Ingunde, Ingund, Ingundis or Ingunda born 568 (or possibly 567) first child to Sigebert I, king of Austrasia, and his wife Brunhilda. Following the tradition of the time, it would follow that Ingund was named after her father's mother. Siblings include a sister, Chlodosind (born about 569) and a brother Childebert (born 570). Sigebert came to rule the Frankish kingdom of Austrasia in 561 with the death of his father Chlothar I.
King Sigebert sent messengers loaded with gifts to Spain to the court Athanagild King of the Visigoths, asking for the hand of his daughter, Brunhilda. In 567 Brunhilda made the journey to Rheims and entered into marriage with Sigebert.
In 575, Sigebert is embroiled in a civil war with his half brother, Chilperic I, king of Neustria. On the verge of victory, Sigebert is assassinated. With the death of Sigebert Brunhilda and the children are now in great fear for their safety. Little Childebert, only five years of age, faces almost certain death from Chilperic. Duke Gundovald immediately comes to Paris, where Brunhilda and the children reside, takes possession of Childebert and secures his safety among the Austrasian nobility. When Chilperic comes to Paris, he seizes Brunhilda and orders Ingund and Chlodosind to be held in custody in the monastery in Meaux.[1] Ingund would have been only seven or eight during this traumatic time.
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In 569 Leovigild was elevated to co-rule the Visigoths in Hispania and Septimania with his brother Liuva. He soon thereafter, in order to legitimize his kingship, married Goiswintha, widow of the prior Visigothic King Athanagild. Leovigild had two sons, Hermenegild and Reccared, from a previous marriage. About 578 Leovigild negotiates a marriage between his eldest son Hermenegild and Ingund, daughter of Brunhilda now regent for her son Childebert.
As Ingund made her way from France to Toledo the journey took her through Septimania, the remaining region of Gaul still held by the Visigoths. Septimania stretches from the eastern end of the Pyrenees, along the Mediterranean, to the Rhone. There, as Ingund passed through the Visigoth town of Agde she meets the local Catholic bishop, Phronimius, who warned her not to accept the 'poison' of Arianism.[2]
In 579 Prince Hermenegild married Ingund, he being an Arian and she a Catholic. At first Ingund was warmly received by Queen Goiswintha.[3] However, the queen was set that Ingund should be re-baptized in the Arian faith. Ingund, who was but twelve, firmly refused. According to Gregory of Tours: "the Queen lost her temper completely" and "seized the girl by her hair and threw her to the ground: then she kicked her until she was covered with blood, had her stripped naked and ordered her to be thrown into the baptismal pool".[4] Whether as a result of this fracas, or, more likely, the result of Leovigild's desire to assure the succession of his sons (consistent with his previous actions to associate his sons with himself as rulers of the kingdom[5]), he sent Hermenegild and Ingund to Seville to rule a portion of his kingdom - presumably the province of Baetica and southern Lusitania.
It is at Seville that Ingund comes into contact with Leander, a Catholic monk. Leander belonged to an elite and influential family of Hispano-Roman stock. His two brothers will become bishops and his sister an Abbess. The vast majority of the population of southern Spain was Hispano-Roman and Catholic. Also a significant segment of the Visigoth nobility were also Catholic, not to mention that portion of the nobility whose roots were Hispano-Roman.[6] Upon Hermenegild and Ingund's arrival Leander is already bishop of Seville or soon will be. There can be no doubt of the influence the bishop held,[7] nor can there be any doubt that he saw in this Catholic princess an opportunity to advance the Catholic cause, for the history of this period contains numerous examples (real or mythical) of queens influencing their husband's religious conversion.
Hermenegild's Baetica bordered Spania, the Byzantine controlled cities of southeastern Spain. These cities were predominantly Latin Christian.
The sixth century experienced is a flight of Catholic clergy to southern Spain, many from Africa, but other areas as well. Persecution and the Three-Chapter Controversy would account for much of the flight. Examples of the new arrivals are the African Nanctus, Donatus and the Greek named Paul.[8] So when Hermenegild and Ingund arrive in Seville, they would have been met by a strong and possibly active Catholic party.
In the winter of 579-80 Hermenegild proclaimed himself king at Seville, and yet, he continued to also refer to his father as 'King'. Whether or not Hermenegild held the Orthodox Christian belief in the Trinity at this time, cannot be known, for it is not till 582 that he "officially" accepts the Catholic faith. However, from the beginning, his support seems to stem from those who support the Catholic cause. For already in 580 Leander travels to Constantinople to plead the rebel's cause and seek aid from the Byzantine Empire.
Sometime between 580 and 582 Hermenegild and Ingund had a son named Athanagild after Ingund's maternal grandfather.
Leander travels to Constantinople to gain support from Emperor Tiberius in 580 and does not return until 582. Hermenegild converts to Catholicism in 582, since Leander was absent the years prior, it would follow that Ingund was a major influence for his conversion.[9]
Leovigild basically ignores his son's transgression until 582 when he marches on Merida and captures the city. Whether Hermenegild's new found Catholicism is a cause for action or a coincidence it is difficult to determine. Nevertheless, Leovigild saw in Arianism Visigoth identity and any threat to this identity as a threat to Visigoth legitimacy to rule. He viewed Catholicism as the 'Roman' religion and Arianism as the Visigoth religion.[10] Leovigild's response may have been primarily a reaction to Hermenegild and other Visigoth nobles who had, at one time or another, gone over to Catholicism.[11]
By 584 the revolt had decidedly turned against Hermenegild and its outcome became all too clear. Ingund with their young son fled to the neighboring Byzantine cities of Spain, who would later refused to turn them over to Leovigild.[12]
En route to Constantinople with her son Athanagild, Ingund died (584) in Carthage Africa and was buried there.[13] The cause of her early death is not recorded, but one of the world's greatest plagues ravaged the Mediterranean at this time. Athanagild survived the journey to the Byzantine capital of Constantinople where he was brought up by Emporer Maurice.
The Byzantines used their custody of Ingund and her son to induce Ingund's brother, King Childebert II, to attack the Lombards of northern Italy.[14] Childebert while only fourteen years of age at this time, would have also been much influenced by his strong-willed mother Brunhilda, who was also committed to securing Ingund and her grandson.[15]
Leovigild sieges Seville for a year before he is able to capture the city in 584. The tenacity of the resistance speaks to the support of this Catholic usurper. Convinced that resistance was now futile, Hermenegild surrendered to his father. Hermenegild is imprisoned at Tarragona and repeatedly urged to abjure Catholicism. He refuses and is executed by Duke Sigisbert on 13 April 585.
When in 579 Ingund arrived in Toledo, who would have guessed how resolute a spirit resided in this young girl and the affect she would have on the course of Spanish history. Her example, as attested by Gregory of Tours, profoundly influenced her husband's acceptance of Catholicism and eventual conversion. A conversion not solely based on political expediency, for when Hermenegild faced denying his Catholic faith or execution, he remained steadfast to his new faith. Regardless, the revolt of Hermenegild made apparent the weakening influence of the Arian doctrine in Spain.
Soon after the death of Hermenegild and Ingund, King Leovigild died and was succeeded by Reccared, Hermenegild's younger brother. By the second year of his reign, Reccared embraces Catholicism and begins the task of unifying the Spanish people under a single religion. It is plain that the spirit of Ingund and the example of Hermenegild had an influence on Spanish society, and particularly on the new king Reccared.[16] Reccared's not supporting his father's actions against Hermenegild and the retribution he took on his brother's executioner indicates a bond between the two brothers. Pope Gregory's words further confirms Hermenegild's influence: "Reccared, following not his faithless father but his martyr brother, was converted from the perverseness of the Arian heresy."[17]
In 680 Erwig became king of the Visigoths as a result of a palace coup. The Chronicle of Alfonso III asserts that Erwig was the son of Ardabast, who had travelled to Spain from Greece in the mid-7th century; and that Ardabast was the son of Athanagild.