Clotilde (died 531)

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Clotilde (or Chrodechildis) (c. 500–531) was the daughter of King Clovis I of the Franks and Queen Clotilde and the queen of the Visigothic King Amalaric. She was born circa 500. The favorite child of her parents, she was saddened by her father's death in 511.[1]

Clotilde married Amalaric in about 526,[1] and ties between both families were initially positive.[2] Clotilde was a Catholic, while Amalaric and his fellow-Visigoths were Arians. Clotilde refused to adopt her husband's religious practices and complained to her kin that she was persecuted for her faith. Amalaric was subsequently kicked out from Narbonne.[2] War ensued in 531 between her brother, King Childebert I, and her husband,[1] at Barcelona, Spain.[2][3] According to Isidore of Seville, Amalaric was eventually defeated, and then assassinated by his own men [4] while Clotilde traveled to Francia with the Frankish army,[1] but died on the journey. Her cause of death was not recorded. Childebert I brought her corpse to Paris for burial. Her death was greatly mourned by her mother and siblings.[5]


  1. ^ a b c d Riché, Pierre (1996), Dictionnaire des Francs: Les temps Mérovingiens. Eds. Bartillat. ISBN 2-84100-008-7
  2. ^ a b c Callaghan, Joseph (1975). A history of medieval Spain. Cornell University Press. pp. 41–. ISBN 9780801492648.
  3. ^ Gambrell, Thomas Ross (2001). An Ancestral History: 8 B.C. to 1986 : a Life and Times Study of the Allerton, Appling, Barrow, Brewster, Brooke, Ficke, Gambrell, Mattison, Mooney, Newton, Petit, Rheinlander, Schwerdtfeger, Spivey, Trammel, Van Rennselaer, and Wyatt Families in Europe and the American South. Gateway Press. pp. 55–.
  4. ^ Thomas, Joseph (2013). The Universal Dictionary of Biography and Mythology, A-clu. Cosimo. pp. 107–. ISBN 9781616400682.
  5. ^ Bertelli, Sergio (2003). The king's body: sacred rituals of power in medieval and early modern Europe. Penn State Press. pp. 232–. ISBN 9780271041391.