Saint Balthild of Ascania [5886] ²⁴

   Another name for Balthild was Varburgis.

  General Notes:

An English girl who was captured by pirates and sold as a slave.
Her feast day is 30th January. She ended up the wife of Chlodovech (Clovis) II of the Franks, King of the Franks and mother of Three kings. One of her sons married the daughter Bilichild of Sigebert the saint. (the sister of Dagobert (ST.))

http://www.hull.ac.uk/php/cssbct/cgi-bin/gedlkup.php/n=royal?royal11949

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_II
Balthild , was an Anglo-Saxon aristocrat sold into slavery in Gaul. She had been owned by Clovis' mayor of the palace , Erchinoald , who gave her to Clovis to garner royal favour.


Balthild , was an Anglo-Saxon aristocrat sold into slavery in Gaul. She had been owned by Clovis' mayor of the palace , Erchinoald , and Theuderic
.
When Balthild's husband died between 655 and 658, Clotaire, the eldest son and heir to the throne, succeeded at age five. Balthild served as the queen regent until he came of age in 664, when she was forced into a convent. As queen, she was a capable stateswoman. She abolished the practice of trading Christian slaves and even sought the freedom of children sold into slavery. As the story goes, after Balthild's three children were of age and "established in their respective territories" (Clotaire in Neustria, Childeric in Austrasia , and perhaps Theuderic in Burgundy), Balthild entered the abbey and gave up her royal rank. She dedicated the rest of her life to serving the poor and the infirm.

Balthild died on January 30, 680. She is buried at her foundation, the Abbey of Chelles outside of Paris . Her Vita was first written soon after her death, probably by one of the community of Chelles. The Vita Baldechildis/Vita Bathildis reginae Francorum in Monumenta Germania Historica, Scriptores Rerum Merovincarum 2, like most of the vitae of royal Merovingian -era saints, provides some useful details for the historian. Her official cult began when her remains were transferred from the former abbey to a new church, in 833, under the auspices of Louis the Pious . Balthild was canonised by Pope Nicholas I about 200 years after her death.

The chronicles and the seal

In the context of seventh-century culture it is clear that Balthild was simply the outright gift of Erchinoald to Clovis as a bedfellow, though her hagiography emphasizes her chastity as a slave. Other Merovingian queens who arose from servile status are Fredegund, mother of Clothaire II; Bilichild, wife of Theudebert of Austrasia; and possibly Nanthild, mother of Clovis II. During the minority of Clotaire III she had to deal with the attempted coup of Grimoald , the major domus of Austrasia, but enjoyed the continued support of her former master Erchinoald.

By some chroniclers' accounts she was a ruthless ruler, in continuing conflict with the bishops; she seems to have been responsible for several assassinations. The vita of Saint Eligius by his companion Dado reports (ch. 32), "Then his widowed queen with her boys obtained the reign for a few years. She was afterward removed by law and left the principate to her sons..." She was frustrated in her desire to have Eligius entombed at her monastery of Chelles (Eligius, vita, II.37). By an apparition of Eligius (II.41) was convinced to strip off her gold and jewelled ornaments, "keeping nothing except gold bracelets."

Her gold seal matrix, which was originally attached to a ring, was uncovered in 1999 by a metal detector in a field a few miles east of Norfolk's county town, Norwich . It has two sides. The official side shows her face and her name BALDAHILDIS in Frankish lettering. The private side shows naked figures, doubtless Balthild and Clovis, in a frank erotic position beneath a cross. One seal identified official documents; the other, apparently, private ones. The seal matrix is conserved in the Norwich Castle Museum . It is surmised that the seal matrix was returned to her kin after her death.

Further reading

Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0140513124 .
J.L. Nelson, "Queens as Jezebels: the careers of Brunhild and Balthild in Merovingian history" Medieval Women, D. Baker, ed. (1978) pp 31-77.
Jo Ann Macnamara, John E. Halborg, E. Gordon Whatley, Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, pp 264ff.
Alexander Callander Murray, ed. From Roman to Merovingian Gaul: A Reader (in series Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures), 1999. Chapter 14 ""Sanctity and politics in the time of Balthild and her sons"

  Noted events in her life were:

• Canonized: by Pope Nicholas I, Abt 880. The Roman martyrology says her feast day is January 26; France celebrates it January 30.January 30

Balthild married Clovis (Chlodovech) II of the Franks king of Burgundy and Neustria [5885] [MRIN: 1964], son of Dagobert I of the Franks de Austrasia King of the Franks [5882] and Nantilde (Nantechilde) [61818]. (Clovis (Chlodovech) II of the Franks king of Burgundy and Neustria [5885] was born in 637 in Moselle, France, died on 27 Nov 655 in St Denis, Aude, France and was buried in Saint Denis Basilica , Paris.)