… of the Franks

List of Frankish queens From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a list of the women who have been Queens consort of the Frankish people. As all monarchs of the Franks have been required by law and tradition to be male, there has never been a Queen regnant of the Franks (although some women have governed as regents).

A timeline of consorts Frankish rulers is difficult since the realm was, according to old Germanic practice, frequently divided among the sons of a leader upon his death and then eventually reunited. Another factor is the practice of polygamy in the Frankish society, and it is unclear who was a concubine, a mistress, or a legal wife. Most of early Merovingian queens are nothing but names, and almost nothing is known about them.

Merovingian dynasty (450–751)

The marital status of some wives of early Frankish kings are unclear and polygamy was practiced.

Evochildis ("Of Cologne") ? Princesa Franco-renana (Probably a Franco-Rhenish Princess; likely mother of Theuderic I)[1][clarification needed]. Married Clovis l in 484. [source for name needed]

1. “ The Painter & Woods Families of Fulton Co, Illinois” Rootsweb. a. Continued: He (Theuderic I) was the son of Clovis I and one of his earlier wives or concubines (possibly a Franco-Rhenish Princess, Evochildis of Cologne[2]).

• * 2. Wood 1994, p. 50

  ---

THEODERICH ([485]-end 533, bur Metz). Gregory of Tours names Theoderich as son of King Clovis by one of his mistresses, born before his marriage to Clotilde[55]. "Theodorico, Chlomiro, Hildeberto, Hlodario" are named (in order) as sons of "Chlodoveus" in the Regum Merowingorum Genealogia

Theuderic I[a] (c. 485 – 533/4) was the Merovingian king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia—as it is variously called—from 511 to 533 or 534.

Genealogy

Project MedLands MEROVINGIANS

CHLODOVECH [Clovis], son of CHILDERICH I King of the Franks & his wife Basina --- ([464/67]-Paris [27 Nov] 511, bur Paris, basilique des Saints-Apôtres [later église de Sainte-Geneviève]). Gregory of Tours names Clovis as son of Childerich & Basina[37]. … [married firstly] ---, daughter of --- [of the Franks of the Rhine]. According to Gregory of Tours, the mother of Theoderich was one of King Clovis's concubines not his first wife[46]. Settipani[47] suggests that Theoderich’s mother was a Frank from the Rhine region, based on the inheritance of Austrasia by Theoderich and the roots "Theode-" and "-rich" in his name, possibly transmitted through his mother from Theodemer and Richomer who were both 4th century Frankish kings. married [secondly] (492) CHROTECHILDIS [Clotilde/Rotilde[48]] of Burgundy, daughter of CHILPERICH King of Burgundy & his wife ([480] …

King Clovis & his first [wife/concubine] had one child:

1. THEODERICH ([485]-end 533, bur Metz). Gregory of Tours names Theoderich as son of King Clovis by one of his mistresses, born before his marriage to Clotilde[55]. "Theodorico, Chlomiro, Hildeberto, Hlodario" are named (in order) as sons of "Chlodoveus" in the Regum Merowingorum Genealogia[56]. In 508, he led his father's campaign against the Visigoths, allied with the Burgundians[57], and temporarily occupied Aquitaine … married firstly ?. … married secondly ([507/16] [SUAVEGOTHA] of Burgundy, daughter of SIGISMOND King of Burgundy & his first wife Ostrogotha of the Ostrogoths (495 or later-[after 549]). ….

[46] Gregory of Tours II.28, p. 141. Medieval Sourcebook: Gregory of Tours (539-594): History of the Franks: Books I-X < link >
[47] Settipani (1993), p. 56. [Settipani Christian and Patrick Van Kerrebrouck. La Préhistoire Des Capétiens 481-987. Patrick Van Kerrebrouck 1993.]

From French Wikipedia

Thierry I, [Theuderic] born between 485 and 490 and died in 534, is the eldest son of the king of the Franks Clovis. During the division of the kingdom of the Franks after the death of his father in 511, he inherited the Northeast and Auvergne and Australasia, with Metz as his capital. He is also called Theodoric; Theudoricus in Latin, Theuderich or Theutric in Old Frankish, from theut "people" and ric "leader, powerful", either "leader of the people1" or "powerful in the people2".

Origins

Thierry's mother is not named by Grégoire de Tours who, speaking of Clovis and Clotilde, is content to say: "He associated him by marriage when he already had a son named Thierry from a concubine. ". Historians[Who?] now almost unanimously admit the reasonable hypothesis that she would be a Rhine-Frankish princess3. Thierry's mother is actually a so-called "second-row" wife, considered a "guarantee of peace" (friedelehen). This union has often been wrongly interpreted as cohabitation by Roman Christian historians who did not know the customs of Germanic polygamous family structures, without public marriage4. This ancestry can explain that he obtained in 511, in addition to the Aquitaine lands he conquered, the eastern space of the Regnum francorum that covers the former kingdom of Cologne5. Authors talk about Evochilde6,7.

Thierry's kingdom

At the death of Clovis, and according to the Germanic custom of tanistry, the eldest son, that is, Thierry, should receive the title of rex Francorum for all his father's territories. But being the result of a second-tier marriage, he cannot claim to reign in place of Clotilde's sons8. However, the children from different marriages are all equal in terms of succession: "those who were procreated by kings are called sons of kings without taking into account the family of women9".

In the sharing of 511, although the sources insist on the egalitarian nature of the lots, because of the mother's right (Mutterrecht)8, Thierry obtained "the lion's share", as Eugen Ewig says (from the German Historical Institute and the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles). The explanation for this apparent inequality yet fair comes from the "right of the mother" (Mutterrecht). Indeed, it was customary to attribute to the different queens, for their sons, a portion of the kingdom by holding "equal balance". Clovis having had two wives, the kingdom is first divided into two before being divided between the sons of each wife. The eldest, Thierry, son of the first wife, is therefore largely advantaged by receiving the kingdom of Reims. Its separate state10 includes the former first Belgium (with Trier), part of the second Belgium (with Reims and Châlons), the two Germanies (with Cologne and Mainz) and, beyond that, a wide opening to the Alaman territories on which the Franks, since the campaigns of Clovis and the fall of the Kingdom of Cologne, carried out a kind of protectorate. To the north, the ancient city of Tongeren seemed to constitute a kind of buffer zone where the influence of the Franks met that of the Thuringians and probably that of the Warnes. Added to it are Auvergne and an eastern fringe of Aquitaine, conquered by Thierry for his father during the war against the Visigoths in 507/508, with the cities of Clermont, Le Puy, Cahors, Albi, Rodez, probably Limoges, perhaps Javols11.

Sharing of the Frankish kingdom between Clovis' four sons. Great Chronicles of Saint-Denis. Toulouse, municipal library, France.

References

• https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Ier#cite_note-Rouche,350-8

1. Ivan Gobry, Clotaire II, collection "History of the kings of France", Pygmalion editions, p. 11.
2. Laurence Charlotte Feffer and Patrick Périn, Les Francs Volume 2: At the origin of France, Armand Collin Editeur, Paris, 1987, p. 130.
3. Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, II, 28. link “The king was very glad when he saw her [Clotilda], and married her, having already by a concubine a son named Theodoric.” The term concubine used by Grégoire obviously does not tell us about the real status of this woman.
4. Michel Rouche, Clovis, Paris, Éditions Fayard, 1996 (ISBN 2-2135-9632-8), p. 237-238.
5. The problem is complex and probably insoluble, due to lack of sources. For Karl Ferdinand Werner - who thinks that there was no "conquest" of the Kingdom of Cologne, but from the beginning a bipartial regnum - Thierry was, from an early age, destined to reign over the Rhine Franks and the theme in Theo- of his name, characteristic of the Rhine anthroponymy would be a sign in this sense. For Eugen Ewig - who put a lot of effort to understand the rationality of the shares - that of 511 could have been negotiated between Thierry and Clotilde (whose sons were still minor): Thierry's oriental lot would constitute a kind of "shield" protecting the rest of the regnum on its Germanic face, the most dangerous. - Karl Ferdinand Werner, Les Origines "Histoire de France", 1984 (reprinted 1996) [detail of the editions] (ISBN 978-2-253-06203-5), pp. 332-335 and especially pp. 358-361.
6. The origin of the Francis and their Empire By Pierre Audigier 1676 Read online [archive].
7. Fastes De La France Or Chronological, Sÿnchronic and Geographical Tables Of The History Of France: From the establishment of francs to the present day; Indicating the political events, the progress of civilization and the famous men of each reign by Mullié, C. 1841 Read online [archive].
8. Return to top in: a and b Michel Rouche, Clovis, éditions Fayard, 1996, p. 350.
9. Grégoire de Tours, op. cit., book V, 20.
10. The division of the kingdom of the Franks generates separate states distinct from it, allowing each son to exercise complete royalty in the assigned sub-kingdom, rather than dividing the exercise of power between princes throughout the territory. Frédéric Armand, Chilpéric IER, La louve éditions, p. 72.
11. Recall that Merovingian divisions are not known by direct documents and that their territorial character is always discussed; the variants are therefore frequent and often insignificant between authors. This paragraph is based on Eugen Ewig, Die fränkische Teilungen und Teilreiche... and especially on Fabienne Cardot's thesis, L'Espace et le pouvoir..., pp. 165 sqq., with map.

• Encyclopedia Britannica Clovis I, (born c. 466—died November 27, 511, Paris, France), king of the Franks and ruler of much of Gaul from 481 to 511, a key period during the transformation of the Roman Empire into Europe. His dynasty, the Merovingians, survived more than 200 years, until the rise of the Carolingians in the 8th century. While he was not the first Frankish king, he was the kingdom’s political and religious founder. Clovis was the son of the pagan Frankish king Childeric and the Thuringian queen Basina. … Clovis married the Catholic Burgundian princess Clotilda and had five children with her. A son, Theuderic, was born prior to the marriage; his mother is unknown.
• Wood, Ian N. (1994). The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450–751. Longman, page 50. Clovis l 481—511 m. 1? m. 2 Chlothin < search inside > “Theuderic, who was Clovis's son by an earlier liaison, had already distinguished himself as a military leader: he could not be passed over. The division may have been the only way that Chlothild was able to ensure that part of Clovis's realm …”