Clotilde

Saint Clotilde (475–545), also known as Clothilde, Clotilda, Clotild, Rotilde etc. (Latin Chrodechildis, Chlodechildis from Frankish *Hrōþihildi or perhaps *Hlōdihildi, both "famous in battle"), was the second wife of the Frankish king Clovis I, and a princess of the kingdom of Burgundy. Venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church, she was instrumental in her husband's famous conversion to Catholicism and, in her later years, was known for her almsgiving and penitential works of mercy.

Biography

Clotilde was born at the Burgundian court of Lyon, the daughter of King Chilperic II of Burgundy. Upon the death of Chilperic's father King Gondioc in 473, he and his brothers Gundobad and Godegisel had divided their inheritance; Chilperic II apparently reigning at Lyon, Gundobad at Vienne and Godegesil at Geneva.

From the sixth century on, the marriage of Clovis and Clotilda was made the theme of epic narratives, in which the original facts were materially altered and the various versions found their way into the works of different Frankish chroniclers. According to Gregory of Tours (538–594), Chilperic II was slain by his brother Gundobad in 493, and his wife drowned with a stone hung around her neck, while of his two daughters, Chrona took the veil and Clotilde was exiled - it is, however, assumed that this tale is apocryphal. Butler's account follows Gregory.