Magic and Discredit in the Merovingian Court: The Case of Fredegunda
- Juan Antonio Jiménez Sánchez Universidad de Barcelona.
- Elisabet Seijo Ibáñez Universidad de Barcelona
Abstract
Our present research focuses on the use of the accusation of practising magic to defame Queen Fredegunda of Neustria (547-597), one of the most charismatic personalities of Merovingian’s history. That accusation was an effective way to relegate someone to the realm of alterity and marginality. Fredegunda was accused of resorting to magical remedies in order to keep herself in power and dispose of her political opponents, whereas in other occasions, paradoxically, she is presented as an active and bloody pursuer of witchcraft. The author of almost all the news related to this issue is Gregory of Tours, who in his Historiae never missed an opportunity to charge against her.
Downloads
References
Bailey, M. D. (2003): Historical Dictionary of Witchcraft (=Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements 47), Lanham–Oxford.
Bailey, M. D. (2007): Magic and Superstition in Europe. A Concise History from Antiquity to the Present, Lanham.
Bailliot, M. (2019): “Rome and the Roman Empire”, [en] Frankfurter (ed.), 2019, 175-197 (https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004390751_010).
Barb, A. A. (1963): “The survival of magic arts”, [en] A. Momigliano (ed.), The Conflict between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century, Oxford, 100-125.
Bonnet, M. (1890): Le latin de Grégoire de Tours, Paris.
Brown, E. A. R. (1973): “Taxation and Morality in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: Conscience and Political Power and the Kings of Frances”, French Historical Studies 8/1, 1-28 (https://doi.org/10.2307/285956).
Brown, P. (1970): “Sorcery, Demons, and the Rise of Christianity from Late Antiquity into the Middle Ages”, [en] M. Douglas (ed.), Witchcraft Confessions and Accusations, London, 17-45.
Campetella, M. (2006): “Superstition et magie chez Césaire d’Arles (470-542)”, [en] C. Arias (ed.), Latin vulgaire – Latin tardif VII. Actes du VIIème Colloque international sur le latin vulgaire et tardif. Séville, 2-6 septembre 2003 (=Universidad de Sevilla. Actas 54), Sevilla, 179-188.
Caro Baroja, J. (1993): Las brujas y su mundo, Madrid (1ª ed. 1961).
Chadwick, H. (1978): Prisciliano de Ávila. Ocultismo y poderes carismáticos en la Iglesia primitiva, Madrid (trad. J. L. López Muñoz: Priscillian of Avila, Oxford, 1976).
Cirlot, V. (2005): Figuras del destino: mitos y símbolos de la Europa medieval, Madrid.
Coates, S. (2000): “Venantius Fortunatus and the Image of Episcopal Authority in Late Antique and Early Merovingian Gaul”, The English Historical Review 115/464, 1109-1137 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ehr/115.464.1109).
Colette, B. (2001): “La mauvaise reine des origines. Frédegonde aux XIVe et XVe siècles”, MEFR. Italie et Méditerranée 113/1, 29-44 (https://doi.org/10.3406/mefr.2001.9622).
Collins, R. (2007): Die Fredegar-Chroniken, Hannover.
Craft, B. T. (2013): Queenship, intrigue and blood-fleud: deciphering the causes of the Merovingian civil wars, 561-613, Master’s Theses, Louisiana State University.
Curta, F. (2006): “Merovingian and Carolingian Gift Giving”, Speculum 81/3, 671-699 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0038713400015670).
Dailey, E. (2015): Queens, Consorts, Concubines. Gregory of Tours and Women of the Merovingian Elite (=Mnemosyne, Suppl., Late Antique Literature 381), Leiden–Boston (https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004294660).
Díaz, P. C. – Torres, J. M. (2000): “Pervivencias paganas en el cristianismo hispano (siglos IV-VII)”, [en] J. Santos – R. Teja – E. Torregaray (ed.), El cristianismo. Aspectos históricos de su origen y difusión en Hispania (=Anejos de Veleia. Acta 4. Revisiones de Historia Antigua 3), Vitoria-Gasteiz, 235-261.
Eidinow, E. (2019): “Magic and Social Tension”, [en] Frankfurter (ed.), 2019, 746-774 (https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004390751_029).
Escribano, Mª V. (1994): “Haeretici iure damnati: el proceso de Tréveris contra los priscilianistas (385)”, [en] Cristianesimo e specificità regionali nel Meditarraneo latino, secoli IV-VI (=Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum 46), Roma, 393-416.
Escribano, Mª V. (2002a): “La disputa priscilianista: de conuersatio ascética a maleficium”, [en] D. Vera – R. Teja (eds.), Hispania en la Antigüedad Tardía, Bari, 205-231.
Escribano, Mª V. (2002b): “Magia, maniqueísmo y cristianismo: el Concilio I de Caesaraugusta (ca. 379)”, [en] I Concili della Cristianità occidentale. Secoli III-V (=Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum 78), Roma, 89-116.
Escribano, Mª V. (2008): “La construction de l’image de l’hérétique dans le Code Théodosien XVI”, [en] J. N. Guinot – F. Richard (eds.), Empire chrétien et Église aux IVe et Ve siècles. Integration ou concordat? Le témoignage du Code Théodosien, Lyon, 389-412.
Escribano, Mª V. (2010): “Heretical Texts and maleficium in the Codex Theodosianus (CTh. 16.5.34)”, [en] Gordon –Marco Simón (eds.), 2010, 105-138 (https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004179042.i-676.26).
Esders, S. (2015): “Gallic Politics in the Sixth Century”, [en] Murray (ed.), 2015, 429-461 (https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004307001_014).
Dumézil, B. (2008): La reine Brunehaut, Paris.
Du Cange, C. F. (1885): “Herburgius”, [en] Glossarium Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis vol. IV, Niort, 191.
Fernández, G. (1998): “La magia en el siglo IV de la era cristiana y su reflejo en las Rerum gestarum de Ammiano Marcelino”, [en] A. González Blanco – G. Matilla Séiquer (eds.), Romanización y cristianismo en la Siria mesopotámica (=Antigüedad y Cristianismo 15), Murcia, 607-609.
Flint, V. I. J. (1991): The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe, Oxford.
Frankfurter, D. (ed.), (2019): Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic (=Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 189), Leiden–Boston (https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004390751).
Fustel de Coulanges, N. D. (1888): Histoire des institutions politiques de l’ancienne France, III: La monarchie franche, Paris.
Gerberding, R. A. (1987): The Rise of the Carolingians and the Liber historiae Francorum, Oxford.
Goffart, W. (1963): “The Fredegar Problem Reconsidered”, Speculum 38/2, 206-241 (https://doi.org/10.2307/2852450).
Goffart, W. (1988): The Narrators of Barbarian History (A.D. 550-800): Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Bede, and Paul the Deacon), Princeton.
Gómez Villegas, N. (2001): “La represión de la magia en el imperio romano”, Codex Aquilarensis 17, 163-174.
Gordon, R. L. –Marco Simón, F. (eds.), (2010): Magical Practice in the Latin West (=Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 168), Leiden–Boston (https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004179042.i-676)
Graf, F. (2002): “Theories of Magic in Antiquity”, [en] P. Mirecki – M. Meyer (eds.), Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World (=Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 141), Leiden–Boston, 92-104 (https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047400400_007).
Grimal, P. (20072): “Estriges”, Diccionario de mitología griega y romana, Barcelona, 179 (trad. Fr. Payarols, Dictionnaire de la mythologie grecque et romaine, Paris, 19796).
Halfond, G. I. (2012): “Sis Quoque Catholicis Religionis Apex: The Ecclesiastical Patronage of Chilperic I and Fredegund”, Church History 81/1, 48-76 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0009640711001776).
Halsall, G. (2007): “The Preface to Book V of Gregory of Tours’ Histories: Its Form, Context, and Significance”, The English Historical Review 122/496, 297-317 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cem001).
Heinzelmann, M. (2001): Gregory of Tours. History and Society in the Sixth Century, Cambridge (trad. Chr. Carroll: Gregor von Tours [538-594], ‘Zehn Bücher Geschichte’. Historiographie und Gesellschaftskonzept im 6. Jahrhundert, Darmstadt, 1994).
Hen, Y. (1995): Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul, A.D. 481-751 (=Cultures, Beliefs and Traditions: Medieval and Early Modern Peoples 1), Leiden–New York–Köln.
Hen, Y. (2002): “Paganism and Superstitions in the Time of Gregory of Tours: une question mal posée!”, [en] K. Mitchell – I. Wood, The World of Gregory of Tours (=Cultures, Beliefs and Traditions: Medieval and Early Modern Peoples 8), Leiden–Boston–Köln, 229-240.
Hen, Y. (2015): “The Early Medieval West”, [en] D. J. Collins (ed.), The Cambridge History of Magic and Witchcraft in the West: From Antiquity to the Present, Cambridge, 183-206 (https://doi.org/10.1017/CHO9781139043021.009).
Herrera, P. (2013): Gregorio de Tours. Historias, Cáceres.
Jaillette, P. (2014): “Une constitution de Constantin sur les pratiques magiques dans les campagnes (code théodosien IX, 16, 3)”, [en] M. Gaillard (ed.), L’empreinte chrétienne en Gaule du IVe au IXe siècle, Turnhout, 21-44.
Janowitz, N. (2001): Magic in the Roman World: Pagans, Jews and Christians, London–New York.
Jiménez, J. A. (1998): “Ídolos de la Antigüedad Tardía: algunos aspectos sobre los aurigas en Occidente (siglos IV-VI)”, Ludica 4, 20-33.
Jiménez, J. A. (2005): “La legislación civil y eclesiástica concerniente a las supersticiones y a las pervivencias idolátricas en la Hispania de los siglos VI-VII”, Hispania sacra 57/115, 47-78 (https://doi.org/10.3989/hs.2005.v57.i115.117).
Jiménez, J. A. (2017): “Cesáreo de Arlés. Un obispo reformista en la Galia del siglo VI”, [en] Ventura et alii (eds.), 2017, 445-458.
Jiménez, J. – Maymó, P. (2017): “La magia en la Galia merovingia”, Espacio Tiempo y Forma, serie II: Historia Antigua 30, 183-203 (https://doi.org/10.5944/etfii.30.2017.19321).
Jones, A. (2009): Social Mobility in Late Antique Gaul. Strategies and Opportunities for the Non-Elite, Cambridge (https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511596735).
Kieckhefer, R. (20142): Magic in the Middle Ages, Cambridge (https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139923484).
Kreiner, J. (2011): “About the Bishop: The Episcopal Entourage and the Economy of Government in Post-Roman Gaul”, Speculum 86/2, 321-360 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0038713410004677).
Krusch, B. (1888a): “Chronicarum quae dicuntur Fredegarii Scholastici libri IV. cum Continuationibus”, MGH srm, 2, Hannover, 1-193.
Krusch, B. (1888b): “Liber historiae Francorum”, MGH srm, 2, Hannover, 215-328.
Lebecq, St. (2015): La Geste des rois des Francs (=Les Belles Lettres. Classiques de l’histoire au Moyen Âge 54), Paris.
Lévi, El. (1860): Histoire de la magie avec une exposition claire et précise de ses procédés, de ses rites et de ses mystères, Paris.
Lot, F. (1914): “Encore la chronique du Pseudo-Frédégaire”, RH 115/2, 305-337.
Luck, G. (20062): Arcana mundi. Magic and the Occult in the Greek of Roman Worlds: A Collection of Ancient Texts, Baltimore.
Martin, C. (2015): “De sacrilegiis extirpandis. Interpretar la legislación contra el paganismo en la Hispania de los siglos VI-VII”, [en] J. Fernández Ubiña – A. J. Quiroga Puertas – P. Ubric Rabaneda (coords.), La Iglesia como sistema de dominación en la Antigüedad Tardía, Granada, 273-292.
Martin, C. (2017): “Gregorio de Tours. Pastor y político”, [en] Ventura et alii (eds.), 2017, 491-502.
Maurice, J. (1926): “La terreur de la magie au IVe siècle”, CRAI 70/3, 182-188 (https://doi.org/10.3406/crai.1926.75294).
McNamara, J. A. – Wemple, S. (1973): “The Power of Women through the Family in Medieval Europe: 500-1100”, Feminist Studies 1/3-4, 126-141.
McRobbie, J. (2012): Gender and Violence in Gregory of Tour’s Decem Libri Historiarum, PhD Thesis, University of St Andrews.
Mico, N. De (2012): “La lucida follia di Fredegunde, regina specchio del suo tempo (dalle Historiae di Gregorio di Tours)”, RCCM 54, 133-162.
Murray, A. C. (2015): “The Composition of the Histories of Gregory of Tours and Its Bearing on the Political Narrative”, [en] Murray (ed.), 2015, 63-101 (https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004307001_005).
Murray, A. C. (ed.), (2015): A Companion to Gregory of Tours, Leiden–Boston (https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004307001).
Ogden, D. (2002): Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds. A Sourcebook, Oxford.
Page, S. (2017): “Medieval Magic”, [en] O. Davies (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Witchcraft and Magic, Oxford, 29-64.
Pavis D’Escurac, H. (1987): “Magie et cirque dans la Rome antique”, ByzF 12, 449-467.
Pégolo, L. (2018) : “Venancio Fortunato y sus relaciones con los obispos de la Galia en el contexto del siglo VI”, Anales de Historia Antigua, Medieval y Moderna 52, 13-22 ( https://doi.org/10.34096/ahamm.v52.6419).
Peters, E. (2002): “The Medieval Church and State on Superstition, Magic and Witchcraft: From Augustine to the Sixth Century”, [en] K. Jolly – C. Raudvere – E. Peters, Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, 3: The Middle Ages, London, 173-245.
Pietri, L. (1983): La ville de Tours du IVe au VIe siècle: naissance d’une cité chrétienne, Tours.
Reydellet, M. (2002) : Venance Fortunat. Poèmes. Livres I-IV, Paris.
Riché, P. (1973): “La magie à l’époque carolingienne”, CRAI 117/1, 127-138 (https://doi.org/10.3406/crai.1973.12853).
Rivera Recio, J. F. (1983): “Las hijas del rey visigodo Atanagildo y las tragedias de la familia merovingia reinante”, [en] Estudios en Homenaje a Don Claudio Sánchez Albornoz en sus 90 años. Anexos de Cuadernos de Historia de España, Buenos Aires, vol. I, 317-328.
Rives, J. B. (2010): Magus and its Cognates in Classical Latin”, [en] Gordon – Marco Simón (eds.), 2010, 53-77 (https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004179042.i-676.15).
Roberts, M. (2015): “Venantius Fortunatus and Gregory of Tours: Poetry and Patronage”, [en] Murray (ed.), 2015, 35-59 (https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004307001_004).
Rodríguez Martín, J.-D. (2010): “El término maleficus en Derecho romano postclásico”, [en] S. Torallas Tovar – J. A. Álvarez Pedrosa (coords.), Edición de textos mágicos de la Antigüedad y de la Edad Media, Madrid, 145-171.
Russell, J. B. (1972): Witchcraft in the Middle Ages, Ithaca–London.
Russell, J. C. (1994): The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity. A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation, New York–Oxford.
Salles, C. (1983): Los bajos fondos de la Antigüedad, Barcelona (trad. C. Ayra: Les Bas-Fonds de l’Antiquité, Paris, 1982).
Sánchez, C. (2017): “Magia et circenses (o por qué el auriga tiene miedo)”, [en] J. López (ed.), La glòria del circ: curses de carros i competicions circenses. In memoriam Xavier Dupré i Raventós, Tarragona, 49-54.
Santos Yanguas, N. (1979): “Presagios, adivinación y magia en Amiano Marcelino”, Helmantica 30, 5-49.
Sanz, R. (1989): “Adivinación y sociedad en la Hispania tardorromana y visigoda”, [en] Estudios sobre la Antigüedad en homenaje al profesor Santiago Montero Díaz (=Gerión, Anejos 2), Madrid, 365-389.
Seijo, E. (2018): “Benevolencia imperial: el agradecimiento de Juliano a la emperatriz Eusebia”, [en] G. Bravo – S. Perea – F. Fernández (eds.), Mujer y poder en la Antigua Roma. Actas del XV Coloquio de la AIER (=Signifer. Monografías y Estudios de antigüedad griega y romana 54), Madrid, 247-258.
Spaeth, B. S. (2014): “From Goddess to Hag: the Greek and the Roman Witch”, [en] Stratton – Kalleres (eds.), 2014, 41-70.
Stewart, P. J. – Strathern, A. (2004): Witchcraft, Sorcery, Rumors and Gossip, Cambridge (https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511616310).
Stratton, K. B. (2007): Naming the Witch: Magic, Ideology, and Stereotype in the Ancient World, New York (https://doi.org/10.7312/stra13836).
Stratton, K. B. (2014): “Interrogating the Magic-Gender Connection”, [en] [en] Stratton – Kalleres (eds.), 2014, 1-37.
Stratton, K. – Kalleres, D. (eds.), (2014): Daughters of Hecate. Women and Magic in the Ancient World, Oxford (https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195342703.001.0001).
Tupet, A.-M. (1986): “Rites magiques dans l’Antiquité romaine”, ANRW II.16.3, 2591-2675.
Velázquez, I. (2010): “Between Orthodox Belief and ‘Superstition’ in Visigothic Hispania”, [en] Gordon – Marco Simón (eds.), 2010, 601-627 (https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004179042.i-676.117).
Ventura, F. S. – Castillo Maldonado, P. – Ubric Rabaneda, P. – Quiroga Puertas, A. J. (eds.), (2017): Autoridad y autoridades de la Iglesia antigua. Homenaje al profesor José Fernández Ubiña, Granada.
Vilella, J. (1997): “Un obispo-pastor de época teodosiana: Prisciliano”, [en] Vescovi e pastori in epoca teodosiana (=Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum 58/2), Roma, 503-530.
Villegas, R. (2004): “Unanimitatem diligite: la persecución del maniqueísmo durante el pontificado de León I (440-461)”, Polis 16, 213-243.
Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. (1958): “Fredegar and the History of France”, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 40, 527-550 (http://dx.doi.org/10.7227/BJRL.40.2.10).
Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. (1960): The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar: With its Continuations, London.
Wilburn, A. (2015): Materia magica. The Archaeology of Magic in Roman Egypt, Cyprus and Spain, Ann Arbor (https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.233550).
Wood, I. A. (1993): “The Secret Histories of Gregory of Tours”, Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire 71/2, 253-270 (http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/rbph.1993.3879).
Wood, I. A. (1994): The Merovingian Kingdoms: 450-751, London–New York (https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315836539).
Article download
Crossmark
License
In order to support the global exchange of knowledge, the journal Gerión. Revista de Historia Antigua is allowing unrestricted access to its content as from its publication in this electronic edition, and as such it is an open-access journal. The originals published in this journal are the property of the Complutense University of Madrid and any reproduction thereof in full or in part must cite the source. All content is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 use and distribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This circumstance must be expressly stated in these terms where necessary. You can view the summary and the complete legal text of the licence.
