Guntheuc (also spelled Gondioc) ( 495 – 532) was a Frankish queen consort. She was first married to King Chlodomer and later to his younger brother, King Chlothar I.
Life
Guntheuc may have been of Burgundian origin and the granddaughter of
Godegisel
Godegisel (? – 501) was a Burgundian sub-king and son of the Burgundian king Gondioc.
Godegisel was the educator and uncle of Clotilde, wife of the Frankish king Clovis I. Beginning in 463 he was a sub-king of Kingdom of the Burgundians. ...
a
King of Burgundy
The following is a list of the kings of the two kingdoms of Burgundy, and a number of related political entities devolving from Carolingian machinations over family relations.
Kings of the Burgundians
* Gebicca (late 4th century – c. 40 ...
.
In 517, she married Chlodomer, King of the Franks residing at
Orléans
Orléans (,"Orleans" (US) and Clodoald.Christian Bouyer, Dictionnaire des Reines de France, Librairie Académique Perrin, 1992 , p. 32-33
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 ...
, ''History of the Franks'', book III, 6.
King Chlodomer led an expedition against the Burgundians in 524. He was killed on this expedition, in the spring or summer of the same year, at the Battle of Vézeronce. Soon after Chlodomer's death, his younger brother Clothar I, king at
Soissons
Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital ...
, married Guntheuc.
Chlodomer's and Guntheuc's three sons were entrusted to their grandmother, Queen Clotilde. However, Clothar and his remaining brothers,
Childebert I
Childebert I ( 496 – 13 December 558) was a Frankish King of the Merovingian dynasty, as third of the four sons of Clovis I who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death in 511. He was one of the sons of Saint Clo ...
, procured the sons, ostensibly to raise them to their father's throne but actually to either kill them or cut their hair, removing the symbol of their royal status. Gunthar and Theudebald were killed, while the third son, Clodoald, managed to escape, shaved his head and became a monk. He later became abbot of Nogent and is known as Saint Cloud.