Rotrude (or sometimes referred to as Hruodrud/Hruodhaid)
(c.775 – 6 June 810) was a Frankish princess, the second daughter of
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 ...
from his marriage to
Hildegard.
Early life
Few clear records remain of Rotrude's early life. She was educated in the Palace School by
Alcuin
Alcuin of York (; la, Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus; 735 – 19 May 804) – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student o ...
, who affectionately calls her Columba in his letters to her.
[Gaskoin, C. J. B. Alcuin: His Life and His Work. New York: Russell & Russell, 1966] When she was six, her father betrothed her to the Byzantine emperor
Constantine VI
Constantine VI ( gr, Κωνσταντῖνος, ''Kōnstantinos''; 14 January 771 – before 805Cutler & Hollingsworth (1991), pp. 501–502) was Byzantine emperor from 780 to 797. The only child of Emperor Leo IV, Constantine was named co-emp ...
, whose mother
Irene
Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace".
Irene, and related names, may refer to:
* Irene (given name)
Places
* Irene, Gauteng, South Africa
* Irene, South Dakota, United States
* Irene, Texas, United Stat ...
was ruling as regent. The Greeks called her ''Erythro'' and sent a scholar monk called Elisaeus to educate her in Greek language and manners.
[Runciman, Steven. "The Empress Irene the Athenian." Medieval Women. Ed. Derek Baker. Oxford: Ecclesiastical History Society, 1978.] However, the alliance fell apart by 786 when she was eleven and Constantine's mother, Irene, broke the engagement in 788.
She had a relationship with
Rorgo of Rennes and had one son with him,
Louis, Abbot of Saint-Denis (800 – 9 January 867). She never married.
Later life
Rotrude eventually became a nun, joining her aunt
Gisela, abbess of
Chelles. The two women authored a letter to
Alcuin of York
Alcuin of York (; la, Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus; 735 – 19 May 804) – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student o ...
, who was at Tours at the time, requesting that he write a commentary explaining the ''
Gospel of John
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
''.
["Epistola Christi Familarum Gislae atque Rechtrudae ad Albinum Magistrum." Patrologia Latina 100:738D-740C.] As a result, Alcuin eventually produced his seven-book ''Commentaria in Iohannem Evangelistam'', a more accessible companion to the gospel than
St. Augustine's massive and challenging ''Tractatus'' in St. John. Commentators have dated the letter to the spring of 800, four years before Alcuin's death and ten before Rotrude's.
[Ed. Dümmler, Monumenta Germanicae Historica: Epistolae aevi Carolini II, pp 323-325]
In contemporary views of history, most scholars discriminate between the two phases of Rotrude's life. Political histories of her father Charlemagne discuss her as a princess who was potentially a pawn and a woman of questionable morals,
[rotrud_tochter_karls_des_grossen_+_810](_blank)
/ref> while religious histories discuss her as the second nun in the letter from Chelles.[Commentaria](_blank)
Ancestry
References
{{Authority control
770s births
810 deaths
Frankish princesses
Children of Charlemagne
8th-century Frankish women
9th-century French women
Daughters of emperors
Daughters of kings