[MR] Fredegund, the Servant Girl Who Murdered Her Way to the Top

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Lady Sophia Greifenclau sent me a very interesting story about a 6th
century Frankish serving girl, Fredegund. Starting from humble beginnings,
she schemed, whored, and murdered her way to become Queen Consort of
Chilperic I, King of Neustria. She then ruthlessly murdered anyone else who
threatened her power as regent for her son, Clothar II. Noble rivals,
churchmen who criticized her, and henchmen who knew too much, fell all over
what is now France thanks to her plotting. Nobody who was anybody was safe
from Fredegund's schemes, including her own daughter. Or perhaps some of
her evil reputation was just bad PR, particularly from Gregory of Tours.

It is tempting to equate Fredegund with Lady MacBeth, the latter largely a
figment of Shakespeare's fevered brain. Lady MacBeth would be a bush league
murderess by comparison had she been a real person. The real MacBeth's
queen was named Gruoch, and despite living in "dagger-happy" Scotland, is
not known to have murdered anybody.

The story in question was written by Jorge Álvarez and published in the
magazine LBV:
https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/05/fredegund-the-servant-who-became-queen-of-the-franks-by-eliminating-anyone-who-stood-in-her-way/
. Wow! What a URL!

More about Fredegund is found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredegund ,
but the Wikipedia article lacks the really interesting paintings
illustrating her misdeeds.

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Continuing a crusade to keep the original Merry Rose relevant and in
business.