Clotilde

Since the 6th century, according to hagiographer David Hugh Farmer, the marriage of Clovis and Clotilde has been "the theme of epic narratives, in which the original facts were materially altered". Belgian historian Godefroid Kurth writes that Clotilde's story fascinated later generations because it was "the centerpiece of a struggle between the old Catholic, Roman population against the Arianism of the Germanic tribes," although there is no evidence that Clovis was an Arian sympathizer before his marriage and conversion to Catholicism.

Clotilde is represented as a praying queen and as a nun. She built churches, monasteries, and convents, including the Basilica of the Holy Apostles, originally dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. After the death of Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, Clovis and Clothilde built a mausoleum for her at the church and rededicated it to her.

Political and violent intrigue surrounded Clotilde's family for most of her life. Kurth writes that she was "saddened by cruel trials." After Clovis died, she spent the rest of her life near the tomb of Saint Martin of Tours, "led a devout life," became "totally detached from politics and power-struggles except through prayer", and gave all her possessions to the poor.

Biography

Early life

Clotilde, born c. 474, was from Burgundy. According to her hagiographer Alban Butler, the only source for her biography was a pre–8th-century account by a monk from Saint-Denis, which was edited by Bruno Krusch before the 10th century. Her history has also been pieced together from the writings of Gregory of Tours and Fredegarius and from certain hagiographies. Butler states that the most reliable source on Clotilde's life is Belgian historian Godefroid Kurth, but David Hugh Farmer calls Gregory's hagiography of Clotilde "the principal source for her life" and said that a later hagiography "celebrated her as the saintly ancestor of the French kings." Her history also appears in French hagiographies, but most of them were written before Kurth's.

Clotilde's grandfather was Gondioc, who had four sons: her father Chilperic II of Burgundy, Gundobad, Gondemar, and Godegisel. After Gondioc's death, Burgundy was divided up among them, but Gundobad gained power over Burgundy when he murdered his brothers. Gundobad also killed Clotide's brothers and her mother Carétène, who might have converted Chilperic to Christianity and was called "a remarkable woman" by Sidonius Apollinaris and Venantius Fortunatus.

Clotilde and her sister, Sedeleuba (or Chrona), who later became a nun and founded the church of Saint-Victor in Geneva, were raised at the court of Gundobad. They were educated as Catholics, even though Gundobad, like most of the Burgundian kings, were Arians. According to hagiographer Sabine Baring-Gould, Clotilde "grew up full of piety and tenderness to sufferers."

Later life and marriage

In 492 or 493, shortly after her parents were murdered, Clotilde was wed to Clovis I, the first king of the Franks. Farmer writes that Clovis was "impressed by her beauty and wisdom." Clotilde exercised influence over her husband. Although few actual historical details have been recorded about her during Clovis's lifetime, or about their marriage, she might have been involved with his intervention into the quarrel among the Burgundian kings at the time and Clovis's support of Gondobad.

Clotilde actively encouraged Clovis to convert to Catholicism. He allowed the baptism of their oldest son, Ingomir, who died in infancy, and of their next son, Chlodomer, but he blamed their oldest child's death on Clotilde's faith and resisted her attempts to convert him. Clodomir also became ill but recovered. Clovis and Clotilde had five children in all: four sons—Ingomir, Chlodomer, Childebert, and Clotaire, who all became kings—and one daughter, Clotilde, named after her mother. The elder Clotilde's vita describes her daughter's life, who married a Visigothic man named Amalaric. The younger Clotilde unsuccessfully tried to convert Amalaric to Catholicism and was "cruelly treated" by him.

Clovis was baptized by St. Remigius at Reims in 496, along with 3,000 of the Frankish people, after a battle with the Alemanni. Clovis's army was losing, but he appealed to his wife's God for help, promising that if he won he would accept the Christian faith. According to tradition, while Clotilde was in prayer and as Clovis began to win the battle, an angel brought her three white lilies; Clovis later substituted lilies for the three frogs in the insignia on his battle shield. Baring-Gould considers Clovis's conversion sincere, not due to political considerations; he disputes the assertion that Clotilde influenced Clovis to fight this or other wars to avenge her family's death. Nor do Clovis's subsequent military achievements against the Burgundians and Visigoths seem to have been associated with Clotilde.

Clovis died in 511; Clotilde buried him at the Basilica of the Holy Apostles, later the Church of Sainte-Geneviève. Genevieve might have been the first to suggest that Clovis build a church honouring Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which he built in deference to Clotilde's wishes; she completed the church after his death.

Post-marriage and death

According to Kurth in The Catholic Encyclopedia, an epic about the Franks accuses Clotilde of inciting her son Chlodomer to start a war with his cousin, Sigismund of Burgundy, to avenge the deaths of her parents. Godefroid doubts the story is true, considers it a defamation against Clotilde, and states that she arranged a truce between Clovis and Gondebad, Sigismund's father. Butler agrees, stating that sources such as the writings of Gregory of Tours have been disproven, which has "vindicated the queen from charges of ferocity and vindictiveness, little in keeping with her saintly character."

According to Butler, Chlodomer captured and killed Sigismund as well as his wife and children, but was then killed by Sigismund's brother. Clotilde adopted her three young grandsons, but was induced to send them to her other sons, who had the two elder boys killed. The youngest, Clodoald, was saved and later became a monk in Paris, at the monastery in Nogent-sur-Marne, which was later renamed in his honour. According to Agnes B.C. Dunbar, Clotilde's son-in-law Amalaric at one point sent a bloodstained veil to her brothers; her brother Childebert retaliated against him, pillaging his towns, and rescued his sister from Amalaric, but the younger Clotilde died on the way to Paris.

After the deaths of Clovis and her grandchildren, Clotilde left Paris and moved to Tours, where she spent most of her time near the tomb of Saint Martin of Tours and became closely associated with the diocese of Tours. Dunbar writes that Clotilde and Clovis were devoted to Saint Martin. As Farmer reports, "thenceforward she led a devout life," becoming "totally detached from politics and power-struggles except through prayer". Dunbar states that she "prayed and fasted and wept, and gave all she had to the poor."

Despite her apparent withdrawal from politics, Farmer states that Clotilde continued to exert political influence in "the violent Merovingian world," mostly through her sons. Gregory of Tours wrote that her prayers delayed a war between her two surviving sons; as Butler put it, "The very next day, as the armies were about to engage, there arose a tempest that all military operations had to be abandoned." A month later, on June 3, 545, Clotilde died at Tours. She was buried at the Church of the Holy Apostles, at the feet of St. Genevieve and beside Clovis and her older children. She had been a widow for 34 years.