Basina or Basine ( 438 – 477) was remembered as a queen of

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

in the middle of the fifth century, by much later authors such as especially Gregory of Tours. However, because Gregory described her family's kingdom of Thuringia as being on the Gaulish or western side of the river Rhine, it is sometimes thought to be the

Civitas Tungrorum The ''Civitas Tungrorum'' was a large Roman administrative district dominating what is now eastern Belgium and the southern Netherlands. In the early days of the Roman Empire it was in the province of Gallia Belgica, but it later joined the neighb ...

, which is now Belgium.

Biography

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...

reported that

Childeric I Childeric I (died 481 AD) was a Frankish leader in the northern part of imperial Roman Gaul and a member of the Merovingian dynasty, described as a king (Latin ''rex''), both on his Roman-style seal ring, which was buried with him, and in fragm ...

was exiled from Roman Gaul for a period, and during that time he went to the kingdom of Thuringia. When he returned, Basina came with him, although she had allegedly been married to the king there,

Bisinus Bisinus (sometimes shortened to Bisin) was the king of Thuringia in the 5th century AD or around 500. He is the earliest historically attested ruler of the Thuringians. Almost nothing more about him can be said with certainty, including whether al ...

. She herself took the initiative to ask for the hand of Childeric I, king of the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

, and married him. For as she herself said, "I want to have the most powerful man in the world, even if I have to cross the ocean for him". Childeric and Basina were the parents of the Frankish king

Clovis I Clovis (; reconstructed Old Frankish, Frankish: ; – 27 November 511) was the first List of Frankish kings, king of the Franks to unite all of the Franks under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a ...

, who is remembered as the first medieval king to rule Gaul.Hartmann, Martina (2009). ''Die Königin im frühen Mittelalter'' (in German). Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, , p. 63. According to the ''

Gesta episcoporum Cameracensium The ''Deeds of the Bishops of Cambrai'' () is an anonymous Latin history of the diocese of Cambrai. It was commissioned around 1024 by Bishop Gerard I of Cambrai and completed shortly after his death in 1051. It is the work of two authors. Conte ...

'', the Frankish King

Ragnachar Ragnachar or Ragnarius (died 509) was a Frankish petty king (''regulus'') who ruled from Cambrai. According to Gregory of Tours, Ragnachar "was so unrestrained in his wantonness that he scarcely had mercy for his own near relatives".Gregory, II, 4 ...

, and his brother Richar, from the area of

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river. A sub-pref ...

Marriage and children

In 463, Basina married

, son of

Merovech Merovech (; ; 411 – 458) was the ancestor of the Merovingian dynasty. He was reportedly a king of the Salian Franks, but records of his existence are mixed with legend and myth. The most important written source, Gregory of Tours, recorded that ...

and his wife, and had the following children: #

(466 – 511) #

Audofleda Audofleda ( – ), was a Gothic queen of the Ostrogothic Kingdom by marriage to Theoderic the Great. She was the sister of Clovis I, King of the Franks. She married Theoderic the Great, King of the Ostrogoths (471–526), around 493 AD (exact d ...

(467 – 511) – queen of the Ostrogoths and wife of

Theodoric the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal, was king of the Ostrogoths (475–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526 ...

# Lantechildis (468 – ?) # Albofledis (470 – ?).

Portrayals

Queen Basina of Thuringia is the central antagonist in the 2005 film, ''The Brothers Grimm''.

Sources

{{commons category, Basine de Thuringe

External links

Project Continua: Biography of Basine
430s births 477 deaths Queens consort of Thuringia Frankish queens consort Year of birth unknown 5th-century queens consort Mothers of French monarchs

Biography

Marriage and children

Portrayals

See also

Sources

External links