Radegund
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Radegund (also spelled Rhadegund) was born to King Berthar, one of the three kings of Thuringia (a kingdom located in present day Germany), some time in the first half of the 6th century.
Radegund's uncle, Hermanfrid, killed Berthar in battle, orphaning her. Then, after allying with the Frankish King Theuderic, Hermanfrid defeated his other brother Baderic. However, having crushed his brothers and seized control of Thuringia, Hermanfrid reneged on his deal with Theuderic to share sovereignty.
In 531 Theuderic returned to Thuringia with his brother Clotaire I. Together they defeated Hermanfrid and conquered his kingdom. Clotaire I also took charge of Radegund, taking her back to Merovingian Gaul with him and making her his wife.
Radegund was one of Clotaire I’s four wives (the other three being Chunsina, Ingund and Ingund’s sister Aregund). She bore him no children, and, after Clotaire I had her brother assassinated, she turned to God, founding a nunnery in Poitiers.
Her chaplain was the poet Venantius Fortunatus and she was a friend of Gregory of Tours. She died on 13 August 586 and her funeral, which both men attended, was three days later.
She was canonized as a saint in the ninth century. Five English parish churches are dedicated to her, and she had a chapel in the old St Paul's Cathedral, as well as in Gloucester, Lichfield, and Exeter Cathedrals. Saint Radegund's Abbey, near Dover, was founded in her honour in 1191. She is also the patron saint of Jesus College, Cambridge, which was founded on the site of the twelfth-century nunnery of Saint Mary and Saint Radegund.
[edit] References
- Gregory of Tours, Glory of the Confessors, translation by R. Van Dam (Liverpool, 1988)
- Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, translation by L. Thorpe (Penguin, 1974: many reprints)
- Venantius Fortunatus, The Life of the Holy Radegund, translation by J. McNamara and J. Halborg
- History of St Radegund from the Jesus College, Cambridge, web site
