Thugs and Miracles: A History of France

Benjamin Bernier

Welcome to Thugs and Miracles, the podcast where we’re looking back at history through the eyes of the kings and queens of France – from the fall of the Roman Empire to the fall of the guillotine.To tell our story, T+M uses the royals as a unifying thread, but we don’t look at just the kings; we try to understand what life was like for the people living under them. How must it have felt to live and die, all within a 10-mile radius of where you were born? For women, how must it have felt to live in a system which, under the Salic law, prohibited them from owning land? How exactly was life in the Middle Ages, this so-called “dark age”? More than answering questions, we tell the stories of the people who made history. We tell you the story of the beautiful Frankish queen who had an affair with a god. We explore Clovis and his conversion within the deepest lines of battle, and we explore his wife, Clotilde, and why she pushed so hard to change his religion – even risking her own life in the... read less
HistoryHistory

Season 3

The New King of the Mountain (S3: E1)
Dec 12 2021
The New King of the Mountain (S3: E1)
Welcome back and welcome to Season Three! As always, I’m Benjamin Bernier, and this week we’re going to get right into it... Picking up where we left off at the end of last season, we're going to watch the newly crowned Pépin I of the Carolingians answer the call for help from the Pope... just three years after the call was initially put out, and after the death of the Pope who was calling. So much for timelines! However, when the Franks finally did get things in order in Francia well enough for them to come over the Alps, well, the Lombards were going to find out who the real power players in Western Europe really were. All of this action would lead to new realizations, a new map of Empire, and in the end, a Donation to the Church that would change the way the Papacy was viewed right up until the present day. On a more present note, with the inauguration of Season 3, we here at T+M also decided the time was right to start a Patreon account! We appreciate everyone who listens to the show and everyone who leaves reviews, and now we’re asking, if your heart is big enough, to show the world how much you like us with a donation to help us cover some of the production costs. Over the past two years, we’ve done this show with almost nothing in the way of ads or other income, and well, it hasn’t been the greatest business model, to say the least! What we’re doing now is asking you to pick a level you’re comfortable with, and with those levels you’ll get access to some great extras, as well as the chance to join the Merovingians, Carolingians, Capetians or Napoleons: For $1 you can become a Merovingian, a founding supporter of the show; for that you’ll get your name read out in our next episode!For $3 you can step up to being a Carolingian; at that tier you get your name read out, you get access to our Patreon Exclusive episodes, and the chance to vote on topics for upcoming Exclusives. We have five of our Bonus Episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 already migrated over to Patreon, and we plan on dropping a new Exclusive episode once a month going forward. For January, we’ll be looking at what might have been if Charles Martel had lost at the Battle of Tours; if that interests you and you want to have a say in the show, this level is for you!Next is the Capetian level, offering you all of the other great benefits already mentioned. But wait, there’s more! For $5/month as a Capetian, you’ll get access to the ad-free feed of the show (because soon enough, the free stream of the pod will include staff-selected ads from companies with products we think our audience will like). If you don’t want your listening experience sullied by intrusive adverts, then please head on over to Patreon and take advantage of becoming a Capetian.Finally, for anyone out there who dreams just a little bigger, we have the final level: Napoleonic! For $20/month, you get everything the show has to offer, plus you’ll get your name mentioned in every single episode while your reign lasts. And there’s a limit to how many Emperors we can have: just as there were only three Emperors Napoleon, this tier will also be limited to three. You just don’t get much more exclusive than that, and we’re sure that we’ll have extra extras in store for you as time goes on. Thank you for supporting the show, and thank you for showing you care, either financially or with a nice review! We are looking forward to another great season, and can't wait to be back in your feed in 10 days! * * * Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613
An Interview with… #3: History of the Germans
Jan 1 2022
An Interview with… #3: History of the Germans
Hello everybody, and welcome to 2022! We here at Thugs and Miracles hope you had an enjoyable New Year’s Eve, and if you’re traveling home today or tomorrow, well, we’re here to keep you company! And not just us! Nope, we’re joined today for a talk with Dirk Hoffman-Becking of the History of the Germans Podcast; he’s been running his show for about a year now, and we profiled his Episode #1 back in September on our feed. Dirk spoke with us for this on topics ranging from where he’s from, to what compelled him to start a podcast and what drives him to keep going, to what his favorite bit of history that he’s covered to this point has been, and also what he’s hoping to cover in ‘22. It was a great talk, and so good in fact that we got together again later and he interviewed me for his show! So, if you are not already subscribed to History of the Germans, well, now’s a great time to check Dirk out and to get even more T+M content for the New Year, as well as about 50 episodes of Germans. And, along those lines, now is as good a time as any to tell you that we’ll have a new episode coming out tomorrow on this feed and our first Patreon Exclusive episode is going live on the 9th, so head on over to Patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles to check that out. Alright, with all of that, I shall step aside. Again, welcome to 2022; now, sit back and enjoy our interview with Dirk Hoffman-Becking of the History of the Germans Podcast; enjoy! * * * Links to social media and the website: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613
Pépin the Underrated (S3: E3)
Jan 2 2022
Pépin the Underrated (S3: E3)
This week we’re going to look back one last time at the life and times of one of the most horribly underrated Kings in all of French history, a guy who may have done more to establish the foundations of modern-day France than any other individual out there, and yet whose name remains lost to all but the most intrepid history nerds - and yes, I’m looking at all of you! - because he happened to sire the one name that everyone knows: Charlemagne. So, we’re going to take a look at what King Pépin I did after he returned back to Francia from Italy in 756 and how he spent the last decade and some change of his life. After that, we’ll break down the entirety of his reign using our Monarch W.A.R. rating, and we’ll see where he stacks up against the Merovingian kings who came before him. On a more contemporary note, Happy New Year ‘22 to you! If you’re still looking for a resolution, may we suggest donating to the shows and artists who you enjoy? Even a small contribution goes a long way toward helping with the costs of the show, but more than that, it tells us that you appreciate what we’re doing. We hope that’s the case, and if nothing else, there are perks to being a T+M Patron. Find out more by clicking on the link below: thanks! * * * Links to social media and the website: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613
The Fire of Paganism (S3: E7)
Feb 13 2022
The Fire of Paganism (S3: E7)
This week we’re going to take a look at what may be one of the great military miscalculations of all time. Charles was a solid tactician and an excellent logistician, and clearly very successful in most things he tried his hand at. Politics, religion, culture, war... there was no area in which he did not make an enormous impact during his life. Knowing this, how was it then that he so dramatically failed to see just how long and hard a campaign against the Saxons would be? Einhard, one of the first and most eminent biographers of Charlemagne, and a man who studied the whole of the great King’s life, would describe it this way: “No war taken up by the Frankish people was ever longer, harder, or more dreadful.” This is both factually correct and a huge understatement. After all, we are not talking about an extra battle or two; we are talking about nearly 30 additional years of battle, plus additional pockets of resistance that would not be fully squelched until well after Charles’s lifetime. Was it hubris, bad intelligence, an overestimation of his own military capabilities, or an underestimation of his enemies that led to all of this? Or was it a bit of all of the above? Finally, even with all of these factors in mind, did Charles really have a choice of whether or not to face the Saxons? I mean, was their fight inevitable, and if so, could it have been less bloody for both sides? ⚜️ ⚜️ ⚜️ Links to social media and the website: Shelley Puhak: shelleypuhak.com The Dark Queens: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Queens-Bloody-Rivalry-Medieval/dp/1635574919 TDQ Politics & Prose Launch Event: https://www.politics-prose.com/event/book/pp-live-shelley-puhak-dark-queens-bloody-rivalry-forged-medieval-world    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles Wise: https://wise.prf.hn/click/camref:1100lmi64/creativeref:1011l34332  Audible: https://www.audibletrial.com/thugs    Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613
An Interview with… #4: Shelley Puhak, Author of The Dark Queens
Feb 22 2022
An Interview with… #4: Shelley Puhak, Author of The Dark Queens
Today on the show, we interview Shelley Puhak, the author of the soon-to-be-released book The Dark Queens! It is all about Fredegunda and Brunhilda, the rival Merovingian Queens who ran Kingdoms and fought against one another (we spoke all about them in Episodes 15-25 of Season One). The publisher gave us an advanced copy of the book to check out, and we can tell you... it is really good! The book has all of the murders, assassinations, plotting, intrigue, and general mayhem that went down during this time, and it is written in an incredibly engaging way. Believe me, as someone who has waded through more dense, boring, or just plain weird history books, we can tell you that The Dark Queens is a breath of fresh air. The history is readable without sacrificing details or accuracy. We cannot recommend the book highly enough. You can pre-order The Dark Queens for the U.S. at Amazon, Bookshop, or Barnes and Noble, or for the U.K. at Amazon U.K. or Foyles. Also, Shelley will have a Politics and Prose online launch event for the book on 27 February; register for free here! ⚜️ ⚜️ ⚜️ The Dark Queens Links: Shelley Puhak Author Website: https://www.shelleypuhak.com/  Politics and Prose 27 February online launch event: https://www.politics-prose.com/event/book/pp-live-shelley-puhak-dark-queens-bloody-rivalry-forged-medieval-world  Amazon U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Queens-Bloody-Rivalry-Medieval/dp/1635574919/  Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dark-queens-shelley-puhak/1136943153  Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/books/the-dark-queens-the-bloody-rivalry-that-forged-the-medieval-world/9781635574913  Amazon U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Queens-Bloody-Rivalry-Medieval/dp/180110915X/  Foyles U.K.: https://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/biography/the-dark-queens-the-bloody-rivalry,shelley-puhak-9781801109154    Links to T+M social media and website: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613
Baptism or Death (S3: E8)
Mar 6 2022
Baptism or Death (S3: E8)
This week, we’re going to take a look at one of the great resistance leaders from the age of Charlemagne: Widukind. Because - news flash! - lots of people did not like Charlemagne. Before we get into everything, there is one more thing we should clarify to help keep us straight on where we are in the chronology: The majority of today’s episode is set between 777-785. This is a pretty big leap, time-wise, considering that it took us several episodes just to get through the first three years of Charlemagne’s rivalry with his brother, and then another full episode to discuss the Lombard campaign and the taking of the Iron Crown in 774. We are also five years removed from our last regular episode of T+M wherein Charles cut down the Irminsul and took the religious site’s attendant treasures. In those five years, Charles inflicted defeats and mass baptisms on the Saxons at least three times, in 772, 775, and 777.   And this was just the start. Hang on for what is one of the darkest episodes of Thugs and Miracles to date...   ⚜️ ⚜️ ⚜️   Links to social media and the website: Shelley Puhak: shelleypuhak.com The Dark Queens: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Queens-Bloody-Rivalry-Medieval/dp/1635574919   Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Patreon: Thugs and Miracles Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613
The Spanish March (S3: E9)
Mar 16 2022
The Spanish March (S3: E9)
This week, we’re going to take a look at Charlemagne's 778 campaign into Spain. Since the most memorable part of the campaign is an epic poem entitled The Song of Roland - a poem focused on the tragic loss of part of Charlemagne's army and the death of his lieutenant, Roland - we can tell you that things don't turn out well for the Franks. Despite this, about the only thing that the Song gets right about the actual history is that the Franks were involved, and they suffered a loss.   The Song of Roland was written somewhere between 1040-1115 CE. And wouldn’t you know it, the values and ideals put forth in Roland just so happen to line up with the time frame that incorporates the First Crusade. The events inside of the Song bear almost no resemblance to the actual events of 778, but all of that is extraneous. What was important for 11th-century France and this chanson de geste, this song of deeds, was to depict clear differences between Christians and Muslims.   So, how did we get from a sideline meeting in 777 at Paderborn between Charles and several Muslim walis, to an epic poem hyping up Christian warriors in the 11th century? Listen in and find out!   ⚜️ ⚜️ ⚜️   Links to social media and the website: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thugsandmiracles  Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

Season 2

Close Combat (S2: E2)
Sep 20 2020
Close Combat (S2: E2)
Before we get going too far, I want to lead with two pieces of information. First, the podcast I mentioned on the show (and have mentioned on several shows previously) is Written In Blood History by Stephen DiJulius; you can find his show at https://writteninbloodhistory.com/ and you can find Stephen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SDijulius/. The second note I have is that T+M is now available on Amazon Podcasts! Anyone looking to enjoy their podcasts on their Alexa device can now simply as her to play the Thugs and Miracles podcast and - just like the Princess Bride - it will be just as you wish. Check out their site and the show at https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/3ad5382f-5947-40f3-9567-41d7fd891a87/Thugs-and-Miracles. We've got over 30 episodes up, so if you're new to T+M there's plenty to catch up on! For this week, we're taking a look at the issues associated with monarchical succession, which sounds kind of dry at first glance, but is actually a gold mine of interesting topics when you dig a little deeper. When should a king admit that his territory is big enough and carve off some of it for the next generation? Is it smart to give a young potential competitor a head start? Is staying in power until death, then handing an entire government off to the next person, really the most effective way to administer a kingdom? And what do you do if you do decide to split the Kingdom, and then your knucklehead son nearly gets himself killed when he picks a fight with a lesser group - and loses? All of these were questions that confronted Merovingian Kings, and in particular, Chlothar II. And they were questions that led to that same King essentially going, Jon Snow-like, into battle against an army by himself - and somehow winning. There are times where, if it weren't history, you'd swear the stories were being made up; this week is definitely one of them! Join us as we explore Chlothar II, Dagobert, and the invention of plot armor, in Episode Two, Season Two, of Thugs and Miracles!   Links to social media and the website:   Sites: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ https://historypods.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles
A Quiet Place (S2: E3)
Dec 6 2020
A Quiet Place (S2: E3)
Hey everyone, I just wanted to take a moment to give an update on the show. I apologize for having gone dark for a little while, and I can’t blame anyone for being a little peeved with the absence. Anyway, I’m still alive (and thanks to everyone who reached out and asked exactly that!) and I still plan to continue the show. To be completely honest, I just simply got overwhelmed with what has been an incredibly busy period of time for me over here, and even though most of what I’m dealing with is very positive, with so much going on I have allowed social media, the site and the show to all go quiet for a few weeks. Believe me, I have been flagellating myself for letting my first love, this podcast, fall behind. It is my fervent hope that I have now come through this particularly busy time in my schedule, that I will get caught up and things will become smooth sailing once again. For what it’s worth, I’m going to go back to an every-other-week format for the foreseeable future - rather than every 10 days - so I can hit a regular timetable for you, as you deserve. I’d love to keep up a 7 or 10 day rotation, but until I can retire from day job and do nothing but this, well… For what it’s worth, it would also be nice to have proper library access back here in the UK. I feel like a kid who got to see the candy store, just to have the heavy door of COVID slammed in his face. Just like the other 7 billion of us, I’m looking forward to a vaccine, and normal life, and all of the goodness and promise of a New Year that is not 2020 just around the corner.   Moving on from that… this week, we're story-heavy as we manage to cover a 400 year period in our opening alone! I chose to do things this way this week because this was an opportunity to really highlight just how the mythology of France and the origin stories of the country really come into play all the way to the modern day. And this isn’t the first time we’ve seen that happen; you may recall that early in Season One when I talked about Childebert that one of the major finds in his tomb were a number of jewel-encrusted golden bees. This symbol of the Merovingians was discovered by Napoleon, and when he needed a symbol to display to the world that he was a new Emperor, rooted in the history of the French but not beholden to the Bourbon’s fleur-de-lys, the symbol of these first Kings made a triumphant return. However, the case of Dagobert is different, not in the sense that the symbols didn’t begin with the Merovingians, but in the sense that the particular symbol that Dagobert is about to oversee the construction of lasted from his reign all the way to the present day. Unlike the bees, which were buried and rediscovered centuries later - over a millennia, in fact - the cathedral of Saint Denis has been at the heart of Paris in some shape or fashion ever since it was “rediscovered” by Dagobert during that fortunate 7th century hunting trip. In fact, the monument continues to recreate itself to this very day, with work having been slated to recreate the north spire of the cathedral starting just this year - work that could well take more than a decade to complete.   Links to social media and the website:   Sites: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles
A Legacy of Decline (S2: E4)
Dec 20 2020
A Legacy of Decline (S2: E4)
This week we’re going to finish 2020 the way it absolutely deserves to be finished: with the death of a King! And not just any king, but the guy who has been ruling Francia in some shape or fashion for 44 years. Seriously, he’s been a part of our narrative since Episode 17 of Season 1, 12 episodes in total! For frame of reference, Clovis, the guy who really started us off, was around for about five!   Given that length of time in our feed, let’s go back and do a quick highlight reel of Chlothar II’s life. It’s important to remember, Chlothar’s path to the King of All of the Franks was definitely not the path we would have expected to see. After all, Chlothar hadn't been next in line to the throne; he had been 8th in the rotation! All seven of his older brothers, across two wives for his father, had to die to make room for his claim. He also needed his mother to safeguard his throne after the death of his father, Chilperic. This meant both going to war to fight for him, and going to court to prove his paternity. Seriously, everyone should have so devoted a mother as Fredegunda. Well, maybe not as devoted; she did kill a lot of people in the name of giving her kid the crown.   On a different note, and with all of that said, it's the holiday season! And if you're reading these notes, then you're clearly pretty deep into whichever podcast player you enjoy using. How about taking a quick moment out of your day to rate and review the podcast? Five stars would be outstanding! Thanks!   Links to social media and the website:   Sites: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles
The Spare (S2: E5)
Jan 1 2021
The Spare (S2: E5)
This week we’re going to take a look at Dagobert’s rise to power. Unlike his father, who, as we described last week, had to rely on luck, illness and his homicidal mother to take care of the seven siblings that had stood between him and the throne, Dagobert had a much more conventional route. However, this isn’t to say that he too didn’t share in a bit of luck and intrigue to take his place as the King of All the Franks, and as we’ll see, Dagobert himself was no less afraid than Fredegunda to kill whoever needed to get dead to get him to where he wanted to be.   * * *   Welcome to 2021 and happy New Year to all of you listening out there! It’s exciting to be entering into T+M’s third calendar year of existence, so much so that we couldn’t wait to get the next episode out to you a few days early! Instead of Sunday, you get a fresh drop here on Friday the 1st; we hope to be in your ears as you work off the excitement of last night, or as you dig into some fresh projects and resolutions over the next three days of the long weekend, or as your start the drive home and head back after what we hope was an exciting, memorable and happy holiday season. With all of that said, let me ask that if you appreciate the show, the early drop, or you just want to start the New Year with some good karma (and you're reading these notes), take a moment to leave T+M a rating and review; we can't think of a better way to start the new year off right. On top of that, I invite you to consider a resolution I myself have taken myself, and that is to head over to Patreon and support the artists you love or, if your podcasts have ads, simply take a few seconds to listen to them rather than hitting fast-forward. Creating content isn’t free; there’s an investment in software, mics, storage and distribution fees, but mainly, creating quality content is time-consuming. And there’s only a limited number of ways for us to get a return on that investment - and believe me, I don't think most of us are trying to get rich at this! So if you appreciate what you’re hearing and want to enable people to make more of it, well, support us, whether its reviews, listening to the ads, or donations. And what better time to start than at the turn of this new year? Thanks!   * * *   Links to social media and the website: Sites: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268
Love, War and Politics (S2: E6)
Jan 17 2021
Love, War and Politics (S2: E6)
“Overly addicted to debauchery, he had like Solomon, three queens and a multitude of concubines. His Queens were Nantilde, Vulfégonde and Berchilde. I would be bored to insert in this chronicle the names of his concubines, such as they were in great numbers. His heart became corrupted, and his thoughts strayed from God.”   This week we’re going to take a look at what Dagobert did when he was the ultimate power in Francia. One particularly interesting thing about Dagobert, and a fact that I think sheds some light on his reign as a whole, is that he only spent one year of his life as the de facto King of All the Franks. He’s listed, rightly, as one of the few early Merovingians to accomplish the task of unifying the Kingdom under a single throne, but court intrigue and an inability to properly tend to a large land mass made it all but impossible for him to properly extend his authority. As such, he would end up being the sole King come 632 and the death of his brother Charibert II, and would split the Kingdom in 633 when he placed his son, Sigibert III, on the throne in Austrasia. Now mind you, Sigibert was all of three years old when this happened and was clearly nothing more than a symbol for the Austrasian court to rally behind, but the fact remains: Dagobert unified the throne and sauntered about as the King of All the Franks for an exceedingly short period of time.   At any rate, for the rest of today we’re going to explore Dagobert’s reign through three factors, which make up the title of this episode: love, war and politics. His love life is significant because a) Dagobert’s mindset of being easily swayed is on full display with how he flowed through his wives, and b) his heirs would take the throne at a very young age, either for the aforementioned reason of giving the Austrasians a “king” to rally behind, or because, spoiler alert, Dagobert won’t end up living to a particularly old age. His succession, in particular, marks the beginning of “les roi fainéant” period of the Merovingian Dynasty, or the “do-nothing Kings.   * * *   Links to social media and the website:   Sites: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268
From A Slave to A Queen (S2: E8)
Feb 15 2021
From A Slave to A Queen (S2: E8)
This week we’re switching our attention away from Dagobert I and toward his sons, Clovis II and Sigibert III. Of these two Kings, Sigibert was actually the older, having been sired from a relationship between Dagobert and his concubine Ragnatrude. Clovis was actually a “legitimate” child, having been born to Dagobert’s wife Nanthilde after Dagobert returned to their marital bed after having taken a long enough break from it to sire Sigibert. Now, nowhere in the research I conducted was I ever able to find any telling information about how these two Kings felt about one another. They were half-brothers, but Sigibert was sent off when he was still only a toddler to rule over Austrasia, before Clovis was even born.   Meanwhile, Bathilda was actually a few years older than the royal boys, and her story was definitely much more unlikely. According to Joy Mosbarger’s, who wrote about the Queen in a 2015 article entitled, “From Slave to Queen to Nun”"Bathild’s first occupation was that of slave. She was an Anglo-Saxon captive sold to Erchinoald, mayor of the palace for Frankish king Clovis II. Bathild distinguished herself in Erchinoald’s household by serving him kindly, humbly, and faithfully. In addition, she served her elders by cheerfully and gladly washing their feet, bringing them water to wash themselves, and preparing their clothing. Though she found herself an enslaved captive, Bathild was committed to joyfully serving others. Bathild’s service brought her to the attention of Clovis II, king of Neustria and Burgundy, who married her in spite of her status as a slave.Bathild’s first occupation was that of slave. She was an Anglo-Saxon captive sold to Erchinoald, mayor of the palace for Frankish king Clovis II. Bathild distinguished herself in Erchinoald’s household by serving him kindly, humbly, and faithfully. In addition, she served her elders by cheerfully and gladly washing their feet, bringing them water to wash themselves, and preparing their clothing. Though she found herself an enslaved captive, Bathild was committed to joyfully serving others. Bathild’s service brought her to the attention of Clovis II, king of Neustria and Burgundy, who married her in spite of her status as a slave."   * * *   Links to social media and the website: 20 Minute History: https://play.acast.com/s/20-minute-history   Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268