Describing the Plague

There were several people writing during the time of the Justinian Plague (540s CE). One was Evagrius Scholasticus (c.536 - 594), a lawyer born in Syria who wrote an enormous history of the Church. In his lifetime he saw the plague return several times:

I will also describe the circumstances of the pestilence which commenced at that period, and has now prevailed and extended over the whole world for fifty-two years; a circumstance such as has never before been recorded. Two years after the capture of Antioch by the Persians, a pestilence broke out, in some respects similar to that described by Thucydides, in others widely different. It took its rise from Aethiopia, as is now reported, and made a circuit of the whole world in succession, leaving, as I suppose, no part of the human race unvisited by the disease.

Evagrius himself caught the plague and survived, but the people around him were not so lucky:

Thus it happened in my own case ...  at the commencement of this calamity I was seized with what are termed buboes, while still a school-boy, and lost by its recurrence at different times several of my children, my wife, and many of my kin, as well as of my domestic and country servants; .... Thus, not quite two years before my writing this, being now in the fifty-eighth year of my age, on its fourth visit to Antioch, at the expiration of the fourth indiction from its commencement, I lost a daughter and her son, besides those who had died previously.

His history would be incomplete if he did not share a description of the disease's effects:

The plague was a complication of diseases: for, in some cases, commencing in the head, and rendering the eyes bloody and the face swollen, it descended into the throat, and then destroyed the patient. In others, there was a flux of the bowels. In others buboes were formed, followed by violent fever, and the sufferers died at the end of two or three days, equally in possession, with the healthy, of their mental and bodily powers. Others died in a state of delirium, and some by the breaking out of carbuncles. Cases occurred where persons, who had been attacked once and twice and had recovered, died by a subsequent seizure.

The spread of the disease was unpredictable, even for those who wanted to contract it:

The ways in which the disease was communicated were various and unaccountable: for some perished by merely living with the infected, others by only touching them, others by having entered their chamber, others by frequenting public places. Some, having fled from the infected cities, escaped themselves, but imparted the disease to the healthy. Some were altogether free from contagion, though they had associated with many who were afflicted, and had touched many not only in their sickness but also when dead. Some, too, who were desirous of death, on account of the utter loss of their children and friends, and with this view placed themselves as much as possible in contact with the diseased, were nevertheless not infected; as if the pestilence struggled against their purpose.

One of the most detailed accounts came from Procopius, who was an adult when the plague first arrived. We'll take a look at him and it tomorrow.

The Plague of Justinian

Long, long ago I made a brief mention of the Plague of Justinian, and I've made many posts dealing with the Bubonic Plague, the Black Death, and Yersinia pestis. Researchers looking at ancient DNA from victims confirmed that what struck the Eastern Roman Empire during the reign of Justinian was an earlier version of the same plague, eight centuries before its most famous appearance in Europe.

Procopius mentions it in 541, writing that it started at Pelusium, a busy port just east of the Nile delta. Contemporary writers claimed it came to Constantinople on grain ships from Egypt that carried rats. (Egypt was a large exporter of grain to the Roman Empire.) Justinian himself became ill early on, but recovered. 

Procopius claimed that at its height, the plague was killing 10,000 per day; modern scholars agree that it may have been as high as 5,000 per day at its peak. This is an exaggeration, but the following from his Anecdota (also called "Secret History") may not have been:

When pestilence swept through the whole known world and notably the Roman Empire, wiping out most of the farming community and of necessity leaving a trail of desolation in its wake, Justinian showed no mercy towards the ruined freeholders. Even then, he did not refrain from demanding the annual tax, not only the amount at which he assessed each individual, but also the amount for which his deceased neighbors were liable.

(Procopius was not always kind in his assessment of Justinian or the people he kept around him.)

The plague had results that we have seen before: farmers died, grain prices rose. Laborers took advantage of the shortage of workers and demanded higher wages.

Justinian passed laws trying to keep the economy working. In March 542 Justinian wrote a law to prop up the banks, writing that this was amid the "encircling presence of death" that had "spread to every region." In 544 he imposed price and wage controls, writing that the "chastening which has been sent by God’s goodness’ should have made workers ‘better people’ but instead ‘they have turned to avarice." Gold coins were still minted at this time, but they were made with less gold than previously.

Tomorrow I'll share some first-hand accounts of some who lived through it.

Emperor Belisarius

For the sake of ending the Byzantine invasion of Italy to conquer the Ostrogoths and unify the old Western Roman Empire with the Eastern Byzantine Empire, King Vitiges of the Ostrogoths agreed to terms with General Belisarius.

The Goths at Ravenna had little choice: they were running out of supplie. A fire destroyed the granaries inside Ravenna. This may have been sheer accident, but Procopius offers two theories: Vitiges' queen, Matasuntha, may have caused it herself, angry at her forced marriage to Vitiges, or citizens were bribed by Belisarius to cause Ravenna's fall. (There's no evidence for either conspiracy.) Moreover, once of Belisarius' commanders seized grain supply ships headed toward Ravenna and diverted them to Belisarius' troops.

The Byzantine navy was preventing any supplies from reaching Ravenna along the Adriatic coast. Belisarius had succeeded in capturing major towns in northern Italy, so no relief for Ravenna was forthcoming.

Emissaries from Emperor Justinian arrived to be part of the negotiations, with orders to speed up a resolution (the Persians were massing on the Byzantines' eastern front). They were willing to accept an offer made by Vitiges a couple years earlier: allow the Goths to keep the extreme northern parts of Italy and take some treasure as tribute.

Belisarius, however, wanted a complete victory, and refused to sign the treaty. Vitiges worried that there was something wrong with the arrangement and became suspicious. The dragging out of a resolution made the Goths start to question Vitiges' leadership. A plan was formed that seemed acceptable to almost all: all fighting would cease and Ravenna would be opened to the invaders if Belisarius—whom the Goths had come to respect as a war leader and a person—would accept the throne of the Ostrogoths himself.

Everyone agreed to the plan, but Belisarius said he would not accept the rule unless he could do so in the presence of all the Goth nobles. Belisarius sent any of his commanders who were likely to object to this plan in different directions to secure other parts of the country. He also sent ships to bring grain to Ravenna to feed the citizens, further endearing them to the idea of his rule.

Ravenna opened its gates to Belisarius and the Byzantine force in May 340. With the Byzantines inside the gates, and no chance of the Goths to defend Ravenna, Belisarius reneged on the deal, refused the crown offered to him (see illustration), and claimed Ravenna as part of the Byzantine Empire.

That summer, Belisarius returned to Constantinople with Vitiges as hostage and the treasury of Ravenna. Justinian, because of the rumors of Belisarius almost accepting the crown, did not grant his general a parade in his honor, which would have been the typical reward for a successful campaign.

Still, things were looking up for Justinian: Italy was under his rule, and the army was free to go to the eastern front and brace for Persian attack. Then, in 541, an uncontrollable problem struck, and ran through the empire for years.

Tomorrow we'll learn about the Plague of Justinian.

The Siege of Ravenna

Ravenna, in the far north coast of Italy on the Adriatic, was the capital city of the Ostrogoths. Capturing it could bring the Gothic Wars to a happy conclusion for the Byzantines, whose emperor, Justinian, wanted to reunite the Western and Eastern halves of the old Roman Empire, with him as the ruler.

General Belisarius also needed a victory, especially after the disaster in Mediolanum (Milan). At least that outcome caused the recall of General Narses to Constantinople, so Belisarius no longer had an influential man disagreeing with strategy and dividing the army's loyalty.

Two important cities on the way to Ravenna, Fiesole and Auximus, had to be dealt with first, lest they become a source of Gothic resistance behind the Byzantines besieging Ravenna. Divisions were dispatched, and each town fell in about seven months due to lack of supplies.

It was late 539, and winter was setting in, but Belisarius did not want to wait for better weather that would be months away. Also, since Franks had arrived across the Alps to support the Goths at the request of King Vitiges, Belisarius wanted to act fast before they could come south from Mediolanum.

The River Po formed one side of Ravenna's defenses, the Adriatic another. Belisarius sent men along the Po to prevent supplies coming to Ravenna from north or south. The Po was at unseasonable low levels, preventing some ships from moving. Belisarius' man captured grain ships, which he sent to Belisarius for feeding the troops once the river levels were high enough.

The Frankish King Theudebert offered to help King Vitiges in exchange for part of Italy to rule. Belisarius learned of this offer, and sent his own messengers to Vitiges to remind him that Theudebert had helped Vitiges during the Siege of Mediolanum but had then betrayed Vitiges and started attacking northern Italy with an eye to acquiring territory for himself.

Vitiges decided to open negotiations with Belisarius. (The illustration shows the two men: Belisarius on the left from a mosaic in a church in Ravenna, Vitiges from the Nuremberg Chronicle.)

In Constantinople, however, a situation had arisen that made Justinian desperate to resolve the conquest of Italy: threats from the Persians to the east were motivating him to bring Belisarius and the army back.  Fortunately, Vitiges was not seen by his people as a great war leader, and they supported the idea of peace with Constantinople. The terms of that peace, the secret modification made between the Goths and Belisarius, the "betrayal" by Belisarius, and the elimination of Vitiges, will all be looked at tomorrow.

The Failure at Milan

The insubordination of John the Sanguinary that led to the division in the Byzantine army between the forces commanded by Belisarius and those commanded by Narses created further problems. The Siege of Milan was one example.

Then called Mediolanum, it was the second wealthiest city in Italy after Rome. Archbishop Dantius of Milan sent messages to Belisarius, asking him to come and free them from Ostrogothic rule. Belisarius sent a force of 1000 men to secure it under a man named Mundilas. After occupying Milan, the soldiers spread out to secure the smaller towns and forts.

King Vitiges of the Ostrogoths then sent for help from the Franks (although Byzantine Emperor Justinian had sent gifts to the Franks to get them to stay out of the conflict). A force of 10,000 Burgundians responded, surrounding Milan. (They were sent by Theudebert I, son of Theuderic I, who later explained to the emperor that, since they were Burgundians and not Franks, he had no control over them.) Since the Byzantine force had been dispersed to other towns, Mundilas could not attempt attacking the siege.

Belisarius ordered other divisions to go to Milan, but those divisions would not do so right away. They asked other nearby divisions for support. Those divisions, led by John the Sanguinary and General Justin, would not agree to help until they got advice from Narses.

The delays were making life in Milan difficult. They were not well provisioned, and starvation was becoming a real threat. Belisarius pleaded with Narses to tell the others to help Milan. Narses relented, but the delays in communication and disagreement proved fatal for Milan. Mundilas had taken the city in April 538. It was now March 539, and starvation forced him to accept the terms presented by the enemy: give over the city and your men's lives will be spared.

The soldiers were allowed to leave with their lives, but for the rebellion of the Milan townspeople, punishment was severe. Procopius reports that 300,000 men were slain, the women given to the Burgundians as payment for their service, and the city destroyed. (The illustration is of some of the remaining Roman walls.) One of the victims was Reparatus, brother of Pope Vigilius.

Narses received some blame for this disaster; it led to his recall (mentioned yesterday). Belisarius, now reconfirmed as supreme commander, prepared to go after the capital city of the Ostrogoths, Ravenna.

See you tomorrow.

Belisarius and Narses

The outcome of the insubordination of John the Sanguinary created a dangerous precedent. General Narses disagreed with General Belisarius' approach to the conquest of Italy from the Ostrogoths, and was motivated to disobey the orders from the man who was supposed to be sole commander of the Byzantine forces. Procopius wrote "And from that time both these men began to regard each other with great suspicion." (The illustration shows mosaics of the two generals; Belisarius is on the left.)

One example of the army splitting was at a siege of Urbino. Originally a united army, at one point John's opinion was that the siege would not work. Narses agreed, and John and Narses withdrew their divisions despite Belisarius pleading for them to stay. Belisarius stayed, and Urbino did succumb (after the failure of their water reserves).

John's impatience with sieges worked against him when he tried and failed to besiege Caesena. Abandoning that goal, he got lucky by taking another town by surprise.

The fall and winter of 538 saw the Byzantine army working under two different commanders. Narses even ignored the letter from Emperor Justinian stating that Belisarius was in charge. Narses was recalled to Constantinople, where he remained secure in the emperor's good graces. (Years later he would help the Empress Theodora and Belisarius' wife, Antonina, in a major coup.)

Jumping ahead a little: Narses returned to Italy and the ongoing Gothic Wars in 551 with Justinian's cousin Germanus. Germanus, however, died on the way, and Narses was given supreme command of the army. Belisarius had at this time occupied Rome (after another siege), but was ready to retire from many years of war. (The retirement was temporary.)

Narses later fought a battle against the Goths that made him regarded as Belisarius' equal as a general and strategist. But let's return to the earlier part of the wars and see what Belisarius was doing when some of his commanders would not follow orders.

John and Narses

I thought we'd elaborate a little on the conflict mentioned yesterday about the taking of Ariminum (modern Rimini) by a Byzantine force under a general called John the Sanguinary. Emperor Justinian I was invading Italy to take control of the Western Roman Empire from the Ostrogoths, and John was part of that plan.

Originally tasked by Justinian to bring supplies to Rome, where General Belisarius was surrounded by the forces of King Vitiges, John decided to raid other Ostrogothic territory and capture Ariminum, close to the Gothic capital of Ravenna. That action caused Vitiges to pull his army away from Rome and move back north to protect Ravenna and re-capture Ariminum. Belisarius sent a message to John to pull the army away from Ariminum, but John decided to stay and hold the town.

This meant John and his army were now under siege. A gathering of Byzantine commanders discussed the situation. There was some discussion that John should be taught a lesson for insubordination. Into this discussion came General Narses, who arrived with Byzantine reinforcements.

Narses, at one time Justinian's chamberlain, was considered just as good a general as Belisarius. He argued that a defeat of John by the Goths would embolden them and demoralize the Byzantines. Belisarius created a plan (see illustration) that would give Vitiges an escape route rather than trying to defeat him in battle. As Belisarius' forces approached and camped, they would light far more campfires than needed to give the impression of superior numbers.

The plan worked, Vitiges withdrew the Goth army to Ravenna, and John and Ariminum were saved. John refused to show gratitude to Belisarius, however, and gave credit for the victory to Narses. Belisarius called a meeting of officers to caution that the Goths still were in command of a larger army than the Byzantines. Belisarius wanted a slower approach, securing towns that were favorable to Byzantium.

Narses argued for an attack on Ravenna itself. Opinions and sentiment about leadership were becoming divided, but Belisarius held a trump card. He had a document from Justinian, which he revealed, that stated:

We have not sent our steward Narses to Italy in order to command the army; for we wish Belisarius alone to command the whole army in whatever manner seems to him to be best, and it is the duty of all of you to follow him in the interest of our state.

Narses replied that Belisarius' plan was not, in fact, "in the interests of the state" and Narses would not accept that plan.

The plan to re-assert imperial control over Italy and reunite the Roman Empire could start falling apart. Let's see how these conflicts played out, starting tomorrow.

The First Siege of Rome

King Vitiges of the Ostrogoths besieged Rome, that had been taken and inhabited by the Byzantine forces of Justinian I, led by General Belisarius. Rome had not even put up a fight against Belisarius, so there had been no attack and no damage to the walls.

The Ostrogoth forces besieged Rome for an entire year without success, from March 537 to March 538. They couldn't take down the walls, and Belisarius did not have enough soldiers to leave Rome and attack the army surrounding them.

In April 537, an army of 1600 Huns and Slavs hired by Constantinople approached, capturing towns behind the Goths' siege. An additional 5000 men in November gave the Byzantine army the advantage of numbers. The Byzantine navy prevented the Goths from getting more supplies by sea.

Additionally, 2000 Byzantine cavalry had attacked and captured the town of Ariminum (modern Rimini), which was so near the Gothic capital of Ravenna that Vitiges abandoned the siege of Rome to head back north to protect the seat of his power.

On the way north, he reinforced towns and forts. Belisarius had sent word to John, his commander at Ariminum, to replace the cavalry with infantry, thinking they would be sufficient to hold the town, and bring the cavalry elsewhere. John refused the order, but did not have enough supplies to withstand a long siege, which Vitiges' forces set up.

A meeting of Belisarius with his other commanders who brought reinforcements discussed the Ariminum situation. There was debate about allowing John to fail due to his insubordination. Belisarius and others were willing to allow John to suffer, but General Narses pointed out that a Gothic victory would be bad for morale, so the Byzantine army in two parts moved to surround the Gothic siege of Ariminum. Vitiges saw that he might be surrounded by the enemy, and chose to abandon Ariminum and retreat to Ravenna.

Things looked good for the Byzantine reconquest of Italy, but the Ariminum incident caused a rift in the army between Belisarius and Narses. Before we continue with the Gothic Wars, let's look at a problem that might have led to failure.

The Gothic Wars

Whatever the catalyst was—murder of his friend Amalasuintha, or just a desire to avenge Rome and Romans against the Goths—Byzantine Emperor Justinian I decided it was time to re-assert control over the western provinces of the once-mighty Roman Empire.

Justinian had recently recovered much of North Africa from the Vandals. That military action in 533 had been swift under his general Belisarius, and he hoped for a similar outcome in Italy. He also prepared by sending gifts of gold to the Frankish rulers, hoping they would not interfere.

Justinian sent Belisarius to Sicily. He also sent Mundus to the Gothic province of Dalmatia. Mundus was a Gothic military commander who had been allied with Theodoric the Great. After Theodoric's death he allied himself with the Byzantine Empire. Mundus was mortally wounded when a large Gothic army arrived in Dalmatia. Theodahad, the current ruler of the Ostrogoths in Italy, emboldened by this victory, imprisoned the Byzantine ambassadors. Justinian sent a new leader and army that did manage to conquer Dalmatia. The Gothic army then went from Dalmatia to Italy.

Belisarius had landed with an army and navy in Sicily in 535. The conquest of Sicily was quick and easy, and Belisarius was ready to cross to Italy. Theodohad sent an offer to Justinian: have Sicily, recognize me as the ruler in Italy, and later you can have Italy.

Belisarius made good progress, heading northward and taking Naples after only three weeks, then Rome, entering through the Porta Asinaria (see illustration). Theodahad's inability to stem this tide angered his people, who deposed him and made Vitiges king in 536. Vitiges abandoned Rome for the Gothic capital of Ravenna, married Amalasuintha's daughter Matasuntha to tie himself more closely to the lineage of Theodoric the Great, and gathered a large army to march back to Rome.

Vitiges besieged Rome and the Byzantines, who did not have enough soldiers to exit the city and drive the Goths away. The siege of Rome lasted from March 537 until March 538. How it was finally broken will be told tomorrow.

Amalasuintha

The Ostrogothic prince Eutharic took as his wife Amalasuintha, daughter of Theodoric the Great. Eutharic was in line to succeed Theodoric as king of the Ostrogoths, but he died too soon. After Theodoric died, however, Eutharic's and Amalasuintha's son Athalaric became king.

There was a bit of a problem that the Ostrogoths had with Amalasuintha, however. When Theodoric died in 526, Athalaric (516 - 534) was only 10 years old, and so Amalasuintha as regent wielded the real power in the kingdom.

Although it was an Ostrogothic kingdom, Amalasuintha was raising her son with Roman education and customs. She was a friend of and influenced by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. Grammar, rhetoric, languages and studying the classics was being stressed, rather than military training and learning Gothic customs and history. A carved diptych from about 530 shows her along with Athalaric, portraying the equal importance she gave to their public roles. There is a bust on the Capitoline Hill thought to possibly be Amalasuintha (see illustration).

Athalaric started partying and drinking heavily. In 533, after a particularly large celebration, the rumor started that he was ill. He died in October 534 from (it is assumed) excessive drinking and diabetes.

With no clear successor, Amalasuintha arranged a consortium of regents to make it appear that she was sharing power publicly, but privately she still held the reins. She ruled as queen, and named her cousin Theodahad (a nephew of Theodoric) as a co-ruler, hoping that having a male alongside would look better.

Theodahad did not agree with Amalasuintha's pro-Roman approach to governing, however. He was a member of the Gothic aristocracy, with a very different idea of how to rule the kingdom. Amalasuintha executed some people whom she thought threatened her power. She also demeaned Theodahad, forcing him to return some lands in Tuscany that he had taken by force.

Eventually, Theodahad had her removed from power and imprisoned on an island in Lake Bolsena in central Italy. On 30 April 535, while she was bathing, she was murdered. Some scholars believe that the murder was arranged by Justinian's wife, Theodora, because she thought Amalasuintha was a love rival. Others claim it was done solely to create a context for Justinian to attack the Ostrogoths and try to annex much of Italy.

In fact, Justinian did launch the Gothic War as a result, so I guess we should talk about that next (and find out what happened to Theodahad). See you tomorrow.

Burgundian Wars

The sons of Clovis saw Burgundy as a target. Sigismund of Burgundy (c.475 - 524) became king in 516. His father, Gundobad, had slain Chilperic II of Burgundy in 493. Chilperic's daughter was Clotilde, who married Clovis I, King of the Franks, and had four sons.

Those sons inherited parts of the Frankish kingdom, and now Clotilde wanted revenge on Sigismund for his father's murder of her father. She persuaded her sons— kings Chlodomer, Childebert I, Clothar I, and Theuderic I—to invade Burgundy in 523 and depose Sigismund (who was their cousin).

Sigismund tried to flee disguised as a monk, but he was found by Chlodomer and beheaded. The widow and children were killed. Sigismund's body was thrown into a well. The body was retrieved in 535, and a chapel built on the site of the well. A village and monastery of St. Sigismund developed there. The illustration shows a reliquary with relics of Sigismund. 

Sigismund's brother Godomar rallied the army and called on an ally, Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths. Together they drove the Frankish army out of Burgundy.

When the successor of Theodoric the Great, Athalaric, died in 534, a succession crisis gave the Franks another opportunity to invade Burgundy, since they were not being protected by the Ostrogoths. Burgundy was being administered by Amalasuintha (495 – 30 April 535), Athalaric's mother, for the next year.

Amalasuintha was not popular; it was felt that she raised Athalaric in a way that was counter to the Gothic culture She brought in a co-ruler, Theodahad, in order to help assuage the objections to her rule, but it didn't really help. Why, and what her fate was, will be tomorrow's post.

St. Cloud

Clodoald (522 - c.560CE) was (along with Theodebald and Gunthar) one of the three sons of King Chlodomer of Orléans. When Chlodomer was killed during an expedition against the Burgundians, his sons were taken in by their grandmother, Clotilde.

They were all very young, but as heirs to Orléans, they were an obstacle to anyone who wanted to take over Orléans. One of the people who wanted to rule Orléans was their uncle, Chlodomer's brother Clothar I. Clothar, King of Soissons, sent a messenger to Clotilde bearing a sword and scissors, telling her that the boys needed to be shorn and made monks, or killed. She refused, so Clothar took the matter into his own hands, stabbing Theodebald and Gunthar.

Clodoald, however, escaped. Hidden by members of the household and smuggled away, he found safety with Bishop Remigius of Rheims (c.437 – 13 January 533), who had baptized Clodoald's grandfather Clovis I. Clodoald became a pupil of St. Severin of Paris, a hermit who lived on the banks of the Seine.

From Severin Clodoald learned monastic ways. At the age of 20 he went to the Bishop of Paris and members of the royal family, allowing his hair to be cut. Clothar realized he was not going to be a threat to  Clothar's possession of Orléans, and let him live out his life in peace.

After Severin's death, Clodoald left the hermitage and went to Provence, where many came to see him, believing he had a gift of healing. (This idea may have come from his being of royal birth. The idea that a king's hands could heal seems to have started with his grandfather, Clovis. See this post.) After 11 years in Provence, he returned to Severin's hermitage where he was gladly received.

In 551 he was ordained a priest by Bishop Eusebius of Paris, but the praise and attention he received from performing his public duties was too much for his mild nature, and he decided to retreat to the quiet life along the Seine in a place that is now the commune of Saint-Cloud. There he built a church in honor of St. Martin of Tours. Eventually this grew to a monastery, endowed with gifts given him by his uncles. He died on 7 September 560.

Legend says that miracles took place around his tomb. He was quickly canonized. His feast day is 7 September. Towns in Florida, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are named St. Cloud after the French town St. Cloud.

Let's go back and see what Clothar was up to during these years.

Clothar's Conquests

When King Hermanfrid of Thuringia offered part of Thuringia to Theuderic if Theuderic would help him defeat Hermanfrid's brother and co-ruler Baderic, Theuderic agreed. During the conflict that followed, Hermanfrid reneged on the deal, and Theuderic (having been wounded in fighting), asked his brother, Clothar I, to carry on. This was in 531.

As it happened, Hermanfrid was also wounded in the fighting and died, at which point Clothar decided the goal was simply to conquer Thuringia and add it to his Frankish territory. Clothar managed this with the help of his nephew, Theuderic's son, Theudebert I. Part of the spoils of war was Radegund, Hermanfrid's niece. Her "possession" was debated, but Clothar took her, raised her, and eventually married her.

Clothar's brother King Chlodomer of Orléans had been killed in 524 and Chlodomer's sons given to their grandmother to raise. Clothar wanted Orléans for himself, and in 532, along with the fourth brother, Childebert, offered the sons a choice: monastic life, or no life. They did this by sending to the grandmother a messenger who carried scissors and a sword. The ultimatum was either cut their hair and become monks, or die. (Just to be clear, the grandmother in question was Clothar's and Childebert's own mother, Clotilde!)

The three boys, Theodebald, Gunthar, and Clodoald, were not even teenagers yet. Clotilde was aghast and said she would rather see her children dead than shorn. (The Merovingians felt long hair was a sign of kingship. Cutting off a man's hair made him unsuitable for the position.) She refused.

Clothar and Childebert needed to take matters into their own hands, so they went to the boys. Clothar stabbed Theodebald. Gunther fell at Childebert's feet and pleaded for his life. Childebert almost relented, so Clothar stabbed the boy. (see illustration) Clodoald escaped, having been hidden by people of Clotilde's household.

There are lots of moving parts to this story, like what happened to Clodoard? I'll tell you more next time.

Radegund

Radegund (c.520 – 13 August 587) was another wife of Clothar I. She was a princess, daughter of Bertachar, a king of Thuringia who co-ruled with his two brothers, Hermanfrid and Baderic (Baderic was the father of two of Clothar's wives).

The co-rule was far from peaceful. Hermanfrid killed Bertachar and took Radegund into his household. Hermanfrid made an alliance with King Theuderic of the Franks to share Thuringia, and together they defeated Baderic. Hemanfrid then went back on his word to share with Theuderic, who then went to Thuringia in 531 with Theuderic's brother, Clothar. They defeated Hermanfrid and Clothar took Radegund (then a pre-teen) back to Gaul. Clothar had her educated in Picardy until 540, when he married her.

Radegund was a Roman Catholic, whereas Clothar was a Chalcedonian Catholic. Chalcedonians upheld the 451 decree that Christ had two distinct, unconfused natures (human and divine) in one person. Radegund (tradition says) wanted to be a martyr, and marriage may not have suited her—especially to a man who had been an enemy of her people. They had no children. In 545 when Clothar killed the last surviving male member of the Thuringian royal family, Radegund fled to the bishop of Noyon, asking to be ordained as a deaconess.

She founded the monastery of Sainte-Croix in Poitiers, living under the Rule for Virgins of Cæsarius of Arles. It was named Sainte-Croix for a relic of the True Cross that she had obtained from Byzantine Emperor Justin II. (There was some controversy about the relic. The bishop of Poitiers refused the ceremony to install it in her monastery, but Sigebert I of Austrasia sent the bishop of Tours instead to make it happen. The hymn Vexilla regis prodeunt ("the royal banner goes forward"), sung on Good Friday, Palm Sunday, and at the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, was one of the hymns composed specifically for this ceremony by Venantius Fortunatus (c.530 – c. 600/609).

Radegund was an extreme ascetic, eating only legumes and green vegetables and drinking only water.

She is believed to be the author of a couple of poems originally ascribed to Venantius, with whom she was close. At her death, she was buried in a church in Poitiers now called the Church of St. Radegund, where her tomb can be visited in the crypt. There are many places in France named for her, as well as five English parish churches.

But next we will return to Clothar and his post-Radegund reign.

Clothar I

The father of the four sons who were mentioned fighting each other's divided Frankish kingdoms yesterday was Clothar I (one of the four sons of Clovis I, the king who first united all the Frankish kingdoms), who also spent his adult life trying to conquer others.

The name Clothar (also Chlothar or Clotaire) means "glory." When Clovis died in 511, Clothar and his three brothers (Childebert, Chlodomer, and Theuderic) inherited parts of the kingdom. The brothers cooperated when it came to attacking surrounding territories, keeping an uneasy alliance so they did not fight each other.

The family was part of the Merovingian dynasty. Gregory of Tours is our source of much of this period of the Frankish kingdoms. He tells us that Clothar had children by more than one woman. He first married his brother Chlodomer's widow, Guntheuc. Chlodomer had been killed in a raid on Burgundy. Chlodomer and Guntheuc had three sons, who were taken in by Clothar and Childebert supposedly to be raised, but what the two really wanted was to eliminate the boys' chances of inheriting their dead father's kingdom. Two of the boys were killed; the third escaped, shaved his head, and became a monk.

Guntheuc did not have any children with Clothar, who (after her death in 532) married his mistress Ingund, daughter of King Baderic of Thuringia. Four of their six children would become kings or queens.

Ingund asked Clothar to find a suitable husband for her sister, Aregund. The most suitable husband Clothat could find was himself, and he entered into a polygamous relationship with the two sisters. Perhaps he hoped that all of Thuringia's lines of succession would fall to him eventually (they didn't). With Aregund he had one son.

An interesting note about Aregund. A sarcophagus has been identified as Aregund's, and the remains examined. The details suggest she had a child at the age of 18 (not unusual; 15 was marriage age for Frankish women). Osteoarchaeology also determined that she had a limp and likely suffered from poliomyelitis. This would have made her seem less suitable for marriage, and may be why Ingund was so worried about Aregund getting a husband.

Ingund died by 546, and Clothar seems to have lost interest in Aregund, but he had another wife, their cousin Radegund. Tomorrow we will learn her story as his queen.

Saint Guntram

Yesterday's post mentioned that the Franks fell into civil war and became less of a threat to Lombardy. The Frankish Kingdom had a long history with lots of shifts in power. We should take a serious look at the history of the Franks, especially prior to Charlemagne, and right now let's talk about Guntram.

Also called Gontrand, Gontran, Gontram, Gunthram, Gunthchramn, and Guntramnus, the man we'll call Guntram (c.532 – 28 March 592) was a son of Clothar I, a king of the Franks in the Merovingian dynasty, the dynasty that gave way to the Carolingians.

Guntram was king of Orléans (taking over the ruling of Burgundy) from 561 to 592, inheriting it when his father died and the kingdom was divided among four sons (Paris, Reims, and Soissons went to Guntram's brothers). Gregory of Tours wrote a history of the Franks; he refers to Guntram as "good king Guntram." Although in his youth he was a bit of a wild child, he repented during his later life. Gregory says he treated the sick, the oppressed, and all his subjects with care.

Guntram was one of the more respected and powerful of the four brothers, partially because he had a general named Mummolus who was considered the greatest strategist of the age. He actually changed his allegiance to others at times, but wound up back with Guntram. When Guntram's brother Sigebert I of Austrasia started a war, Guntram called their brother Chilperic I of Soissons for help. But when Sigebert was killed in 575 and Chilperic invaded Austrasia, Guntram sent Mummolus to stop him and allow Sigebert's son Childebert II (who was only five) to succeed his father.

When Guntram's two sons died two years later of dysentery, Guntram adopted Childebert. As Childebert grew up, however, he was not always loyal to Guntram in exchange for the support he had received. Chilperic also tried expanding his own territory. Guntram and Childebert together allowed St. Columbanus to found an abbey and two monasteries in their territory. (The illustration shows the two men enthroned.)

Guntram was able, through military force and negotiation,  to suppress the attempts to take over each other's lands. He also was able to force cooperation and peace with neighbors, putting down invasion attempts and rebellions.

When he died in 592, Childebert succeeded him. Guntram was interred in a church he had founded, the Church of Saint Marcellus. He was almost immediately venerated as a saint, and miracles were ascribed to him, some of which Gregory of Tours claimed to have witnessed himself.

Without Guntram's military force and moderating influence, strife became more common between parts of western Europe. Let's, however, look back at his father, the man at whose death the Frankish Kingdom split into four parts. Tomorrow we'll look at Clothar I, king of Soissons, of Orléans, of Reims, of Paris, and of the Franks.

The Lombards Convert

There was a period in the history of the Kingdom of Lombardy when they had no king. Two kings in a row had been murdered—the first by his wife, the second by a young slave he had mistreated—and a decade followed of rule by the dukes. This was in the 570s.

Paul the Deacon had nothing good to say about this era:

After his death the Langobards had no king for ten years but were under dukes, and each one of the dukes held possession of his own city, .... In these days many of the noble Romans were killed from love of gain, and the remainder were divided among their "guests" and made tributaries, that they should pay the third part of their products to the Langobards. By these dukes of the Langobards in the seventh year from the coming of Alboin and of his whole people, the churches were despoiled, the priests killed, the cities overthrown, the people who had grown up like crops annihilated, and besides those regions which Alboin had taken, the greater part of Italy was seized and subjugated by the Langobards.

With the threat of a Frankish invasion (by the successors of Clothair II), in 584 they chose to lead them Duke Authari (see illustration), the son of the last king. This is not about his fight with the Franks, however; it is about the woman he married and the result.

Authari married Theodelinda (c. 570 – 628 CE), the daughter of Duke Garibald I of Bavaria and Waldrada. This marriage brought a Bavarian Catholic into the (heretical) Arianism of the Lombards. They married in 588, but Authari died in 590. By that time, however, Theodelinda was so respected that she was asked to help choose the next king.

The next king was Agilulf, the Duke of Turin. Not only did she help choose him, she married him! At Theodelinda's request, Agilulf was baptized a Roman Catholic in 603, as well as their son. The king and queen built the Cathedral of Monza (which still exists). Under the two of them, the nation started abandoning Arianism and adopting Roman Catholicism.

For her efforts in this regard, Theodelinda was sent a nail from the Crucifixion. This was made into the Iron Crown of Lombardy, which replaced the crown used by the kings. and is now stored at the Cathedral of Monza. Agilulf made a truce with the papacy, allowing the Duchy of Rome to exist without threat from the Lombards (who possessed the territory all around Rome).

As for the threat from the Franks, that ended for a time due to their internal civil battles. Let's take a look at how the Franks fell to internal fighting and stopped being a threat to others for a time.

The Lombards

The past few days have been filled with discussion about the Lombards, aka the Langobards, and their origin according to medieval texts. This blog has mostly dealt with them previously because of their occupation of the northern Italian peninsula. That's not where they started, however.

They are mentioned by 1st-century Roman historians as a group occupying the Lower Elbe (the river that connects Hamburg to the North Sea). At one time defeated by the Ostrogoths, after the departure of Ostrogoths from the region, some Lombards traveled west. Paul the Deacon describes their migrations and their conflicts with various peoples as they moved across the Danube and into Europe.

By 570CE they had conquered northern Italy, and in the next few years added central Italy to their kingdom. The height of their presence and influence in that part of Europe was reached during the reign of King Liutprand. Liutprand reigned more than 30 years (712 - 744), and you can see his minted gold coinage above. Charles Martel of the Franks allied with Liutprand as a Christian defense against threatened Muslim incursions.

The first Lombards to enter Italy had been pagans, although some had become Arian Christians. They slowly adopted Roman Christianity and Romanized names, so that by the time Paul the Deacon was writing he did not report any evidence of their paganism.

Lombardy at its height contained 36 duchies. They had expanded throughout much of Italy by taking advantage of local conflicts and conquering the divided communities—divided especially due to violence between groups that fell on opposite sides of the iconoclasm controversy. Some of the duchies have been mentioned before: Friuli, Pavia, Spoleto, Benevento.

By the time of Charles Martel's grandson, Charlemagne, the Lombards were not seen as allies so much as another territory to conquer. But that would come a little later. Tomorrow we'll look at more of the Kingdom of Lombardy.

The Origin of the Langobard People

The History of the Lombards by Paul the Deacon drew heavily on other works, especially about prior times. One of these was a 7th-century work called Origio Gentis Langobardorum ("The Origin of the Langobard People"). From this work Paul got the mythical origin of the Lombards and the origin of their Langobard name.

It starts with a group called the Winnilles on the island of Scandanan, a "great island" in the Arctic. They had two rulers, Ybor and Agio, whose mother, Gambara, wise a wise and respected woman.

The Winnilles were oppressed by the Vandals, who wanted tribute from the Winnilles:

Then the leaders of the Wandals, that is Ambri and Assi, moved with their army, and said to the Winniles; 'Either pay us tribute or prepare yourselves for battle and fight with us.' Then answered Ybor and Agio, with their mother Gambara: 'It is better for us to make ready the battle than to pay tributes to the Wandals.' [source]

With a battle looming, the Vandal leaders asked the god Odin (called Godan in the manuscript) for victory.  Godan (as mythical gods sometimes are known to do) did not promise a victory to one side, saying instead that he would give victory to whichever group he saw first when the sun rose the next day.

Gambara of the Winnilles had another idea: she and her sons prayed to Freya, Godan's wife, for aid. Freya gave them advice:

...at sunrise the Winniles should come, and that their women, with  their hair let down around their face in the likeness of a beard, should also come with their husbands.

Freya then "stacked the deck" for the Winnilles. The next morning while she and Godan were in bed:

Frea, the wife of Godan, turned around the bed where her husband was lying and put his face toward the east, and awakened him. And he, looking at them, saw the Winniles and their women having their hair let down around their face.

(See the illustration for the two looking down.) Startled at the view, Godan says:

"Who are these longbeards?" Then spoke Frea to Godan: "My lord, thou hast given them the name, now give them also the victory." And he gave them victory, so that they should defend themselves according to his counsel and obtain victory. From that time, the Winniles were called Langobards.

Paul the Deacon, a good Christian monk, did not approve of the pagan gods in this version of the origin, referring it to a "silly story" (ridiculam fabulam). Paul says the name Langobard simply comes from being known for their long beards.

So whence did they really come? Let's check out what we really know about the Lombards, their origin and presence in northern Italy. See you next time.

History of the Lombards

Paul the Deacon assembled information from some of the greatest scholars and historians and his own observations to create his Historia Langobardorum. Written between 787 and 796CE, he recounts the mythical origins of the Lombards.

In his recording, he offers us such gems as this, from chapter 4:

In the farthest boundaries of Germany toward the west-northwest, on the shore of the ocean itself, a cave is seen under a projecting rock, where for an unknown time seven men repose wrapped in a long sleep, not only their bodies, but also their clothes being so uninjured, that from this fact alone, that they last without decay through the course of so many years, they are held in veneration among those ignorant and barbarous peoples. These then, so far as regards their dress, are perceived to be Romans. When a certain man, stirred by cupidity, wanted to strip one of them, straightway his arms withered, as is said, and his punishment so frightened the others that no one dared touch them further.

Another time when the number seven was significant comes in chapter 15:

At this time a certain prostitute had brought forth seven little boys at a birth, and the mother, more cruel than all wild beasts, threw them into a fish-pond to be drowned. ... It happened therefore that when King Agelmund had stopped his horse and looked at the wretched infants, ..., one of them put his hand on the royal spear and clutched it. The king moved by pity and marveling greatly at the act, pronounced that he would be a great man. And straightway he ordered him to be lifted from the fish-pond and commanded him to be brought to a nurse to be nourished with every care, and because he took him from a fish-pond which in their language is called "lama" he gave him the name Lamissio.

Lamissio later proves the king's prophecy by defeating someone in single combat and therefore awarding the Lombards access to cross a disputed river. Lamissio later is named king when Agelmund is killed by Bulgarians.

His term "Langobards" is defined as "long-beards," and a name given to them by Odin himself. That anecdote is a little long, and coms from one of Paul's sources, the 7th-century Origio Gentis Langobardorum ("The Origin of the Langobard People"; see illustration for a 10th-century copy). I'll share it tomorrow.