Family of Clothar I + and Aregund + of NEUSTRIA

Husband:	Clothar I + (497-561)
Wife:	Aregund + of NEUSTRIA (515-573)
Children:	Chilperic I + (539-584)

Husband: Clothar I +

Wife: Aregund + of NEUSTRIA

Name:	Aregund + of NEUSTRIA
Sex:	Female
Father:	Bertachar of THURINGA (475-529)
Mother:	Clothilde + of BURGUNDY (475-548)
Birth	0515	Thueringen, Germany
Death	0573 (age 57-58)	Abbey of St. Benoat Sur, Loiret, Centre, France

Child 1: Chilperic I +

Note on Husband: Clothar I +

Chlothar I[1] (c. 497 – 29 November 561), called the Old (le Vieux), King of the Franks, was one of the four sons of Clovis. He was born circa 497, in Soissons (now in Aisne département, Picardie, France).

 

On the death of his father in 511, he received, as his share of the kingdom, the town of Soissons, which he made his capital; the cities of Laon, Noyon, Cambrai, and Maastricht; and the lower course of the Meuse River. But he was very ambitious, and sought to extend his domain.

 

 

The division of Gaul upon Chlothar's death (561).He was the chief instigator of the murder of his brother Chlodomer's children in 524, and his share of the spoils consisted of the cities of Tours and Poitiers. He took part in various expeditions against Burgundy and, after the destruction of that kingdom in 534, obtained Grenoble, Die, and some of the neighbouring cities.

 

When the Ostrogoths ceded Provence to the Franks, he received the cities of Orange, Carpentras, and Gap. In 531, he marched against the Thuringii with his nephew Theudebert I and in 542, with his brother Childebert I against the Visigoths of Spain. On the death of his great-nephew Theodebald in 555, Chlothar annexed his territories. On Childebert's death in 558 he became sole king of the Franks.

 

He also ruled over the greater part of Germany, made expeditions into Saxony, and for some time exacted from the Saxons an annual tribute of 500 cows. The end of his reign was troubled by internal dissensions, his son Chram rising against him on several occasions. Following Chram into Brittany, where the rebel had taken refuge, Chlothar shut him up with his wife and children in a cottage, which he set on fire. Overwhelmed with remorse, he went to Tours to implore forgiveness at the tomb of St Martin, and died shortly afterwards at the royal palace at Compiègne.

 

[edit] FamilyChlothar's first marriage was to Guntheuc, widow of his own brother Chlodomer, sometime around 524. They had no children. His second marriage, which occurred around 532, was to Radegund, daughter of Bertachar, King of Thuringia, whom he and his brother Theuderic defeated. She was later canonized. They also had no children. His third and most successful marriage was to Ingund, by whom he had five sons and two daughters:

 

Gunthar, predeceased father

Childeric, predeceased father

Charibert, King of Paris

Guntram, King of Burgundy

Sigebert, King of Austrasia

Chlothsind, married Alboin, King of the Lombards

His next marriage was to a sister of Ingund, Aregund, with whom he had a son, Chilperic, King of Soissons. His last wife was Chunsina (or Chunsine), with whom he had one son, Chram, who became his father's enemy and predeceased him. Chlothar may have married and repudiated Waldrada

Note on Wife: Aregund + of NEUSTRIA

Aregund, Aregunda, Arnegund, Aregonda, or Arnegonda was a Frankish queen, the wife of Clotaire I, king of the Franks, and the mother of Chilperic I of Neustria. She was the sister of Ingund, one of Clotaire's other wives. She lived during the sixth century.

 

Her sepulchre, among dozens of others, was discovered in 1959 in the Saint Denis Basilica by archaeologist Michel Fleury. It contained remarkably well-preserved clothing items and jewellery, which were used to identify her.

 

In an episode of the television series, Digging for the Truth, aired in May 2006, host Josh Bernstein arranged a DNA test of a sample of her remains to see if it showed any Middle Eastern characteristics. It did not. This was meant to disprove the notion put forwards by the Da Vinci Code that the Merovingians were descended from Jesus, though Aregund was merely married into the dynasty, not a blood descendant- so presumably the results of this test are irrelevant. Some also claim that, based on studies (reference needed), the burial could not have been done around the time of Aregund's death. Rather it likely dates from decades after Aregund's time, thus the remains could be of an entirely different person