Bodegisel (also spelled Bodygisil, died 585 or 588) 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 ...

duke (''dux''). He was the son of Mummolin, duke of Soissons, and served the kings

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

and

Childebert II Childebert II ( – 596) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia (which included Provence at the time) from 575 until his death in March 596, and the king of Burgundy from 592 to his death, as the adopted son of his uncle Guntram. Childh ...

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

Venantius Fortunatus Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus ( 530 600/609 AD; ), 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 since the Middle Ages. ...

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

Sigebert I Sigebert I ( 535 – 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 civil ...

, a position Bodegisel held until about 565. In 584, Bodegisel accompanied

Rigunth Rigunth (c. 569 A.D. – after 589 A.D.), also known as Rigundis, was a Frankish princess, daughter of the Merovingian King Chilperic I and Fredegund. Biography Rigunth was the eldest child and only recorded daughter of Chilperic I and Quee ...

, the daughter of

, to Spain for her marriage to

Reccared Reccared I (or Recared; ; ; 559 – December 601; reigned 586–601) was the king of the Visigoths, ruling in Hispania, Gallaecia and Septimania. His reign marked a climactic shift in history, with the king's renunciation of Arianism in favour o ...

, the son of the Visigothic king

Liuvigild Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or ''Leovigildo'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese), ( 519 – 586) was a Visigoths, Visigothic Visigothic Kingdom, king of Hispania and Septimania from 569 to 586. Known for his Codex ...

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

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

(capital of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

) on behalf of

. Bodegisel stopped at

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, 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 classic ...

on the return trip, and he was murdered there, being torn to pieces by a mob. A. C. Murray, paraphrasing

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 ...

, 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 records that Bodegisel was able to accomplish the unusual feat of passing on his estate to his heirs undiminished. However, this history does not explicitly identify Bodegisel's heirs—notably, it does not prove that he was the father of

Arnulf of Metz Arnulf of Metz ( 582 – 645) was a Frankish bishop of Metz and advisor to the Merovingian court of Austrasia. He later retired to the Abbey of Remiremont. In French he is also known as Arnoul or Arnoulf. In English he is known as Arnold. G ...

. According to Hans-Walter Herrmann and Ulrich Nonn, confusion between Bodegisel and a later duke named Bobo is responsible for the semi-legendary (and conflated) duke Boggis who appears in sources from the ninth century on. Bobo was a member of an illustrious

Austrasia Austrasia was the northeastern kingdom within the core of the Francia, Frankish Empire during the Early Middle Ages, centring on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers. It included the original Frankish-ruled territories within what had ...

n family and a nephew of the deacon

Adalgisel Grimo Adalgisel Grimo (died after 634) was a deacon and member of the Austrasian nobility. He is chiefly significant because of his will, dated 30 December 634. This is the oldest known early medieval deed for the territory between the Meuse and the Rhi ...

(died 634), but where his dukedom was located is unknown. According to the thirteenth-century ''Vita sanctae Odae viduae'', Saint

Chrodoara Saint Chrodoara was a Merovingian noblewoman and traditionally the foundress of the Abbey of Amay, now in Wallonia, Belgium. Chrodoara is thought to have been born around the year 560 in Swabia. She was probably married to Bodegisel-Bobo, the so ...

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 or Sigibert of Gembloux ( or ; – 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 he became a ...

named Boggis a

duke of Aquitaine The duke of 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 successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom ( ...

and misplaces his life towards 711. The '' Vita Landberti episcopi Traiectensis'', a life of Bishop

Lambert of Maastricht Lambert of Maastricht, commonly referred to as Saint Lambert (; Middle Dutch: ''Sint-Lambrecht''; ; 636 – c. 705), was the bishop of Maastricht-Liège (Tongeren) from about 670 until his death. Lambert denounced Pepin's liaison with his mis ...

, 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 (; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as CharlesII, 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 series of civil wars during t ...

dated 30 January 845 and the ''

Charte d'Alaon The Charte d'Alaon is a spurious and fraudulent charter purporting to provide a genealogy of the house of Odo the Great, Duke of Aquitaine (715 – 735). The 19th-century French historian Joseph-François Rabanis proved it to be a hoax fabrica ...

'', a modern fabrication, give Bodegisel/Boggis an erroneous genealogy that claims he was a son of king

Charibert II Charibert II (607/6178 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, the on ...

and gives him a brother named Bertrand who succeeded him.

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodegisel 6th-century Frankish nobility 580s deaths Pippinids Year of birth unknown