(Disclaimer: this is the only picture from the set that isn't mine. It's from Wikipedia.)
Clotilde of Burgundy, who married Clovis, king of the Franks, lived 474-575.
We know an extraordinary amount about this queen considering she was an early medieval woman. Even queens normally got just a passing reference, usually not even firm birth or death years, but Clotilde was important and powerful enough to make her way into the historical record.
After the fall of the Roman Empire modern day France (then roughly Gaul) was split into a whole bunch of warring kingdoms - often with internal power struggles as well. Burgundy covered much of the modern southwest of France, and was one of the most powerful. Clotilde was the daughter of Burgundy's king, but when she was 18 her uncle overthrew her father, had her mother killed, and exiled her. That year she also married Clovis, the king of the Franks, the most powerful kingdom in Gaul, covering most of the north of modern France and into Belgium.
She was an extremely religious Catholic, but at the time most of Gaul - including her husband the king - still practiced a mix of Celtic and Roman paganism. She tried very hard to convert her husband (and therefore the kingdom) and even had their children baptized secretly. Just the fact that people recorded her efforts to convert him means she must have been super persistent about it.
Legend has it that he refused to convert until faced with an extremely tough battle, in which he only won when he had invoked the Christian god to help him. Consequently, his victory there allowed him to conquer most of modern France and found the Merovingian dynasty, which would rule for another 200 years. He's considered the first modern king of France because he was able to unite the area.
He converted at Reims (see my entry on the cathedral there for more info) and subsequently nearly all the French kings were crowned there.
So in popular memory King Clovis' victories were thanks to his conversion to Christianty. But possibly more bizarrely, his conversion is largely remembered as Clotilde's doing. Even men of her time acknowledged her role in helping her husband become the most powerful king in Western Europe. I say this is bizarre because it's the only instance I can think of where a queen is given much credit for anything significant, especially anything having to do with war or politics.
Furthermore, she's also credited by men of her time as being the main impetus for her sons, the Frankish princes, to go to war with Burgundy. Although it was her home region she wanted to take revenge for the murder of her parents. The king of Burgundy was overthrown and her own descendents went on to rule the area.
She and her husband resided in the Paris area later in life and both became devout followers of Saint Genevieve. They were buried together in her abbey, right near where I live now.
It's hard for me to emphasize how unique this situation is in early medieval times. Women are hardly even noticed in the historical record, no matter how high born they were. Usually they're only noted if they're troublemakers or had scandalous or otherwise significant marriages. They basically never play an active role in politics - it would have been expected that a king or prince would ignore the political wishes or opinions of his wife, mother, or sisters. So Clotilde's success in influencing her husband and sons is really remarkable, definitely earning her a place in the collection of Luxembourg garden statues.
2 comments:
I have finally caught up with all your posts. There have been some interesting pictures, as well as information on both France and Italy.
Angie--- I remember you taking me through the whole area with the Queens. It was a very enjoyable tour around the grounds, learning about the Queens, some of whom, as you pointed, were not really "French Queens". In any case, this series of posts you have here is great, and interesting in its summary of Gaulic history.
Post a Comment