Fredegund [13232]

   Another name for Fredegund was Fredegonda.

  General Notes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredegund


Fredegund or Fredegunda (Latin : Fredegundis; French : Frédégonde; died 597) was the Queen consort of Chilperic I , the Merovingian Frankish king of Soissons .


Originally a servant, Fredegund became Chilperic's mistress after he had murdered his wife and queen, Galswintha (c. 568). But Galswintha's sister, Brunhilda , in revenge against Chilperic, began a feud which lasted more than 40 years.



Fredegund is said to be responsible for the assassination of Sigebert I in 575 and made attempts on the lives of Guntram (her brother-in-law and the king of Burgundy ), Childebert II (Sigebert's son), and Brunhilda.

After the mysterious assassination of Chilperic (584), Fredegund seized his riches and took refuge in the cathedral at Paris . Both she and her surviving son, Clothar II , were protected by Guntram until he died in 592.

Gregory of Tours depicts her as ruthlessly murderous and sadistically cruel; in his account, Fredegund perhaps has few rivals in monstrousness. Although she did not live to see it, her son's execution of Brunhilda bore the mark of Fredegund's hatred: Clothar II had the old queen, now in her sixties, stretched in agony upon the rack for three entire days, then watched her meet her death chained between four horses that were goaded to the four points of the compass, tearing her body asunder
.
Fredegund died c. 8 December 597 in Paris, France. The tomb of Frédégonde (d. 597) is a mosaic figure of marble and copper, situated in Saint Denis Basilica , having come from St. Germain-des-Prés.

Fredegund in Folklore

Fredegund has been proposed as one of many sources for the folk tale alternatively known as Cinderella , Aschenputtel, Cenerentola or Cendrillion. In his book Cinderella: A Casebook folklorist Alan Dundes cites the following excerpt from History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours
:
She was jealous of her own daughter, Rigunth, who continually declared that she should be mistress (probably, as Dalton Says, because Fredegund began life as a palace maid, while she was of royal blood, being a king's daughter) in her place. Fredegund waited her opportunity and under the pretense of magnanimity took her to the treasure-room and showed her the King's jewels in a large chest. Feigning fatigue, she exclaimed "I am weary; put thou in thy hand, and take out what thou mayest find." The mother thereupon forced down the lid on her neck and would have killed her had not the servants finally rushed to her aid.

References

Gregory of Tours , History of the Franks, Book IX. Ch. 34, Trans by O.M. Dalton, Vol. II. pp. 405-406

Alan Dundes , Cinderella: A Casebook, Ch. 1 The Cat Cinderella by Giambattista Basile (University of Wisconsin Press, 1982)


http://www.rpi.edu/~holmes/Hobbies/Genealogy/ps04/ps04_449.htm


Originally a servant, Fredegund became Chilperic's mistress after he had murdered his wife and queen, Galswintha (c. 568). Galswintha, however, was also the sister of Brunhild, the wife of Chilperic's half-brother Sigebert I, king of the eastern kingdom of Austrasia. Galswintha's murder engendered a violent animosity between Fredegund and Brunhild and an irreconcilable feud of more than 40 years' duration between the respective families. Fredegund was certainly responsible for the assassination of Sigebert in 575 and made attempts on the lives of Guntram (her brother-in-law and the king of Burgundy), Childebert II (Sigebert's son), and Brunhild.

After the mysterious assassination of Chilperic (584), Fredegund seized his riches and took refuge in the cathedral at Paris. Both she and her surviving son, Chlotar II, were at first protected by Guntram, but, when he died in 592, Childebert II, who had taken over his throne, attacked Chlotar, albeit unsuccessfully. From Childebert's death (595) until her own, Fredegund intrigued on Chlotar's behalf against Brunhild, who sought to rule through Childebert's sons, Theodebert II of Austrasia and Theodoric II of Burgundy. Ruthlessly murderous and sadistically cruel, Fredegund can have few rivals in monstrousness.



Frankish queen. The mistress of King Chilperic I of Neustria, she became his wife after inducing him to murder his wife Galswintha (567). Fredegunde and Brunhilda, Galswintha's sister and wife of King Sigebert I of Austrasia, were among the leading figures in the long war (561\endash 613) between the Frankish kingdoms of Neustria and Austrasia. Fredegunde procured the deaths of Sigebert I and of her own stepchildren. After Chilperic's murder (584) she acted as regent for her son Clotaire II.

As dowager queen, Fredegonda was regent for her baby son, Clothaire II. "She ws a strong and successful ruler.
Ambitious, unscrupulous and clever, she had made good use of her twenty years as Chilperic's queen, exerting a strong
background influence on the political and military affairds of his kingdom. ...We must infer that she was beautiful; it is
clear from all accounts that her sexual allure was irresistible to most men." - "The Birth of France...," Katharine
Scherman (NY: Random House, 1987), p. 197. She "was buried with honors at Saint Germains des Pres, beside her
husband and his uncles." (p. 200)

Fredegund married Chilperic I of the Franks King of the Franks [5879] [MRIN: 1960], son of Chlothar I (Clothaire I) the Old, of the Franks King of the Franks [5877] and Aregund [12778]. (Chilperic I of the Franks King of the Franks [5879] died in 584.)