General Notes

Brunhild (550?-613), queen of the Frankish kingdom known as Austrasia (in present-day northeastern France and southwestern Germany), the daughter of Athanagild (reigned 554-67), king of the Visigoths in Spain. Brunhild was married to Sigebert I, the Merovingian king of Austrasia. Her sister Galswintha married Sigebert's brother Chilperic, ruler of the neighboring Frankish kingdom of Neustria. Fredegund, Chilperic's former concubine, caused Galswintha to be murdered; she then married Chilperic. Brunhild determined to avenge herself on Fredegund, and the annals of the next half century in Gaul are filled with the bloody deeds provoked by the enmity of the two women. Brunhild and her husband were successful until Sigebert was murdered in 575 at the instigation of Fredegund. Brunhild herself was captured by Chilperic, but she escaped, returned to Austrasia, and governed as regent in the name of her son, Childebert II. After the death of her son, she ruled Austrasia in the name of her young grandson. Finally, the armies of Austrasia were overthrown in 613 by Clotaire II of Neustria, son of Fredegund; the aged queen herself was taken captive. For three days she was subjected to insult and torture, then bound to a wild horse and dragged to death.