Saint Clotilda

Queen consort of France (r. 493-511)

• Born: c. 474
• Birthplace: Lyon (now in France)
• Died: June 3, 0545
• Place of death: Tours, Kingdom of the Franks (now in France)

Clotilda played an instrumental role in the conversion of the Franks to orthodox Catholicism and thereby positioning France as a leading state in post-Roman Europe. Her life also foreshadows the type of role played by powerful women in medieval Europe, which was just beginning to take root during her own lifetime.

Early Life

The final period of the classical ancient world witnessed the establishment of various successor states headed by Germanic tribal leaders in territory that had been at one time within the traditional boundaries of the Roman Empire. In particular, the old Roman province of Gaul (now France) was partitioned into several petty kingdoms by Germanic tribes arriving in the area during the fifth century. The region of Burgundy came to be ruled by King Gundioc (also known as Gundovic), whose granddaughter was Clotilda (cluh-TIHL-duh). On the king’s death in 474, his kingdom of Burgundy was subdivided as an inheritance among his four sons Gundobad (Gundebad), Godegesil, Chilperic, and Gundomar (Gundemar).

This practice of dividing the father’s estate among all his male heirs represented an ancient Germanic custom but proved to be a highly ineffective system when applied to royal households, in which the father’s estate was in essence an entire kingdom. The problem with this practice was that it threatened to shatter any hope for a stable and effective central government, as the state became ever more fragmented in subsequent generations of bequeathals. The desire to prevent this type of governmental dissolution and to reestablish some type of political unity within such a subdivided kingdom quickly touched off numerous civil wars during this early period of French history and produced a chaotic, unstable society. Eventually, Clotilda’s father, Chilperic, and her mother, who gave birth to Clotilda at Lyon, France, in about 474, fell victim to this civil strife when they were murdered by Chilperic’s brother Gundobad.

Like other ambitious leaders of this era, Gundobad was bent on reconstituting all of Burgundy under his control and was not afraid to use whatever methods were necessary to achieve his ends, even if it meant committing fratricide. Clotilda and her sister, however, managed to escape their parents’ fate and found a safe haven from Gundobad’s wrath by taking up residence with their uncle Godegesil in Geneva. At this time the Burgundians in Geneva and the Salian Franks had established diplomatic relations. Clovis I, the tribal leader of the Salians, purportedly was stricken by Clotilda’s beauty, grace, and intelligence, for she had received some semblance of a classical education while growing up in her parents’ court located at Lyon. She had also gained insights into the Christian way of life from her mother, who had been a pious and devoted believer. Yet, it was not only out of romantic impulse that Clovis sought Clotilda’s hand in marriage. The marriage also had a political undertone to it, as it was intended to solidify the growing alliance between the Burgundians and Salians, for Clovis was an ambitious leader who desired to further his conquests in the former Roman province of Gaul at the expense of rival warlords. However, to succeed in this drive for greater power he needed allies. Such politically arranged marriages among the powerful upper classes became a hallmark of the political dynamics of Europe for much of the remaining medieval period as a way to build alliances between powerful families or even states.

Life’s Work

Having been raised as a devout Catholic, Clotilda immediately committed herself to trying to convert her new husband away from his pagan religion and to Christianity. In Clovis, however, she found a man of great stubbornness and passion, and so her every effort met with unflinching resistance. When their first child, Ingomer, was born, Clotilda sought to have their son baptized into the Christian faith, but Clovis opposed the idea. Not to be denied in her desire to raise her children as Christians, Clotilda had the baby baptized anyway. Soon after, however, the boy became ill and died. Clovis blamed the boy’s premature death as a punishment from his pagan gods for allowing his son to be initiated into a “false” religion and so used this tragic event as proof for the illegitimacy of the Christian faith. When their second son, Chlodomer, was born, he too became deathly ill after Clotilda went ahead with having him baptized, once again over Clovis’s objection. Although this time the boy recovered, Clovis still saw the event as further proof that Christianity was not a true faith.

Clotilda, however, never wavered in her persistence to bring about the conversion of her husband, and her peaceful, determined efforts finally were rewarded in 496 in a rather unlikely way. At this time the Franks under the leadership of Clovis were engaged in a bitter struggle against a rival Germanic tribe, the Alamanni, a conflict that was part of the larger chaos that surrounded the recent collapse and dissolution of the Roman Empire. Like numerous Germanic peoples before them, the Alamanni sought to expand west from their stronghold on the eastern side of the Rhine River. This attempted expansion, however, put them on a collision course with the Franks who had already established themselves in this part of Gaul.

When the armies of the two sides met at Tolbiacum, a ferocious battle ensued, in the course of which the Frankish side began to collapse. As Clovis fought at the head of his army, he sensed the coming doom, but then in this heat of battle he purportedly remembered Clotilda’s unyielding appeals for him to adopt the Christian faith. Desperate to avert annihilation and convinced that his own pagan gods were powerless or unwilling to intervene on his behalf, Clovis apparently turned to Clotilda’s God for assistance. According to tradition, the tide of battle then changed, and the Franks rallied to inflict a crushing defeat on the Alamanni. Attributing his unlikely victory to the intervention of Clotilda’s God, Clovis finally agreed to be converted and baptized into the Christian faith. Although there is some controversy that his baptism occurred later in 506 after a second campaign against the Alamanni, tradition holds that Clovis received baptism on December 25, 496, in the city of Reims by Bishop Rémi. This event was a watershed moment in European history as it made Clovis the first major Germanic leader to accept orthodox Christianity, thereby ensuring the survival of this form of Christianity. Before, the other great Germanic leaders had accepted a heretical form of Chrisitianity Arianism or remained in their pagan beliefs. Following the Germanic traditions of their ancestors to follow in the footsteps of their warrior leader, many of Clovis’s soldiers accepted baptism as well, thereby ensuring that orthodox Christianity would continue to flourish in the Frankish region of Gaul. From this bastion, orthodox Christianity would soon spread through much of Europe, converting its peoples away from Arianism and paganism to this orthodox system of belief.

After Clovis’s death in 511, Clotilda devoted the remaining thirty-four years of her life to her family, politics, and the practice of religious devotion. Her five surviving children as adults were caught up in the chaotic struggles of this period, and Clotilda remained active in the political arena in an effort to ensure their safety during the ensuing wars and conflicts. Her attempts, however, had only marginal success as she witnessed the death of several cousins back in Burgundy at the hands of her own sons. Fratricide committed in the course of these blood feuds would eventually claim the lives of two of her sons and several of her grandchildren. Her youngest child, Chlodovald, however, somehow survived the raging climate of violent ambition and unremorseful vengeance that dominated Merovingian society at this time. Following his mother’s lead concerning the practice of religion, Chlodovald became a hermit at a location near Paris and soon developed a reputation for holiness. Clotilda in her own right was renowned for her piety and sanctity, and in her later years, she lived almost the life of a female religious figure as she took up residence at Tours near a monastic house. On her death on June 3, 545, Clotilda was laid to rest in the cathedral at Tours next to her husband, Clovis.

Significance

Clotilda proved to be a decisive figure in the early life of France. Her successful persistence in getting her husband to settle down and adopt the orthodox Christian faith proved to be a watershed moment in the formative and fragile years of European society, which had been trying to survive the collapse of the Roman Empire. Because of the bond in traditional Germanic culture that existed between a war leader and his warrior band during an expedition, the conversion of Clovis almost guaranteed that the rest of the nation would follow his lead. France soon became a staunchly orthodox Christian state, and because of this unique disposition it developed into a powerful ally to the Papacy in Rome. Without such a strong and faithful ally, it is hard to imagine how the Papacy and orthodox Christianity could have survived the chaotic world of the Merovingian period.

Clotilda is also a significant figure because of the social dimensions of her life. Her politically arranged marriage to Clovis, her subsequent role in politics expressed through her actions with Clovis and her sons, and her final years as a widow spent in the practice of religious devotion and piety all prefigured the life that many powerful women would lead throughout the Middle Ages. The life of Clotilda thus provides an enchanting view of how powerful women acted and worked during the medieval era.

Bibliography

Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Renate. “Saintly Scenarios in Christine de Pizan’s Livre des trois vertus.” Mediaeval Studies 62 (2000): 255-292. The author discusses Christine de Pizan’s argument that particular saints, including Clotilda, lived their lives balancing spirituality, charitability, and politics.

Geary, Patrick. Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Provides an excellent introduction and overview of the general age in which Clotilda lived and of the particular challenges faced by a society trying to establish a new order following the demise of the Roman Empire.

Gregory of Tours. The History of the Franks. Translated by Lewis Thorpe. New York: Penguin Books, 1974. One of early medieval Europe’s greatest historians, Gregory provides a near-eyewitness account of the early Merovingian age and provides in the course of his writing some of the key details about the life of Clotilda.

James, Edward. The Franks. New York: Basil Blackwell, 1988. Provides an account of the Merovingian period of French history and some brief but useful details of Clotilda’s place in that history.

James, Edward. The Origins of France: From Clovis to the Capetians, 500-1000. London: Macmillan Press, 1982. A sound description of the society and times in which Clotilda lived, and of the succeeding period of French history that occurred under the Carolingian kings. Also includes useful genealogical tables for reference regarding the royal households of this period.

Kurth, Godefroi. Saint Clotilda. Translated by V. M. Crawford. New York: Benziger Bros., 1898. Although dated and written in a somewhat archaic tone, this work is still one of the most detailed accounts of the life of Clotilda.

Wood, Ian. The Merovingian Kingdoms 450-751. New York: Longman, 1994. A thorough review of Merovingian society during Clotilda’s time.