Fritigil

Fritigil ruled during a turbulent period in late antiquity, following the Roman defeat at the Battle of Adrianople in 378 AD, which weakened the empire’s eastern defenses and intensified migrations of Goths, Alans, and Huns along the Danube frontier.Heather, P. (2005). The fall of the Roman Empire: A new history of Rome and the barbarians. Oxford University Press. (p. 181) The Marcomanni, historically centered in Bohemia, had by this time settled in Pannonia, likely including the Vienna Basin and adjacent areas.Wolfram, H. (1997). The Roman Empire and its Germanic peoples. University of California Press. (p. 91) This region was a crossroads of Roman, Germanic, and nomadic interactions, with Christianity spreading through missionary activity.Lenski, N. (2002). Failure of empire: Valens and the Roman state in the fourth century A.D.. University of California Press. (p. 108)

Initially an Arian Christian, a form of Christianity common among Germanic tribes due to earlier missionaries like Ulfilas.(Heather, 2005, p. 129) According to the 5th-century account by Paulinus of Milan in his Life of Ambrose, Fritigil learned about Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, through travelers from Italy who described his reputation for holiness.Kleyb, J. C. (Ed.), Conrad, J. G., Friedel, J. J., Hübner, & Winter, I. C. (1751). Scriptores rerum Brandenburgensium: Quibus historia marchiae Brandenburgensis eiusque variae mutationes et transitus rerum ab origine gentis ad nostra usque tempora recensentur et illustrantur (Vols. 1–2, p. 123). Francofurti ad Viadrum: Imp. Io. Christiani Kleybii. She sent gifts to the church in Milan and requested from the bishop a statement of faith to guide her. Ambrose responded with a catechetical letter (Epistula 76), explaining the requested articles of faith and urging the queen to persuade her husband to make peace with the Romans.McLynn, N. B. (1994). Ambrose of Milan: Church and court in a Christian capital. University of California Press. (p. 292)Ambrose. (2005). Letters (J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz, Trans.). Liverpool University Press. (pp. 149–150)

Ambrose fulfilled Fritigil’s request for instruction but died on April 4, 397, on Holy Saturday, before any potential visit by Fritigil to Milan could occur.(McLynn, 1994, p. 370) Fritigil worked to convert her husband to Christianity,Jones, A. H. M., Martindale, J. R., & Morris, J. (1971). The prosopography of the later Roman Empire: Vol. 1. A.D. 260–395 (p. 374). Cambridge University Press. and eventually convinced her husband or tribal leadership to submit to Rome, leading to a treaty that placed the tribe under the oversight of a Roman tribune, as recorded in the Notitia Dignitatum, a late Roman administrative document.(Notitia Dignitatum, trans. Rolfe, 1929, p. 337; Wolfram, 1997, p. 94) This agreement, likely negotiated in the 390s, is considered the last documented treaty between Rome and the Marcomanni, after which the tribe fades from historical records.(Notitia Dignitatum, trans. Rolfe, 1929, p. 337; Wolfram, 1997, p. 94)Tejral, J., & Kehne, P. (2001). [Entry title]. In Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde (Vol. 32, p. 299). Walter de Gruyter.

File:Žarošice, mural in pilgrimage areal 05.jpg

Pope John Paul II explicitly referred to Queen Fritigil in his apostolic letter Operosam Diem, written on December 1, 1996, to mark the 1600th anniversary of the death of St. Ambrose of Milan.{{Cite web |title=Operosam Diem (1er décembre 1996) {{!}} Jean Paul II |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/fr/apost_letters/1996/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_01121996_operosam-diem.html |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=www.vatican.va}}

The Bishop of Milan followed these norms in his catechesis, which captivated listeners with a truly remarkable force. Many experienced this. The distant queen of the Marcomanni, Fritigil, drawn by his reputation, wrote to him to be informed about the Catholic religion and in return received "a letter ... outstanding in the manner of a catechism."

The pilgrimage site located in Sanctuary of the Old Mother of God in Žarošice, is a historic Marian shrine in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic, commemorated the site’s spiritual and cultural legacy. Organized by Božena and Stanislav Synek, the event centered on veneration of a revered medieval statue of the Virgin Mary and reflected the region’s deep-rooted Catholic traditions.SYNKOVÁ, B., & SYNEK, S. (n.d.). Pouť ke Staré Matce Boží žarošické 6. března 1999 [Pilgrimage to the Old Mother of God in Žarošice on March 6, 1999]. Farnost Katolík. Retrieved February 5, 2020, from http://farnost.katolik.cz/krpole/poute/archiv/19990306.pdf

According to tradition, she founded a chapel in Žarošice, where she was later buried. This narrative is immortalized in sgraffiti murals adorning the church complex. By the 14th century, the site evolved into a significant religious center. In 1322, Queen Eliška Rejčka of Bohemia acquired Žarošice for a Cistercian convent in Old Brno.

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• [http://www.aeiou.at/aeiou.encyclop.f/f856345.htm;internal&action=_setlanguage.action?LANGUAGE=en Fritigil, markomannische Königin.]
• John Paul II. [http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/la/apost_letters/1996/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_01121996_operosam-diem.html Operosam Diem]. 1996.
• Notitia Dignitatum: [http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost05/Notitia/not_intr.html] Latin text with pictures, from Bibliotheca Augustana.

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Category:4th-century Germanic people

Category:Early Germanic women

Category:Marcomannic monarchs

Category:4th-century queens regnant

Category:4th-century monarchs in Europe