Christian Women in the Medieval Era – Part 2

Hagiographers shaped the historic destiny of the Franks as a divine mission in which women played a leading role.[1]

Thousands of women served in God’s Kingdom in Medieval times. The Christianization of Europe was due in large part to the efforts of women. Women brought the gospel to the needy themselves but often a larger impact was made when women converted rulers to the faith which led whole cultures to embrace Christ.

During this series, we cover the stories of many female servants of Christ who followed their callings during the Medieval era. Like their female forebears in the Patristic Era these women contributed greatly to the Kingdom of God, not so they could be remembered, but so they could serve the Lord Jesus by serving others.[2]Europe today is entirely different from what it would have been because of faithful women.

It is not surprising that women often turned to Christianity before men did. The Gospel of peace and love with its recognition of equality for all people appealed more to the underclasses than to their rulers. Godly, Christian women rose above their circumstances to unselfishly pray for and minister to others leading to the spread of the gospel.

We began our journey through the Middle Ages with the story of Genovefa of Paris. She is one of the saints during the earliest part of the Medieval period – the Merovingian era.  The next saint of the Medieval era in our series is Queen Clothilde, a woman whose life marks the turning point in the Christian history of Europe.

Clothilde – Queen of the Franks (c. 470 – June 3, 545)

Before we continue with our series on Christian women in the medieval era, let’s pause and study a little historical background. Genovefa and Clothilde lived during what historians call the Merovingianera. The Merovingian era comes after the period we already covered in our posts (The Patristic Era – 2nd through 5th centuries) and before the Carolingianera (began 751 AD). The Merovingian era is named for King Merovech, but the dynasty was firmly established when his grandson, fifteen year-old Clovis I came to power in 481 AD. Five years later Clovis conquered what was left of the old Roman Empire and united all of Gaul. (See map.)

The empire that Clovis established was the basis for the area in Europe that we call France today. Clovis was converted to Christianity by Queen Clothilde towards the end of his life. The spread of Christianity accelerated with his conversion.

After Clovis I died in 511 AD the empire was divided up among his four sons. Nearly 100 years later King Dagobert I (603-639) would unite the Franks again in 629 AD. Dagobert was the last of the really powerful Merovingian kings. He is remembered as the one who tried to convert the Frisians to Christianity. Christianity then spread further throughout Europe into the Low Countries. However the later Merovingian kings grew weaker and weaker. With the accompanying corruption came a wrestling for power from other men who desired to take the throne.

Pepin II (635-714) saw his opportunity and came to power in the late seventh century. His title was “Master of the Palace”. He was not a son of kings or a descendant of royalty, but the Frankish empire had begun to decay and Pepin was able to seize the throne. Pepin built the empire back up, restoring authority in most of the realm. It was his bastard son, Charles Martel (688-741) who would go on to finish conquering Gaul.

The Merovingian Dynasty came to an end when Charles divided the realm between his two sons, Carloman and Pepin III (Also called “Pepin the Short”). Pepin III was declared king in 751 AD and was baptized by the archbishop Boniface. Pepin III had the last Merovingian king, Childeric III, locked up, thus ending the Merovingian dynasty.

Pepin III was the father of Charlemagne who was later crowned the king of the Franks. Because so many members of the new dynasty were named Charles, Charlemagne most importantly, this next era (750-887) became known as the Carolingiandynasty.

Now to return to our story of Queen Clothilde, wife of Merovingian king Clovis I.

Clothilde’s early life was one of tragedy. Clothilde was born into the family of the king of Burgundy. The Burgundian king had four sons – Gundobad, Godegisel, Chilperic and Gundomar. Gundobad killed Chilperic, Clothilde’s father, with his sword and ordered her mother to be drowned. Gundobad also exiled her older sister, Chrona. Clothilde fled to another uncle’s house for protection grieveing the loss of her parents and sister.

Soon after this Clothilde came to the attention of Clovis, King of the Franks. She was famed for her beauty and gentle manners. After several attempts to secure her in marriage, Clovis finally received Gundobad’s consent and Clovis and Clothilde were married in 493. Clothilde has misgivings about her marriage since she believed that it was not right for a Christian to marry a pagan (II Corinthians 6:14), but her uncle gave her to Clovis and she willingly acquiesced.

Clothilde stood her ground and almost immediately, she asked Clovis to give up his false gods and put his faith in the one true God. Clovis refused, but allowed Clothilde to practice her religion freely. He gave her permission to seek baptism for their sons.

Their first son, Ingmar, was baptized but he died shortly thereafter. This grieved the king but also made him angry. Again he refused to convert to Christianity.

Another son, Chlodomir, was born and baptized. He too fell ill, but he was restored to health after Clothilde prayed fervently at his bedside for days. Clothilde continued to try to persuade Clovis to worship the true God but he was still skeptical and kept refusing her until the time he went to war with the Alamans.

During the war with this Germanic tribe the Franks were losing at the beginning. One of Clovis’s men begged him to put his faith in Clothilde’s God. Clovis beseeched Jesus to free him and his men from danger. After he prayed the Alamans began to run away, their king fell dead, and they submitted themselves to Clovis. It was an amazing victory.

The people attributed Clovis’s victory and conversion to Clothilde’s prayers. Clovis realized that he needed to give God the credit for the victory. He returned home and told Clothilde how he had defeated the enemy by calling on Jesus. Clothilde acted on Clovis’s decision immediately and asked the bishop to come and baptize him. Clovis was baptized on Christmas Day, 496. After this he began a life of dedicated service to God.

Now freely and wisely accepting Clothilde’s counsel, the king began to destroy the pagan sites in northern Gaul. He built churches in their place. Clovis and Clothilde gave gifts to the poor and helped widows and orphans. Two more sons were born, Childebert I and Chlothar I. They had a daughter, also named Clothilde; she was later married to Almaric, King of the Goths.

Clovis died in 511 AD having led a devout Christian life until the end. He was buried in the Basilica that he and Queen Clothilde had begun building. Clothilde withdrew to the Abbey of St. Martin of Tours. There she continued to pursue good works. She built more churches and monasteries.

Clothilde also spent time trying to bring peace to her sons. They had divided the kingdom up after Clovis’s death, but each wanted to rule over the whole dynasty. Clodomer, who reigned at Orleans, Childebert I, at Paris, and Chlothar I, at Soissons, fought with each other over who would be king. Two of Clothilde’s grandsons, the children of Clodomer, were murdered by their uncles, Clothar and Childebert.  With great pain and grief Clothilde buried them at the basilica in Paris. She was unable to make her sons reconcile and retreated into her religious life at the Abbey of Saint Martin.

Clothilde spent her time fasting, praying and helping the poor while at the abbey. It was there that Clothilde called her two remaining sons to her as she lay dying. They came out of respect for her and listened while she exhorted them to lead godly lives. After some time passed she was anointed and received communion. On June 3 in the early hours of the night she passed from this life to the next. She was buried in the basilica of the Apostles Peter and Paul near Clovis. The body of St. Genovefa (See last post) is also in that basilica. An interesting aside is that Clothilde’s relics survived the French Revolution (began 1789) when so many other statues, churches, and monasteries were devasted or destroyed by the mobs.

Today Clothilde is still honored as a glorious queen, devout widow, mother of kings of the Franks, and devotion to Christ that led to the Christianization of Europe. Her faith passed on to her granddaughter Bertha, who became the wife of King Ethelbert. Bertha and Ethelbert introduced Christianity into Anglo-Saxon England. Her great-granddaughter Ethelberga took the faith to Northumbria. Because her good works were renowned, she was canonized and her feast day is June 3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1]Jo Ann McNamara & John E. Halborg with E. Gordon Whatley. Sainted Women of the Dark Ages (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1992) p.4.

[2]See posts on this blog site from January 22, 2019 through June 4, 2019 for Women in the Patristic Era.