Rival Queens (Part 2)

The 6th-century feud between Brunhild and Fredegund would last the rest of their lives, defining their kingdoms for generations as the women went from queens to rival regents. A source that was particularly helpful in making this episode was The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry that Forged the Medieval World” by Shelley Puhak (Bloomsbury, 2022). Support Noble Blood: —Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/noblebloodtales — Noble Blood merch https://store.dftba.com/collections/noble-blood — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250840578/anatomyalovestory/and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story' https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250861016/immortalityalovestory/ See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Dana Schwartz?

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.

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• 0:35Dana Schwartz?

  Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Listener discretion advised.

• 0:45Dana Schwartz?

  With the king lying dead out in the stable yard, chaos reigned inside the villa. Nobles grabbed what valuables they could and fled. Servants scrambled as rumors spread about assassins in their midst. And the queen frantically paced in an advisor's chambers, unable or unwilling to visit her husband's body. Any shock or grief that Queen Fredericund felt on that fateful September night in 584 was outweighed by her survival instincts. Fredericund knew how swiftly the pendulum of power could swing in the warring realms

• 1:28Dana Schwartz?

  of Francia, having experienced higher highs and lower lows than just about anyone. If she did not act quickly, she and her infant son, whose existence she had kept a secret, would both be at the mercy of her enemies. By that point, she had already lost four boys and could not bear to lose another. She had spent years clawing and scheming her way from slavery to the pinnacle of the Merovingian monarchy, and she wasn't about to lose at all. So Fredericund fled to a cathedral in Paris and holed up with her baby, cornered, but still calculating.

• 2:12Dana Schwartz?

  Historians do not definitively know who ordered the hit on Fredegund's husband, but it's not hard to make an educated guess. Fredegund herself would have had an instant hunch about the orchestrator, because roughly a decade earlier, she herself had planned the assassination of a neighboring king, who was the husband of a fierce rival. Fredegund also knew that whether or not that rival, Queen Brunhilde, was responsible, Brunhilde would certainly seek to capitalize on the frenzied aftermath of the killing, because that was exactly how Fredegund's rival operated.

• 2:56Dana Schwartz?

  Sure enough, as panicky members of Fredegund's entourage fled, Brunhilde was already waiting to intercept them with her own son and their robust army. Similar to Fredegund, Brunhilde had weathered grave tragedies and engineered stunning victories. She too had once even found herself vulnerably confined in Paris after suddenly becoming a widow. As Brunhilde's forces closed in, she was likely unaware that Fredegund had recently given birth. She was probably hoping that this conquest would help her own teenage son consolidate

• 3:38Dana Schwartz?

  power over Francia with her expanding role as regent. The news that Fredegund had eluded capture and entrenched herself in a church would have surely been vexing to Brunhilde, but probably not surprising. After all, that was how Brunhilde's rival maneuvered. To some, the two queens' looming showdown might have seemed like it would finally bring an end to their epic, war-perpetuating conflict. But for Brunhilde and Fredegund, this would be yet one more bloodstained piece of their

• 4:21Dana Schwartz?

  utterly unprecedented puzzle. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood.

• 4:31Dana Schwartz?

  Quite a lot happened in Brunnhilde's and Fredegund's storylines prior to where we left them at the end of Part 1. And in quickly recapping the highlights, eerie parallels, and stark differences in their reigns, the narrative practically comes off like a sensational boxing match. In the Austrian corner, there was the early crowd favorite, Brunnhilde, the highly touted princess turned queen. Fighting out of Nustria, there's the underdog, Fredegund, a survivor who lifted herself all the way from forced servitude to the highest seat of power available.

• 5:14Dana Schwartz?

  The early rounds of their battle saw fierce sparring, everything from Fredegund possibly influencing her husband to murder Brunnhilde's sister, to Brunnhilde helping mastermind a clever legal claim so that her husband, King Siegbert, could invade Fredegund's country. Just when Brunnhilde's side seemed poised to strike a knockout blow, Fredegund came in with a stunningly sneaky jab, engineering King Siegbert's assassination. This flipped the whole fight and left Brunnhilde on the ropes. Nevertheless, she opted to go down swinging, saving her children, and getting herself sent

• 5:58Dana Schwartz?

  off to a convent. This is where we pick back up with Brunnhilde, stuck, desperately figuring out how to get herself back in the game. Fortunately for Brunnhilde, in that convent in Ruin, she reportedly found an ideal co-conspirator, Ottavera, the banished first wife of Chilprick, Fredegund's husband. According to some accounts, Ottavera had high status among the insular world of the nuns. This won her certain privileges and a level of respect from the older bishop in charge,

• 6:40Dana Schwartz?

  which in turn made her a useful ally for Brunnhilde, especially because the two had so much in common. Both Brunhilde and Ottavera had been deposed by Fredegund and Chilprick, suffering losses and humiliating ostracisms in the process. On top of all the painful and personal reasons the queens may have wanted to seek revenge against the Neustrian monarchs, immense power and lucrative assets were hanging in the balance. Brunhilde's son was in a risky position as the king of Austria, since he was so young

• 7:25Dana Schwartz?

  and did not have her there as a protective regent. For Ottavera, her own children were supposed to inherit lands and titles after Chilprick's death, except those agreements were put in jeopardy by all of Fredegund's plotting and the birthing of her own heirs. So despite their limited resources inside the nunnery, Brunhilde and Ottavera yearned to execute a decisive move. Ottavera's connections evidently allowed them to send and receive covert messages. But the all-important question was: whom should they contact?

• 8:07Dana Schwartz?

  Meanwhile, Fredegund was enjoying the dominance that her successful regicide had won her. Sources claimed that her husband would defer so significantly to Fredegund on court matters that he would sometimes refuse to take unilateral action without her approval. As previously mentioned, Fredegund seemed particularly keen on using her newfound authority to dole out brutal justice. She reportedly regularly sentenced failed assassins, servants, and supposedly disloyal subjects to having their hands, noses, and ears hacked off.

• 8:48Dana Schwartz?

  There are also several recorded instances of her ordering her enemies to be broken on the rack or burned alive. Fredegund also often pursued her own ends without input from her husband by bribing many officials and planning further assassinations. She was so effective in her aims that many Franks, particularly Brunhilde’s supporters, increasingly labeled her “an evil witch.” But there appears to be little to no evidence that Fredegund even tried to refute those supernatural rumors. Presumably, she preferred being feared.

• 9:31Dana Schwartz?

  With word of Fredegund’s growing influence reaching even their convent, Brunhilde and Ottovera knew the clock was ticking on their comeback. So their strategic instincts hit on the fastest means of gaining power: marriage. They hatched a mutually beneficial plan for Brunhilde to contact and marry Ottovera’s oldest living son, who was Chilprick’s son and Fredegund’s stepson, if you’re keeping track. Bucking norms, Brunhilde even probably proposed to him. This is not just revisionist history.

• 10:12Dana Schwartz?

  A 7th-century scribe stated it that way, reframing the bride as the “active party.” In theory, that match would greatly elevate both banished queen’s positions. Ottovera’s son would become even more prominent, and they could then claim that he was the rightful heir of Nustria, undermining Fredegund and her children. And Brunhilde would be regent, as her son ruled Austria, and she could be a queen consort if her new husband overthrew his estranged father. She could, potentially, become queen of 2/3 of Francia.

• 10:53Dana Schwartz?

  Brunhilde and Ottovera’s son wed in 576, in the same cathedral where Brunhilde’s sister had married Chilprick.

• 11:04Dana Schwartz?

  This wedding was much more cobbled together than Brunhilde's first, and was also somewhat scandalous, since technically a groom marrying his uncle's widow? Was a form of incest frowned upon by the church. But their union was bolstered by several elements. First, Brunhilde and her new husband were not blood relatives. Second, Ottavera had previously gotten the presiding bishop to agree to be the groom's godfather. So he likely fancied himself a plum position if his godson became the new king of Nustria.

• 11:45Dana Schwartz?

  And third, stirring up a bit of scandal was the whole point. Brunhilde was trying to stoke a rebellion against her ex-brother-in-law and new sister-in-law. Sorry for all the complicated inter-family dynamics here, but the headline is: "This was a power move." And time to get your royal rivalry scorecards out, because both queens were fully back in the ring.

• 12:16Dana Schwartz?

  Unfortunately for Brunhilde, her new husband's army seems to have been defeated in such a quick manner that their downfall comes across as mystifyingly vague in most historical accounts. Nevertheless, what was clear was that Chilprick easily captured the newlyweds. He forced his wayward son to become a priest. Then, apparently tired of all these scandals and headaches that Brunhilde was causing, the king negotiated with her to allow her to return to Austria if she promised to completely abandon her new husband. Brunhilde's deal-making skills were so honed by this point, though? That on top of securing her release,

• 13:00Dana Schwartz?

  she also bought herself some added time to sneakily shore up her alliances before returning home. She supposedly secretly delivered more accrued treasure to that same enterprising bishop in case he could support her now disavowed husband in a second effort to overthrow his father. And on top of that, Brunhilde somehow also got Chilprick to agree to return her hostage daughters to her. So miraculously, if you're keeping track, in a matter of months, Brunhilde had managed to escape her convent, return home richer in gold and allies,

• 13:44Dana Schwartz?

  and reunite her family so she could watch over them as regent of Austria. Fredegund may have gained the upper hand in the last few rounds of their fight, but this one went resoundingly to Brunhilde. Over the next eight years, both Brunhilde and Fredegund both proved to be productive rulers. As regent, Brunhilde became a skilled diplomat, deftly managed the squabbling nobles of her court, and heavily invested in infrastructure that included repairing old Roman roads and constructing a hospital and beautiful churches. Fredegund was noted for her popular tax reforms

• 14:28Dana Schwartz?

  as well as for sniffing out plots against her, both legitimate and perceived, and even for her military acumen. The legendary boldness and creativity that Fredegund exhibited, especially when her forces were vastly outnumbered, won her the respect of her armies and inspired numerous historians, writers, and tacticians. But Fredegund also suffered many tragedies through this period. She devastatingly lost four sons in a seven-year span, mostly due to dysentery. And just after birthing a fifth son in secret,

• 15:10Dana Schwartz?

  her life would once again be turned upside down. While staying at a villa outside of Paris in 584, her husband, Chilprick, returned to his stables after a hunt. His party began to disperse and allegedly, as he dismounted himself, an assassin lunged forward and stabbed him multiple times. Whether or not Brunhilde sent the assassin, momentum was massively swinging back into her favor. The king bled out on the ground, and his death caused such an instant frenzy that no one dared approach the body for hours,

• 15:52Dana Schwartz?

  being either afraid of associating themselves with the murder or too preoccupied with planning their next strategic moves. Fredegund fell into the latter category. While Brunhilde and her Austrian forces rapidly approached, Fredegund fled to Paris to seek sanctuary in a huge cathedral that was, by all accounts, as extravagant as most palaces. But it essentially amounted to Fredegund as an ornate bunker, as she once again had to brainstorm how to avoid death or imprisonment. Ultimately, she would choose a similar strategy as the one Brunhilde had used years ago,

• 16:37Dana Schwartz?

  namely using persuasive talents, as well as a large stash of treasure. Fredegund successfully drew Brunhilde and her son's full attention, while also drawing the eye of another influential figure: Guntram, King of Burgundy. We haven't brought up Guntram and his Third Kingdom of Francia much until this point, because, Frankishly speaking, his ambitions and actions did not seem to be as consistently dramatic or earth-shaking as his brothers, let alone those of his sisters-in-law. Guntram often fell into the role of peacemaker, buffer, or underdog supporter in the civil war.

• 17:22Dana Schwartz?

  Basically, he didn't want either neighboring kingdom to become too powerful. Guntram also detested the idea of women ruling and thought widowed, deposed queens should stay stashed in convents. But when needed, Brunhilde and Fredegund both found ways to get crafty with him. Knowing that Guntram had no surviving heirs, Brunhilde had managed to make a deal with him to adopt her son as heir to Burgundy in exchange for agreeing to stop the Austrians' war against Nústria. Once again, she was angling to ensure that her line would eventually be able to

• 18:05Dana Schwartz?

  control at least two-thirds of Francia. However, Fredagund was apparently aware that Guntram had done that, and she had also intuited that Guntram was still resentful of Brunhilde for wielding so much power. So while stuck in her Paris cathedral with limited time and means of communication, Fredagund thought carefully on the best tact to take with her potential lifeline. She tapped into Guntram's paternal instincts, but rather than asking him for any adoption favors,

• 18:45Dana Schwartz?

  she sent him a message appealing for pity since she had a newborn baby. According to Bishop Gregory of Tours, our most thorough source from this time, Fredagund wrote to Guntram, "Let my lord come and take charge of his brother's kingdom. I have a tiny baby whom I long to place in his arms. At the same time, I shall declare myself his humble servant." Fredagund's cleverly timed baby surprise worked. Guntram stepped in, and he prevented Brunhilde and her son from capturing Fredagund and her infant son.

• 19:27Dana Schwartz?

  And Guntram also pushed for an end to his fellow Frankish country's civil war. For his troubles, he also likely helped himself to some of Fredagund's treasure. So major diplomacy points go to Fredagund here, although as part of the deal, she agreed to step away from royal life. But at last, there was relative peace. At least until Guntram died. Soon Brunhilde and Fredagund went right back to leading their queendoms against each other.

• 20:05Dana Schwartz?

  Fredegund planned more assassinations and again grabbed her throne, serving as regent for her son. She oversaw Nústria’s army and won decisive military victories, despite almost always being outnumbered. At one point, after one of her generals was felled on the battlefield, Fredegund reportedly shocked the enemy by leading the Nústrian charge herself. At the same time, Brunhilde shepherded her son’s reign so skillfully that she was credited with impacting almost all of Austrasia’s biggest decisions.

• 20:46Dana Schwartz?

  The young king is usually portrayed as dependent and ineffectual. In 595, Brunhilde’s son died, leaving behind three of his own children. Surely, there were some tributes to the dead king, but the fact that so many chronicles paid so little attention to his death goes to show how unremarkable of a ruler he probably was. Likewise, Brunhilde’s reaction to this loss comes off as murky in some accounts. It must have been an emotional blow, but having learned the hard way that a king’s death could rip away a queen’s power,

• 21:28Dana Schwartz?

  Brunhilde prudently secured her position as regent for two of her grandsons. They were nine and ten, and technically, the new rulers of Austrasia and Burgundy, respectively. At that time, Fredegund’s king-son was only 11, meaning Francia was entirely in the hands of “child kings,” although, not really. The two queen-mothers wielded all of the true power, and though both were in their ruling primes, if we were to update our royal rivalry score sheets, at this point Brunhilde probably is winning for presiding over 2/3 of Francia.

• 22:14Dana Schwartz?

  Still, anytime Brunhilde or Fredegund got the upper hand, the opposing queen would pull off a gritty move to save herself and her lineage. Astonishingly, considering how powerful and wily they each could be, Brunhilde and Fredegund were so evenly matched that, in the end, neither was able to directly defeat the other and settle the final score. In 597, Fredegund suddenly died. She was in her 50s. She didn't seem to have a specific illness, and it didn't appear to be poison. It was a surprisingly quiet end for such a fiery person,

• 22:55Dana Schwartz?

  and at long last, her decades-spanning quarrel with Brunhilde was over. Mostly. Brunhilde may have outlived Fredegund, but eventually, Fredegund's line would get the final say. And Brunhilde's death wouldn't be anything close to quiet. Fast forward to 613. Brunhilde served as regent for her great-grandson, meaning that she had been regent for three different generations. And, no surprise, she was helping him wage war against Nústria. But many of their side defected,

• 23:37Dana Schwartz?

  and Fredegund's ruling son finally captured them. In the spirit of his mother's penchant for creative punishments, he purportedly had Brunhilde quartered. That is, tied to several horses and pulled apart in a grisly public spectacle. For the first time in 52 years, Francia became united under one ruler. But Fredegund's and Brunhilde's legacies, and long-simmering hostilities, would continue to haunt the realm for centuries.

• 24:18Dana Schwartz?

  Although many subsequent monarchs and historians obscured certain facets of Brunhilde and Fredegund's lives, their reigns remain uniquely fascinating and have had meaningful impacts on art and popular culture. For example, Fredegund's military genius was on full display during the Battle of Drosy in 593. Far outmatched by Austrian forces, she disguised her army with branches and leaves. This made it appear to an enemy sentry as if the forest were moving, which reportedly got "this watchman derided as

• 24:59Dana Schwartz?

  a drunkard." Fredegund also had her mounted troops attach bells to their horses to make opposing soldiers think they were simply grazing cattle, thus allowing her army to sneak up and steal a victory. These specific tactics became so famous that scholars claim that Shakespeare borrowed and featured them in Macbeth. Brunhilde was also an inspiration for the slightly differently spelled character "Brunhilde" with an "e" at the end, the lead Valkyrie in the famous four-part cycle of musical dramas composed by Richard Wagner called "The Ring Cycle." This became such a memorable role that Brunhilde even affected

• 25:44Dana Schwartz?

  how Vikings are commonly visualized today. Many historians assert that by outfitting performers in "winged and horned helmets," the costume designer of the opera's cycle 1976 premiere inextricably linked Vikings with that headgear in modern depictions, despite there being no actual evidence that Viking warriors really wore pointy horns on their helmets. For many, the name Brunhilde might even first conjure up images of Bugs Bunny evading Elmer Fudd as he sings "Kill the Rabbit" in the 1957 Looney Tunes cartoon "What's Opera, Doc?"

• 26:27Dana Schwartz?

  It's impossible to say what Brunhilde would have thought about her decades in power being distilled into an animated opera parody starring a rabbit in drag. But, on the other hand, in terms of lasting legacies, how many other 6th-century rulers can you say have been immortalized that way? Analyzing Fredegund and Brunhilde also brings up intriguing questions about why the two are so often framed as adversaries in a heightened "personal feud." On a basic level, conflict obviously sells, and the two did try to kill each other and each other's families quite a bit.

• 27:09Dana Schwartz?

  It's worth asking whether Fredegund and Brunhilde's actions, though, would be discussed or framed in these same terms if they were kings. Was it easier, particularly from many male historians' perspectives, to frame their relationship as a vindictive "personal feud" rather than a "complicated imperial dispute"? To be sure, there was ample fuel for personal vendettas, but there were also "critical economic factors" in play: treasuries, titles, lands, all up for grabs. Again, Brunhilde and Siegbert didn't invade Nustria on the official grounds that Brunhilde's

• 27:51Dana Schwartz?

  sister was murdered, but technically, in order to reclaim her extremely valuable land. All of that said, just as viewing Fredegund and Brunhilde's relationship through "too much of a personal drama-focused lens" wouldn't reveal the full picture, neither is viewing their interrelated reigns as solely hinging on coldly logical chess moves. In 6th-century Francia, it was difficult for women to exercise various freedoms, much less rule. Yet both Brunhilde and Fredegund maintained power for many years, perhaps partly because

• 28:33Dana Schwartz?

  both were able to effectively master political strategy and harness deep levels of emotional intelligence. Another possible way to look at it is that instead of a passionate feud being a narrative that was forced on the queen's histories, it could be the other way around. Is it possible that having such a worthy adversary in some manner forced each other to, for lack of a better phrase, up their game? Which then catapulted both to new, history impacting heights. Brunhilde and Fredegund are each undoubtedly worthy of extensive individual study.

• 29:16Dana Schwartz?

  But nevertheless, discussing the two as a pair doesn't have to be reductive and can actually be tremendously informative and also interesting. Even today, it's pretty tricky to find examples of two competing female rulers who simultaneously hold the amount of power that Brunhilde and Fredegund did. Even with all the violence, upheaval, and lingering questions of the two queens' reigns, one thing is for sure: their epic rivalry was unrivaled.

• 29:53Dana Schwartz?

  That's the second part of the fascinating story of Brunhilde and Fredegund, but stick around after a brief sponsor break to learn an additional method of trying to quantify our queens' power.

• 30:11Speaker 03

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• 30:28Speaker 03

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• 30:45Speaker 04

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  To rising stars like Alex Warren.

• 31:00Speaker 05

  You know, a song is a story and the verse is setting the scene. And for me, at least, it's allowing me to be personal and vulnerable with the audience, whether it's about my wife and I'm being vulnerable about her, or it's about, you know, my parents and I'm being vulnerable to them. And it's almost like a cinematic piece in a way where each song tells that beautiful story.

• 31:18Speaker 03

  It's gonna be one hell of a trip. Experience Before the Moment, a Lincoln original series on the iHeart Radio app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 31:31Speaker 03

  Hey, I'm Nile Rodgers, producer, songwriter, guitarist, and co-founder of the group Chic. A great song has a way of defining a moment, a moment of joy, heartbreak, or anything in between. This fall, I'll be driving across the country, dropping in on some of the coolest, most fascinating artists working today. We'll go deep into their lives and careers and hear what it was like before the moment that made them. From hitmakers like Miguel...

• 32:05Speaker 04

  That last year, finishing that record was the hardest experience of my life. Regardless of how everyone else buys into this, I believe in this and I'm gonna push.

• 32:16Speaker 03

  To rising stars like Alex Warren.

• 32:19Speaker 05

  You know, a song is a story and the verse is setting the scene. And for me, at least, it's allowing me to be personal and vulnerable with the audience, whether it's about my wife and I'm being vulnerable about her, or it's about, you know, my parents and I'm being vulnerable to them. And it's almost like a cinematic piece in a way where each song tells that beautiful story.

• 32:38Speaker 03

  It's gonna be one hell of a trip. Experience Before the Moment, a Lincoln original series on the iHeart Radio app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 32:52Dana Schwartz?

  Intenting to keep score on a rivalry that lasted over forty years may seem silly, but quantifying certain complicated subjects, like individuals' overall statuses in life, was actually common practice for a time. Frankish law dictated that every citizen was given a monetary value, called a vergelt, and if a heinous crime was committed against that person, their family could legally claim that amount as compensation. It was essentially a kind of life insurance policy. Women's vergelts were typically higher than men's and very dependent on their ages and abilities to have children.

• 33:35Dana Schwartz?

  They usually ranged from around 200 to 600 gold coins. For female rulers, the calculus was on another scale. The killing of a queen could lead to a fine as sky-high as 50,000 gold coins. And while not always the case, for some aging queens, their perceived worth did not simply depend on whether they could birth heirs, but on how much value they could provide in terms of their royal networking and ruling expertise. There don't appear to be surviving records regarding specific values assigned to Brunhild

• 34:17Dana Schwartz?

  or Fredegund, but given their accumulated experience in ruling Francia, as they each stayed in power for longer than almost every Roman emperor and king who came before them, the two queens' exploits surely put them at the top of the all-time franking order.

• 34:45Dana Schwartz?

  Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me, Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Courtney Sender, Amy Height, and Giulia Milano. The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer Reema Ilkayali, and executive producers Aaron Mankey, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

• 35:28Speaker 01

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