Fredegunde

Queen of Neustria (r. 567-597)

• Born: c. 550
• Birthplace: Possibly Paris, Neustria (now in France)
• Died: 597
• Place of death: Neustria (now in France)

A powerful and active queen, Fredegunde used every means available both to dispose of challengers to her husband’s throne and to destroy her archenemy, Brunhild, Frankish queen of Austrasia.

Early Life

Most of the information about Fredegunde’s (FREH-duh-guhnd-eh) life comes from the Historia Francorum (late sixth century; The History of the Franks, 1927) by Bishop Gregory of Tours. Although Gregory provided much detailed information about Fredegunde once she became queen, little is known specifically about her early life. Born sometime around 550, she was a child during the reign of Chlotar I (r. 511-561), fifth king of the Merovingian Dynasty (early fifth century to 751) in Gaul (now in France).

As the western portions of the late Roman Empire collapsed under the influx of migrating Germanic tribes, the warlords of a tribe known as the Franks established themselves in the former Roman province of Gaul. One of these warlords, Clodio (r. early fifth century), also known as Chlogio, reputedly set himself up as ruler, followed by Merovech (r. early fifth century), for whom the Merovingian Dynasty was named, and who was in turn followed by his son, Childeric (r. 456-481). Both of these early kings expanded the territory under Merovingian control, but it was the most famous of the Merovingian kings, Clovis (r. 481-511), who defeated the Roman general Syagrius in 486 and united most of Gaul under his own rule.

Clovis married a Christian princess named Clotilda, who converted him to Catholic Christianity in 496. Up to this point, the Germanic tribes that settled in the former Roman territories had been either pagans or Arian Christians (who believed that Christ was the highest of created beings, not equal to God the Father, in contrast to Catholic Christianity, which claimed that God the Father and Christ the Son were equal in all things). Because the Romans were Catholic Christians who believed the Arian doctrines to be heresy, the difference in religious beliefs led to considerable tension and conflict between the subjected Romans and their new Germanic overlords. This climate of tension made Clovis’s conversion to Catholic Christianity a significant event, for his nobles followed his lead, and soon other Germanic kings began to do the same.

After Clovis’s death in 511, his kingdom was divided among his four sons, Theuderic (r. 511-534), Chlodomer (r. 511-524), Childebert I (r. 511-558) and Chlotar I (r. 511-561), who quarreled endlessly with each other. Chlotar I became the sole ruler of a reunited kingdom after Childebert’s death in 558. On his own death, Chlotar’s kingdom was again divided among his own sons, Charibert (r. 561-567), Guntram (r. 561-593), Sigibert (r. 561-575), and Chilperic I (r. 561-584). The four brothers did not peacefully coexist but rather fought with each other as each attempted to gain control over the whole area of Chlotar I’s kingdom. Charibert died first, and the land over which he ruled was divided among the remaining brothers, but they continued to fight with each other over the divisions of their father’s kingdom.

In this climate of political unrest, Fredegunde, a serving-woman, won the notice of Chilperic I and became one of his wives. Chilperic “put away” his first wife, Audovera, Fredegunde, and his other wives in order to marry Galswinth, the sister of Sigibert’s wife, Brunhild. Allegedly at Fredegunde’s instigation, Chilperic had Galswinth garroted to death in 567, after which he took Fredegunde back as his wife.

Life’s Work

After the murder of her sister, Galswinth, Brunhild became Fredegunde’s implacable enemy. Fredegunde, however, was more than equal to her opposition. In 575, she suborned the murder of Brunhild’s husband and Chilperic’s brother, Sigibert, who had besieged Chilperic and threatened to kill him. By arranging for Sigibert’s murder, Fredegunde preserved her husband and sons from death and struck a serious blow against Brunhild. The kingdom passed on to Sigibert and Brunhild’s son, Childebert II.

Also in 575, Fredegunde bore a son to Chilperic, named Samson, who soon died. Chilperic’s oldest son, Theudebert (whose mother was Audovera, Chilperic’s first wife), died in battle. He was survived by two other sons of Audovera and Chilperic, Merovech and Clovis, who stood in line to inherit Chilperic’s kingdom before any of Fredegunde’s sons.

Merovech scandalized many by marrying Fredegunde’s enemy, Brunhild, after the death of Sigibert. Such a move further threatened any chance that Fredegunde’s own sons might have to inherit their father’s throne. Accordingly, in 577, Fredegunde plotted with one of Sigibert’s former military leaders to ambush Merovech. This ambush failed and Merovech escaped, only to be taken in a second ambush in 578. Surrounded by his stepmother’s men, Merovech is reported to have ordered his servant to kill him rather than be taken alive. The servant did as he was ordered, but died a cruel death himself as the punishment for slaying his master. After Merovech’s death, only Clovis remained between Fredegunde’s sons and the throne.

During this same time, Fredegunde bore two more sons to Chilperic, Chlodobert and Dagobert. In 580, the plague swept through Chilperic’s kingdom and both Fredegunde and her two sons fell ill. Fredegunde told Chilperic that the plague was God’s judgment against them for their heavy taxation of their people. She burned the tax registers of her cities and urged Chilperic to do the same in hopes that God would relent and spare the lives of Fredegunde and their sons. No relief came, however, and both boys died, although Fredegunde recovered.

At this time, Fredegunde also turned Chilperic against Clovis, his only remaining son by his former wife, Audovera. Acting on the queen’s suggestion, the king sent Clovis into an area in which the plague still raged, hoping that his son would become one of the victims of the disease. This plan did not work, for Clovis remained healthy and began to boast that he would inherit his father’s kingdom in its entirety. On hearing of these boasts, Fredegunde listened to slanderous accusations against Clovis, tortured his lover and the lover’s mother, and demanded that Chilperic avenge her against Clovis. The young prince was imprisoned, then stabbed to death.

Still in the eventful year of 580, a nobleman named Leudast falsely accused Fredegunde of adultery with a bishop named Bertram. Fredegunde was cleared of the charges, but became a bitter enemy of Leudast. Leudast sought refuge in a church, but was driven from the sanctuary by Fredegunde’s order after he accosted several women. After being driven from his refuge, Leudast fled from the area.

A couple of years later, in 582, Fredegunde bore Chilperic another son, named Theuderic. Once again, the royal couple had an heir to Chilperic’s kingdom. In the following year, Leudast returned to seek Chilperic’s forgiveness for the calumnies he had spread about Fredegunde. Chilperic deferred to Fredegunde, and Leudast threw himself at her feet to beg her forgiveness. Fredegunde, however, did not forgive him. She ordered her men to seize the hapless Leudast, whereupon he was imprisoned and beaten. Fredegunde’s accuser finally met his death by being laid out on his back with a block of wood behind his neck, and then being beaten on the throat with another piece of wood until his windpipe was crushed and he died.

In 584, Fredegunde and Chilperic’s son, Theuderic, died. Fredegunde heard that some of the women of Paris had engaged in witchcraft in order to bring about her son’s death, and so she had many women rounded up, tortured into confessions, and then killed by various means. In addition, she had all of Theuderic’s clothes and belongings burned so that she would have nothing to remind her of the death of her son. Later in that same year, she gave birth to Chlotar II.

Also in this year, Chilperic fell victim to an assassin’s knife after returning from hunting. Chilperic’s nephew, Childebert, son of Sigibert and Brunhild, accused Fredegunde of arranging for Chilperic’s murder, along with the murders of Galswinth, Sigibert, Merovech, and Clovis. Fredegunde, however, sought the protection of Chilperic’s only remaining brother, Guntram, who refused to hand her and her son over to Childebert.

During this same time, Fredegunde and Chilperic’s daughter, Rigunth, departed for Iberia (modern Spain) to marry the Visigothic prince, Recared. Fredegunde loaded Rigunth with a gift of great wealth, apparently from her own resources. On the way, however, her retinue was looted, and Rigunth was held in Toulouse and never made it to her destination in Iberia. Fredegunde sent one of her men to bring Rigunth back from Toulouse. At the same time, she sent an assassin to kill Brunhild, but Brunhild found out about the man’s intentions and had him returned to Fredegunde with his hands and feet cut off.

The next year, 585, Fredegunde again plotted with the king of the Visigoths to assassinate Childebert II and Brunhild. Childebert discovered the plan, but Fredegunde continued with the attempt and it failed. Fredegunde is also suspected of arranging the murder of Praetextatus, bishop of Rouen. As he lay dying, Fredegunde visited him, and he cursed her before breathing his last breaths. One of the leaders of the city confronted Fredegunde with the crime, and she poisoned him.

During the years of Chlotar II’s minority, Fredegunde ruled as regent over his kingdom, under the protection of Chilperic’s brother, Guntram. When Chlotar became deathly ill in 590, Fredegunde donated a large amount of money to the church of Saint Martin and ordered certain war prisoners to be freed in the hope that such deeds would earn divine mercy for her son. Chlotar became so ill that a rumor spread that he had died, but he made a full recovery. In this same year, Fredegunde again plotted the assassination of Childebert II. She sent twelve different men to kill the rival king, but Childebert’s men captured one of the assassins and forced him through torture to reveal the identities and locations of the other eleven.

Fredegunde managed her son’s kingdom until he reached his majority in 597. Her forces battled the army of Childebert II in 595, killing him and leaving the kingdom in the hands of Brunhild, who ruled as regent for Childebert’s two infant sons. Fredegunde’s forces won another decisive battle against Brunhild’s army in 597, but she did not have much opportunity to relish her victory. Fredegunde died peacefully in her sleep in 597.

Significance

Fredegunde’s life illustrates in colorful detail both the wealth and political power that could be wielded by a capable woman in the early Merovingian times. It also depicts the politics of survival by which the kings and sometimes the queens of the Merovingian Dynasty sought to ensure their continued familial power and influence. Fredegunde’s most powerful political moves and her most heinous crimes centered on preserving the lives and the power of her husband and sons and therefore of herself. Despite her humble beginnings, this queen proved herself to be a capable manager of money and of people, retaining the loyalty of the counts in her son’s kingdom while regent, directing their military actions in order to further secure her son’s inheritance, and ruthlessly removing anyone who might challenge her offspring’s right to Chilperic’s crown.

Bibliography

Fletcher, R. A. The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. Looks at the history of the development of Christianity in pagan Europe during the time of Fredegunde.

Gregory of Tours. The History of the Franks. Translated by Lewis Thorpe. New York: Penguin Books, 1974. The most complete source of information about Fredegunde, written by one who knew her personally. The translation reads smoothly, and the text provides an introduction with a historical overview, map, and partial genealogical table of the early Merovingian kings.

MacMullen, Ramsay. Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997. Surveys the relationship between paganism and the Christian world in the time of Fredegunde.

Thierry, Augustin. Tales of the Early Franks: Episodes from Merovingian History. Translated by M. F. O. Jenkins. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1977. Provides a narrative collection of tales about Merovingian kings and queens and major events in early Frankish history.

Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. The Long-Haired Kings and Other Studies in Frankish History. 1962. Reprint. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982. An oft-cited, classic scholarly work on the Frankish kingdoms.

Wood, Ian. The Merovingian Kingdoms 450-751. London: Longman, 1994. The author, one of the foremost scholars on the Merovingian kingdoms, provides a wealth of information on the history of the Merovingians and includes a chapter devoted to Fredegunde, Brunhild, and Radegund.