Desiderata (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

771), was a

Queen consort of the Franks This is a list of the women who have been Queens consort of the Frankish people. As all monarchs of the Franks have been required by law and tradition to be male, there has never been a Queen regnant of the Franks (although some women have gove ...

. She was one of four daughters of Desiderius, King of the

Lombards The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 and ...

, and his wife

Ansa, Queen of the Lombards Ansa or Ansia (died after 774) was a Queen of the Lombards by marriage to Desiderius (756–774), King of the Lombards. Life She belonged to an aristocratic family of Brescia. The Latin name does not imply a Romano-Italic origin, as Romans and ...

. She was married to

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

in 770, in order for him to create a bond between

Francia Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks dur ...

and the

Kingdom of the Lombards The Kingdom of the Lombards ( la, Regnum Langobardorum; it, Regno dei Longobardi; lmo, Regn di Lombard) also known as the Lombard Kingdom; later the Kingdom of (all) Italy ( la, Regnum totius Italiae), was an early medieval state established ...

and attempt to isolate his brother Carloman I who ruled over the central territories of Francia. The marriage lasted just one year and there are no known children from the marriage.

Marriage to Charlemagne

Desiderata was the first (potentially second) wife of Charlemagne, although there are some questions over the nature of Charlemagne's relationship to

Himiltrude Himiltrude (c. 742-c.780?) was the mother of Charlemagne's first-born son Pippin the Hunchback. Some historians have acknowledged her as the wife of Charlemagne, however, she is often referred to as a concubine. Life Little is known about Himilt ...

, his potentially first wife. Carolingian historian

Janet Nelson Dame Janet Laughland Nelson (born 1942), also known as Jinty Nelson, is a British historian. She is Emerita Professor of Medieval History at King's College London. Early life Born on 28 March 1942 in Blackpool, Nelson was educated at Keswick S ...

states that the marriage and resulting alliance with the Lombards was directed against Carloman, leaving Charlemagne's brother encircled as a result. The marriage received opposition from

Pope Stephen III Pope Stephen III ( la, Stephanus III; died 1 February 772) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 7 August 768 to his death. Stephen was a Benedictine monk who worked in the Lateran Palace during the reign of Pope Zachary. In ...

, who in the summer of 770 wrote a letter to Charlemagne and Carloman voicing his discontent at the potential union between "the most notable race of the Franks and that fetid brood of the Lombard's that had brought leprosy into the land." There is no mention of this marriage in the Royal Frankish Annals nor the revised version, however, it is mentioned briefly in chapter 18 of

Einhard Einhard (also Eginhard or Einhart; la, E(g)inhardus; 775 – 14 March 840) was a Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the ''Vita ...

Life of Charlemagne ''Vita Karoli Magni'' (''Life of Charlemagne'') is a biography of Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, written by Einhard.Ogg, p. 109 The ''Life of Charlemagne'' is a 33 chapter long account starting with the full of the Merovi ...

biography when he states that "at the urging of his mother he married a daughter of Desiderius."

Debate surrounding her name

Although she is commonly referred to by the name ''Desiderata'' there is some debate surrounding her name. One school of thought is that the name derives from an editorial error in a 19th-century copy of the ''

Monumenta Germaniae Historica The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...

'' which capitalized the 'D' in ''desideratam filiam'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for 'desired daughter'). Janet Nelson argues that it is far more likely that Desiderata's name is actually 'Gerperga.' Nelson provides multiple reasons as to why this is the case, firstly, the name fits in with the names of Desiderius' other daughters, all of which end in the suffix 'perga.' Secondly, Carloman's wife was called Gerberga, and this, Nelson believes, explains why when Gerberga fled to Desiderius after Carloman's death, the ''Annals of Lobbes'' believed that she was fleeing to her father, due to confusion over the similarities of their names. Additionally, in Pope Stephen III's letter to Charlemagne and Carloman, he is not sure of which brother is marrying Gerperga, Nelson argues that this confusion is also caused by the similarity in the names of Desiderius' Daughter and Carloman's wife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desiderata of the Lombards 8th-century births Wives of Charlemagne Repudiated queens Lombard women Year of death missing Carolingian dynasty 8th-century Lombard people