Deuteria or ''Deoteria'' (fl. 540), was a Frankish Queen consort; the first spouse of king

Theudebert I Theudebert I (french: Thibert/Théodebert) ( 500 – 547 or 548) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia from 533 to his death in 548. He was the son of Theuderic I and the father of Theudebald. Sources Most of what we know about Theudebert comes fr ...

. Deuteria belonged to an aristocratic

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...

family from

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label=Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Auverg ...

and was a relation to

Sidonius Apollinaris Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris (5 November of an unknown year, 430 – 481/490 AD), was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius is "the single most important surviving author from 5th-century Gaul ...

Saint Avitus Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus (c. 450 – February 5, 517/518 or 519) was a Latin poet and bishop of Vienne in Gaul. His fame rests in part on his poetry, but also on the role he played as secretary for the Burgundian kings. Avitus was born of a promi ...

and Emperor

Avitus Eparchius Avitus (c. 390 – 457) was Roman emperor of the West from July 455 to October 456. He was a senator of Gallic extraction and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza. He o ...

. She was living in

Septimania Septimania (french: Septimanie ; oc, Septimània ) is a historical region in modern-day Southern France. It referred to the western part of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed to the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septima ...

, married and had a daughter, Adia, when the area was attacked by

in 533. He fell in love with her, and when he became king the same year, he sent for her. She left her husband but brought her daughter with her to court, where Deuteria and Theudebert became lovers. At this point, her husband was still alive and Theudebert was engaged to

Wisigard Wisigard (c. 510 - c. 540) or ''Wisigardis'' was a Frankish Queen by marriage to Theudebert. Life The life of Wisigard is slightly known by Gregory of Tours's ''Historia Francorum''.Gregor of Tours, Historiae III,20, III,27. She was daughter of ...

, a Lombard princess. It has never been confirmed whether the couple ever performed a wedding ceremony or not. Theudebert continued to be engaged to Wisigard, and Deuteria is sometimes called a concubine, but Deuteria is almost without exception referred to as Queen, despite this insecurity. According to

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...

, in 536 Deuteria had her daughter drowned in fear of her becoming a rival over Theudebert. After the murder, the aristocracy had Theudebert expel Deuteria from court and forced him to marry Wisigarde. It is said that he wished to recall Deuteria after Wisigard's death in 540, but did not dare to.

References

* Eugen Ewig, Die Merowinger und das Frankenreich.

Kohlhammer Verlag W. Kohlhammer Verlag GmbH, or Kohlhammer Verlag, is a German publishing house headquartered in Stuttgart. History Kohlhammer Verlag was founded in Stuttgart on 30 April 1866 by . Kohlhammer had taken over the businesses of his late father-in-law ...

Stuttgart, Berlin, 1993 {{Authority control Frankish queens consort 6th-century Frankish nobility 6th-century Frankish women