Ruothild (daughter of Charlemagne)

Contents

Ruothild (died 24 March 852) was a Carolingian princess and the abbess of Faremoutiers.[1] She was a daughter of Charlemagne and his concubine Madelgard,[2] who is the first of the concubines listed by Einhard in his Life of Charlemagne.[3]

Ruothild is generally thought to have been born after the death of Charlemagne's last wife, Liutgard, in 800,[4] although it has been suggested that she may be the unnamed daughter mentioned in a poem of Theodulf praising Liutgard's relationship with her stepchildren.[5]

As a daughter of Charlemagne, Ruothild probably received an education.[6] Later legend relates that her father gave her a gilt silver reliquary containing a piece of the True Cross.[7] As abbess, she oversaw the transfer of the relics of Burgundofara, the founder and namesake of Faremoutiers, to a new shrine. She had the body wrapped in a red Byzantine silk decorated with bare-breasted Amazons. Her choice of silk suggests familiarity with Orosius' Seven Books of History Against the Pagans, the standard text on the Amazons at the time.[8]

Life and ministry

During her abbacy, Ruothild's half-brother, the Emperor Louis the Pious (r. 814–840), granted the smaller convent at Gy-les-Nonains to Faremoutiers to shore up its economic position (and increase his own family's power).[9] In October 840, the Emperor Lothar I confirmed the grant to his "beloved aunt Rothildis" at her request.[10] By 842, as a result of the Carolingian civil war, Faremoutiers fell under the rule of Lothar's half-brother, Charles the Bald, and Ruothild requested his confirmation of the convent's properties, which he gave.[11]

Ruothild's year of death is indicated by a note added in the margin of the manuscript Reg. lat. 141 next to the year 852 in an Easter table.[12] The manuscript was created at Faremoutiers and the note is contemporary.[13] It reads simply Domna ruothild abb[atiss]a obiit ("Lady Ruothild, abbess, died").[14] The necrology of Faremoutiers supplies the day of her death, 24 March, without indicating the year.[15] Ruothild was succeeded as abbess by Bertrada, who was probably Lothar's daughter. She had been a nun at Faremoutiers since the 830s.[16]

References

  1. 1.McKitterick 2008, p. 92.
  2. 2.Nelson 2019, p. 440; Barbero 2004, p. 138; Minois 2014, p. 427; McKitterick 2008, p. 92; Becher 2005, p. 31; Cabaniss 1972, p. 91; Nelson 1998, p. 61.
  3. 3.Barbero 2004, p. 138; Fried 2016, p. 471.
  4. 4.Nelson 2019, p. 440; Barbero 2004, p. 138; Minois 2014, p. 427; McKitterick 2008, pp. 91–92.
  5. 5.Cabaniss 1972, p. 76. See also Werner 1967, p. 443.
  6. 6.Stevenson 2005, pp. 88–89.
  7. 7.Schulenburg 2008, p. 71.
  8. 8.Nelson 1998, p. 46; Stevenson 2005, p. 89.
  9. 9.Airlie 2020, p. 257; Hochstetler 1992, p. 191.
  10. 10.Airlie 2020, p. 257; Screen 2004, p. 36; Hochstetler 1992, p. 192; Sot 2015, p. 124; Werner 1967, chart.
  11. 11.Screen 2004, p. 40; Werner 1967, p. 445 n14.
  12. 12.Sot 2015, p. 124; Werner 1967, p. 445 n14; Piggin 2017.
  13. 13.Werner 1967, p. 445 n14; Piggin 2017.
  14. 14.Werner 1967, p. 445 n14.
  15. 15.Sot 2015, p. 124; Werner 1967, p. 445 n14.
  16. 16.Airlie 2020, p. 257.