User:Dbenford/Status of Women in the Merovingian Period

The status of women in the Merovingian period concerns a period from the 5th century to 751, the date of the coronation of Pepin the Short. Although Merovingian society is patriarchal, free women nevertheless have a certain number of rights; several female personalities, such as Queen Brunehilde (or Brunehaut), symbolized the politics of their time.

Continuity with the Roman Empire
The Merovingians rule over a people mostly made up of individuals whom the legislative texts designate as Romans. Like other "barbarian" kings, the Merovingian rulers were careful to retain the old imperial legislation and ordered that each individual be judged according to their ethnic identity. This is the principle of personality of laws.

Therefore, the majority of free women (a special right applies to enslaved people) retain a status defined by Roman law, the status of an "eternal minor". In relation to typically Merovingian documents, they testify rather to an "increase in the rights of girls” (Sylvie Joye) . Nevertheless, just like Roman women, Frankish women remained subordinate to the will of the men around them, who held the right and duty of the mund.

In the same way, Roman and Frankish laws agree on the constraints linked to marriage (age limits, prohibition of consanguineous marriage, etc.); girls can be married at the age of 12, versus 15 for boys , although they differ in terms of transfer of property.

Les Mérovingiens règnent sur un peuple principalement composé d'individus que les textes législatifs désignent comme Romains. À l'instar des autres rois barbares, les souverains mérovingiens prennent soin de conserver l'ancienne législation impériale et ordonnent que chaque individu soit jugé en fonction de son identité ethnique. C'est le principe de personnalité des lois.

Dès lors, la majorité des femmes libres (un droit particulier s'applique aux esclaves) conserve un statut défini par la législation romaine, le statut d'une « éternelle mineure ». En ce qui concerne les documents typiquement mérovingiens, ils témoignent plutôt d'un « accroissement des droits des filles » (Sylvie Joye). Néanmoins, tout comme les femmes romaines, les femmes franques restent subordonnées à la volonté des hommes de leur entourage, qui détiennent le droit et le devoir du mund.

De la même façon, les droits romain et franc s'accordent sur les contraintes liées au mariage (limites d'âge, interdiction du mariage consanguin...) - les filles peuvent être mariées à l'âge de 12 ans, contre 15 pour les garçons - même s'ils diffèrent sur le plan du transfert des biens.

Rights and duties



 * Wergeld: Salic law defines the wergeld of a free woman as equivalent to that of a free man, or 200 sous. It is doubled if the woman is of childbearing age and tripled if she is pregnant, whereas if the woman is postmenopausal the fine is reduced.


 * Inheritance: Merovingian women can inherit from their parents and their husbands, except when it comes to salic lands (as long as there are male heirs). For this reason, girls were often placed in a convent in order to preserve the estate.


 * Marriage: Marriage is not Christianized (it appears for the first time as a sacrament in a decree of Lucian III in 1184). Unlike Roman law, which requires the father of the bride to pay a large dowry, Merovingian law provides that the largest transfer of property is made from the groom to the father of the future wife (stemming from the older traditional in Germany where the gift was made by the husband to the wife ). It also provides that one-third of the groom's property (the tertia, a dower ) reverts to his wife upon his death. “It is not a question of buying his fiancée: this sum seals the bond between the two families and marks the consent of the father” . It can manage this property but not alienate it. The Morgengabe ("gift of the morning") is another transfer of property, from which the bride benefits the day after her first marriage, only if she is a virgin, and which is intended to provide for the couple's children. Dot and Morgengabe were used in principle to constitute the dower of the future widow.


 * Widowhood: Merovingian widows are traditionally dedicated to God and their interests are protected by the Church, which can protect them from the pressures of suitors who seek to get their hands on their estate by marrying them. Widows are thus freer than married women in the way they live their lives. They can, however, make vows without being consecrated, which makes the suitors “less fussy”  and involves fairly frequent remarriages.

In summary and according to Sylvie Joye, Merovingian law guarantees women greater economic autonomy than Roman law, but in practice, their capacity for action, particularly in politics, is reduced.


 * Wergeld : la loi salique indique que le wergeld d'une femme libre est équivalent à celui d'un homme libre, soit 200 sous. Il est doublé si la femme est en âge de procréer et triplé si elle est enceinte. Au contraire, si la femme est ménopausée l'amende est moindre.


 * Héritage : les femmes mérovingiennes peuvent hériter de leurs parents et de leurs maris, sauf lorsqu'il s'agit de terres saliques (tant qu’il reste des héritiers mâles). C'est pourquoi certaines filles sont placées au couvent, afin de préserver les patrimoines.


 * Mariage : Le mariage n'est pas christianisé (il apparaît pour la première fois comme un sacrement dans un décret de Lucien III en 1184). Contrairement au droit romain, qui impose au père de la mariée de verser une importante dot, le droit mérovingien prévoit que le plus gros transfert de biens se fasse du marié vers le père de la future épouse (versement d'arrhes pour l'achat du mund de la femme). Il prévoit également qu'un tiers des biens du marié (la tertia, un douaire) revienne à sa femme à son décès. . Elle peut gérer ce bien mais pas l'aliéner. Le Morgengabe (« don du matin ») est un autre transfert de biens, dont bénéficie la mariée au lendemain de ses premières noces, seulement si elle est vierge, et qui est destiné à pourvoir les enfants du couple . Dot et Morgengabe servaient en principe à constituer le douaire de la future veuve.


 * Veuvage : Les veuves mérovingiennes sont traditionnellement vouées à Dieu et leurs intérêts sont protégés par l'Église, ce qui peut les protéger des pressions des prétendants, ceux-ci cherchant à mettre la main sur leur patrimoine en les épousant en secondes noces. Les veuves sont ainsi plus libres que les femmes mariées dans leur façon de mener leur existence . Elles peuvent cependant prononcer des vœux sans être consacrées ce qui rend les prétendants « moins regardants » et implique des remariages assez fréquents.

En résumé et selon Sylvie Joye, le droit mérovingien garantit aux femmes une plus grande autonomie économique que le droit romain, mais dans les faits, leur capacité d'action, notamment en politique, est réduite.

Une image déformée
L'image contemporaine des femmes mérovingiennes est en partie déformée par la vision qu'en ont les clercs de l'époque. Ainsi, Grégoire de Tours peut parfois rendre certaines reines - comme Brunehaut et Frédégonde - responsables des intrigues et des querelles successorales. .

L'analyse que les historiens allemands du ont faite du mariage chez les peuples germaniques est également sujette à caution. La réalité des mariages polygames est plutôt douteuse, même si les concubines royales sont avérées, et le mariage par rapt (ou Raubehe) n'est pas plus légal chez les barbares que chez les Romains.

The contemporary image of Merovingian women is partly distorted by the vision held by the clerics of the time. Thus, Gregory of Tours can sometimes make certain queens - like Brunehaut and Frédégonde - responsible for intrigues and succession disputes. He shows them influential but also insidious and temperamental [ref. necessary].

The analysis that German historians of the  19th century made of marriage among the Germanic peoples is also questionable. The reality of polygamous marriages is rather dubious, even if the royal concubines are proven, and marriage by abduction (or Raubehe ) is no more legal among the barbarians than among the Romans  .

Merovingian queens

 * Basina, Thuringian princess, queen of the Salian Franks by her marriage to Childeric I , mother of Clovis I
 * Clotilde (c.473/475-545), Burgundian princess, who became queen of the Franks by marrying Clovis, whom she helped convert to Christianity
 * Suavegothe, second wife of Thierry I ( King of Reims), from the royal family of Burgondie
 * Ultragotha (c.510 - apr.558), wife of Childebert I ( king of Paris)
 * Ingund (c. 499-c.546), wife of Clothar I, mother of Charibert I , Sigebert I and Guntram
 * Gondioque (?-?), wife of Chlodomer, king of Orléans, then of Clotaire, king of Soissons
 * Aregund (c.515 - 573/579), one of the seven wives of Clothar I, mother of Chilperic I
 * Radegund ( c.520-587 ) is a Thuringian princess, one of the seven wives of Clothar I
 * Chunsine, one of the seven wives of Clothar I
 * Deuteria queen of the Franks (c.533 to +536 ) by her second marriage with Thibert I, king of Reims, mother of Theudebald; repudiated in 540
 * Wisigard (?-553) wife of Thibert I, king of Reims, in 540, after being repudiated by Deuteria
 * Vultrade ( 530-570 ) wife of Thibaut, king of Reims, then of Clothar I who repudiated her and gave her in marriage to the Bavarian duke Garibald. Daughter of the king of the Lombards Wacho and sister of Wisigarde
 * Ingoberga ( c.519-589 ), first wife of Caribert I, king of Paris, repudiated
 * Méroflède, concubine then wife of Caribert I as well as her si ster Marcowefa , which earned her to be excommunicated
 * Marcowefa, concubine then wife of Caribert I as well as her sister Méroflède , which earned her to be excommunicated
 * Théodechilde (wife of Caribert I), second wife of the Frankish king of Paris Caribert I
 * Vénérande, concubine of Gontran, King of Burgundy
 * Marcatrude, Daughter of Magnachaire, Duke of the "Francs dits Transjurans", second wife of Gontran, repudiated in 565
 * Austregilde, King Gontran's third wife after the repudiation of Marcatrude
 * Brunehaut (c.547-613), wife of Sigebert I, then regent of Austrasia, mother of Childebert II
 * Audovère first wife of Chilpéric I
 * Galswinthe (c.546-568), sister of Brunehaut, second wife of Chilpéric I
 * Frédégonde (c.545-597), concubine then wife of Chilpéric I, mother of Clotaire II
 * Faileube (?-596), wife of Childebert II king of Austrasia, mother of Théodebert II and Thierry II
 * Bilichilde (?-610), wife of Thibert II, king of Austrasia
 * Théodechilde (wife of Thibert II) (?-613), became in 6092 the second wife of Thibert II, king of Austrasia
 * Ermenberge perhaps married, in 606, the king of Burgundy Thierry II
 * Haldetrude first wife of Clotaire II, King of Neustria
 * Bertrude second wife of Clotaire II, king of Neustria, mother of Dagobert I
 * Sichilde concubine then wife of Clotaire II, mother of Caribert II
 * Gomentrude younger sister of Sichilde, and first wife of Dagobert I.
 * Nantilde (c.609-642), third wife of Dagobert I, mother of Clovis II.
 * Ragnetrude concubine of Dagobert I, mother of Sigebert III
 * Wulfégonde wife of Dagobert I er.
 * Berchilde wife of Dagobert I.
 * Chimnechilde wife of Sigebert III, king of Austrasia, mother of Dagobert II and Bilichilde
 * Bathilde (c.630-680), wife of Clovis II king of Neustria and Burgundy, mother of Clotaire III, Childéric II and Thierry III
 * Bilichilde (c.654-675), daughter of Sigebert III and Chimnechilde, wife of Childeric II, murdered with her husband
 * Clotilde, wife of Thierry III and regent after his death, mother of Clovis IV and Childebert IV