Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/187

175 ST. RADEGUND 175 and La CLarite sur Loire, and of the Trinitarians or Mathnrins, whose charity was directed chiefly towards prisoners and captives. She was the daughter of Berthaire, king of Thnringia, and wife of Clothaire, youngest son of Clovis, k^ng of France, and Clotilda (1). Clothaire, then king of Neustria, the capital of Soissons, in 529, went to the assistance of his brother Thierry, king of Austrasia, who had been called in by the eldest of the three brothers, kings of Thnringia, to help to avenge the murder of Berthaire, the youngest, and compel the second to limit his pretensions to his own share of the kingdom. The Thu- ringians did not keep their promises about the portion of the spoil that Thierry was to have, so Clothaire gladly joined him in raiding the whole country, burning, slaying, looting. They mas- sacred an untold number of persons, including the whole of the royal family, with the exception of three children, Badegund, her brother, and Amalfroi or 'Hermalafred, the son of one of the other kings. These they brought with the rest of their booty back to France, and in dividing the spoil, Clothaire insisted on keeping the three royal children as part of his share. He placed Badegund with attendants and instruc- tors suitable to her rank, at Athies on the Somme, in Yermandois. The mis- fortunes that had befallen her and the horrors she had witnessed had impressed a premature gravity on the character of the young princess. Spenser, in Mother Hubbard^s Tale, quotes her as a pattern of serious piety. She had no love of the amusements generally welcome to girls of her age, neither had she any desire for wealth, power, or earthly distinction. She was clever and studious, and gladly attended to the lessons given her by her Christian teachers, one of whom was St. M6dard, bishop of Soissons. With rapid success she mastered all the literature within her reach. She knew she was destined to be one of the king's wives, but she had no wish to be married to the man who had deprived her of freedom, de- vastated her country, and massacred her relations. She confided to her com- panions that next to martyrdom she considered the quiet of the cloister the most enviable lot. When she was eighteen, hearing that the king had or- dered grand preparations to be made for the wedding, she determined to escape from the unwelcome honour, and fled in a boat down the Somme ; but was very soon overtaken and enrolled among the king's recognised wives, of whom there were several. Those who were daughters of kings were called queens; those of lower rank were sometimes promoted to that title when they had borne the king children. Badegund was his favourite. She strove to do her duty to her master, although she neither loved nor feared him. He was vexed by her coolness and frequently complained of her unfit- ness for married Hfe and royal state, saying she was not a queen but a nun. When he summoned her, she would often keep him waiting until she had finished her prayers and her pious readings ; he would reproach her violently and after- wards apologize and try to atone for his conduct by splendid presents. She passed her days in the study of religious books, in conversation with the clergy who frequented the court, and in tend- ing with her own hands a number of poor persons and sick women, for whom she founded a hospital at Athies. After her marriage she generally lived at Bi*aine, near Soissons, which was Cloth- aire's favourite residence. One day as she was going in royal state to dine with a Frankish lady, she made use of her retinue to pull down a heathen temple which they had to pass. The Franks, many of whom were still idolaters, made a furious resistance, but Badegund sut quietly on her horse, watching the fight between her servants and the populace, and would not proceed on her way until she saw the antichristian building com- pletely overthrown. When she had been married six years, Clothaire killed her promising young brother, the companion of her captivity, the solace of her uncongenial life. The reason is not known. Badegund, who had never loved her husband, now looked upon him with horror. What