Clotilde (died 531)

Clotilde
Queen Consort of the Visigoths
Reignc. 526 – 531
Bornc. 500
Died531
Burial
Paris
SpouseAmalaric (526–531)

Clotilde (or Chrodechildis) (c. 500–531) was the daughter of King Clovis I of the Franks and Queen Clotilde, and she became the queen of the Visigothic King Amalaric. Born around 500, she was the favored child of her parents and was deeply affected by her father's death in 511.[1]

Clotilde wed Amalaric around 526,[1] and the initial ties between their families were positive.[2] While Clotilde was Catholic, Amalaric and the Visigoths practiced Arianism. She steadfastly held onto her own religious beliefs, refusing to adopt her husband's faith, and she shared her plight with her family, describing the persecution she faced due to her faith. This tension led to Amalaric's expulsion from Narbonne.[2] Subsequently, a conflict erupted in 531 between her brother, King Childebert I, and her husband,[1] at Barcelona, Spain.[2][3] According to Isidore of Seville, Amalaric faced defeat and was ultimately assassinated by his own men,[4] while Clotilde embarked on a journey to Francia with the Frankish army,[1] but she died en route. The circumstances of her death remain unrecorded. Childebert I brought her body to Paris for burial, an event that deeply saddened her mother and siblings.[5]

  1. ^ a b c d Riché, Pierre (1996), Dictionnaire des Francs: Les temps Mérovingiens. Eds. Bartillat. ISBN 2-84100-008-7
  2. ^ a b c Callaghan, Joseph (1975). A history of medieval Spain. Cornell University Press. pp. 41–. ISBN 9780801492648.
  3. ^ Gambrell, Thomas Ross (2001). An Ancestral History: 8 B.C. to 1986 : a Life and Times Study of the Allerton, Appling, Barrow, Brewster, Brooke, Ficke, Gambrell, Mattison, Mooney, Newton, Petit, Rheinlander, Schwerdtfeger, Spivey, Trammel, Van Rennselaer, and Wyatt Families in Europe and the American South. Gateway Press. pp. 55–.
  4. ^ Thomas, Joseph (2013). The Universal Dictionary of Biography and Mythology, A-clu. Cosimo. pp. 107–. ISBN 9781616400682.
  5. ^ Bertelli, Sergio (2003). The king's body: sacred rituals of power in medieval and early modern Europe. Penn State Press. pp. 232–. ISBN 9780271041391.