Fredegund

Fredegund

Fredegund or Fredegunda (also Latin "Fredegundis" or 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 sites 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)


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