Sadalberga
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Sadalberga (or Salaberga) (c. 605 – c. 670) was the daughter of
Gundoin, Duke of Alsace Gundoin was the first Duke of Alsace in the middle of the seventh century. He was a Frankish nobleman from the Meuse- Moselle basin. He was, according to the author of the '' Vita Sadalbergae'', an "illustrious man (''vir inluster''), opulent in wea ...
and his wife Saretrude. Sadalberga founded the Abbey of St John at
Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance. ...
. She is the subject of a short hagiography, the '' Vita Sadalbergae''.


Life

Gundoin of Alsace was on close terms with
Waldebert Waldebert (also known as Gaubert, Valbert and Walbert), (died 668), was a Frankish count of Guines, Ponthieu and Saint-Pol who became abbot of Luxeuil in the Order of St. Columban, and eventually a canonized saint in the Roman Catholic Churc ...
, a Frankish nobleman who later became abbot of
Luxeuil Luxeuil-les-Bains () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. History Luxeuil (sometimes rendered Luxeu in older texts) was the Roman Luxovium and contained many fine buildings ...
. Waldebert would come to guide Sadalberga in her monastic endeavors.Fox, Yaniv. ''Power and Religion in Merovingian Gaul'', Cambridge University Press, 2014
According to her anonymous ''vita'', Gundoin had extended hospitality to Waldebert's predecessor,
Eustace of Luxeuil Eustace of Luxeuil (c. 560 – c. 626), also known as Eustasius, was the second abbot of Luxeuil from 611. He succeeded his teacher Columbanus, to whom he had been a favorite disciple and monk. He had been the head of the monastic school. Life ...
upon the Abbot's return from Bavaria, and Eustace had cured the child Sadalberga of blindness. Her brother Leudinus Bodo became
Bishop of Toul The Diocese of Toul was a Roman Catholic diocese seated at Toul in present-day France. It existed from 365 until 1802. From 1048 until 1552 (''de jure'' until 1648), it was also a state of the Holy Roman Empire. History The diocese was erect ...
. Although she was drawn to religious life, her parents forced her to marry. Her first husband, Richramn, died after two months. Between 629 and 631, Gundoin removed the widowed Sadalberga from her convent of Remiremont and sought to marry her to a courtier of Dagobert I, at the king's insistence. Then she was wed to a nobleman, Blandinus, a close counselor of King Dagobert. She had five children, Saretrude, Ebana, Anstrudis, Eustasius (died in infancy), and Baldwin (Baudoin). Her husband Blandinus and two of her children, Baldwin (feast day October 16) and Anstrudis, became saints. Sadalberga's brother was Leudinus Bodo (d. 670). After some years, she and Blandinus agreed mutually to separate and assume contemplative lives. He became a hermit and she went into a nunnery at Poulangey, accompanied by Anstrudis. Encouraged by Waldebert, Salaberga founded the abbey of St. John the Baptist at
Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance. ...
. One of her kinsman had been bishop there, and his successor supported her efforts. She died there c. 670, and was succeeded as abbess by her daughter, Anstrudis.Le Jan, Regine. "Convents, Violence and Competition for Power on Francia", ''Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages'', (Frans Theuws, Mayke B. de Jong, and Carine Van Rhijn eds.), p. 250, Brill, 2001


See also

*
Odile of Alsace Odile of Alsace, also known as Odilia and Ottilia, born c. 662 - c. 720 at Mont Sainte-Odile), is a saint venerated in the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. She is a patroness saint of good eyesight and of the region of Alsace. ...


Notes

{{Authority control 7th-century Frankish women 670 deaths 7th-century Frankish saints Year of birth uncertain Christian female saints of the Middle Ages Colombanian saints