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 regency, 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.

Saint Clotilde and Murder

Clotilde is considered a saint by both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. She was an early supporter of St. Geneviève, she built the chapel that later became the Abbey at Chelles, and it was probably her influence that persuaded her husband, Clovis, to return the Vase of Soissons to St. Rémy after one of his soldiers took it post-conquest.

Most details of her life come from Gregory of Tours. She was born about 474 at Lyons, the daughter of King Chilperic II of Burgundy. Chilperic had two brothers, Gundobad and Godomar. At the death of their father, Gondioc, Gondioc's kingdom was divided among the three brothers. Gundobad turned on Godomar, and then on Chilperic, killing his brothers and their families, in order to reunite their father's kingdom under one ruler. Clotilde fled to her uncle, Godegisel.

Clovis and Godegisel joined in war against Gundobad, eventually defeating (but not killing) him; Clovis, King of the Franks, received an annual tribute from Burgundy after that. He also requested Clotilde's hand in marriage; Gundobad was not in a position to refuse.

Clovis I and Clotilde were married in 493. They had four sons (Ingomer, who died shortly after birth; Chlodomer, Childebert I, and ClotharI) and a daughter, Chrotilda. Clotilde insisted on baptism for her children; Clovis, not a Christian, objected, and when Ingomer died soon after birth and baptism, he criticized her. Yet, she persisted, and Chlodomer survived baptism, after which she had less opposition to raising the children in her faith.

Her greatest religious triumph may have been in 496 when Clovis was on the eve of battle with the Alemanni. He prayed to her God that he would be baptized if he were victorious. He prevailed in the Battle of Tolbiac and was baptized by Bishop Remigius of Reims on Christmas Day 496 (he is the St. Rémy in the link above). This Catholicism would aid him and his children in the future, ensuring the political support of the Roman Empire against many of the Franks' foes, who were Arian Christians.

When Clovis died in 523, Clotilde retired to the Abbey of St. Martin at Tours. She did not retire from public influence entirely, however. Even a saint is not immune to the desire for revenge, and the murderer of her father, her uncle Gundobad, was still ruling Burgundy. It is believed that her three sons' attack (and decade-long war) on Burgundy was instigated by her.

Also, her position as queen may have overruled the softer sensibilities one might expect from a mother and one who would later be considered a saint. During the war with Burgundy, her eldest son Chlodomer was killed. His part of the kingdom was to be divided among his three sons, further fracturing the kingdom of the Franks. Childebert and Clothar did not want this, and (the story goes), turned to Clotilde for... "advice." The two sent her two items: scissors and a sword. The implication was clear: the boys could be killed, or they could be shorn. (Long hair was a necessary mark of kingship for this particular culture, as mentioned here.) Supposedly, her reply was "It is better for me to see them dead rather than shorn, if they are not raised to the kingship." (Of course, we have no proof of this, but for these anecdotes to circulate about someone who was generally revered suggests there may be a kernel of truth.)

Clotilde died in 545 and was buried beside Clovis in the Church of the Holy Apostles (which is now the Abbey of St. Geneviève). Veneration of her made her the patron saint of queens, widows, brides, and those in exile.

Now, about that long hair think: how important was it? Let's talk about that tomorrow.

St. Geneviève

St. Geneviève was born a peasant in Nanterre around 419/22 CE. One day, while St. Germanus was passing through Nanterre, she told him she wanted to devote herself to God. He told her she should live a life espoused to Christ. At the age of 15, she decided to devote herself to the Christian life and move to Lutetia.

She spent 30 years mortifying her flesh through extensive fasting and abstaining from meat. Her austerity was considered excessive by her ecclesiastical superiors, who urged her to deprive herself less. She drew many visitors due to her piety, even divine visitors: she reported so many visions of angels that those jealous of her threatened to drown her in a lake. A visit by St. Germanus convinced her detractors to trust her.

Her piety was so strong that, when Attila was approaching Paris in 451, she convinced the people to pray instead of fleeing; the strength of her prayers turned the Huns instead to attack Orléans instead (I guess they did not have a saint to pray for them). In 464, Clovis and his father Childeric were besieging Paris (Gallo-Roman clergy were very resistant to the Frankish attempt to bring all of Gaul under its banner), Geneviève crossed their lines to bring grain to the city, and persuaded them to be merciful to the citizens.

Clotilde, the wife of King Clovis, was a patron and supporter of Geneviève, and may have commissioned her biography. Clotilde—a Catholic whom Clovis married partially to placate the clergy, whose cooperation he eventually realized he would need—was known for religious patronage; you can read about an example here.

Clovis (no doubt at Clotilde's urging) built an abbey where Geneviève could live. After her death, her tomb at the abbey saw many visitors and many miracles. In 1129, an epidemic of ergot poisoning was ravaging the city; it subsided after her relics were paraded through town.

Louis XV ordered a new church for the "patron saint of Paris." Before it was finished, her relics were destroyed in 1793 during the French Revolution, but some were recovered, and the church was finished and reconsecrated in 1885.

I was going to talk next about why she moved to "Lutetia" (see the first paragraph) and yet was called the "patron saint of Paris," but right now I really want to talk about ergot poisoning, so that's next.

The Abbey at Chelles

A 17th century depiction of Chelles Abbey

The 7th century saw a great trend in France and Britain of women entering religious houses. One of these became a great center for learning and for reproducing manuscripts—and a retirement home for aristocratic ladies.

Chelles Abbey, founded c.658, was previously a royal villa belonging to the Merovingian line. Its association with religion may have started about 511 when a chapel to St. George was installed by Clotilde, wife of King Clovis I (466 - c.511). That chapel eventually crumbled, but over a century later Balthild, wife of King Clovis II (637 - 657), founded the abbey in place of the chapel. Her financial support enabled the new abbey to build the Church of the Holy Cross. Balthild (c.626 - 680) retired to the abbey and died there, but not before it had gained a reputation for learning that also attracted men, leading to a second monastery for them.

Balthild was not the only royalty who entered the abbey. Its first abbess was the aristocratic Berthild of Chelles. Hereswith, a princess of Northumbria (whose son Ealdwulf was a king of East Anglia in the later 7th century), wished to pursue a religious life and went to Chelles as the only option at the time. Charlemagne's sister Gisela was abbess from 800-810. Ladies of the aristocracy and royalty considered Chelles an appropriate recipient of their charity and of themselves when they wished their worldly life to be over.

In the 800s the nuns became known also for their scriptorium. There are several different names signed to many of the manuscripts, but the form of lettering is the same, showing that there was careful attention to a "house style."  This particular style of lettering allows scholars to trace many medieval manuscripts to the copyists and writers of Chelles. The advanced education of the nuns is evident by the academic nature of what they were copying, which included highly philosophical works by important early Christian authors.