Rival Queens (Part 1)

unite two neighboring Frankish realms under their rule. So this sudden incoming news must mean that the opposition had surrendered. Maybe the enemy king had even been killed. Five hundred and seventy five would certainly be a year to remember for Brunhild, but not for the reasons she had hoped. The messenger confirmed that a king had been slain, but the victim was Brunehild's own husband. Despite having a vastly superior army and a robust kingsguard, Siegbert had apparently been assassinated.

Brunehild must have been stunned, but she knew she couldn't afford to panic or fully mourn what had been, by royal standards, a respectful and productive marriage. Being all too familiar with Francia's fickle politics and the Merovingian dynasty's history of violent betrayal, she was well aware that she could easily meet a similarly dire fate, as could her three young children, if she didn't play her hand exactly right.

In the following hours, as many of Brunhild's nobles defected and as she frantically strategized, she likely had little doubt about who would have had the cunning to have engineered such a shocking murder. This was not the first time Brunhild had felt the bitter sting of losing a family member to the machinations of her main rival, and between the swirling rumors and peculiar piece male details of King Siegbert's death, this crime had all the hallmarks of Queen Fredegund.

Sure Enough, forty miles away, Fredegund was triumphantly emerging from her hideout after pulling off the Hail Mary of all hail Mary's. Like Brunhild, Fredegund was well versed in the bloody, rapidly shifting tides of her opposing kingdom's ongoing civil war. It must have been gratifying to accept her husband's odd gratitude for saving them from the jaws of defeat, but she knew time was of the essence. They had to press their advantage quickly, because as her rival was far

too intelligent and resourceful to be underestimated. Calling on allies, making desperate deals, and hoarding treasure were all frequent components of Queen brune Hild's calculated tactics. Brunehild holed up in her Parisian palace as her enemies closed in, suddenly every bit as vulnerable as Fredigund had been mere days before.

Looking down from her tower once again as a much larger force galloped through the city gates, Brunehild was surely alarmed, but she was staunch in her belief that she still had enough tricks up her silken sleeves to impact the future of Francia. Little did she know that her subsequent moves would further cement one of the greatest royal rivalries of all time. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is noble blood it's tricky to pinpoint the precise birth of Queen

burn Hilds and Queen Fredegen's rivalry. Part of their immense animosity was personally fostered and part was inherited, So it's helpful to first understand in broad terms, the geopolitical landscape in the lead up to their unprecedented ascensions. The old King of the Franks, Clotar the First, ruled an empire that encompassed present day France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of Germany, and a good portion of Switzerland. When he died in five hundred and sixty one, his four sons

divided those lands into four kingdoms. After one brother died, that left three to share custody of Paris, while each also ruled their respective realms. Siegbert ruled Austria, Chilperic ruled news Astrea, and Guntram ruled Burgundy. What a fair and harmonious decision. Right Naturally, this set up ushered in an era of extremely violent unrest due to the king's competitiveness, but arguably even more so because of their marital choices.

It's important to note that, unlike queens of various other empires. Queens of the Merevingian dynasty were not crowned on their own, Their power almost entirely depended on marriage. Brunehild was a well educated daughter of a Visigoth king, and according to many contemporary descriptions of her at the time, she was quite beautiful and charming. The news that her father had strategically betrothed her to King Siegbert would have been daunting.

It meant traveling over one thousand miles with a massive dowry from Spain to the foreign land of Austria Asia, all at the age of around eighteen, But despite being far from fluent in the native language and customs, Brunhild received quite the welcome there in the spring of five hundred sixty seven, especially because she came with a prestigious pedigree. This put her in stark contrast to the numerous women of lower socioeconomic status with whom Siegbert's brothers had had

various trysts and eyebrow raising relationships. This wedding was extremely lavish, and Brunhild was reportedly embraced by the Austrasian court and public. Fredegund, on the other hand, had a highly contrasting trajectory. She came to Chilbrick's palace in Nutria as an enslaved girl. She was likely captured as a young child, but little is known about her origin, particularly since she seemingly wanted to keep her humble root hidden as she began to

climb the ranks of power. The more favorable accounts of Fredegund describe her at the time as a savvy, young, strawberry blonde girl of pleasing generosity. She initially became a favorite mistress of the king, but becoming a queen would be a tall order. Fredigund purportedly first had to convince Chilbric to divorce his first wife and send her to a convent. Then Fredigund had to deal with Chilbric getting married again. Not wanting to.

She continued her close relationship with Chilbric, striving to finally sit on a throne herself. After Chilbric's second wife grew unhappy about his ongoing affair, he supposedly had her strangled in her bed. Many claimed that Fredigund had put him up to it, although again this could have been gossip and slanderous rumor. Whatever the case, Chilbric's first two wives

were out of the picture. Apparently he didn't even bother to appear upset about it, as evidenced by the conspicuous absence of a duly sincere acknowledgment of the loss, let alone any sort of basic investigation into Brunhild's sister's death. Only three days later he married Fredigund. The celebration was far more rushed as would be expected given the lack

of planning time and gigantic dead elephant in the room. Nevertheless, this meant that two incredibly formidable women, Fredagund and Brunehild, were sisters in law as well as respective queens of Neustria and Australia, and although one had allegedly had a hand in killing the other's sisters in the grand scheme of things, their rivalry was only just beginning. Brunhild was

reportedly devastated by her sister's death. She had no other siblings, and only months before she had learned about her father's passing. While grieving her family's plight in her distant foreign palace, it's easy to imagine Brunhild also fearing a similar fate for herself. Frankish laws and customs were such that there seemed to be little hope of holding her ex brother

in law or Fredigund specifically accountable for their murder. For all, Brunhild knew, one day, she too could be killed in her bed, and no one from Australia or beck Home would be willing or able to pursue significant retribution. But

giving up was not in Brunhild's nature. She knew that even if her husband Siegbert was sympathetic to her sadness and outrage, and according to some accounts he was, he could not take decisive action without the support of a sizable portion of his court Brunhild was also painfully aware that for all those ambitious, self interested nobles, the idea of avenging a short lived foreign queen of a neighboring kingdom was simply not sufficient motivation in steadily making alliances

and learning the desires of various factions. However, Brunhild discovered a broadly enticing carrot that she could dangle at the end of her justice seeking stick. Traditionally, Frankish brides at that time were given a quote mourning gift after consummating their marriage. To win the hand of such a high profile bride, as Brunhild, Sigbert had promised her an extravagant villa to secure a marriage with Brunhild's sister, Chilpric had upped the ante and offered her essentially the southern third

of his lands. Here, Brunhild saw a legal opportunity. Technically, valuable holdings in Francia were supposed to pass to the deceased's family, and since her sister had no children and Brunhild herself had just given birth to a succession secure cacuring sun, Brunhild could make a pretty solid case that

those gifted lands should pass to her. Many Austrasian nobles loved the prospect of increasing their kingdom's boundaries and overall wealth, and after a fair amount of official wrangling, Siegbert used that claim as grounds to invade. The larger Australian army soon overwhelmed their opposition and surged towards the Nustrian capital of Sissan. This forced Fredignd and her husband to flee, bringing as much of their treasury with them as they

could mobilize. With victory imminent, Brunhild and Siegbert moved to Paris, their prospective new capital for there soon to be larger country. Meanwhile, Fredegund hid in a bunker about forty miles away. Defeat seemed inevitable as the Australian forces approached. She was probably still bleeding from what had been a traumatic birth of her second son, and her husband was off preparing for

the likely end of his kingdom and his life. But just like Brunhild, Fredigund was not one to simply surrender. As a last gasp plan, she summoned two enslaved boys whose loyalty she trusted, possibly having first connected with them while serving the Royal family herself. She then gave them

a nearly impossible suicide mission kill King Siegbert. According to a detailed account of the time, Fredigund knew there was no way to confront Siegbert outright, considering he was surrounded by thousands of soldiers, had numerous formidable guards, and was even an experienced fighter himself. The only real chance her young agents had was to exploit Siegbert's seeming hubrious by launching a sneak attack while he was celebrating his military victories.

Infiltrating these celebrations was actually not overly difficult. According to some sources, the Austrasian invasion was so fast and convincing that many Neustrians were practically tripping over themselves to switch to their aggressor's side. The two boys were apparently able to pose as two such defectors. The trickiest part, then, was striking the final blow. Fredagund counted on the fact that most Frankish men carried utility knives known as scram saxes.

The blades were so omnipresent that her chosen assassins would be able to openly carry them, even if they were able to reach the king, though they might only be able to get one or two jabs in, so those had to count. This is where fredagh Une's grim innovation shows, because she supposedly gave them an added secret weapon, fast acting poison. By that time, poison made from herbs or berries had been used in countless murders, but it typically

had to be directly ingested. Fredegund was clever enough to know that. Similar to many paranoid Roman emperors, Siegbert was presumably careful to avoid such devious methods, and likely even employed official tasters to check his food and drink. Which he needed was a poison that could kill upon direct contact with a wound. The only two such substances known to have existed during this Frankish era were snake venom

and wolf spain. Both required careful preparation and their potency rapidly decreased when exposed to the air, meaning that in order to be effective they had to be applied to a knife a relatively short time before use. If the tales are to be believed, Fredagund was knowledgeable enough in medicine, or, per some claims, in witchcraft and the Dark arts, to make or procure one of the two deadly toxins. She then gave it to the boys in a small vial and directed them to apply it to their knives only

once they were within close enough range of Siegbert. Against all odds, Fredagun's loyal assassins followed her orders. They stalked their target, and they stabbed him with their poisoned daggers. The two boys were immediately caught and killed by guards, but soon the king was also dead. Fredagun's diabolical plan had tilted the entire fate of Francia. As soon as the news of Siegert's death reached Brunhilde in Paris, she would have known that she and her children were in

grave danger. She had a few options, though given the Frank's line of succession and generally minimal respect for widowed queens, it would be foolhardy to try to claim the Australian throne outright. Her five year old son was the official heir, which normally would ensure her position to a degree, except

they were isolated fairly far from home soil. Brunhild could attempt to flee with her son and two daughters, but traveling as a family for several days through what could become increasingly hostile territory would leave them extremely open to attack. Brunhilda's court was also rapidly shrinking, as most of her

nobles and guards began escaping or defecting. If she were closer to her royal treasury, she would have been able to bribe many of them to stay, since Marevni and queens may have lacked power in other areas, but were often able to exercise control over their realm's tangible riches, alas handing out IOUs to flighty aristocrats and nervous soldiers was not going to fly during such a chaotic span. However, Brunhild was savvy enough to have brought along her own

stash of gold. It was not a large enough fortune to pay a whole army, and would probably be stolen if transported, so rather than feutally trying to retain all of her allies, Brunhild set her sights on her key enemies. Between her personal wealth and remaining reputation, she figured she might have just enough leverage to draw Fredigound and Chilpric's

full attention. She was essentially opting for a life last ditch move utilized by many a brave matriarch within the animal world, stay and distract her attackers for long enough that her children might reach safety. Brunhild's gambit paid off to an extent. She ensured that her son and daughters were safely snuck away by those few individuals still loyal to her. Then she waited several days for the Neustrian

army to reach her. This gave Brunhild's son enough time to make it back to Metz, the Australian capital, where he was crowned king at the tender age of five. Her daughters briefly made it back over the border too, but they were eventually captured by Neustrian scouts and would later be leveraged by Chilbrick as hostages. As for Brunhild, she had to anxiously anticipate her enemy's arrival. Defenseless yet defiant.

Who would find her her impulsive brother in law, more agents of her vindictive sister in law, and what would they want to do with her? Ultimately, it was Chilpric

who purportedly found Brunhild waiting in her chambers. He could not have been thrilled that she had managed to sneak her children away, but seizing her hoarded treasure likely perked up his spirits somewhat, and, rather than immediately sentencing her to death, likely thanks at least in part to Brunhild's careful persuasion, he ordered that Brunhild live out the rest of her days in a convent. To many, this must have seemed like a natural and all too common end

to a promising young queen's rule. But as history would soon show, neither convent nor conventional wisdom could permanently snuff out a royal rivalry as incandescent as Brunhild and Frediguns. It's difficult to definitively say whether Fredagund and Brunehilde ever met face to face in the direct aftermath of Siegbert's death, but there is a reasonable argument to be made that Fredagund meaningfully impacted her husband's pivotal decision to force her

opposite number to become a nun. Even in a time when female agency was drastically limited, It's hard to think of many more effective cards to play in a power struggle than if it weren't for me, you'd be dead. Factoring in that Fredagun's poison tipped plan had also helped her and her husband upgrade from cowering in a bunker to once again luxuriating in palaces. Her new clout as

queen was off the charts. On top of that, Fredagund had already had a demonstable degree of influence over her husband's actions prior to rejuvenating their country's war efforts, so was said that he became exceedingly deferential to her afterward,

particularly when it came to handing out punishments. On a personal level, It's possible that Fredagund could have empathized with Brunhild's plight as a desperate mother of young children, but given the cruel nature with which Fredigund judged many other victims, though, the idea of executing Brunhild was presumably even more tempting

because of that. However, by that point Fredagund would have been well aware of other pressing economic factors, and in potentially hashing those out with her husband, they ostensibly reached the conclusion that Brunhild was simply worth more alive. After all, the war had taken its toll on Fredagun and her husband's personal wealth, as well as their country's treasury, which

again per precedent, was often overseen by the queen. Brunhild, on the other hand, had coughed up a small fortune when captured, and it was possible that the Neustrian rulers saw her as a cash cow whom they could somehow extort for more riches. Perhaps even more importantly, Fredegund would have known that, despite their latest upswing, her side was

still in a delicate position in the larger war. They didn't have the resources or manpower to launch a full scale counter invasion of Austrasia, and also had other foes to consider. Brunhild had worked to form ties with the ambitious Byzantine court, and the Visigoths might soon pose a

threat as well. The Neustrian monarchs had gotten off easy after the strangling of Brunhild's sister, partially because her Visigothic family had been struggling to sort out their own succession crisis after Brunhild's father's death, but the Spanish realm seemed to be gradually solidifying, so if Fredagund and Chilprick killed their last remaining princess, that might have meant eventually fighting

on multiple fronts. The discovery that Brunhild had already managed to sneak her son off to Australia would have only increased the queen's value as an insurance play and make killing her even more risky. Fredagund, being both a mother and a budding military strategist by this point, could have easily envisioned how effective it would be to tell a resentful little king tread lightly if you ever want to

see your mother again. So all in an all, Brunhild's nunnery banishment was logical enough, and there was plenty of precedent for dispatching widowed and or deposed queens in that way. That said, in handing out such a relatively common sentence, Fredegund and Chilpric should probably have been more careful when specifically choosing and monitoring Brunhild's new holy home. Brunhild was sent to a small convent in Ruam, a Neustrian stronghold,

where life was by all accounts strict. None Recruits had to live by a harsh code, and they were almost entirely shut off from the outside world. But it was actually the world inside this particular convent that would be critically useful for the socially skilled Brunhild, because, according to some sources, one of the other top inmates there was none other than Chilbrick's first wife, and in her Brunehild found a similarly infuriated ally none life could not nullify

these cloistered women's ambitions. If anything, it amplified them. Sure, Brunehild and her new guide were basically captives in this austere house of God. Yes, their odds of mounting a successful revenge mission against Fredagund must have seemed low, But ask any bedding enthusiast when does a single queen ever beat a pair. That's the first part of the unparalleled story of Brunhild and Fredagun's rivalry. But stick around after a brief sponsor break to get a fuller sense of

what it was like to attend a franket wedding. Brune Hills and Fredigoon's marriages are intriguing for many reasons. They obviously afforded them both queens status and laid the foundation for contrasting yet unusually devoted royal relationships. Because the queen's respective nuptials also involved kings wanting to outdo or undermine their sibling rivals. These events also provide stellar windows into another component that practically everyone who's bent a wedding is

curious about the food. According to biographer Shelley Puick in her book The Dark Queens, the Bloody Rivalry that forged the medieval world, quote, the tables were loaded down with food, we would have no trouble recognizing today loaves of white bread, beef slathered in brown gravy, carrots and turnips sprinkled with salt and pepper. The Frank's love of bacon was renowned too, as were their sweet tooths, so much so that the kings themselves owned many of the sugar refineries of the era,

the bee hives. The honey was used to sweeten the cakes baked for special occasions. As rushed as Fredgon's and Chilprick's wedding was, cake was supposedly still served there and in some ways grounded. Details like that can add just as much insight into the lived experience of the day

as devious betrayals and momentous battles. It's humanizing to imagine all those wedding guests clustering around the dessert table as they struggled to cope with the awkwardness stemming from the fact that the previous queen had been murdered seventy two hours prior. What better way to avoid saying the wrong

thing and by nervously gobbling honeycake. All in all, these folks might as well have tried to enjoy every sweet respite they could get, because in Francia, the land of dueling Queens, there were plenty more murders, backstabbings, and even hasty, awkward weddings on the horizon. See You Again Part two next week. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and

Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannaswick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit and Julia Milaney. The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producerrima Ill Kali and executive producers Aaron Mankey, Trevor Young, and Matt Frett. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.