Chlothsind (queen)

Chlothsind[1] (fl. 560s) was a Frankish princess and the queen consort of the Lombard king Alboin. Her name may also be spelled Chlothsinda,[2] Chlodosinda,[2] Chlodosind,[3] Chlodoswintha[4] or Chlodosuinth.[5]

Chlothsind was a daughter of the Frankish king Chlothar I and queen Ingund. She became the first wife of the Lombard king Alboin while the Lombards were still settled in Pannonia.[3] According to Paul the Deacon, they had one child, Albsuinda.[2][6] This marriage is also recorded in Gregory of Tours and the Origo gentis Langobardorum.[2]

Bishop Nicetius of Trier addressed a letter to Chothsind.[7] It was dispatched with returning Lombard ambassadors, but its date is unclear.[3] It is usually dated to before 568, probably between 561 and 567.[5] Nicetius expressed hope that she could induce her husband to convert to Catholicism rather than Arianism, just as her grandmother Chlothild helped convert Clovis I, Chlothar's father.[4][3]

Chlothsind died not long after the Lombards began to settle in Italy in 568.[3] After her death, Alboin married Rosimunda.[2]

  1. ^ Marazzi 2021, p. 173.
  2. ^ a b c d e Martindale 1992, s.v. Chlodosinda (1), p. 297.
  3. ^ a b c d e Tyrrell 2012, p. 139.
  4. ^ a b Wood 1994, pp. 165–166.
  5. ^ a b Barrett & Woudhuysen 2016, p. 50.
  6. ^ Wood 1994, p. 355.
  7. ^ Barrett & Woudhuysen 2016, pp. 50 & 53. The name is spelled Hlodosuinda and Hlodosinda in the Austrasian Letters collection.