Bodegisel (also spelled Bodygisil, died 585 or 588) was a Frankish duke (''dux''). He was the son of Mummolin, duke of Soissons, and served the kings

Chilperic I Chilperic I (c. 539 – September 584) was the king of Neustria (or Soissons) from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund. Life Immediately after the death of his father in 561, he ...

and

Childebert II Childebert II (c.570–596) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia (which included Provence at the time) from 575 until his death in March 596, as the only son of Sigebert I and Brunhilda of Austrasia; and the king of Burgundy from 592 to hi ...

. Bodegisel was ''dux'' of Provence. He was celebrated in song by the contemporary poet

Venantius Fortunatus Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus ( 530 600/609 AD; french: Venance Fortunat), known as Saint Venantius Fortunatus (, ), was a Latin poet and hymnographer in the Merovingian Court, and a bishop of the Early Church who has been venerated ...

, who praised the education and eloquence he displayed as ''rector'' of Marseilles under

Sigebert I Sigebert I (c. 535 – c. 575) was a Frankish king of Austrasia from the death of his father in 561 to his own death. He was the third surviving son out of four of Clotaire I and Ingund. His reign found him mostly occupied with a successful ...

, a position Bodegisel held until about 565. In 584, Bodegisel accompanied Rigunth, the daughter of

, to Spain for her marriage to Reccared, the son of the Visigothic king

Liuvigild Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or ''Leovigildo'' ( Spanish and Portuguese), ( 519 – 586) was a Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania from 568 to 586. Known for his Codex Revisus or Code of Leovigild, a law allowing equal rights between ...

, although the marriage never took place. After his return, he was sent on an embassy to

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

(capital of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

) on behalf of

. Bodegisel stopped at

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the clas ...

on the return trip, and he was murdered there, being torn to pieces by a mob. A.C. Murray, paraphrasing Gregory, says he was struck with a sword as he stepped outside their lodging when a crowd gathered in response to the murder of a merchant committed by one of their retainers. The bishop and contemporary historian

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florent ...

records that Bodegisel was able to accomplish the unusual feat of passing on his estate to his heirs undiminished. According to Hans-Walter Herrmann and Ulrich Nonn, confusion between Bodegisel and a later duke named Bobo is responsible for the semi-legendary duke Boggis who appears in sources from the ninth century on. Bobo was a member of an illustrious

Austrasia Austrasia was a territory which formed the north-eastern section of the Merovingian Kingdom of the Franks during the 6th to 8th centuries. It was centred on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers, and was the original territory of th ...

n family and a nephew of the deacon Adalgisel Grimo (died 634), but where his dukedom was located is unknown. According to the thirteenth-century ''Vita sanctae Odae viduae'', Saint Chrodoara was married to a certain duke Boggis and became a nun after his death. According to Herrmann and Nonn, Chrodoara may have been the wife of Bodegisel. Writing in the eleventh century,

Sigebert of Gembloux Sigebert of Gembloux (Sigebertus Gemblacensis; 1030 – 5 October 1112) was a medieval author, known mainly as a pro-Imperial historian of a universal chronicle, opposed to the expansive papacy of Gregory VII and Pascal II. Early in his life h ...

named Boggis a

duke of Aquitaine The Duke of Aquitaine ( oc, Duc d'Aquitània, french: Duc d'Aquitaine, ) was the ruler of the medieval region of Aquitaine (not to be confused with modern-day Aquitaine) under the supremacy of Frankish, English, and later French kings. As su ...

and misplaces his life towards 711. The '' Vita Landberti episcopi Traiectensis'', a life of Bishop Lambert of Maastricht, refers to "Chrodoara ... widow of the recently deceased Boggis, duke of Aquitaine" as a "paternal aunt" of Lambert's.(''Oda ... Bohggis Aquitanorum ducis recens defuncti vidua'') and (''amita'') in ''Vita Landberti episcopi Traiectensis auctore Nicolao'', MGH, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum, VI, p. 415 . A spurious charter of king

Charles the Bald Charles the Bald (french: Charles le Chauve; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as Charles II, was a 9th-century king of West Francia (843–877), king of Italy (875–877) and emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–877). After a s ...

dated 30 January 845 and the '' Charte d'Alaon'', a modern fabrication, give Bodegisel/Boggis a genealogy that makes him a son of king

Charibert II Charibert II (607/617–8 April 632), a son of Clotaire II and his junior wife Sichilde, was briefly King of Aquitaine from 629 to his death, with his capital at Toulouse. There are no direct statements about when Charibert was born exactly, ...

and gives him a brother named Bertrand who succeeded him.

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodegisel 6th-century Frankish nobility 585 deaths Pippinids Year of birth unknown