Albofledis (or Albochledis) was a

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

noblewoman, the daughter of the

Frankish king The Franks, Germanic peoples that invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, were first led by individuals called dux, dukes and monarch, reguli. The earliest group of Franks that rose to prominence was the Salian Franks, Salian Mero ...

Childeric I Childeric I (died 481 AD) was a Frankish leader in the northern part of imperial Roman Gaul and a member of the Merovingian dynasty, described as a king (Latin ''rex''), both on his Roman-style seal ring, which was buried with him, and in fragm ...

(d. 481) and the

Thuringian Thuringian is an East Central German dialect group spoken in much of the modern German Free State of Thuringia north of the Rennsteig ridge, southwestern Saxony-Anhalt and adjacent territories of Hesse and Bavaria. It is close to Upper Saxon s ...

noblewoman Basina (d. 477). She was a sister of

Clovis I Clovis (; reconstructed Old Frankish, Frankish: ; – 27 November 511) was the first List of Frankish kings, king of the Franks to unite all of the Franks under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a ...

. According to

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...

, she was baptised on the same day as her brother. This event has been dated as early as 496 or as late as 509. At the time she dedicated herself to a life of perpetual

virginity Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereo ...

, but she died not long after. Bishop Remigius of Reims addressed a letter of consolation to Clovis on the occasion of her death. This letter is quoted in part by Gregory, and is also included in full in the collection known as the '' Epistolae Austrasicae''. Although Gregory spells her name Albofledis, the scribe of the ''Epistolae'' gives Albochledis. Remigius describes her as "chosen by God", ''a deo electa''. Some historians are of the opinion that Albofledis is the same person as

Audofleda Audofleda ( – ), was a Gothic queen of the Ostrogothic Kingdom by marriage to Theoderic the Great. She was the sister of Clovis I, King of the Franks. She married Theoderic the Great, King of the Ostrogoths (471–526), around 493 AD (exact d ...

and that Clovis had only two sisters, the other being

Lantechildis Lantechildis (or Lenteildis) was a Frankish noblewoman, the daughter of the Frankish king Childeric I (d. 481) and the Thuringian noblewoman Basina (d. 477). She was a sister of Clovis I. She is mentioned in Gregory of Tours and the '' L ...

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* * * * {{refend 5th-century Frankish women 5th-century Frankish people Merovingian dynasty Converts to Roman Catholicism from pagan religions