Fredegund

### Title(s)

Queen of Neustria, Wicked Stepmother (Basina, Clovis, Merovech), Side Piece (Chilperic I), That Murderous Bitch (Brunhilda, Audovera), Cheap Ho (Gregory of Tours)

### Issue

Samson, Rigunth, Chlodobert, Dagobert, Theuderic, Chlothar II

## Origins

Little is known of her origins. She was a servant of Audovera while she was queen, and it is unlikely that an unknown servant would have as much access to royal family events if she was a simple servant, but her daughter Rigunth did refer to her as a servant/slave (translation unclear) during an argument, so it is possible that she was originally a servant. Could it be possible that she was just a regular servant who caught Chilperic's eye and he then installed her as his wife's servant so that she could be close? Audovera clearly trusted her, but we have no indication of her intelligence so it is impossible to tell the degree to which this was due to naivete or betrayal.

## Pre-Marriage

She, unlike the child's father, was present at the baptism of Audovera and Chilperic's daughter Childesinda in 567. Fredegund learned of an obscure canon law that forbade the marriage of parents and godparents, something of which Audovera was not aware. At the baptism Fredegund arranged events so that an unsuspecting Audovera received the child from the priest, a role which was set for a godparent. If you apply the law as strictly as possible, this would mean that Audovera was both the mother and godmother of Childesinda, thereby breaking the canon law as the wife of the child's father. When Chilperic returned Fredegund told about what happened he repudiated her "in a rage," but considering that the canon law was not well known and was only broken as a technicality, it is likely that this was an excuse to get rid of his wife and have an open relationship with Fredegund. Audovera and Childesinda were sent to a nunnery near Rouen where they lived until they became inconvenient for Fredegund.

The situation made it likely that Fredegund would shortly reach her ambition of becoming queen, but that same year Chilperic's brother Sigebert married one of the daughters of the Visigothic king Athanagild, Brunhilda. Chilperic felt that this would make his marriage look bad, like he was marrying beneath his station, so he quickly arranged a marriage with Brunhilda's older sister Galswintha. This is an early instance of intermarriage between German and Iberian dynasties, but marrying within station was not yet considered to be compulsory. Although the marriage started off happily, likely due to the dowry that came with Galswintha, Chilperic's relationship with Fredegund continued. Problems soon rose within the marriage over differences in Christian sects. The Visigoth's had been converted to Arianism, while the Franks had been converted to the Chalcedonian view. It was considered unacceptable for the Frankish queen to be Arian, so both sisters officially converted before marriage. Brunhilda seems to have been content with this decision, but Galswintha had moral issues with the conversion. This, combined with her distaste with Fredegund's place in the king's life prompted Galswintha to beg Chilperic to annul the marriage and send her home to Toledo. This was not an option in Chilperic's mind because he would have had to give up the wealth that came with the marriage. Shortly after these issues arose Galswintha was found strangled in her bed. Although it is not proven, it is widely (and logically) believed that Chilperic and Fredegund were behind her death, something which they did not try to too hard to deny. They were married a few days later. Chilperic's brothers were scandalized at his brazen actions and began to make moves on his lands in an act of both censure and greed.

## Feud with Brunhilda

Brunhilda was understandably furious that Chilperic and Fredegund had so openly killed her sister. She did not bother to hide her hatred, which Fredegund readily returned. This feud would last the rest of Fredegund's life and would lead to Brunhilda's death. Since the death of their father Chlothar I, Chilperic had been at odds with his brothers. It is fair to note that all of the brothers with the exception of Chilperic shared a mother, which could have had an effect on family dynamics. It is also fair to point out though that Chilperic was less content to stay within the bounds of his inherited lands than his brothers. Because of this uneasy history it was not difficult for Brunhilda to get Sigebert on board with going to war. While the other brothers were a bit more reticent they were also alarmed because of the way that such a bold act of violence would look like beyond their borders. The Franks were at the time setting up an ultimately successful bid to take on the prestige and power of the Roman empire as it continued its slow decline. While the Romans never would have shied away from murder, the Vatican would have been much less approving and they were increasingly the real power in Rome. Any fledgling empire would need their approval to succeed, which was a distinct advantage the Franks had over the Visigoths given that they accepted the same sect of Christianity as Rome and the Pope.

Interestingly, there does not appear to be any recrimination from Galswintha's family apart from Brunhilda. This is likely because their father, Athanagild, died shortly before Galswintha was murdered. Because he did not have any sons, this put Hispania and Septimania into temporary turmoil. Their mother Goiswintha had to concentrate on securing her own place in the new order and would likely not have the resources to retaliate should she even want to. Brunhilda had no such constraints and used all her resources to wage a war that would last forty years, well beyond the death of all other major players in the event.

Neither Fredegund nor Brunhilda even pretended that their fight was not about the death of Galswintha. Their husbands and society as a whole did not seem to see anything unusual about this. Could this be connected to the retaliatory laws of the Salian Franks? The queens were even said to lead armies themselves, as in the Battle of Droizy in which Brunhilda's classic Roman tactics came up against Fredegund's more guerilla-like tactics. It is generally accepted that Fredegund ordered the assassination of Sigebert in 575, as it was during a time when the war was going in favor of the Austrasians.

Chronical of spy shit to be added.

## Motherhood and Step-motherhood

Much of Fredegund's story revolves around her relationship's with her children and step-children. Upon her marriage to Chilperic I in 567 Fredegund became the step-mother of his children Theudebert, Merovech, Clovis, Basina, and Childesinda. It is likely that Theudebert was considered to be an adult at this time and known that Childesinda was banished with her mother shortly before the marriage, but the other children were likely under her control to some extent. It would be interesting to speculate regarding their relationship with their father's new wife, especially given the likelihood that they knew her during the marriage of their parents and were aware of her role in its dissolution, but it would not be historically responsible. Gregory's narrative in Historia Francorum seems to take it for granted that the relationship was openly acrimonious.

Fredegund's relationship with her own children was also troubled. Her power in her marriage, court, and society was largely dependent on providing her husband with sons, which was complicated by the fact that he already had three at the time of their marriage. One can imagine, but not prove, that this means that she was not necessarily happy at the birth of their first child, a daughter named Rigunth. Despite this start, Fredegund and Chilperic would go on to have five sons. She managed to have several successful pregnancies: Rigunth (c. 569), Chlodobert (c. 570/72), Samson (c. 573), Dagobert (c. 579/80), Theuderic (c. 582), and Chlothar II (before 584). Of these children only Rigunth and Chlothar II would survive into adulthood. Their third child Samson became seriously ill during an epidemic; fearful that he would pass the sickness onto her, Fredegund sent the child away to die. Even Chilperic, who has not proven to be a good father thus far, was upset by this, mostly because Samson had not been baptized. Because of this Fredegund relented long enough to have the child baptized before he died in 577.

The year 580 brought massive change to the family dynamics. At this point Chilperic had one surviving son from his first marriage and three from his marriage to Fredegund, in addition to two daughters from his marriage to Audovera and one from his marriage to Fredegund. His oldest son by Audovera, Theudebert, died in battle on behalf of his father in 575, his second son with Audovera, Merovech died by assisted suicide in 577, and his second son by Fredegund, Samson, had died of illness in early childhood. All of this meant that Fredegund was in a pretty good position regarding inheritance, despite Chilperic having two sons from his first marriage still. That was until an epidemic of dysentery occurred in the Gallic region, which killed her oldest son Theuderic and his younger brother Dagobert. Fredegund took this as a sign that God was displeased with her for her past sins and burned tax records that she felt could be unjust in an effort to save the children. When this was unsuccessful she made a large donation to churches and the poor in hopes to atone for her sins. It can be noted that after this act of penance no more of her children died.

The deaths of her children seems to have engendered a need to secure her own children as heirs above her step-children. She attempted to get rid of Clovis by sending him to Berny where the plague was particularly bad in the hopes that he would get infected and die. When this did not work she engineered a plot to make it look like Clovis was planning on attempting a coup. Chilperic was sufficiently convinced and ordered Clovis to be executed. At roughly the same time Fredegund made moves on most of the rest of the original family. She sent assassins to kill Audovera and Childesinda at the convent where they had lived since the repudiation, presumably to prevent any complications arising from that quarter. She also had her remaining step-daughter Basina raped by her soldiers, thereby dishonoring her. This meant that she was considered, insanely, to be spoiled good and therefore unmarriageable, rendering her effectively useless to her father. She was sent to a convent as her mother had been, although she did not live there nearly as quietly.

## Chilperic's Death and Aftermath

Fredegund began the 580s with every reason to be optimistic regarding her consolidation of power, but that changed quickly. In 584 her husband Chilperic was stabbed by an unknown attacker on his way back from a hunting trip and died. It is speculated that this was done on the order of Brunhilda, which would have been fair, but there is no proof. It is interesting to note that both women were implicated in the killing of the other's husband but neither appeared to feel the need to deny it. Fredegund's situation immediately became precarious. Due to her past machinations Chilperic's only surviving heir was the infant Chlothar II. General practice would be to place a regent in place until the heir was old enough to take charge and the mother would be considered an acceptable choice. Fredegund, however, had made a powerful enemy in Brunhilda, who had several advantages that she did not. Unlike Fredegund, Brunhilda was of royal birth rather than the servant class, which automatically afforded her more respect and gave her connections back in Hispania and Septimania. Also unlike Fredegund, Brunhilda had a regency already set up for her son Childebert II who would formally take power the following year. In addition to the grudge that Brunhilda had held for the death of her sister, Fredegund was also commonly blamed for the death of her husband Sigebert and she had been under constant threat from Fredegund and Chilperic during her own son's regency. Brunhilda had little to no reason to hold back on taking lands from Neustria on behalf of Austrasia. Towns began to take sides with either Neustria or Austrasia and some but not all nobles and important figures abandoned Fredegund. She did manage to keep some key generals and control of the treasury, which helped her when Childebert II, the son of Brunhilda and Sigebert and current king of Austrasia, openly considered an invasion. He attempted to enter Paris, but Guntram was ahead of him and stepped in to start negotiations with him and Brunhilda on behalf of Chlothar II.

There were several accusations that Fredegund had to contend with. Brunhilda claimed that she was guilty of assassinating Sigebert I, Clovis, and Chilperic I. The first two are likely but she would have had very little to gain from Chilperic's death as he was the source of her power and it is likely that his recent death was just tacked on to her list of sins. More potentially damaging were the accusations that Chlothar may not actually be Chilperic's child. It is unclear how credible these rumors were, but Guntram convened a Greater Neustrian meeting where the court decided to accept the child as king. In the meantime Brunhilda and Childebert were still working to convince cities to come to their side and were successful in some cases simply because of Fredegund's behavior to inhabitants and officials in the past. Important clerical figures Gregory of Tours and Venantius Fortunatus, who are interestingly the main sources of information on this time period, helped to sway some cities to the Austrasian side but the generals who had stayed loyal to Fredegund were able to bring cities back under Neustrian control. Guntram' s main goal during this time appears to have been to restore order and prevent further war, which would ultimately be a futile effort. In pursuit of this goal he reappointed and restructured several church offices and even reinstated some who had been exiled in the past by Chilperic. He also sent forces to bring the influential cities of Limoges, Tours, and Paris back into Neustria.

While was working to secure his and Chlothar's position he sent Fredegund away to live in exile near Rouen under the watch of the bishop Praetextatus, likely to keep her influence out of the situation. This did not last very long though, as Praetextatus just so happened to be stabbed in Sunday mass during a time when Guntram was distracted by his own interests in Septimania. Although Fredegund immediately offered her physicians to him, but they were unable to save him and he openly accused her of being behind the plot before dying. Now free from his constraints Fredegund escaped Rouen and began to gather nobles and clergy to support her in her bid to act as regent for her son. She was reinstated to her position, but the situation was still unsteady. The Neustrian court was split into factions rallying behind Fredegund and Guntram. While he was able to capture some towns on the Neustrian border with his territory he was unable to unseat her. Fredegund attempted to negotiate peace but Guntram arrested her ambassadors, cut off ties, and went to make a new alliance with Brunhilda and Childebert. They entered into the Pact of Andelot in which they agreed that when one of the kings died the other would take over both territories of Austrasia and Burgundy as one. This came to pass in 592 with the death of Guntram, but would not outlast the death of Childebert a few years later in 595. Fredegund formally took over the regency for her son and to her credit did make sure that he was seen as a position of authority, as when she had him placed at the head of the Neustrian army during the Battle of Droizy. In reality she was in charge of the troops during that battle and led them to victory. She died of natural causes in 597 leaving Chlothar to take charge of the kingdom.

## Rigunth

As previously covered, Fredegund had a complicated relationship with her children, both natural and step. Shortly before the death of her father, Rigunth had been betrothed to Recared, the son of the current king of the Visigoths. Interestingly, this would have put her in the position of daughter-in-law to Goiswintha, the mother of Brunhilda and the murdered Galswintha. It impossible to tell how that would have worked out as the marriage never took place.

Rigunth was sent off to Toledo with a convoy of nobles and servants and a large dowry. When Chilperic saw the large amount of treasure being given away he was angry at Fredegund because he feared that she had plundered the treasury, but she was actually able to assure him that this vast amount of wealth was her own. She likely managed to amass her wealth from the taxes of towns she had received in her morgengabe. Before Rigunth's convoy was able to reach their destination word reached them of Chilperic's death. The soldiers and retainers who were with her plundered the dowry and fled. With the help of some faithful individuals Rigunth was able to make it to Toulouse where the Duke Didier took what was remaining. A former Neustrian official travelled to Paris where Fredegund was taking refuge in the cathedral to let her know what had happened to her daughter. Never one to hesitate to shoot a messenger Fredegund flew into a rage and staged a public humiliation for him and his servants who had been on the journey. They were placed in the center of the church where they were chained and beaten before being jailed. Because of Leunurdus' political status she did stop short of killing him, however. Faithful general Desiderius of Aquitaine went to Toulouse to recover what he could of the treasure and Rigunth was safely returned to her mother in 585.

After returning to Neustria Rigunth proceeded to live her life as she pleased, drawing criticism from many. She also openly taunted her mother, declaring that she should be the mistress of the palace instead because she was born a princess and Fredegund had been a simple servant before being elevated by Chilperic. Naturally her mother did not take kindly to this, but she played it cool until she was able to nonchalantly offer Rigunth a chance to look through chests in the treasure room. Here she induced her daughter to lean into a chest, whereupon she closed the lid on Rigunth's neck and attempted to strangle her. Servants rushed in and saved her life.

## Rumors

Much of what the sources tell us about Fredegund could, and maybe should, be considered rumors. Gregory of Tours made no pretense of liking her and it would not have been wise to say anything positive or defend her in the court of Austrasia. Sources at this time are like the classical ones, the chronicler tends to write everything they hear down regardless of if it is fact and are openly influenced by their own agenda and biases.

It is interesting though to see that Gregory of Tours' writing and claims about her were not dismissed outright. If they were too outlandish to believe the other sources (also tied to her opponents) would not have had similar accounts.