as their father Chilperic, Theudebert and his son Clothar, a another Merovech, Clothar’s son, Theuderic and his three sons, who had just been killed. After having inflicted various torments on her for three days, he ordered that she be led through the whole army perched on a camel, then tied by the hair, a foot and an arm to the tail of a particularly fiery horse. Then she was tied to the feet of wild horses and torn apart limb from limb.”Chron, IV, 42. De quod Chlotarius regnum Burgundiae et Auster recipit et filius Teuderici occisit -- source link

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