The Literary Portrayals of Female Rulers in 6th Century Europe

• Amanda Heil, History, University of Delaware

• Michael Frassetto, History, University of Delaware

During the 6th century, three women ruled over Roman successor states: the Byzantine empress Theodora and the Frankish empresses Fredegund and Brunhild. Despite the significant power they wielded, they are relatively unattested in the historical record with the primary authorities on their lives and reigns being Procopius’s Secret History and Gregory of Tours’s History of the Franks. While both of those works have been the subject of significant study by scholars interested in 6th-century Europe, comparative studies of the two works and their portrayals of the rulers are rare in comparison. This study endeavors to examine both the portrayals of Theodora in the Secret History and Brunhild and Fredegund in the History of the Franks to gain a better understanding of the women themselves and how their reigns were perceived by the aristocratic men who surrounded them. Despite the significant differences between the lifestyles and worldviews of Procopius and Gregory, both authors made use of established rhetorical paradigms within their works in order to portray Theodora and Fredegund respectively in an unflattering manner. This suggests that the paradigms used are classical in nature, and additionally that the authors looked back at classical literature to inform their approach when writing about the fairly unusual phenomenon of a powerful female ruler. While Brunhild escaped the treatment afforded to Fredegund in the History of the Franks, her portrayal in Jonas’s Life of St. Columban suggests that was due to Gregory’s close personal connections to her rather than the perception of her as a ruler differing from that of her contemporaries. Possible future research topics on the subject include a closer comparative study of the language used in the portrayals of the women or further analysis of how the reigns of these women influenced the reigns of later female Byzantine and Frankish rulers.