St Bathildis

Bathildis lived one of those lives that changes shape so completely that the beginning hardly seems to belong to the end. She began as a girl of Anglo-Saxon birth carried into Gaul and sold into service, then rose unexpectedly to become the wife of Clovis II and, after his death, regent for her young son in a rough and unstable Merovingian world. She was no pious ornament at court. She governed, restrained abuses, protected the poor, encouraged monasteries, and was associated with merciful measures against the traffic in Christian slaves.

At the same time she remained marked by humility and by a seriousness that outlived power. When her public task was done, she laid authority down and entered Chelles, where the queen became a penitent and nun. A historical caution also matters here, since the old accusation that she arranged the deaths of bishops is weakly grounded. Bathildis remains memorable as both ruler and religious woman, diminished in neither role.