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Nanthild ( 610 – 642), also known as ''Nantéchilde'', ''Nanthechilde'', ''Nanthildis'', ''Nanthilde'', or ''Nantechildis'', was a Frankish queen consort and regent, the third of many consorts of
Dagobert I Dagobert I (; 603/605 – 19 January 639) was King of the Franks. He ruled Austrasia (623–634) and Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dynasty to wield real royal power, after which the ...
,
king of the Franks 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 ...
(629–639). She was regent during the minority of her son from 639 until 642.


Life

She was of
Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
lineage, born about 608 or 610. The ''Lexikon des Mittelalters'' calls her ''ein Mädchen aus dem Dienstpersonal'' ("a maiden of the royal Austrasian ">Austrasia.html" ;"title="Austrasia">Austrasian household"). Her elevation to consort may have given importance to her relatives: her brother Lanthegisel was an important landowner in the Limousin (province)">Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...
and a relation of Aldegisel. Dagobert set aside his wife Gomentrude to marry her, ca. 629; to her was born Clovis II, second eldest of Dagobert's surviving sons and the one who succeeded him in Neustria and Kingdom of Burgundy, Burgundy. After Dagobert's death in January 639, she was initially
regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...
for her son, accompanied by Aega, mayor of the Neustrian palace and an opponent of the powerful contingent of nobles headed by Burgundofaro whose seat was at
Meaux Meaux () is a Communes of France, commune on the river Marne (river), Marne in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, Franc ...
. In the interest of reducing noble Burgundian independence of the
Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...
palace, she married her niece Ragnoberta to the Frank Flaochad and had the magnates and bishops of the realm of Burgundy acclaim him
mayor of the palace Under the Merovingian dynasty, the mayor of the palace or majordomo, ( or ) was the manager of the household of the Frankish king. He was the head of the Merovingian administrative ladder and orchestrated the operation of the entire court. He ...
at
Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and Landry in what was then Burgundy, where she had long resided; her body was translated to the
Saint Denis Basilica The Basilica of Saint-Denis (, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building is of singular importance historically and archite ...
. It is likely that she was poisoned or secretly murdered, as her untimely death allowed her son to fall under the influence of the nobility, who abhorred a strong royal hand.


References

*
Fredegar The ''Chronicle of Fredegar'' is the conventional title used for a 7th-century Franks, Frankish chronicle that was probably written in Burgundy. The author is unknown and the attribution to Fredegar dates only from the 16th century. The chronic ...
's Chronicle, book IV *Geary, Patrick J., 1998. ''Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World'' (Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press) *Wood, Ian, 1994. ''The Merovingian Kingdoms. 450-751'' (London)
''Lexikon des Mittelalters'' vol. VI.1018
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nanthild 610s births 642 deaths Burials at the Basilica of Saint-Denis 7th-century women regents Merovingian dynasty French queen mothers Frankish queens consort Queens consort of Burgundy Regents of France 7th-century Frankish women 7th-century Frankish nobility 7th-century regents