The Manifestation of Folkloric Motifs in the Portrayals of 6th Century Merovingian Queens

• Amanda Heil, Ancient Greek and Roman Studies, University of Delaware

• Michael Frassetto, History, University of Delaware

In Gregory of Tours’s History of the Franks, the queens of sixth-century Merovingian France seem to have been plucked straight out of a fairy tale. Specifically, the portrayals of Merovingian queens Fredegund and Brunhild are rife with court intrigue and assassination plots. Gregory’s memorable depictions of the Merovingian queens have been the subject of previous study, perhaps most notably by E.T. Dailey in Queens, Consorts, Concubines: Gregory of Tours and Women of the Merovingian Elite. However, there is still significant room for more study on the matter. This study analyzes how historical fact and fiction converge in Gregory’s portrayals of Fredegund and Brunhild, and the way in which these portrayals mirror the common archetypes that define female rulers as “good” or “evil”.

This study analyzes primary sources that portray Fredegund and Brunhild, along with Brunhild’s personal correspondences. It considers archetypal examples of “good” and “evil” queens, primarily from fairytales, in order to better understand common motifs. Additionally, the study examines secondary literature on Gregory of Tours and Merovingian France, along with the ATU index when isolating specific archetypes.

Analyzing Gregory’s portrayals of Brunhild and Fredegund reveals the deliberate creation of a binary between the “evil” Fredegund and the “good” Brunhild, using traits that mirrored the attributes often assigned to “good” and “evil” queens in fairy tales.  This reflects the process by which figures are historically “fictionalized” through attributes that exist within the wider literary canon of the time to align them with other figures from that canon. There is room for future research in this area, such as analyzing how Fredegund and Brunhild may have entered the popular consciousness in the following centuries. The results of this study speak to the importance of analyzing histories critically, especially when they are portraying periods of history that are generally understudied.