In the Latin Life of Lady *Balthild (queen of the Franks, ob. 680, S02359), the author recalls how Queen Clotild, the wife of Clovis, founded a church dedicated to *Peter (the Apostle, S00036) in Paris; a church dedicated to *George (soldier and martyr, S00259) at the monastery of Chelles (near Paris); and other churches dedicated to saints (here unnamed). Written in Gaul, possibly at the monastery at Chelles, 680/90.
E07075
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
The Life of Lady Balthild (Vita domnae Balthildis, BHL 905, CPL 2090) (E06266)
(18) Recolimus quidem in Francorum regno nobilis et Dei cultricis fuisse aliquas reginas, Chrodehilde, Chlodoveo quondam antiquo rege regina, nepte Gundebade rege, que virum suum fortissimum et paganum, et tam ipsum per sanctam exortacionem quam et plures ex Francis seniores, traxit ad christianitatem et ad fidem catholicam eos perduxit et aecclesias in honore sancti Petri Parisius et sancti Georgii in coenobiolo viginum in Kala prima construxit et alia quam plura pro mercede conpendii in honore sanctorum condidit et muneribus pluris ditavit.
'Chapter 18
Indeed, we recall that other queens of the Franks have been noble and worshippers of God: Clothild, queen of the late King Clovis of old, and niece of King Gundobad, who, by her holy exhortations, led both her very brave and pagan husband and many of the Frankish nobles to Christianity and brought them to the Catholic faith. She was also the first to construct the churches in honour of St Peter at Paris and St George in the little monastery for virgins at Chelles, and she founded many others in honour of the saints in order to store up her reward, and she enriched them with many gifts...'
Text: Krusch 1888, 505-506.
Translation: Fouracre and Gerberding 1996, 131.
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - monastic
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Monarchs and their family
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Aristocrats
Source
Version 'A' of the Life (used here) survives in several manuscripts dating from the tenth century onwards. It is apparently the work of a contemporary, writing only shortly after the saint's death in 680: there is a reference in ch. 19 to the Life's events occuring 'in our times,' while the minimal posthumous narrative (featuring only one miracle) suggests a hasty composition. If we take the author's remark about Balthild's still-ruling progenies in ch. 3 as a reference to her own children, the work cannot postdate the death of King Theuderic III in 690 (Fouracre and Gerberding, 1996, 114-15).Discussion
Gregory of Tours (in his Histories, 4.1) also recounts Clotild's foundation of this church dedicated to Peter in Paris (E02069). Clotild was later to be venerated as a saint (unsurprisingly, given the crucial role she played in the conversion of Clovis, and hence of all the Franks); but here, although she is presented as a very pious queen, there is no suggestion of her sainthood.There is no way of knowing whether there is any truth to this story of Clotild building a church to George at Chelles, recorded some 200 years after the supposed event.
Bibliography
EditionVita S. Balthildis, ed. B. Krusch, MGH Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum, II (1888), 475-508.
Translation and commentary
P. Fouracre and R.A. Gerberding, Late Merovingian France: History and Hagiography, 640-720 (Manchester, 1996), 97-132.
Benjamin Savill
16/02/2019
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain | S00259 | George, soldier and martyr, and Companions | Georgius | Certain | S00518 | Saints, unnamed | sancti | Certain | S01186 | Clotild, queen and widow of Clovis, ob. 545 | Chrodehilde | Certain |
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