Suavegotha (died after 549), also known as Suavegotta or Suavegotho, was the daughter of the Burgundian king

Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it ''Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...

and his

Ostrogothic The Ostrogoths () were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populatio ...

wife Ostrogotho. She was apparently married to

Theuderic I __NOTOC__ Theuderic I ( 487 – 534) was the Merovingian king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia—as it is variously called—from 511 to 534. He was the son of Clovis I and one of his earlier wives or concubines (possibly a Franco-Rhenish Pr ...

, but scholars debate whether she was his first or second wife.

Biography

According to the historian

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 ...

, Theuderic I, King of the Franks at Metz, married a daughter of the Burgundian king Sigismund. He does however not mention the name of this wife. The wife of Theuderic is often identified with the queen Suavegotha mentioned by the 10th century chronicler

Flodoard Flodoard of Reims (; 893/4 – 28 March 966) was a Frankish chronicler and priest of the cathedral church of Reims in the West Frankish kingdom during the decades following the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire. His historical writings are ...

. In 523, the sons 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 ...

invaded Burgundy. King Sigismund was captured by

Chlodomer Chlodomer, also spelled Clodomir or Clodomer (c. 495 - 524) was the second of the four sons of Clovis I, King of the Franks. History Clodomir was the eldest son of Clovis and his wife, Clotilde. On the death of his father, in 511, he divided ...

, King of the Franks at Orléans, and subsequently killed.Gábor Klaniczay, ''Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses: Dynastic Cults in Medieval Central Europe'', Cambridge University Press, 2000, 67–68. According to Flodoard, Suavegotha had a daughter named Theudechild. According to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

historian Eugen Ewig, Suavegotha was the wife of Theuderich, and the daughter of Sigismund's second wife, whose name is unknown but it's more likely that her mother was actually Sigismund's first wife Ostrogotho. Therefore, she was the granddaughter of

Theodoric the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal, was king of the Ostrogoths (475–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526 ...

, King of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy and niece of

Gundobad Gundobad (; ; 452 – 516) was King of the Burgundians (473–516), succeeding his father Gundioc of Burgundy. Previous to this, he had been a patrician of the moribund Western Roman Empire in 472–473, three years before its collapse, suc ...

, King of Burgundy. Theuderic died in 534.

References

Sources

* Martina Hartmann: Die Königin im frühen Mittelalter.

Kohlhammer Verlag W. Kohlhammer Verlag GmbH, or Kohlhammer Verlag, is a German publishing house headquartered in Stuttgart. History Kohlhammer Verlag was founded in Stuttgart on 30 April 1866 by . Kohlhammer had taken over the businesses of his late father-in-la ...

, Stuttgart 2009, , S. 66. * Matthias Springer: Theuderich I. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2. Auflage. Band 30, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, , S. 459–463 (hier: 461). Year of birth unknown 5th-century Germanic people 6th-century Germanic people Amali dynasty Queens consort of Burgundy Ostrogothic women Year of death unknown 6th-century Frankish women {{Europe-noble-stub