Bertrada of Laon
{{Short description|Queen consort of the Franks (died 783)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{infobox royalty
| name = Bertrada of Laon
| image = Bertrada of Laon Jardin du Luxembourg.jpg
| caption = Statue of Bertrada by Eugène Oudiné, one of the twenty Reines de France et Femmes illustres in the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris
| succession = Queen consort of the Franks
| reign = November 751 – 24 September 768
| house =
| father = Charibert of Laon
| spouse = Pepin the Short
| issue = {{Plainlist|
}}
| birth_date = between 710 and 727
| death_date = {{death date|783|7|12|df=y}}
| death_place = Choisy-au-Bac, Francia
| burial_place = Saint Denis Basilica
| religion = Roman Catholicism
}}
Bertrada of Laon (born between 710 and 727 – 12 July 783), also known as Bertrada the Younger or Bertha Broadfoot ({{cf.}}{{langx|la|Regina pede aucae}}, i.e. the queen with the goose-foot), was a Frankish queen. She was the wife of Pepin the Short and the mother of Charlemagne, Carloman and Gisela, plus five other children.
Nickname
Bertrada's nickname "Bertha Broadfoot" dates back to the 13th century, when it was used in Adenes Le Roi's trouvère Li rouman de Berte aus grands piés.{{sfn|Scheler|Le Roi|1874}} The exact reason that Bertrada was given this nickname is unclear. It is possible Bertha suffered from bunions, her feet became misshapen and spread because of them. It is also possible but unlikely that Bertrada was born with a clubfoot,{{sfn|Pelletier|2014|p=52}} although Adenes does not mention this in his poem.{{sfn|Scheler|Le Roi|1874}}
Biography
=Early life and ancestry=
Bertrada was born sometime between 710 and 727 in Laon, in today's Aisne, France, to Count Charibert of Laon.{{sfn|Settipani|1989}} Charibert's father might have been related to Hugobertides.{{sfn|Keats-Rohan|Settipani|2000|p=18}}{{sfn|Pinoteau|de Vaulchier|2004|p=43}} Charibert's mother was Bertrada of Prüm, who founded Prüm Abbey along with Charibert.
=Marriage and children=
Bertrada married Pepin the Short, the son of Charles Martel, the Frankish "Mayor of the Palace", in around 740 or 741. However, Pepin and Bertrada were too closely related for their marriage to be legal at that time; the union was not canonically sanctioned until 749, after the birth of Charlemagne.{{sfn|Kurze|1895|p=8}}
According to French historian Léon Levillain, Bertrada was Pepin's first and only wife.{{sfn|Tessier|1952}}{{sfn|Settipani|van Kerrebrouck|1993|pp=180–187}}{{sfn|Levillain|1944|p=55}} Other sources suggest that Pepin had previously married a "Leutberga" or "Leutbergie", with whom Pepin would have had five children.{{sfn|Ducret|2007}}
Bertrada and Pepin are known to have had eight children: at least three sons and at least four daughters. Of these, Charlemagne (c. 742 – 814),{{sfn|Settipani|van Kerrebrouck|1993|p=188}} Carloman (751–771){{sfn|Settipani|van Kerrebrouck|1993|p=185}} and Gisela (757–811) survived to adulthood. Pepin, born in 756, died young in 762. Bertrada and Pepin also had Berthe, Adelaide, and Rothaide. Gisela became a nun at Chelles Abbey.{{sfn|Settipani|van Kerrebrouck|1993|pp=185–187}}
=Queen of the Franks=
File:Bertrada Broadfoot of Laon Berthe au Grand Pied Versailles.jpg
In 751, Pepin and Bertrada became King and Queen of the Franks, following Pepin's successful coup against the Frankish Merovingian monarchs.{{sfn|Mémoires couronnés et autres mémoires publiés par l'Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique|1861|p=97}} Pepin was crowned in June 754, and Bertrada, Charlemagne, and Carloman were blessed by Pope Stephen II.{{sfn|Settipani|van Kerrebrouck|1993|p=184}}{{sfn|Bernard|2004|p=91}}
After Pepin's death in 768, Bertrada lost her title as Queen of the Franks. Charlemagne and Carloman inherited the two halves of Pepin's kingdom. Bertrada stayed at the court and often tried to stop arguments between the two brothers.{{sfn|Settipani|van Kerrebrouck|1993|p=185}} Some historians credit Bertrada's support for her elder son Charlemagne over her younger son Carloman, and her diplomatic skills, for Charlemagne's early success.{{sfn|Lewis|2008}} Although her influence over Charlemagne may have diminished in time, she lived at his court, and, according to Einhard, their relationship was excellent. Bertrada recommended that Charlemagne set aside his legal wife, Himiltrude, and marry Desiderata, a daughter of the Lombard king Desiderius, but Charlemagne soon divorced Desiderata. Einhard claims this was the only episode that ever strained relations between mother and son.{{sfn|Settipani|van Kerrebrouck|1993|p=185}}
=Later life and death=
Bertrada retired from the court after Carloman's death in 771 to live in Choisy-au-Bac, where Charlemagne had set aside a royal house for her. Choisy-au-Bac was favorable because of its history of being the home and burial place of several Merovingian kings.{{sfn|Settipani|van Kerrebrouck|1993|p=185}}
Bertrada died on 12 July 783 in Choisy-au-Bac.{{sfn|Settipani|van Kerrebrouck|1993|p=185}} Charlemagne buried her in the Basilica of St Denis near Pepin.{{sfn|Les gisants de la basilique de Saint-Denis|2014}}
In literature
Bertrada inspired Adenes Le Roi to write the poem Li rouman de Berte aus grands piés in 1270. Adenes referred to her as "Bertha Broadfoot", the earliest known usage of that nickname.{{sfn|Scheler|Le Roi|1874}}
Bertrada is also referred to as "Bertha Broadfoot" ({{lang|fr|Berthe au grand pied}}) in François Villon's 15th-century poem Ballade des dames du temps jadis.{{sfn|Villon|c. 1460}}
Bertrada was adapted into the character Berthe in Stephen Schwartz's stage musical Pippin.
Notes
{{reflist|30em}}
References
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite map |title=Les gisants de la basilique de Saint-Denis |trans-title=The Recumbent Statues of the Saint Denis Basilica |year=2014 |url=http://www.tourisme93.com/basilique/plan-tombeaux-basilique.html |scale= 1 : 10 m |location=Saint-Denis, France |language=fr |ref={{sfnref|Les gisants de la basilique de Saint-Denis|2014}} |access-date=29 April 2014}}
- {{cite book |ref={{sfnref|Mémoires couronnés et autres mémoires publiés par l'Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique|1861}} |year=1861 |title=Mémoires couronnés et autres mémoires publiés par l'Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique |trans-title=Crown Memoirs and Other Memoirs Published by the Royal Academy for the Sciences and the Arts of Belgium |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y9szAAAAMAAJ&q=Berthe+accompagne+P%C3%A9pin&pg=RA4-PA88 |location=Belgium |publisher=Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium |volume=11 |oclc=1770765 |language=fr}}
- {{cite journal |ref={{sfnref|Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes|1943}} |year=1943 |title=Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes |journal=Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes |trans-title=Library of the School of Charters |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pDANAAAAIAAJ&q=r%C3%A9pudier |location=Paris, France |publisher=Librairie Droz |language=fr |volume=104 |issn=0373-6237 |oclc=1532871}}
- {{cite book |last=Bernard |first=Guillaume |year=2004 |title=Introduction à l'histoire du droit et des institutions |trans-title=Introduction to the History of Law and Institutions |series=Panorama du droit. Premier cycle. |location=Levallois-Perret |publisher=Studyrama |isbn=2844724426 |oclc=419527703 |language=fr}}
- {{cite book |last=Ducret |first=Alix |year=2007 |title=Les femmes et le pouvoir dans l'histoire de France |trans-title=Women and Power in French History |publisher=Studyrama |location=Levallois-Perret |series=Perspectives |language=fr |isbn=978-2759001118 |oclc=421956409}}
- {{cite book |last1=Ginzburg |first1=Carl |last2=Aymard |first2=Monique |year=1989 |title=Mythes, emblèmes, traces ; morphologie et histoire |trans-title=Myths, Symbols, Tracks; Morphology and History |location=Paris, France |publisher=Flammarion |language=fr |isbn=2082111849 |oclc=19925431}}
- {{cite web |last=Grimm |first=Jacob |author-link=Jacob Grimm |others=Transcribed by Aaron Myer |url=http://www.northvegr.org/secondary%20sources/mythology/grimms%20teutonic%20mythology/index.html |title=Deutsche Mythologie |trans-title=German Mythology |year=1835 |at=ch. 13 |language=de |website=New Northvegr Center |publisher=Northvegr |access-date=30 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131126034541/http://northvegr.org/secondary%20sources/mythology/grimms%20teutonic%20mythology/index.html |archive-date=26 November 2013 |url-status=dead }}
- {{cite book |last1=Keats-Rohan |first1=Katharine Stephanie Benedicta |author-link1=Katharine Keats-Rohan |last2=Settipani |first2=Christian |author-link2=Christian Settipani |year=2000 |work=Prosopographica et Genealogica |title=Onomastique et Parenté dans l'Occident médiéval |trans-title=Onomastic and Kinship in the Medieval West|location=Oxford, UK |publisher=Linacre College |isbn=1900934019 |oclc=492431344 |language=fr}}
- {{cite book |last=Kurze |first=Friedrich |year=1895 |title=Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi 6: Annales regni Francorum inde ab a. 741 usque ad a. 829, qui dicuntur Annales Laurissenses maiores et Einhardi |trans-title=Published separately for the use of the schools of the German writers on 6: Annals of the kingdom of the Franks, from 741 to 829 and the authority had departed; major Laurissenses years and Einhard |url=http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb00000759_00028.html?sortIndex=010:070:0006:010:00:00&zoom=0.75 |location=Hannover |publisher=Hannoverian Library |language=la |access-date=30 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312022615/http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb00000759_00028.html?sortIndex=010:070:0006:010:00:00&zoom=0.75 |archive-date=12 March 2018 |url-status=dead }}
- {{cite journal |last=Levillain |first=Léon |year=1944 |title=La charte de Clotilde (10 mars 673) |trans-title= Clotilda's Charter (10 March 673)|journal=Études mérovingiennes |publisher=Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes |volume=105 |issue=105 |pages=5–63 |doi=10.3406/bec.1944.449321 |language=fr }}
- {{cite book |last=Lewis |first=David Levering |author-link=David Levering Lewis |year=2008 |title=God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570 to 1215 |location=New York |publisher=W.W. Norton |isbn=9780393064728 |oclc=172521784 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/godscrucibleisla00lewi }}
- {{cite book |last=Pelletier |first=Michel |year=2014 |title=Quelques femmes remarquables dans l'histoire du département de l'Aisne |trans-title=Some Remarkable Women in the History of the Department of Aisne |url=http://www.histoireaisne.fr/memoires_numerises/chapitres/tome_32/Tome_032_page_052.pdf |language=fr |pages=52–64}}
- {{cite book |last1=Pinoteau |first1=Hervé |last2=de Vaulchier |first2=Jean |year=2004 |title=La symbolique royale française, Ve – XVIIIe siècles |trans-title=Symbolic French Royals, 5th – 18th Centuries |location=La Roche-Rigault, France |publisher=PSR |isbn=2908571366 |oclc=55051298 |language=fr}}
- {{cite book |last1=Scheler |first1=Auguste |last2=Le Roi |first2=Adenet |author-link2=Adenet Le Roi |year=1874 |title=Li roumans de Berte aus grans piés par Adenés li Rois; poëme publié, d'après le manuscrit de la bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, avec notes et variantes |trans-title=The Romance of Bertrada Broadfoot by Adenes le Roi; Poem Published at the End of the Arsenal Library Manuscript, with Notes and Variations |language=fr |location=Brussels, Belgium |publisher=Académie royale de Belgique |oclc=465546842}}
- {{cite book |last=Settipani |first=Christian |author-link=Christian Settipani |year=1989 |title=Les Ancêtres de Charlemagne |trans-title=Charlemagne's Ancestors |location=Paris, France |language=fr |isbn=2-906483-28-1 |oclc=28323789}}
- {{cite book |last1=Settipani |first1=Christian |author-link1=Christian Settipani |last2=van Kerrebrouck |first2=Patrick |year=1993 |title=La préhistoire des Capétiens (481–987)|trans-title=The Prehistory of the Capetians (481–987) |chapter=Première partie : Mérovingiens, Carolingiens et Robertiens |trans-chapter=First part: Merovingians, Carolingians, and Robertians |work=Nouvelle histoire généalogique de l'auguste maison de France |volume=1 |language=fr |isbn=2-9501509-3-4 |oclc=29856008}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Tessier |first1=Georges |year=1952 |url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bec_0373-6237_1952_num_110_1_460267 |title=Léon Levillain |department=Chronique: Nécrologie |journal=Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes |volume=110 |pages=306–313 |language=fr}}
- {{cite book |last=Villon |first=François |author-link=François Villon |year=c. 1460 |title=Ballade des dames du temps jadis |location=France |language=fr}}
{{refend}}
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{Commons category|Bertrada of Laon}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before=Clotilda}}
{{s-ttl|title=Queen of the Franks|years=751–768}}
{{s-aft|after=Desiderata and Gerberga}}
{{s-end}}
{{French consorts}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertrada of Laon}}
Category:Year of birth uncertain
Category:8th-century Frankish women
Category:8th-century Frankish people
Category:Frankish queens consort
Category:Queens consort of Burgundy
Category:Burials at the Basilica of Saint-Denis