Galswintha

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## Early Life

Galswintha was born in 540, the first of two daughters of Athanagild, King of Hispania and Septimania, and his wife Goiswintha. She lived in the capital Toledo with her younger sister Brunhilda, but not much else is known of her life before marriage. Her father became king when she was about fourteen, and she and her sister were educated in the Arian faith as the Visigoths held out longer than the Franks when it came to the switch to Catholicism.

It is interesting to note that she was not in a great position from the start. She did grow up with money and privilege as the daughter of a king but it was likely that her parents were disappointed that she was not a boy who could be an heir. Athanagild's position as king of Visigoth's had been hard won and came at the price of a battle against the former king, Agila I. The former king had not been popular and his reign had been marked by open revolts led by Visigothic nobles. Although Athanagild had been the victorious one, that did not mean that there were not others waiting in the wings for an opportunity to do the same. A son would have helped him to secure an heir and begin a hereditary dynasty, bringing stability to his reign and the region. Because he had only two daughters it is possible that he hoped that marital alliances with the Frankish nobility would help to legitimize his status and possibly bring about grandchildren who could serve as heirs. Side note: although none of his grandsons, none of whom were Galswintha's, did not enter into his line of succession, his granddaughter Ingund did marry back into the Visigothic royal line and was instrumental in the switch from Arianism to Catholicism.

It is unusual that she was not married to make an alliance until she was 27, after her younger sister had been married. The sources do not say anything about why (Lack of money for morgengabe? Unwillingness on the part of her or her parents? Instability caused by war [is it possible that there was a lack of options? Were the Franks their only/best option?]? Did she have some sort of disability that would have rendered her an undesirable option [seems like GoT would have mentioned that though, since he went into detail about the problems she had in Neustria and it is likely that Chilperic would have used something like that as an excuse to get rid of her]?), which could mean that it was not seen as surprising at this point as it would be when the European monarchies. One point in favor of that is that Charlemagne forbade the marriage of any of his daughters, but that was 300 years later. On the other hand her niece Ingund was engaged to Galswintha's posthumous step-brother Hermenegild when she was only ten and her husband's future daughter Rigunth was about fourteen when she was engaged to her other step-brother Recared. It is also worth noting that although Merovingian kings marrying outside of the noble class was the norm, Chilperic and Sigebert's own father Chlothar I did marry Radegund, who was the daughter of a king. This marriage did not work out at all though, so maybe that had something to do with the policy? Both of their mothers happened to be her cousins though (they were sisters themselves).

## Marriage

After Sigebert of Austrasia arranged a marriage to her sister in 567 his brother Chilperic of Neustria sought her hand. Her sister's marriage and Chilperic's subsequent proposal served as a departure from traditional Merovingian marriage practices in which the kings tended to marry low-born women and practiced polygamy. It is not considered to be coincidence, nor was it at the time, that Chilperic decided to marry a noblewoman only after his older brother did. GoT even comes out and says that his motivation was to have a wife of equal standing with his brother. Galswintha was not happy about the idea, since the Visigoths tended to look down on the Franks, considering them barbarians, but, perhaps for the reasons mentioned above, Athanagild insisted. As part of the marriage arrangement Galswintha was to convert to Catholicism as Brunhilda had and Chilperic was to give up all of his other wives. In exchange for her extensive dowry, Chilperic gave her a morgengabe of the towns of Limoges, Bordeaux, Cahors, Bearn, Bigorre as a gift. By giving her the cities, it was meant that the taxes from these towns went to her rather than the royal treasury.

The marriage, which only lasted a year, was happy at the beginning (the money she brought with her probably helped), but soon turned sour. Galswintha had deep misgivings about the conversion from Arianism to Chalcedonian Christianity, considering the state of her soul to be a bigger concern than her marriage to a barbarian king, and Chilperic might have gotten rid of his other wives and concubines but Fredegund stuck around. Galswintha attempted to convince Chilperic to annul the marriage and send her back to Spain but he would not hear of it. It is possible that despite her insistence that he could keep the money Chilperic knew that that decision was not up to her. It could mean that Chilperic was unwilling to risk such a tenuous alliance with a long-term enemy.

Whatever the reason, shortly after this argument Galswintha was found strangled in her bed. It is generally accepted that Chilperic and/or Fredegund were responsible, a rumor that they did not help assuage when they married mere days after her death.

## Legacy

Sadly, most of Galswintha's historical importance is tied to her death rather than her life. Although she was only queen for about a year, her marriage fundamentally altered the politics of the Merovingian dynasty. While Chilperic and Fredegund just went on with their lives as if they had not murdered someone just to be together, the rest of his family was not happy. Unsurprisingly Brunhilda was the most upset by the murder of her sister and sought revenge supported by her husband. The Brothers Merovingian were in general not happy with Chilperic. The feud between Brunhilda and Fredegund sparked by her death lasted for forty years and claimed the lives of several royal family members. The Brothers Merovingian went back and forth on who they supported depending on the issue. The family peace-maker, Guntram of Burgundy, ended up involved in the succession of both Austrasia and Neustria, eventually coming to an agreement to combine Burgundy and Austrasia. In a move that we can assume Fredegund was not happy about, the lands that Chilperic had gifted Galswintha upon their marriage went to her sister Brunhilda rather than Chilperic and by extension her.