Fastrada

Fastrada
Queen consort of the Franks
Reign 784–794
Predecessor Hildegard
Successor Luitgard
Born c. 765
Died 10 Aug 794
Spouse(s) Charlemagne

Issue

Fastrada (765–794) was queen consort of East Francia by marriage to Charlemagne in his third marriage.

Life

Fastrada was born circa 765 at Ingelheim, the daughter of the powerful East Frankish Count Rudolph (also called Eadolf, and his wife Aeda.

Fastrada became the third wife of Charlemagne,[1] marrying him in October 783 at Worms, Germany, a few months after Queen Hildegard’s death. A probable reason behind the marriage was to solidify a Frankish alliance east of the Rhine when Charles was still fighting the Saxons.

Fastrada died on 10 August 794 in Frankfurt, Germany, during the synod of Frankfurt and was buried in St. Alban's Abbey, Mainz, long before the abbey was finished. Due to Archbishop Richulf's influence, she was not buried in the Basilique Saint-Denis, the burial site of almost all the Frankish and French monarchs, nor St. Arnulf's Abbey near Metz. After the destruction of St. Alban's Abbey in 1552, her tombstone was transferred to Mainz Cathedral, where it can be seen today in the wall of the southern nave.[2]

Issue

Her stylized role was played by Leland Palmer in the musical Pippin (1972) by Stephen Schwartz, and by Charlotte d'Amboise in the revival of 2013.[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ As described by historians such as Pierre Riché (The Carolingians, p.86.), Lewis Thorpe (Two Lives of Charlemagne, p.216) and others. Other historians list Himiltrude, described by Einhard as a concubine, as Charlemagne's first wife, and reorder his subsequent wives; accordingly Fastrada is sometimes numbered as his fourth wife. See Dieter Hägemann (Karl der Große. Herrscher des Abendlands, Ullstein 2003, p. 82f.), Collins (Charlemagne, p. 40.).
  2. ↑ Franz Dumont, Ferdinand Scherf, Friedrich Schütz: Mainz - Die Geschichte der Stadt, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1998
  3. ↑ "Pippin 2013". Playbill. Retrieved June 2015. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
Preceded by
Hildegard		 Queen of the Franks
784–794 		Succeeded by
Luitgard
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