- Rotrude
Rotrude (or sometimes referred to as Hruodrud) (
775 -June 6 ,810 ) was the second daughter ofCharlemagne from his marriage to Hildegard.Early life
Few clear records remain of Princess Rotrude's early life. She was educated in the Palace School by Alcuin, 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
Constantine VI of Byzantium, whose mother Irene 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 off the engagement in 788.She then became the mistress of Rorgo of Rennes and had one son with him,
Louis, Abbot of Saint-Denis (800–9 January 867 ). She never married.Later life
Rotrud eventually became a nun, joining her aunt
Gisela , abbess of Chelles. The two women authored a letter to Alcuin of York, who was at Tours at the time, requesting that he write a commentary explaining the Gospel of John."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 Johannem Evangelistam, a more accessible companion to the gospel than St. Augustine's massive and challenging Tractates on St. John. Commentators have dated the letter to the spring of 800, four years before Alcuin's death and ten before Rotrud'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 Rotrud's life. Political histories of Charlemagne her father discuss her as a princess who was potentially a pawn and a woman of questionable morals [http://www.mittelalter-genealogie.de/karolinger_familie_karls/rotrud_tochter_karls_des_grossen_810.html rotrud_tochter_karls_des_grossen_+_810 ] ] , while religious histories discuss her as the second nun in the letter from Chelles. [http://monasticmatrix.usc.edu/commentaria/article.php?textId=65 Commentaria ] ]
References
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