Munderic
Munderic (died 532/3) was a Merovingian claimaint to the Frankish throne. He was a wealthy nobleman and landowner with vast estates in the region around Vitry-le-BrGle (Vitry-en-Perthois now) near Chalons-sur-Marne. The chief source for his life and deeds is Gregory of Tours.
In 532 or 533 or around that year he put forth a claim to royal descent as being or claiming to be a son of Chlodoric the Parricide and asked for a share of the kingdom of Austrasia from Theuderic I. He had a band of sworn followers. Theuderic attempted to summon him to court in order to kill him,
but after Munderic refused, a force was sent against him.[1] The pretender took refuge with his loyal supporters in Vitry. The Austrasian army, however, lacked siege engines and were unable to seriously invest the place. Theuderic responded by sending a personal courtier of his, Arigisel, to negotiate for the rebels to come out, which they did. The dishonest ambassador had them cut down immediately.
He married a daughter of Florentinus (born 485), a Roman senator, and his wife Artemia, daughter of Rusticus of Lyons. They were the parents of Gondulphus of Tongeren, Bodegisel, Patrician of Provence, and Mummolin, possibly mayor of the palace of Neustria.
Notes
1. " Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks (Penguin UK, 1974).
Sources
■ Bachrach, Bernard S. Merovingian Military Organization, 481-751. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1971.
■ Settipani, Christian. Les ancetres de Charlemagne. 1989.
Chrodoara
Saint Chrodoara was a Merovingian noblewoman and traditionally the foundress of the Abbey of Amay, now in Belgium.
Chrodoara is thought to have been born around the year 560 in Swabia. Sometime before the year 582 she married Bodegisel-Bobo, the son of Mummolinus of Soissons. She was widowed around 589. After the death of her husband she moved to Amay and devoted her wealth and her time to the church and works of charity. She died sometime before the year 634 and was buried in the Church of Saint George in Amay. The church is now called "Saint George and Saint Ode", where Ode or Oda, the name dating from the eleventh century, is identified as Chrodoara.
Chrodoara is said to be the mother of Bishop Arnulf of Metz, and she may have been the grandmother of either Hugobert or of his wife Irmina of Oeren, and thus the great-
grandmother of Plectrude, wife of Pepin of Herstal.[1]
In 1977 Chrodoara's sarcophagus was discovered in the choir of the Church of Saint George and Saint Ode. On the cover she is depicted as an abbess holding a staff. However, although she was a
patron and benefactor of the abbey she apparently was not an abbess.[1]
References
1. A a b Brubaker, Leslie(ed); Smith, Julia(ed) (2004). Gender in the Early Medieval World: East and West, 300-900 (http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item1114673/?site_locale...). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81347-6.
