April 15, 2025 • 32 mins
The 6th-century feud between Brunhild and Fredegund would last the rest of their lives, defining their kingdoms for generations as the women went from queens to rival regents.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
and Mild from Aaron Manky listener discretion advised. With the
king lying dead out in the stable yard, chaos reigned
inside the villa. Nobles grabbed what valuables they could and fled.
Servants scrambled as rumors spread about assassins in their midst,
(00:25):
and the Queen frantically paced in an adviser's chambers, unable
or unwilling to visit her husband's body. Any shock or
grief that Queen Fredigound felt on that fateful September night
in five hundred eighty four was outweighed by her survival instincts.
(00:47):
Fredegund knew how swiftly the pendulum of power could swing
in the warring realms of Francia, having experienced higher highs
and lower lows than just about anyone. If she did
not act quickly, she and her infant son, whose existence
she had kept a secret, would both be at the
(01:09):
mercy of her enemies. By that point, she had already
lost four boys and could not bear to lose another.
She had spent years clawing and scheming her way from
slavery to the pinnacle of the mayor Vingian monarchy, and
she wasn't about to lose it all. So Fredigund fled
(01:30):
to a cathedral in Paris and hold up with her baby,
cornered but still calculating. Historians do not definitively know who
ordered the hit on Fredgun's husband, but it's not hard
to make an educated guess. Fredgund herself would have had
an instant hunch about the orchestrator, because roughly a decade earlier,
(01:55):
she herself had planned the assassination of a neighboring king
king who was the husband of a fierce rival. Fredegund
also knew that whether or not that rival, Queen Brunhild,
was responsible, Brunhild would certainly seek to capitalize on the
frenzied aftermath of the killing, because that was exactly how
(02:18):
Fredagun's rival operated. Sure Enough, as panicky members of Fredagun's
entourage fled, Brunhild was already waiting to intercept them with
her own son and their robust army. Similar to Fredegund,
Brunhild had weathered grave tragedies and engineered stunning victories. She
(02:42):
too had once even found herself vulnerably confined in Paris
after suddenly becoming a widow. As Brunhild's forces closed in,
she was likely unaware that Fredegund had recently given birth.
She was probably hoping that this conquest would help her
own teenage son consolidate power over Francia with her expanding
(03:07):
role as regent. The news that Fredegund had eluded capture
and entrenched herself in a church would have surely been
vexing to Brunehild, but probably not surprising. After all, that
was how Brunehild's rival maneuvered. To some the two queen's
(03:29):
looming showdown might have seemed like it would finally bring
an end to their epic war perpetuating conflict, But for
Brunhild and Fredegund, this would be yet one more blood
stained piece of their utterly unprecedented puzzle. I'm Dana Schwartz,
(03:51):
and this is noble blood. Quite a lot happened in
Brunehild's and Freddigun's storylines prior to where we left them
at the end of part one, and in quickly recapping
the highlights, eerie parallels and stark differences in their reigns,
(04:12):
the narrative practically comes off like a sensational boxing match.
In the Austrasian corner, there was the early crowd favorite
brune Hild, the highly touted princess turned queen fighting out
of Neustria. There's the underdog Fredigund, a survivor who lifted
(04:32):
herself all the way from forced servitude to the highest
seat of power available. The early rounds of their battle
saw fierce sparring, everything from Fredigund possibly influencing her husband
to murder Brunhild's sister, to Brunhild helping mastermind a clever
(04:52):
legal claim so that her husband, King Siegbert, could invade
Fredagun's country. Just when Brunhild's side seemed poised to strike
a knockout blow, Fredegund came in with a stunningly sneaky
jab engineering King Siegbert's assassination. This flipped the whole fight
(05:14):
and left Brunhild on the ropes. Nevertheless, she opted to
go down swinging, saving her children and getting herself sent
off to a convent. This is where we pick back up,
with Brunhild stuck desperately figuring out how to get herself
back in the game. Fortunately for Brunhild. In that convent
(05:38):
in Ruan, she reportedly found an ideal co conspirator, Odovera,
the banished first wife of Chilpric, Fredign's husband. According to
some accounts, Otdevera had high status among the insular world
of the nuns. This won her certain priviledges and a
(06:01):
level of respect from the older bishop in charge, which
in turn made her a useful ally for Brunhild, especially
because the two had so much in common. Both Brunhild
and Odevera had been deposed by Fredigend and Chilpric, suffering
(06:21):
losses and humiliating ostracisms in the process. On top of
all the painful and personal reasons, the queens may have
wanted to seek revenge against the Nustrian monarchs, immense power
and lucrative assets were hanging in the balance. Brunehild's son
(06:44):
was in a risky position as the king of Austrasia,
since he was so young and did not have her
there as a protective regent for Otdevera. Her own children
were supposed to inherit lands and titles after Chilprick's death,
except those agreements were put in jeopardy by all of
(07:05):
Fredigun's plotting and the birthing of her own heirs. So
despite their limited resources inside the nunnery, Brunhild and Odevera
yearned to execute a decisive move. Otdovera's connections evidently allowed
them to send and receive covert messages, but the all
(07:27):
important question was whom should they contact. Meanwhile, Fredegund was
enjoying the dominance that her successful regicide had won. Her
sources claimed that her husband would defer so significantly to
Fredegund on court matters that he would sometimes refuse to
take unilateral action without her approval. As previously mentioned, Fredegund
(07:53):
seemed particularly keen on using her newfound authority to dole
out brutal justice. She reportedly regularly sentenced failed assassins, servants,
and supposedly disloyal subjects to having their hands, noses, and
ears hacked off. There are also several recorded instances of
(08:16):
her ordering her enemies to be broken on the rack
or burned alive. Fredigund also often pursued her own ends
without input from her husband, by bribing many officials and
planning further assassinations. She was so effective in her aims
that many Francs, particularly brune Hild's supporters, increasingly labeled her
(08:41):
an evil witch, but there appears to be little to
no evidence that Fredagund even tried to refute those supernatural rumors.
Presumably she preferred being feared, with word of Fredagund's growing
influence reaching even their convent. Brunhild and Otdevera knew the
(09:04):
clock was ticking on their comeback, so their strategic instincts
hit on the fastest means of gaining power. Marriage. They
hatched a mutually beneficial plan for Brunhild to contact and
marry otto Vera's oldest living son, who was Chilprick's son
(09:25):
and Fredigun's step son. If you're keeping track, bucking norms,
Brunehild even probably proposed to him. This is not just
revisionist history. A seventh century scribe stated it that way,
reframing the bride as the active party in theory that
match would greatly elevate both vanished queen's positions. Otto Vera's
(09:51):
son would become even more prominent, and they could then
claim that he was the rightful heir of Neustria, undermining
Fredigund and her children and Brunhild would be regent as
her son ruled Austrasia, and she could be a queen consort.
If her new husband overthrew his estranged father, she could
(10:13):
potentially become queen of two thirds of Francia. Brunhild and
Odevera's son wed in five hundred seventy six in the
same cathedral where Brunhild's sister had married Chilpric. This wedding
was much more cobbled together than Brunhild's first, and was
(10:34):
also somewhat scandalous, since technically a groom marrying his uncle's
widow was a form of incest frowned upon by the Church.
But their union was bolstered by several elements. First, Brunhild
and her new husband were not blood relatives. Second, Otdovera
(10:56):
had previously gotten the presiding bishop to agree to be
the groom's godfather, so he likely fancied himself a plumb
position if his godson became the new king of Neustria.
And Third, stirring up a bit of scandal was the
whole point. Brunhild was trying to stoke a rebellion against
(11:19):
her ex brother in law and new sister in law.
Sorry for all the complicated inter family dynamics here, but
the headline is this was a power move, and time
to get your royal rivalry scorecards out, because both queens
were fully back in the ring. Unfortunately for Brunhild, her
(11:43):
new husband's army seems to have been defeated in such
a quick manner that their downfall comes across as mystifyingly
vague in most historical accounts. Nevertheless, what was clear was
that Chilbric easily captured the newlyweds. He forced his wayward
son to become a priest. Then, apparently tired of all
(12:05):
these scandals and headaches that Brunhild was causing, the King
negotiated with her to allow her to return to Austrasia
if she promised to completely abandon her new husband. Brunhild's
deal making skills were so honed by this point, though,
that on top of securing her release, she also bought
(12:26):
herself some added time to sneakily shore up her alliances.
Before returning home, she supposedly secretly delivered more accrude treasure
to that same enterprising bishop in case he could support
her now disavowed husband in a second effort to overthrow
(12:47):
his father, and on top of that, Brunhild somehow also
got Chilbric to agree to return her hostaged daughters to her.
So miraculously, if you're keeping, in a matter of months,
Brunhild had managed to escape her convent, return home, richer
in gold and allies, and reunite her family so she
(13:11):
could watch over them as regent of Australia. Fredigund may
have gained the upper hand in the last few rounds
of their fight, but this one went resoundingly to Brunhild.
Over the next eight years, both Brunhild and Fredigund both
proved to be productive rulers. As regent, Brunhild became a
(13:34):
skilled diplomat, deftly managed the squabbling nobles of her court,
and heavily invested in infrastructure that included repairing old Roman
roads and constructing a hospital and beautiful churches. Fredegund was
noted for her popular tax reforms, as well as for
(13:55):
sniffing out plots against her, both legitimate and perceived, and
even for her military acumen. The legendary boldness and creativity
that Fredigund exhibited especially when her forces were vastly outnumbered.
Won her the respect of her armies and inspired numerous historians, writers,
(14:17):
and tacticians, but Fredigund also suffered many tragedies through this period.
She devastatingly lost four sons in a seven year span,
mostly due to dysentery, and just after birthing a fifth
son in secret, her life would once again be turned
(14:38):
upside down. While staying at a villa outside of Paris
in five hundred eighty four, her husband Chilpric, returned to
his stables after a hunt. His party began to disperse,
and allegedly, as he dismounted himself, an assassin lunged forward
and stabbed him multiple times. Whether or not brun Hild
(15:01):
sent the assassin, momentum was massively swinging back into her favor.
The king bled out on the ground, and his death
caused such an instant frenzy that no one dared approach
the body for hours, being either afraid of associating themselves
with the murder or too preoccupied with planning their next
(15:24):
strategic moves. Fredigund fell into the latter category, while brun
Hilled and her Australian forces rapidly approached. Fredigund fled to
Paris to seek sanctuary in a huge cathedral that was,
by all accounts as extravagant as most palaces, but it
(15:45):
essentially amounted to Fredigund as an ornate bunker as she
once again had to brainstorm how to avoid death or imprisonment. Ultimately,
she would choose a similar strategy as the one Brunhild
had used years ago, namely, using persuasive talents as well
(16:06):
as a large stash of treasure, Fredigund successfully drew Brunhild
and her son's full attention while also drawing the eye
of another influential figure, Guntram, King of Burgundy. We haven't
brought up Guntram and his third Kingdom of Francy up
much until this point, because, frankishly speaking, his ambitions and
(16:31):
actions did not seem to be as consistently dramatic or
earthshaking as his brothers, let alone those of his sisters
in law. Gontram often fell into the role of peacemaker,
buffer or underdog supporter in the civil war. Basically, he
didn't want either neighboring kingdom to become too powerful. Guontram
(16:54):
also detested the idea of women ruling and thought widowed
deposed queen's should stay stashed in convents, but when needed,
Brunhild and Fredegund both found ways to get crafty with him.
Knowing that Gutram had no surviving heirs, Brunehilde had managed
(17:14):
to make a deal with him to adopt her son
as heir to Burgundy in exchange for agreeing to stop
the Australian's war against Neustria. Once again. She was angling
to ensure that her line would eventually be able to
control at least two thirds of Francia. However, Fredegund was
(17:35):
apparently aware that Gutram had done that, and she had
also intuited that Gutram was still resentful of Brunhild for
wielding so much power. So, while stuck in her Paris
cathedral with limited time and means of communication, Fredegund thought
(17:56):
carefully on the best tact to take with her potential lifeline.
She tapped into Gutram's paternal instincts, but rather than asking
him for any adoption favors, she sent him a message
appealing for pity since she had a newborn baby. According
(18:17):
to Bishop Gregory of tour Our most thorough source from
this time. Fredegund wrote to Gutram quote, let my lord
come and take charge of his brother's kingdom. I have
a tiny baby whom I longed to place in his arms.
At the same time, I shall declare myself his humble servant.
(18:39):
Fredigun's cleverly timed baby surprise worked. Guntram stepped in and
he prevented Brunhild and her son from capturing Fredigund and
her infant son, and Guntram also pushed for an end
to his fellow Frankish country's civil war. For his troubles,
(19:00):
he also likely helped himself to some of Fredigun's treasure,
so major diplomacy points go to Fredegund here, although as
part of the deal she agreed to step away from
royal life. But at last there was relative peace, at
least until Guntram died. Soon, Brunhild and Fredigund went right
(19:25):
back to leading their queendoms against each other. Fredigund planned
more assassinations and again grabbed her throne. Serving as regent
for her son, she oversaw Neustria's army and one decisive
military victories, despite almost always being outnumbered. At one point
(19:48):
after one of her generals was felled on the battlefield.
Fredigund reportedly shocked the enemy by leading the neustran charge herself.
At the same same time, brune Hild shepherded her son's
reign so skillfully that she was credited with impacting almost
all of Austrasia's biggest decisions. The young king is usually
(20:13):
portrayed as dependent and ineffectual. In five hundred ninety five,
Brunhild's son died, leaving behind three of his own children.
Surely there were some tributes to the dead king, but
the fact that so many chronicles paid so little attention
to his death goes to show how unremarkable of a
(20:35):
ruler he probably was. Likewise, Brunhild's reaction to this loss
comes off as murky. In some accounts. It must have
been an emotional blow, but having learned the hard way
that a king's death could rip away a queen's power,
Brunhild prudently secured her position as regent for two of
(20:58):
her grandsons. They were nine and ten, and technically the
new rulers of Austrasia and Burgundy respectively. At that time.
Fredigun's king son was only eleven, meaning Francia was entirely
in the hands of child kings, although not really, the
(21:20):
two queen mothers wielded all of the true power, and
though both were in their ruling primes, if we were
to update our royal rivalry score sheets at this point,
Brunhild probably is winning for presiding over two thirds of Francia. Still,
anytime Brunhild or Fredigund got the upper hand, the opposing
(21:44):
queen would pull off a gritty move to save herself
and her lineage. Astonishingly, considering how powerful and wily they
each could be, Brunehild and Fredegund were so evenly matched
that in the end neither was able to directly defeat
the other and settle the final score. In five hundred
(22:04):
and ninety seven, Fredagund suddenly died. She was in her fifties,
She didn't seem to have a specific illness, and it
didn't appear to be poison. It was a surprisingly quiet
end for such a fiery person, and at long last,
her decades spanning quarrel with Brunhild was over. Mostly Brunhild
(22:29):
may have outlived Fredegund, but eventually Fredigun's line would get
the final say and brune Hild's death wouldn't be anything
close to quiet. Fast forward to six hundred and thirteen,
brune Hild served as regent for her great grandson, meaning
(22:50):
that she had been regent for three different generations, and
no surprise, she was helping him wage war against Neustria,
but many of their side defected and Fredigun's ruling son
finally captured them. In the spirit of his mother's pensiant
for creative punishments, he purportedly had Brunhild quartered, that is,
(23:16):
tied to several horses and pulled apart in a grizzly
public spectacle. For the first time in fifty two years.
Francia became united under one ruler, but Frediguon's and Brunhild's
legacies and long simmering hostilities would continue to haunt the
(23:38):
realm for centuries. Although many subsequent monarchs and historians obscured
certain facets of Brunhild's and Fredigun's lives, their reigns remain
uniquely fascinating and have had meaningful impacts on art and
popular culture. For example, Fredigun's military genius was on full
(24:03):
display during the Battle of Drozi in five hundred and
ninety three, Far outmatched by Australian forces, she disguised her
army with branches and leaves. This made it appear to
an enemy century as if the forest were moving, which
reportedly got this watchman derided as a drunkard. Fredigund also
(24:26):
had her mounted troops attach bells to their horses to
make opposing soldiers think they were simply grazing cattle, thus
allowing her army to sneak up and steal a victory.
These specific tactics became so famous that scholars claim that
Shakespeare borrowed and featured them in Macbeth. Brunehild was also
(24:49):
an inspiration for the slightly differently spelled character Brunehild with
an E at the end, the lead valkyrie in the
famous four part cycle of musical dramas composed by Richard
Wagner called the Ring Cycle. This became such a memorable
role that brune Hild even affected how vikings are commonly
(25:12):
visualized today. Many historians assert that by outfitting performers in
winged and horned helmets, the costume designer of the opera's
Cycle nineteen seventy six premiere inextricably linked Vikings with that
headgear in modern depictions, despite there being no actual evidence
(25:32):
that Viking warriors really wore pointy horns on their helmets.
For many, the name Brunhild might even first conjure up
images of bugs Bunny evading Elmer Fudd as he sings
kill the Abbott in the nineteen fifty seven Looney Tunes
cartoon What's Opera doc. It's impossible to say what brun
(25:55):
Hild would have thought about her decades in power being
distilled into an animated opera parody starring a rabbit in drag.
But on the other hand, in terms of lasting legacies,
how many other sixth century rulers can you say have
been immortalized that way? Analyzing Fredigund and Brunhild also brings
(26:17):
up intriguing questions about why the two are so often
framed as adversaries in a heightened personal feud. On a
basic level, conflict obviously sells, and the two did try
to kill each other and each other's families quite a bit.
It's worth asking whether Fredigund and Brunhild's actions, though, would
(26:39):
be discussed or framed in these same terms if they
were kings. Was it easier, particularly from many male historians' perspectives,
to frame their relationship as a vindictive personal feud rather
than a complicated imperial dispute. To be sure, there was
ample fuel or personal vendettas, but there were also critical
(27:04):
economic factors in play, treasuries, titles, lands, all up for grabs. Again,
Brunhild and Siegert didn't invade Nustria on the official grounds
that Brunhild's sister was murdered, but technically in order to
reclaim her extremely valuable land. All of that said, just
(27:25):
as viewing Fredigund and Brunhild's relationship through too much of
a personal drama focused lens wouldn't reveal the full picture,
neither is viewing their interrelated reigns as solely hinging on
coldly logical chest moves. In sixth century Francia, it was
difficult for women to exercise various freedoms, much less rule.
(27:50):
Yet both Brunhild and Fredigund maintained power for many years,
perhaps partly because both were able to affect actively master
political strategy and harness deep levels of emotional intelligence. Another
possible way to look at it is that instead of
(28:11):
a passionate feud being a narrative that was forced on
the queen's histories, it could be the other way around.
Is it possible that having such a worthy adversary in
some manner forced each other to, for lack of a
better phrase, up their game, which then catapulted both to
(28:32):
new history impacting heights. Brunehild and Fredigund are each undoubtedly
worthy of extensive individual study, but nevertheless, discussing the two
as a pair doesn't have to be productive and can
actually be tremendously informative and also interesting. Even today, it's
(28:52):
pretty tricky to find examples of two competing female rulers
who simultaneous hold the amount of power that Brunhild and
Fredegund did. Even with all the violence, upheaval and lingering
questions of the two queen's reigns, one thing is for sure,
(29:13):
their epic rivalry was unrivaled. That's the second part of
the fascinating story of Brunhild and Fredigund. But stick around
after a brief sponsor break to learn an additional method
of trying to quantify our queen's power. Attempting to keep
(29:39):
score on a rivalry that lasted over forty years may
seem silly, but quantifying certain complicated subjects like individuals overall
statuses in life was actually common practice for a time.
Frankish law dictated that every citizen was given a monetary
value called of airgeld, and if a heinous crime was
(30:02):
committed against that person, their family could legally claim that
amount as compensation. It was essentially a kind of life
insurance policy. Women's verigelds were typically higher than men's and
very dependent on their ages and abilities to have children.
They usually ranged from around two hundred to six hundred
(30:26):
gold coins. For female rulers, the calculus was on another scale.
The killing of a queen could lead to a fine
as sky high as fifty thousand gold coins, and, while
not always the case, for some aging queens, their perceived
worth did not simply depend on whether they could birth heirs,
(30:49):
but on how much value they could provide in terms
of their royal networking and ruling expertise. There don't appear
to be surviving records guarding specific values assigned to Brunhild
or Fredgund, but given their accumulated experience in ruling Francia,
as they each stayed in power for longer than almost
(31:12):
every Roman emperor and king who came before them. The
two queen's exploits surely put them at the top of
the all time franking order. Noble Blood is a production
(31:33):
of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manke. Noble
Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing
and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannaswick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit
and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and produced by
Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima il KLi and executive
(31:56):
producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more
podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
and Mild from Aaron Manky listener discretion advised. With the
king lying dead out in the stable yard, chaos reigned
inside the villa. Nobles grabbed what valuables they could and fled.
Servants scrambled as rumors spread about assassins in their midst,
(00:25):
and the Queen frantically paced in an adviser's chambers, unable
or unwilling to visit her husband's body. Any shock or
grief that Queen Fredigound felt on that fateful September night
in five hundred eighty four was outweighed by her survival instincts.
(00:47):
Fredegund knew how swiftly the pendulum of power could swing
in the warring realms of Francia, having experienced higher highs
and lower lows than just about anyone. If she did
not act quickly, she and her infant son, whose existence
she had kept a secret, would both be at the
(01:09):
mercy of her enemies. By that point, she had already
lost four boys and could not bear to lose another.
She had spent years clawing and scheming her way from
slavery to the pinnacle of the mayor Vingian monarchy, and
she wasn't about to lose it all. So Fredigund fled
(01:30):
to a cathedral in Paris and hold up with her baby,
cornered but still calculating. Historians do not definitively know who
ordered the hit on Fredgun's husband, but it's not hard
to make an educated guess. Fredgund herself would have had
an instant hunch about the orchestrator, because roughly a decade earlier,
(01:55):
she herself had planned the assassination of a neighboring king
king who was the husband of a fierce rival. Fredegund
also knew that whether or not that rival, Queen Brunhild,
was responsible, Brunhild would certainly seek to capitalize on the
frenzied aftermath of the killing, because that was exactly how
(02:18):
Fredagun's rival operated. Sure Enough, as panicky members of Fredagun's
entourage fled, Brunhild was already waiting to intercept them with
her own son and their robust army. Similar to Fredegund,
Brunhild had weathered grave tragedies and engineered stunning victories. She
(02:42):
too had once even found herself vulnerably confined in Paris
after suddenly becoming a widow. As Brunhild's forces closed in,
she was likely unaware that Fredegund had recently given birth.
She was probably hoping that this conquest would help her
own teenage son consolidate power over Francia with her expanding
(03:07):
role as regent. The news that Fredegund had eluded capture
and entrenched herself in a church would have surely been
vexing to Brunehild, but probably not surprising. After all, that
was how Brunehild's rival maneuvered. To some the two queen's
(03:29):
looming showdown might have seemed like it would finally bring
an end to their epic war perpetuating conflict, But for
Brunhild and Fredegund, this would be yet one more blood
stained piece of their utterly unprecedented puzzle. I'm Dana Schwartz,
(03:51):
and this is noble blood. Quite a lot happened in
Brunehild's and Freddigun's storylines prior to where we left them
at the end of part one, and in quickly recapping
the highlights, eerie parallels and stark differences in their reigns,
(04:12):
the narrative practically comes off like a sensational boxing match.
In the Austrasian corner, there was the early crowd favorite
brune Hild, the highly touted princess turned queen fighting out
of Neustria. There's the underdog Fredigund, a survivor who lifted
(04:32):
herself all the way from forced servitude to the highest
seat of power available. The early rounds of their battle
saw fierce sparring, everything from Fredigund possibly influencing her husband
to murder Brunhild's sister, to Brunhild helping mastermind a clever
(04:52):
legal claim so that her husband, King Siegbert, could invade
Fredagun's country. Just when Brunhild's side seemed poised to strike
a knockout blow, Fredegund came in with a stunningly sneaky
jab engineering King Siegbert's assassination. This flipped the whole fight
(05:14):
and left Brunhild on the ropes. Nevertheless, she opted to
go down swinging, saving her children and getting herself sent
off to a convent. This is where we pick back up,
with Brunhild stuck desperately figuring out how to get herself
back in the game. Fortunately for Brunhild. In that convent
(05:38):
in Ruan, she reportedly found an ideal co conspirator, Odovera,
the banished first wife of Chilpric, Fredign's husband. According to
some accounts, Otdevera had high status among the insular world
of the nuns. This won her certain priviledges and a
(06:01):
level of respect from the older bishop in charge, which
in turn made her a useful ally for Brunhild, especially
because the two had so much in common. Both Brunhild
and Odevera had been deposed by Fredigend and Chilpric, suffering
(06:21):
losses and humiliating ostracisms in the process. On top of
all the painful and personal reasons, the queens may have
wanted to seek revenge against the Nustrian monarchs, immense power
and lucrative assets were hanging in the balance. Brunehild's son
(06:44):
was in a risky position as the king of Austrasia,
since he was so young and did not have her
there as a protective regent for Otdevera. Her own children
were supposed to inherit lands and titles after Chilprick's death,
except those agreements were put in jeopardy by all of
(07:05):
Fredigun's plotting and the birthing of her own heirs. So
despite their limited resources inside the nunnery, Brunhild and Odevera
yearned to execute a decisive move. Otdovera's connections evidently allowed
them to send and receive covert messages, but the all
(07:27):
important question was whom should they contact. Meanwhile, Fredegund was
enjoying the dominance that her successful regicide had won. Her
sources claimed that her husband would defer so significantly to
Fredegund on court matters that he would sometimes refuse to
take unilateral action without her approval. As previously mentioned, Fredegund
(07:53):
seemed particularly keen on using her newfound authority to dole
out brutal justice. She reportedly regularly sentenced failed assassins, servants,
and supposedly disloyal subjects to having their hands, noses, and
ears hacked off. There are also several recorded instances of
(08:16):
her ordering her enemies to be broken on the rack
or burned alive. Fredigund also often pursued her own ends
without input from her husband, by bribing many officials and
planning further assassinations. She was so effective in her aims
that many Francs, particularly brune Hild's supporters, increasingly labeled her
(08:41):
an evil witch, but there appears to be little to
no evidence that Fredagund even tried to refute those supernatural rumors.
Presumably she preferred being feared, with word of Fredagund's growing
influence reaching even their convent. Brunhild and Otdevera knew the
(09:04):
clock was ticking on their comeback, so their strategic instincts
hit on the fastest means of gaining power. Marriage. They
hatched a mutually beneficial plan for Brunhild to contact and
marry otto Vera's oldest living son, who was Chilprick's son
(09:25):
and Fredigun's step son. If you're keeping track, bucking norms,
Brunehild even probably proposed to him. This is not just
revisionist history. A seventh century scribe stated it that way,
reframing the bride as the active party in theory that
match would greatly elevate both vanished queen's positions. Otto Vera's
(09:51):
son would become even more prominent, and they could then
claim that he was the rightful heir of Neustria, undermining
Fredigund and her children and Brunhild would be regent as
her son ruled Austrasia, and she could be a queen consort.
If her new husband overthrew his estranged father, she could
(10:13):
potentially become queen of two thirds of Francia. Brunhild and
Odevera's son wed in five hundred seventy six in the
same cathedral where Brunhild's sister had married Chilpric. This wedding
was much more cobbled together than Brunhild's first, and was
(10:34):
also somewhat scandalous, since technically a groom marrying his uncle's
widow was a form of incest frowned upon by the Church.
But their union was bolstered by several elements. First, Brunhild
and her new husband were not blood relatives. Second, Otdovera
(10:56):
had previously gotten the presiding bishop to agree to be
the groom's godfather, so he likely fancied himself a plumb
position if his godson became the new king of Neustria.
And Third, stirring up a bit of scandal was the
whole point. Brunhild was trying to stoke a rebellion against
(11:19):
her ex brother in law and new sister in law.
Sorry for all the complicated inter family dynamics here, but
the headline is this was a power move, and time
to get your royal rivalry scorecards out, because both queens
were fully back in the ring. Unfortunately for Brunhild, her
(11:43):
new husband's army seems to have been defeated in such
a quick manner that their downfall comes across as mystifyingly
vague in most historical accounts. Nevertheless, what was clear was
that Chilbric easily captured the newlyweds. He forced his wayward
son to become a priest. Then, apparently tired of all
(12:05):
these scandals and headaches that Brunhild was causing, the King
negotiated with her to allow her to return to Austrasia
if she promised to completely abandon her new husband. Brunhild's
deal making skills were so honed by this point, though,
that on top of securing her release, she also bought
(12:26):
herself some added time to sneakily shore up her alliances.
Before returning home, she supposedly secretly delivered more accrude treasure
to that same enterprising bishop in case he could support
her now disavowed husband in a second effort to overthrow
(12:47):
his father, and on top of that, Brunhild somehow also
got Chilbric to agree to return her hostaged daughters to her.
So miraculously, if you're keeping, in a matter of months,
Brunhild had managed to escape her convent, return home, richer
in gold and allies, and reunite her family so she
(13:11):
could watch over them as regent of Australia. Fredigund may
have gained the upper hand in the last few rounds
of their fight, but this one went resoundingly to Brunhild.
Over the next eight years, both Brunhild and Fredigund both
proved to be productive rulers. As regent, Brunhild became a
(13:34):
skilled diplomat, deftly managed the squabbling nobles of her court,
and heavily invested in infrastructure that included repairing old Roman
roads and constructing a hospital and beautiful churches. Fredegund was
noted for her popular tax reforms, as well as for
(13:55):
sniffing out plots against her, both legitimate and perceived, and
even for her military acumen. The legendary boldness and creativity
that Fredigund exhibited especially when her forces were vastly outnumbered.
Won her the respect of her armies and inspired numerous historians, writers,
(14:17):
and tacticians, but Fredigund also suffered many tragedies through this period.
She devastatingly lost four sons in a seven year span,
mostly due to dysentery, and just after birthing a fifth
son in secret, her life would once again be turned
(14:38):
upside down. While staying at a villa outside of Paris
in five hundred eighty four, her husband Chilpric, returned to
his stables after a hunt. His party began to disperse,
and allegedly, as he dismounted himself, an assassin lunged forward
and stabbed him multiple times. Whether or not brun Hild
(15:01):
sent the assassin, momentum was massively swinging back into her favor.
The king bled out on the ground, and his death
caused such an instant frenzy that no one dared approach
the body for hours, being either afraid of associating themselves
with the murder or too preoccupied with planning their next
(15:24):
strategic moves. Fredigund fell into the latter category, while brun
Hilled and her Australian forces rapidly approached. Fredigund fled to
Paris to seek sanctuary in a huge cathedral that was,
by all accounts as extravagant as most palaces, but it
(15:45):
essentially amounted to Fredigund as an ornate bunker as she
once again had to brainstorm how to avoid death or imprisonment. Ultimately,
she would choose a similar strategy as the one Brunhild
had used years ago, namely, using persuasive talents as well
(16:06):
as a large stash of treasure, Fredigund successfully drew Brunhild
and her son's full attention while also drawing the eye
of another influential figure, Guntram, King of Burgundy. We haven't
brought up Guntram and his third Kingdom of Francy up
much until this point, because, frankishly speaking, his ambitions and
(16:31):
actions did not seem to be as consistently dramatic or
earthshaking as his brothers, let alone those of his sisters
in law. Gontram often fell into the role of peacemaker,
buffer or underdog supporter in the civil war. Basically, he
didn't want either neighboring kingdom to become too powerful. Guontram
(16:54):
also detested the idea of women ruling and thought widowed
deposed queen's should stay stashed in convents, but when needed,
Brunhild and Fredegund both found ways to get crafty with him.
Knowing that Gutram had no surviving heirs, Brunehilde had managed
(17:14):
to make a deal with him to adopt her son
as heir to Burgundy in exchange for agreeing to stop
the Australian's war against Neustria. Once again. She was angling
to ensure that her line would eventually be able to
control at least two thirds of Francia. However, Fredegund was
(17:35):
apparently aware that Gutram had done that, and she had
also intuited that Gutram was still resentful of Brunhild for
wielding so much power. So, while stuck in her Paris
cathedral with limited time and means of communication, Fredegund thought
(17:56):
carefully on the best tact to take with her potential lifeline.
She tapped into Gutram's paternal instincts, but rather than asking
him for any adoption favors, she sent him a message
appealing for pity since she had a newborn baby. According
(18:17):
to Bishop Gregory of tour Our most thorough source from
this time. Fredegund wrote to Gutram quote, let my lord
come and take charge of his brother's kingdom. I have
a tiny baby whom I longed to place in his arms.
At the same time, I shall declare myself his humble servant.
(18:39):
Fredigun's cleverly timed baby surprise worked. Guntram stepped in and
he prevented Brunhild and her son from capturing Fredigund and
her infant son, and Guntram also pushed for an end
to his fellow Frankish country's civil war. For his troubles,
(19:00):
he also likely helped himself to some of Fredigun's treasure,
so major diplomacy points go to Fredegund here, although as
part of the deal she agreed to step away from
royal life. But at last there was relative peace, at
least until Guntram died. Soon, Brunhild and Fredigund went right
(19:25):
back to leading their queendoms against each other. Fredigund planned
more assassinations and again grabbed her throne. Serving as regent
for her son, she oversaw Neustria's army and one decisive
military victories, despite almost always being outnumbered. At one point
(19:48):
after one of her generals was felled on the battlefield.
Fredigund reportedly shocked the enemy by leading the neustran charge herself.
At the same same time, brune Hild shepherded her son's
reign so skillfully that she was credited with impacting almost
all of Austrasia's biggest decisions. The young king is usually
(20:13):
portrayed as dependent and ineffectual. In five hundred ninety five,
Brunhild's son died, leaving behind three of his own children.
Surely there were some tributes to the dead king, but
the fact that so many chronicles paid so little attention
to his death goes to show how unremarkable of a
(20:35):
ruler he probably was. Likewise, Brunhild's reaction to this loss
comes off as murky. In some accounts. It must have
been an emotional blow, but having learned the hard way
that a king's death could rip away a queen's power,
Brunhild prudently secured her position as regent for two of
(20:58):
her grandsons. They were nine and ten, and technically the
new rulers of Austrasia and Burgundy respectively. At that time.
Fredigun's king son was only eleven, meaning Francia was entirely
in the hands of child kings, although not really, the
(21:20):
two queen mothers wielded all of the true power, and
though both were in their ruling primes, if we were
to update our royal rivalry score sheets at this point,
Brunhild probably is winning for presiding over two thirds of Francia. Still,
anytime Brunhild or Fredigund got the upper hand, the opposing
(21:44):
queen would pull off a gritty move to save herself
and her lineage. Astonishingly, considering how powerful and wily they
each could be, Brunehild and Fredegund were so evenly matched
that in the end neither was able to directly defeat
the other and settle the final score. In five hundred
(22:04):
and ninety seven, Fredagund suddenly died. She was in her fifties,
She didn't seem to have a specific illness, and it
didn't appear to be poison. It was a surprisingly quiet
end for such a fiery person, and at long last,
her decades spanning quarrel with Brunhild was over. Mostly Brunhild
(22:29):
may have outlived Fredegund, but eventually Fredigun's line would get
the final say and brune Hild's death wouldn't be anything
close to quiet. Fast forward to six hundred and thirteen,
brune Hild served as regent for her great grandson, meaning
(22:50):
that she had been regent for three different generations, and
no surprise, she was helping him wage war against Neustria,
but many of their side defected and Fredigun's ruling son
finally captured them. In the spirit of his mother's pensiant
for creative punishments, he purportedly had Brunhild quartered, that is,
(23:16):
tied to several horses and pulled apart in a grizzly
public spectacle. For the first time in fifty two years.
Francia became united under one ruler, but Frediguon's and Brunhild's
legacies and long simmering hostilities would continue to haunt the
(23:38):
realm for centuries. Although many subsequent monarchs and historians obscured
certain facets of Brunhild's and Fredigun's lives, their reigns remain
uniquely fascinating and have had meaningful impacts on art and
popular culture. For example, Fredigun's military genius was on full
(24:03):
display during the Battle of Drozi in five hundred and
ninety three, Far outmatched by Australian forces, she disguised her
army with branches and leaves. This made it appear to
an enemy century as if the forest were moving, which
reportedly got this watchman derided as a drunkard. Fredigund also
(24:26):
had her mounted troops attach bells to their horses to
make opposing soldiers think they were simply grazing cattle, thus
allowing her army to sneak up and steal a victory.
These specific tactics became so famous that scholars claim that
Shakespeare borrowed and featured them in Macbeth. Brunehild was also
(24:49):
an inspiration for the slightly differently spelled character Brunehild with
an E at the end, the lead valkyrie in the
famous four part cycle of musical dramas composed by Richard
Wagner called the Ring Cycle. This became such a memorable
role that brune Hild even affected how vikings are commonly
(25:12):
visualized today. Many historians assert that by outfitting performers in
winged and horned helmets, the costume designer of the opera's
Cycle nineteen seventy six premiere inextricably linked Vikings with that
headgear in modern depictions, despite there being no actual evidence
(25:32):
that Viking warriors really wore pointy horns on their helmets.
For many, the name Brunhild might even first conjure up
images of bugs Bunny evading Elmer Fudd as he sings
kill the Abbott in the nineteen fifty seven Looney Tunes
cartoon What's Opera doc. It's impossible to say what brun
(25:55):
Hild would have thought about her decades in power being
distilled into an animated opera parody starring a rabbit in drag.
But on the other hand, in terms of lasting legacies,
how many other sixth century rulers can you say have
been immortalized that way? Analyzing Fredigund and Brunhild also brings
(26:17):
up intriguing questions about why the two are so often
framed as adversaries in a heightened personal feud. On a
basic level, conflict obviously sells, and the two did try
to kill each other and each other's families quite a bit.
It's worth asking whether Fredigund and Brunhild's actions, though, would
(26:39):
be discussed or framed in these same terms if they
were kings. Was it easier, particularly from many male historians' perspectives,
to frame their relationship as a vindictive personal feud rather
than a complicated imperial dispute. To be sure, there was
ample fuel or personal vendettas, but there were also critical
(27:04):
economic factors in play, treasuries, titles, lands, all up for grabs. Again,
Brunhild and Siegert didn't invade Nustria on the official grounds
that Brunhild's sister was murdered, but technically in order to
reclaim her extremely valuable land. All of that said, just
(27:25):
as viewing Fredigund and Brunhild's relationship through too much of
a personal drama focused lens wouldn't reveal the full picture,
neither is viewing their interrelated reigns as solely hinging on
coldly logical chest moves. In sixth century Francia, it was
difficult for women to exercise various freedoms, much less rule.
(27:50):
Yet both Brunhild and Fredigund maintained power for many years,
perhaps partly because both were able to affect actively master
political strategy and harness deep levels of emotional intelligence. Another
possible way to look at it is that instead of
(28:11):
a passionate feud being a narrative that was forced on
the queen's histories, it could be the other way around.
Is it possible that having such a worthy adversary in
some manner forced each other to, for lack of a
better phrase, up their game, which then catapulted both to
(28:32):
new history impacting heights. Brunehild and Fredigund are each undoubtedly
worthy of extensive individual study, but nevertheless, discussing the two
as a pair doesn't have to be productive and can
actually be tremendously informative and also interesting. Even today, it's
(28:52):
pretty tricky to find examples of two competing female rulers
who simultaneous hold the amount of power that Brunhild and
Fredegund did. Even with all the violence, upheaval and lingering
questions of the two queen's reigns, one thing is for sure,
(29:13):
their epic rivalry was unrivaled. That's the second part of
the fascinating story of Brunhild and Fredigund. But stick around
after a brief sponsor break to learn an additional method
of trying to quantify our queen's power. Attempting to keep
(29:39):
score on a rivalry that lasted over forty years may
seem silly, but quantifying certain complicated subjects like individuals overall
statuses in life was actually common practice for a time.
Frankish law dictated that every citizen was given a monetary
value called of airgeld, and if a heinous crime was
(30:02):
committed against that person, their family could legally claim that
amount as compensation. It was essentially a kind of life
insurance policy. Women's verigelds were typically higher than men's and
very dependent on their ages and abilities to have children.
They usually ranged from around two hundred to six hundred
(30:26):
gold coins. For female rulers, the calculus was on another scale.
The killing of a queen could lead to a fine
as sky high as fifty thousand gold coins, and, while
not always the case, for some aging queens, their perceived
worth did not simply depend on whether they could birth heirs,
(30:49):
but on how much value they could provide in terms
of their royal networking and ruling expertise. There don't appear
to be surviving records guarding specific values assigned to Brunhild
or Fredgund, but given their accumulated experience in ruling Francia,
as they each stayed in power for longer than almost
(31:12):
every Roman emperor and king who came before them. The
two queen's exploits surely put them at the top of
the all time franking order. Noble Blood is a production
(31:33):
of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manke. Noble
Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing
and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannaswick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit
and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and produced by
Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima il KLi and executive
(31:56):
producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more
podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Host
Dana Schwartz
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