Goiswintha or Goisuintha was

Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...

Queen consort of

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hi ...

and

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 Septim ...

. She was the wife of two Kings,

Athanagild Athanagild ( 517 – December 567) was Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania. He had rebelled against his predecessor, Agila I, in 551. The armies of Agila and Athanagild met at Seville, where Agila met a second defeat. Following the death of ...

and

Liuvigild Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or ''Leovigildo'' ( Spanish and Portuguese), ( 519 – 586) was a Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania from 568 to 586. Known for his Codex Revisus or Code of Leovigild, a law allowing equal rights between ...

. From her first marriage, she was the mother of two daughters — Brunhilda and

Galswintha Galswintha (540–568) was a queen consort of Neustria. She was the daughter of Athanagild, Visigothic king of Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal), and Goiswintha. Galswintha was the sister of Brunhilda, Quee ...

— who were married to two

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gaul ...

brother-kings:

Sigebert I Sigebert I (c. 535 – c. 575) was a Frankish king of Austrasia from the death of his father in 561 to his own death. He was the third surviving son out of four of Clotaire I and Ingund. His reign found him mostly occupied with a successful civ ...

Austrasia Austrasia was a territory which formed the north-eastern section of the Merovingian Kingdom of the Franks during the 6th to 8th centuries. It was centred on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers, and was the original territory of the ...

and Chilperic, king of the

Neustria Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks. Neustria included the land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, approximately the north of present-day France, with Paris, Orléans, Tours, Soissons as its main cities. It late ...

n Franks. Following the death of her first husband Athanagild in 567, she became the second wife of

, the brother of Athangild's successor Liuva I. Shortly thereafter Liuvigild became king of the Visigoths, and Goiswintha became Queen consort once more, and stepmother to her husband's sons

Hermenegild Saint Hermenegild or Ermengild (died 13 April 585; es, San Hermenegildo; la, Hermenegildus, from Gothic ''*Airmana-gild'', "immense tribute"), was the son of king Liuvigild of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula and southern France. ...

and

Reccared I Reccared I (or Recared; la, Flavius Reccaredus; es, Flavio Recaredo; 559 – December 601; reigned 586–601) was Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania. His reign marked a climactic shift in history, with the king's renunciation of Arianis ...

. Goiswintha was an influential personality in the royal court. In 579, her stepson Hermenegild married her granddaughter

Ingund Ingonde, Ingund, Ingunda, or (in Latin) Ingundis (born c. 499, Thuringia d. 546) was a queen of the Franks by marriage to Clotaire I, son of Clovis. She was the daughter of King Baderic of Thuringia (c. 480 - c. 529). She became concubine to C ...

, daughter of Goiswintha's daughter Brunhilda by the Frankish king Sigebert I. As Queen, it fell to Goiswintha to welcome the young bride to court, and reportedly Goiswintha was at first very kind to the young princess. However, she was determined that Ingund should be re-baptized in the Arian faith. Ingund, still only twelve, firmly refused. 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 Floren ...

: "the Queen lost her temper completely" and "seized the girl by her hair and threw her to the ground: then she kicked her until she was covered with blood, had her stripped naked and ordered her to be thrown into the baptismal pool". Whether because of this fracas, or, more likely, because of Leovigild's desire to assure the succession of his sons (consistent with his previous actions to associate his sons with himself as rulers of the kingdom), he sent Hermenegild and Ingund to Seville to rule a portion of his kingdom - presumably the province of

Baetica Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula). Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of the basi ...

and southern

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lu ...

. There, Hermenegild was influenced by his wife and

Leander of Seville Leander of Seville ( es, San Leandro de Sevilla; la, Sanctus Leandrus; 534 AD, in Cartagena – 13 March 600 or 601, in Seville) was the Bishop of Seville. He was instrumental in effecting the conversion of the Visigothic kings Hermengild and ...

to convert to

Chalcedonian Christianity Chalcedonian Christianity is the branch of Christianity that accepts and upholds theological and ecclesiological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, the Fourth Ecumenical Council, held in 451. Chalcedonian Christianity accepts the Christ ...

, and to rebel against the king. He would eventually be defeated, and executed by the King in 585. Following Liuvigild's death in 586, his younger son Reccared became king. He promptly converted to Catholicism. In the later part of 588 a conspiracy against him was headed by queen dowager Goiswintha together with the Arian bishop Uldila, but they were detected, and the bishop was banished. John of Biclaro, ''Chronicle'', 90; translated by Wolf, pp. 73f

References

Visigothic queens consort Year of birth unknown 6th-century people of the Visigothic Kingdom 6th-century women {{Spain-hist-stub