Who was Saint Irmina?
Introduction
Rennes-le-Château is a medieval castle and village situated in the Languedoc area of France. The turbulent history of its wider area is attested to by the scars on its landscape and by the many ancient fortifications that remain. The village of Rennes itself came to modern fame in the last 100 years. It began essentially when local rumours circulated about the existence of a hidden treasure. Although the rumours of a colossal treasure in the region were not new, what was new was that a priest, Berenger Saunière, supposedly discovered a hidden treasure in or around his church. He went on to acquire and spend vast sums of money and to decorate his church in a most bizarre manner.
Was all this activity related to the finding of a 'treasure'?
For example, what tomb did he discover, famously mentioned by him in his diary for the year 1891? Why did he undertake strange lonely walks with Marie Denarnaud in the countryside - often returning home with large bags of rocks carried in a sack over his shoulders late at night? Why did he buy up land - in Denarnaud's name, perhaps as a 'cover' - around the village of Rennes-le-Chateau?
Saunière seems to have began his strange activities originally by devising certain strategies around the village that allowed him to block off access to the church and cemetery for the local villagers. This access was blocked for most of the year. He then began to dig in the church cemetery at night, always with this faithful confidante Marie Denarnaud in tow, for unknown reasons. He uprooted crosses and graveside paraphernalia to the shock and horror of the locals. He was ordered to stop by the town council even though he said he was only 'making room for more of the dead' - suggesting that his activity was really for the benefit of the villagers!
What were Sauniere and Denarnaud looking for? If you believe Saussez then Sauniere was indeed looking for a crypt - a crypt which was known to exist under the church area. Was the church at Rennes-le-Chateau really an old 'reliquary' church, holding the bones of a Saint or other important person? Did this make it a point of interest for Saunière?
Saunière also undertook distant travels in other countries and while away Denarnaud covered for him again, sending pre-prepared letters. These ostensibly were from Saunière to correspondents that wrote to him when he was absent. It made it look as if Saunière was still present in the village when he wasn't! How can we explain this bizarre behaviour?
The rumours of these strange activities reached the ears of a visiting ‘tourist’ who later made his home at Rennes-le-Chateau. By this time Saunière was long dead. Quite what made this tourist visit an obscure village before the 'treasure' story took hold is not known. Had he heard the whispers of the strange priest of Rennes-le-Chateau and come to investigate? The tourists' name was Noel Corbu. Corbu would be taken into the confidence of the very same Marie Denarnaud who was Sauniere's original and only truly confidante. She told Corbu that there was a ’great secret’ that she would one day divulge to him, a secret that would make him ’very rich’.
A second treasure story
A second treasure story began to circulate in the 1950’s from a very different source. These emanated from the now notorious Pierre Plantard and friends. He [apparently] had added the Merovingian ‘Lost King’ story to the whole 'legend' of Sauniere and since that date the story of Rennes-le-Chateau and its treasure has been inexorably connected to a supposed Merovingian treasure at Rennes-le-Chateau. This 'story' involved the survival of a descendant of the obscure and little known Merovingian king, Dagobert II.
The ‘infamous’ attempt by Pierre Plantard to link the descendants of Dagobert II with a ‘secret’ Merovingian line of legitimate royal succession, unjustly displaced by the Carolingian Monarchy, but continuing to this day, is said to be without any reliable historical justification. It is a myth, historians report, an historical fantasy associated with the ‘myth’ of Rennes-le-Chateau. What is more the heresy that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had married and had a child, which later became the Merovingian line, is also without historical foundation.
In Pierre Plantard's view, King Dagobert II’s heir was spirited away down to Rennes-le-Chateau at the time of his fathers assassination. And although medieval chroniclers do refer to a son of Dagobert II, historians assume that this heir died around the same time as his father. But even if Plantard's narrative was true how would any son of Dagobert II be taken to Rennes-le-Chateau? And why there? What happened to his [alleged] daughters? Why not consider a line descending from any daughters? And what if Dagobert II had no daughters? What would happen to the scenario posited by Plantard then?
Was one of the treasures Sauniere found indeed related to a Merovingian treasure at Rennes and the legend of the ‘Lost King’? Why did Plantard say ‘if you know well the history of France, you will understand why there has been a revival of the Order of the Temple, with (the) great families of Merovingian origin’? What has the Order of the Temple to do with the Merovingians?
Dagobert II
Dagobert II was the King of Austrasie from 676AD to 679AD. He was the son of Sigebert III and his concubine Ragnetrude. He was one of the kings that historians label ‘rois-fainéants’, ‘the do nothing kings’.
The life of Dagobert II reads like a legendary tale. When his father died he was kidnapped and smuggled out of France via a trail of various monasteries. He turns up in Ireland and then later journeys to England. He marries and has children. With the help of Saint Wilfrid of York, Dagobert finally returns to his rightful kingdom of Austrasie and is proclaimed king. Three years later he is assassinated on the orders of the Mayor of the Palace. He is buried at Stenay. Some 'versions' of this 'kidnap' tale report that when Sigebert died, Dagobert was tonsured in secret, in a room of the palace of Sigebert III at Metz. During the night, the servants of Sigebert brought the child to Boulogne and then sailed to York with him. They put Dagobert in the hands of the holy bishop Wilfrid for him to be placed in a monastery. He ended up in Ireland and he later reclaimed his kingdom & became king of Austrasia.
A great cult later grew up around this Dagobert. It was perhaps just a local cult. However this 'local' cult later interested some very powerful men. One hundred years later the betrayal of the Merovingian's by the Catholic church takes place. The dynasty placed in their stead was the Carolingians and in 872AD the Carolingians for some reason attempted to locate the body of Dagobert II. Why this should be important to them is not known. When they find the body a council is called to which the Archbishop of Reims, Hincmar attends. Dagobert II was canonised as a Saint and Charles II built a church to house the remains of Dagobert II at Stenay. Later, this church became the focus of a bitter struggle between two Merovingian families. Why? And why canonise Dagobert? On what grounds? Especially as there is evidence that he was not particularly Christian. In fact he would appear to be the total opposite. According to Wilfirds biographer when Wilfrid was returning back from a trip to Rome, he travelled through France only to learn that Dagobert II had been assassinated by Ebroin. One of the prelates who had been involved in the assassination rode out to meet Wilfrid's party. The prelate demanded:
‘What made you so bold as to pass through this land of the Franks, seeing that you deserve to be put to death for making Dagobert king? You it was who brought him back from exile and what did he do but lay waste our cities, spurn the advice of our elders, act like Solomons son Rehoboam in imposing an humiliating tribute on his people, and despise the Church of God and her rulers? These are the crimes for which he was slain: this is the reason his body now lies in the grave’ [my emphasis].
It might also be interesting to note that his father was canonised too.
By 1914, the struggle for the literal remains of Dagobert was still continuing. By now it revolved around the skull, the body having presumably been 'lost'. The skull had had a chequered history, once belonging to the monks at Orval. It was held in a reliquary and one wonders what was so important about this skull reliquary. The skull imagery of Dagobert II seems to have been romanticised in art work, being one of the central motifs used by Guercino and Poussin in their most famous paintings. De Cherisey asks ’Is it the skull of Dagobert II or Sigebert IV that the phrase ’et in arcadia ego’ refers to?’ Vazart has also asserted that the skull was once in the keeping of Jean de Habsburg who had been linked to Marie Denarnaud, the confidente of Berenger Sauniere. By the First World War the skull was kept in a Convent at Mons. A local priest of Stenay had tried to retrieve the reliquary back. His researches had come to the attention of the Crown Prince, who later had this local priest tortured for his knowledge about the skull reliquary.
The reliquary
Just what was hidden in and therefore important about this reliquary? According to one commentator it revolved around an alleged early Medieval manuscript written by someone called Irmina. In it, it says ‘She [Irmina] retraced the assassination of her father Dagobert II, the sojourn of her half brother Sigebery IV at the monastery of Oeren, and his refuge …. In January 681 he is smuggled to Rhedae’ .
This Holy Irmina was, in tradition, said to have been the daughter of Dagobert II. But this assertion almost certainly rests on a misreading by scribes in the Middle Ages. If she is not a daughter of Dagobert II then who is she a daughter of? In yet other traditions, she is not a Merovingian at all but an antecedent of the Carolingians, the family who usurped the Merovingian dynasty.
Irmina is strongly connected to the Saxon missionaries of England. She is closely allied to Willibrord, the most famous pupil of Saint Wilfrid. Saint Wilfrid had helped her [alleged] father Dagobert II regain his rightful kingdom in France. It was, in fact, Saxon missionaries who also seemed to have known and been aware of the coup against Sigebert III, and the kidnapping of Dagobert II as a boy. So it somehow seems right that Irmina should reward her Saxon friends with land after they rescued her father. A very famous charter by Irmina is the charter relating to the villa of Echternach which she left Saint Willibrord.
Historians are confused over this charter though. Although Irmina wrote it, a few years later, the Carolingian Pippin re-issues the charter, making no mention of Irmina, as if she had never existed. Why? Historians infer a complete schism between the Merovingians and the Carolingians. Why? Was there some sort of cover up taking place? Or was it a Carolingian propaganda exercise? Were the Carolingians trying to preclude the survival of any Merovingian claimant to the throne of France? The throne that they had appropriated from the Merovingian's after the final ’desertion’ by the Church?
Why did Plantard [probably alongside Cherisey too] drag into the enigma of Sauniere all this information regarding Dagobert II? Was it solely to glorify Plantard's mythomania? Is there a connection? Or are we throwing the baby out with the bathwater by dismissing everything that Plantard and Cherisey wrote as total and utter rubbish? For me, this seems to fly in the face of other 'evidence'. Such evidence as Plantard investigating the myth of both Rennes [Rennes-le-Chateau and Rennes-les-Bains] in the late 1950's, visiting the areas and searching the land. Plantard buying up land in the vicinity of Rennes-les-Bains. Plantard searching over derelict and deserted scrubland in the area of Rennes-les-Bains. Plantard searching out ancient families who had originally owned the land. Cherisey investigating and visiting ancient mines of the area. Cherisey working in partnership with Plantard. Cherisey writing reams and reams later about Merovingian history which has nothing to do with Plantard being a descendant of a 'lost king'.
It is, indeed, all an enigma.
But let us try and begin with the history as we know it regarding this famous Saint Irmina, who is important to Plantard and Cherisey [and who Plantard even allegedly named his daughter after].
Who was Irmina?
Irmina is famously known from the charters regarding the founding of the Abbey of Echternach [on this abbey see below]. This charter speak of an Irmina in christo deo sacrata abatissa, that is to say a woman who has consecrated her life to God and has become an abbess, thus without doubt a widow, who has taken up the veil following the death of her husband, a situation that occurred frequently during that era. As to Irmine's origins, there are many conflicting theories.
According to the line of thought defended by the Luxemburg historian Camille Wampach which is founded upon the liber aureus of Theodoric, Irmine was the mother of Plectrude, the mother -in-law of Pepin. However, this affirmation is only suggested as a result of indirect sources. This is in effect from a charter of 704, which makes mention of a certain Ymina who had made a donation to Willibrord of portions of property at Badelingen and at Kowerich. As Badelingen formerly comprised a portion of the first gift made by Irmine to Willibrord, this Ymina could well be identical with Irmine, taking into consideration that they were both property owners by family heritage at Badelingen and at Kowerich. It is also known that Ymina had three daughters, Atala [Adela], Crodelindis and Regintrude. The name of Regintrude was rediscovered in 721 in another charter where this Regintrude is the sister of Plectrude, their mother therefore being Irmine. In a third text it is stated that Plectrude is the daughter of Hugobert. A fifth daughter is called Bertrada. She is the founder of the monastery of Prum. Another charter specifically states that Albericus and Hadericus, the two sons of Attala, are the creators of the monastery of Susteren, which Pipin II had given to Willibrord in 714 upon his deathbed.
In those matters that concern the political value of Irmine's donation to Willibrord, it is important to know if Irmine comprised part of the family of the Pippinides or not. In any case, between 697 and 704, all the donations which had been made to Willibrord emanated from Irmine or her close relatives, this is why Irmine speaks, of 'our monastery'. After 706 however, there is no longer any mention of the name of Irmine in any of the charters. All the donations are now from Plectrude or from those close to her. Wampach explains this fact by saying Irmine has died by this time and from that time on Willibrord was in contact with Plectrude, Irmine's daughter.
In 1982, the German historian Herr Werner maintained however that there existed no parental relationship between Irmine and Plectrude and that there must have, therefore been a complete schism between the two, as Irmine is never again mentioned after 704. According to the new texts, that is those after 706, it was Willibrord who built the monastery, it was he who was commissioned to construct the edifice by Pepin and Plectrude. Irmine/Ermine is not even mentioned in Alcuin. Under Werners interpretation, Ymina and Irmine were not the same people. According to him, Irmine was not Plectrudes mother, rather the daughter of King Dagobert, thus of the family of the Merovingians. No-one therefore mentioned Irmine any more because the Pippindes were eliminating the Merovingians - and thus all traces of them in charters disappeared.
This rupture therefore could go part of the way to explain the major differences between the families. For example Irmine observed the Columban Rule of Luxeuil while Plectrude and Pepin observed the rule of Saint Benoit. However, it could be said that the elimination of the role of Irmine could simply have been due to Charles Martel - illegitimate son of Pepin and who was close to Willibrord, who was in favour of a new Carolingian tradition. He wanted to overshadow that of the Merovingian kings.
Irmine - Merovingian or Carolingian?
Simply looking at this question leads to some fascinating theories. Firstly most observers suggest that Irmine was a daughter of Dagobert I based on:
- the tradition, from the eleventh century that made Irmine daughter of Dagobert,
- the fact that Irmine had a daughter called Ragentrude, and Dagobert had a concubine called Ragentrude [with this 'concubine Dagobert had a son, Sigebert III, the father of Dagobert II].
- the name of Irmine is sometimes confused with Immine [Emma], which is the name of a sister of Dagobert, who married in 618 Eadbald, King of Kent. Eadbald himself was the son of King Æthelberht and his wife Bertha, daughter of Merovingian king Charibert. Emma was a daughter of Theudebert II, King of Austrasia from 595 to 612.
The tradition from the eleventh century above is reckoned to be based on a spurious manuscript associated with Irmine, which is a misreading of a text, the De Rebus Treverensibus sæculi VIII-X Libellus. It is shown below:
Where does this leave the shenanigans of Plantard and Cherisey and the supposed descendant of Dagobert II leaving a daughter, Irmine of the Abbey of Oeren, sheltering her half brother before ensuring he was smuggled down to Rennes-le-Chateau? Dead in the water it would seem.
Irmine's family connections and relations would seem to be clear. From the origins of a Duke Theotar ....
Theotar, duke
On onomastic grounds and from reconstructing family relationships within the Hugobertides, we see that this is a family which carry names such as Hugobert (derived from Hugues), Adele and Alberic. These same names occur frequently in another family, that of the Etichonids, descended from Etichon Adalric, Duke of Alsace and his wife Bereswinthe [Bereswinde].
Adalric is the most famous of the Etichonids. Although some think his descent is possibly in the realm of speculation: he is nevertheless thought to be the son of Adalric, Duke of the pagus Attoariensis and a descendant of Waldelenus and Aelia Flavia. His mother may have been Hultrude of Burgundy, daughter of Guillebaud, a patrician, who himself was a descendant of several Burgundian kings and the Ferréol's. He also has ancestors among the Alemanni, Romans, Franks, Burgundians, Gauls - sometimes even famous ones. Guillebaud's grandfather was the Duke Amalgarde of Dijon [interestingly this is the same Amalgarde, in 632, at the request of Dagobert I, who raised a large army in Burgundy to dethrone the new king of the Goths, Suintila, and install a more favourable figure to the Frankish king, Sisenand. Amalgarde was promised as a reward a missal, the most sacred part of the treasure of the Goths, given originally by the patrician Aetius. This indirectly perhaps is a witness tot he survival of portions of the treasure of the Goths down to the time of Dagobert I] and his wife Aquilina had already founded several monasteries and abbeys. Guillebauds parents are also relatives of the Frankish kings, and great servants of various kingdoms.
Jean de Turckheim, in his Tablettes Généalogiques des illustres Maisons des Ducs de Zaeringen shows, however, that the assumptions on Adalric and the Etichonid family's multiple origins and the descendants of his children except [Etichon and Adalbert II] are a mystery. Other sources cite Mayor Leudesius [assassinated in the palace of Neustria 676], who was the grand-son of King Clotaire I and Ingonde - parents of Bilichilde, mother by Ansbert of the figure known as Erchinoald - he was father of Leudesius by Leutsinde, so we may say that the Etichonids are descended from Merovingian kings if we are to believe these sources.
Adalric was a rich landowner installed in the royal villa at Obernai. He was an influential figure in the political and military history of Austrasia. In about 655, he married Berswinde, who, according to the Chronicon Ebersheimense, was the daughter of a sister of St. Leger, Bishop of Autun and sister of a Queen of the Franks. This queen of the Franks can only be Chimnéchilde, the wife of Sigebert III, king of Austrasia [see below]. On the basis of onomastics she may even be a sister of the Seneschal Hugobert. Berswinde is very religious and uses her wealth to spread among the poor. Every day she retired in the most isolated part of the palace, to devote her spare time to reading holy books and exercises of piety. It was only after several years, in 662, that their first daughter, Odile, was born. She is blind. They also had two son's - Adalbert and Hugues (who was the grandfather of another Hughes and an Adèle) and Etichon (who is the father of Hugh and an Alberic). There must be a relationship between the two families (Adalbert, the older Etichon-Adalrich - who was husband of Gerlinde, granddaughter Hugobert) but that does not explain the presence of various names found among the brothers of Adalbert and their descendants.
There must have been a marriage in an earlier generation. The ancestry of Etichon-Adalric is well enough known to say that the marriage is not found there. The only solution left is to consider a close kinship between Hugobert and Bereswinde. Chronologically, they could be brother and sister. To explain the transmission of the names Alberic and Adele in the two families they must have been carried by the ancestors and relatives of Hugobert & Bereswinde, probably their parents. The Chronicon Ebersheimense (xiii century) indicates that Bereswinde was the niece of St. Leger of Autun [as we saw above] and that she had a sister, who was a queen of the Franks, who can only be chronologically Chimnechilde, wife of Sigebert III. This can be visualised thus:
Irmine's family connections and relations would seem to be clear. From the origins of a Duke Theotar ....
Theotar, duke
- NN, maybe Hugus / Chugus to 617 Meier house in Austrasia
- Hugobert (Chugoberctus), † before 698, 693/694 Seneschal , 697 Count Palatine ; ∞ Irmina of Oeren , † 704/710, founder of the monastery of Echternach
- Plectrudis , † after 717, founder of the monastery of St. Maria im Kapitol in Cologne ; ∞ to 670 Pippin the Middle , † 714 (Arnulfing)
- Adela at * 660, † about 735, the founder of the convent Pfalzel ; ∞ Odo, vir inluster.
- Alberich, probably X 715/721, ∞ Wastrada
- Gregory , bishop of Utrecht , * 706/707, 774 †
- NN
- Alberic I. , bishop of Utrecht, † 784
- NN
- ? Gerelind testifies 698
- ? Haderich, 698/699 witnesses
- Regintrud ∞ Theodo II Duke of Bavaria 608-717/718 ( Agilolfing )
- Chrodelind, 721 witnessed the foundation of Prüm; ∞? Bernardine, 721 witnessed the foundation of Prüm ( Wilhelmiden )
- Bertrada the Elderly , † after 721, the founder of the abbey of Prüm , ∞ NN
- Heribert (Charibert) , Count of Laon , 721 witnesses, co-founders of Prüm
- Bertrada the Younger , 783 †, ∞ Pepin the Short , † 768 ( Carolingian )
- Charlemagne , † 814
- Bertrada the Younger , 783 †, ∞ Pepin the Short , † 768 ( Carolingian )
- other sons, † before 721
- Heribert (Charibert) , Count of Laon , 721 witnesses, co-founders of Prüm
- ? NN
- ? Hugobert 727 †, Bishop of Liege
- Florebert 727 Bishop of Liege
On onomastic grounds and from reconstructing family relationships within the Hugobertides, we see that this is a family which carry names such as Hugobert (derived from Hugues), Adele and Alberic. These same names occur frequently in another family, that of the Etichonids, descended from Etichon Adalric, Duke of Alsace and his wife Bereswinthe [Bereswinde].
Adalric is the most famous of the Etichonids. Although some think his descent is possibly in the realm of speculation: he is nevertheless thought to be the son of Adalric, Duke of the pagus Attoariensis and a descendant of Waldelenus and Aelia Flavia. His mother may have been Hultrude of Burgundy, daughter of Guillebaud, a patrician, who himself was a descendant of several Burgundian kings and the Ferréol's. He also has ancestors among the Alemanni, Romans, Franks, Burgundians, Gauls - sometimes even famous ones. Guillebaud's grandfather was the Duke Amalgarde of Dijon [interestingly this is the same Amalgarde, in 632, at the request of Dagobert I, who raised a large army in Burgundy to dethrone the new king of the Goths, Suintila, and install a more favourable figure to the Frankish king, Sisenand. Amalgarde was promised as a reward a missal, the most sacred part of the treasure of the Goths, given originally by the patrician Aetius. This indirectly perhaps is a witness tot he survival of portions of the treasure of the Goths down to the time of Dagobert I] and his wife Aquilina had already founded several monasteries and abbeys. Guillebauds parents are also relatives of the Frankish kings, and great servants of various kingdoms.
Jean de Turckheim, in his Tablettes Généalogiques des illustres Maisons des Ducs de Zaeringen shows, however, that the assumptions on Adalric and the Etichonid family's multiple origins and the descendants of his children except [Etichon and Adalbert II] are a mystery. Other sources cite Mayor Leudesius [assassinated in the palace of Neustria 676], who was the grand-son of King Clotaire I and Ingonde - parents of Bilichilde, mother by Ansbert of the figure known as Erchinoald - he was father of Leudesius by Leutsinde, so we may say that the Etichonids are descended from Merovingian kings if we are to believe these sources.
Adalric was a rich landowner installed in the royal villa at Obernai. He was an influential figure in the political and military history of Austrasia. In about 655, he married Berswinde, who, according to the Chronicon Ebersheimense, was the daughter of a sister of St. Leger, Bishop of Autun and sister of a Queen of the Franks. This queen of the Franks can only be Chimnéchilde, the wife of Sigebert III, king of Austrasia [see below]. On the basis of onomastics she may even be a sister of the Seneschal Hugobert. Berswinde is very religious and uses her wealth to spread among the poor. Every day she retired in the most isolated part of the palace, to devote her spare time to reading holy books and exercises of piety. It was only after several years, in 662, that their first daughter, Odile, was born. She is blind. They also had two son's - Adalbert and Hugues (who was the grandfather of another Hughes and an Adèle) and Etichon (who is the father of Hugh and an Alberic). There must be a relationship between the two families (Adalbert, the older Etichon-Adalrich - who was husband of Gerlinde, granddaughter Hugobert) but that does not explain the presence of various names found among the brothers of Adalbert and their descendants.
There must have been a marriage in an earlier generation. The ancestry of Etichon-Adalric is well enough known to say that the marriage is not found there. The only solution left is to consider a close kinship between Hugobert and Bereswinde. Chronologically, they could be brother and sister. To explain the transmission of the names Alberic and Adele in the two families they must have been carried by the ancestors and relatives of Hugobert & Bereswinde, probably their parents. The Chronicon Ebersheimense (xiii century) indicates that Bereswinde was the niece of St. Leger of Autun [as we saw above] and that she had a sister, who was a queen of the Franks, who can only be chronologically Chimnechilde, wife of Sigebert III. This can be visualised thus:
Let us suppose that the confusion over the ancestry of Irmine is because of the husband she married. This was Hugobert, the senechal of Clovis III (in 693 ) and count of the palace of Childebert IV (in ( 697 ). In this scenario Hugobert is closely related to Bereswinde, who is probably sister of Chimnechild, mother of Dagobert II.
So are we talking of another Irmine, not the one who was daughter of Dagobert I. If her origins can be seen from Theotar this would make Irmine belong to a noble family in the area of early Carolingian areas [i.e. Austrasie]and through their intermarriage with them, they were not only in the 8th Century at the top of the Frankish Empire, but they also belong to the ancestors of Charlemagne.
Of course there are other theories. Edward Roquefeuil-d'Anduze makes a different family reconstruction . He considers Adele of Pfalzel - mentioned in the will of Thierry III and distinguishes Immine and Irmine as two separate people and resumes the tradition of making Irmine of Oeren and Adele Pfalzel daughters of King Dagobert I.
So are we talking of another Irmine, not the one who was daughter of Dagobert I. If her origins can be seen from Theotar this would make Irmine belong to a noble family in the area of early Carolingian areas [i.e. Austrasie]and through their intermarriage with them, they were not only in the 8th Century at the top of the Frankish Empire, but they also belong to the ancestors of Charlemagne.
Of course there are other theories. Edward Roquefeuil-d'Anduze makes a different family reconstruction . He considers Adele of Pfalzel - mentioned in the will of Thierry III and distinguishes Immine and Irmine as two separate people and resumes the tradition of making Irmine of Oeren and Adele Pfalzel daughters of King Dagobert I.
Eduard Hlawitschka devised the classical theory as follows:
And of course, one cannot omit the theory of Christian Settipani:
In Settipani's theory, there is another Irmine, who is a 'religious' in 704AD. How is all this possibly connected? Let us look at the return of Dagobert II from exile. Woods asserts that a figure known as Eticho may have been a member of the 'amici et pro-imi‘ (friends and relatives) of Dagobert II, as cited by Stephanus, who were responsible for Dagobert II‘s return.
Eticho first enters history as a member of the faction of nobles which invited Childeric II to take the kingship of Neustria and Burgundy in 673 after the death of Chlothar III. As we saw above he married Berswinda, a relative of Leodegar, the famous Bishop of Autun, whose party he supported in the civil war which followed Childeric's assassination two years later (675). After Childeric's assassination Eticho threw his support behind Dagobert II for the Austrasian throne. Some time before that he had abandoned Leodegar and gone over to the side of Ebroin - the mayor of the palace of Neustria sometime before 677, when he appears as an ally of Theuderic, who granted him the monastery of Bèze. Taking advantage of the assassination of Hector of Provence in 679 to bid for power in Provence, Eticho marched on Lyon but failed to take it and, returning to Alsace, switched his support to the Austrasians once more, only to find himself dispossessed of his lands in Alsace by King Theuderic III, an ally (and puppet) of Ebroin's who had been opposing Dagobert in Austrasia since 675. The persons therefore working with Childeric II such as Leodegar and Eticho were related to the Merovingian line of Dagobert II and did not support Ebroin.
Balthild, the widow of King Clovis II of Neustria [who was a brother of Sigebert III and thus uncle of Dagobert II] had a son, Childeric II, who married Bilichild, a sister or stepsister of Dagobert II. Should we see a connection here of Chimnechild trying to keep the Merovingian throne within her family? Chimnechilds ally, Wulfoald, is implicated in these events and had a strong hand in the reinstatement of Dagobert II to the throne some years later. (Wulfoald was an aristocrat of Austrasia whose family owned huge estates in Austrasia and Burgundy. He seems to have been the father of the Bishop of Toul, Garilbald (d. 706) and he seems to have had a relationship to Gondoin, father of another Bishop of Toul. He was close also to the Dukes of Alsace where he owned large landed estates under the reign of Aldaric (or Eticho, the father of Saint Odile whose clan was hostile to Pépinides).
In the turmoil of these events perhaps Dagobert was rescued from the plans of Grimoald and Dido and was sent to Cale instead? How? Perhaps via Leodegar? Leodegar was of Germanic origin born into a family from the rich aristocracy of the Rhine, in Austrasia in about to 615. He was the son of Bodilon von Thurgau and Sigarde of Neustria (herself a daughter of Ansoud of Neustria) who later became the holy Sigarde. The niece of Leodegar was Berswinde and his brother was a Bishop of Poitiers. His uncle was Bishop Dido. Leodegar was in the right place at the right time to intervene in the kidnap of Dagobert II. He was living with his uncle Dido in Poitiers at the time of Dagobert's exile. He however worked for Balthild and may have been instrumental in bringing Dagobert back from exile much later.
According to the Vita S. Bathildis Balthild was beautiful and intelligent and Erchinoald (whose wife had died) was attracted to her and wanted to marry her but she refused. She hid herself away and waited until Erchinoald remarried. Next King Clovis noticed her and sometime in 649 asked for her hand in marriage. Balthild was nineteen when she became queen. According to Woods Erchinoald was an ally of Dagobert II and he was also the Mayor of the Palace of Clovis. Fredegar also said that Erchinoald was a relative of King Dagobert I through Dagobert‘s mother (Haldetrude). Erchinoald succeeded Aega as the mayor of the palace of Neustria in 641 and succeeded Flaochad in Burgundy in 642 and remained such until his death in 658. According to Fredegar, he was a relative (consanguineus) of Dagobert I's mother. Chaume cites the Notitia de Fundatione Monasterii Glanderiensis to suggest that Erchinoald was descended from the Gallo Roman senator Ansbertus through a son of that senator also named Erchinoald and that Erchinoald's son Leudesius, and was therefor a descendant of the gallo-roman families of the Syagrii and Ferrèoli. Erchinoald's relationship with Merovingian King Dagobert has been proposed to have been through his mother Gerberga, daughter of Burgundian dux Ricomeres and Bertrude, her putative sister and mother of King Dagobert. Herchenfrida (Erchinfreda), mother of St Desiderius of Cahors will have also been of this family as is further evidenced inter alia by that Gallo Roman saint's close ties to King Dagobert, and a brother named "Syagrius".
Erchinoald introduced Balthild, an Anglo-Saxon slave, most probably of a high ranking Anglo Saxon family from East Anglia (later canonised), to Clovis II, king of Neustria. The king's marriage to the pious Balthild reinforced Erchinoald's position at court. It has been suggested given the rarity of the name element "Erchin" (genuine or truly) among the Franks and Saxons that Queen Emma of Kent, thought to be from Frankia, and the wife of Eadbald of Kent was of this family and perhaps Erchinoald's daughter. Eadbald and Emma had a son Eorconbert b. ca 618 so Emma was probably born before 600 and was not a daughter but a sister or less likely a cousin of Erchinoald. This was a period of considerable Frankish influence in Kent and East Anglia and as one of the most powerful men in Frankia located at his estate at Peronne not far from the English channel when he was not at court, it was Erchinoald who wielded this influence during his lifetime. Erchinoald supported efforts of successors of the Augustinian mission to England. One notable manner in which he both exerted influence and aided the mission was his involvement in and support of convents within his sphere of influence in Nuestria (for example Faremoutiers) into which some of the princesses of Kent, such as Eorcongota and East Anglia such as Aethelburg and Saethryth, in most cases his relations, retired and were made abbess.
It is sometimes suggested that Dagobert II married an Anglo-Saxon princess. If this is correct it is more than likely that the princess may have been related to the royal family of the Kingdom of Kent. Why? Because Gregory the Great seems to have thought that the Merovingian kings under Theudebert I and Chilperic I exercised authority in Kent. Also Aethelberht married Charibert I’s daughter Bertha. Bertha’s daughter Ethelberga also felt able to send her children to King Dagobert I and his court for protection. Aethelberht had a son called Eadbald. He married Emma, a daughter of Erchinoald (who you remember was a cousin of Dagobert I through his mother Gerberge of Burgundy) a Mayor of the Palace whom we have already met and a supporter of Dagobert II.
When Dagobert II was kidnapped it seems apparent that his immediate family and friends did not know where he had gone. Later, when political events around Ebroin meant that he was conducting ‘witch hunts’, Adalric, a kinsman of Dagobert II, was trying to gain the ‘patricius’of Provence. Adalric had been a supporter of Theuderic III who was a stepbrother of Dagobert II. When he didn’t get the ‘patricius’ Adalric deserted Theuderic III. Apparently he deserted back to the ‘austrasians’ who then ‘recalled’ Dagobert II. What is fascinating is that this Adalric married Berswinde in 655, who according to the Chronicon Ebersheimense, was the daughter of a sister of Leodegar whom we met above and also sister of a queen of the Franks. The only queen who can match is Chimnéchilde - the possible mother of Dagobert II. However, others make Bereswinde, on onamastics grounds, a sister of the seneschal Hugobert as we saw above.
There are obviously some underlying events going on here. Adalric’s wife was Bereswinde who was a Merovingian herself. She was a possible sister of Chimnechilde. How likely is it that Chimnechilde is the mother of Dagobert II then? Why was he not brought back from exile when Grimoald was murdered? As some scholars have noted perhaps it was because he was not the son of Sigebert III’s widow, Chimnechild? Nothing is known about Dagobert’s mother’s family: had it been aristocratic it would have presented a constant challenge to Chimnechild during the reign of her son-in-law and daughter and they would have been waiting in the wings on Childeric II’s death. Instead what happened was that Childeric, son of Clovis II and Balthild (and mother of the reigning Neustrian king, Chlotar III) was married to his Austrasian cousin, the Merovingian princess, Bilichild, a daughter of Sigebert III and Queen Chimnechild, and sent to rule Austrasia with his mother-in-law, Chimnechild as regent.
Conclusions
It would seem that whichever way you reconstruct the family relationships of this Irmine of Oeren she would have had access to the life, exile and recall of Dagobert II. It is possible that she was related to him as Plantard and Cherisey speculated. Is there a muddled history here? We even have the Visigothic element, because the Etichonids [the descendants of the family above which includes the Irmine/Hugobertine scenario] a noble family, are suggested to have as antecedents those of Frankish, Burgundian or Visigothic origin, who rose to dominate the region of Alsace. In the mid-7th century a duke of the region named Amalgar and his wife Aquilina are noticed as major founders and patrons of monasteries. King Dagobert I and his father made donations to them to recover their loyalty and compensate them for the losses that they had sustained as supporters of Queen Brunhild and her grandson, Sigebert II. Amalgar and his wife founded a convent at Brégille and an abbey at Bèze, installing a son and daughter in the abbacies. They were succeeded by their third child, Adalrich, who was the father of Adalrich, Duke of Alsace. This second Adalrich was the true founder of the family's greatness in Alsace, where he secured the ducal title. His cognomen, Eticho, became the name of the family. Rather strangely Amalgaqire is sent on an envoy to Vascony by King Dagobert in 635 to get a trophy of war promised by the Visigoths after he [Dagobert] had provided military assistance to them.
I don't suppose we can go much further in these speculations. Unless of course, the manuscript said to rest in the reliquary of the skull of Dagobert II is ever released for researchers to see and analyse. It is supposed to have been written by this holy Irmina. As i said above it reports the 'the assassination of her father Dagobert II, the sojourn of her half brother Sigebert IV at the monastery of Oeren, and his refuge …. In January 681 he is smuggled to Rhedae’ . This skull of Dagobert II seems to have been romanticised in art work, according to Cherisey, being one of the central motifs used by Guercino and Poussin in their most famous paintings. De Cherisey asks ’Is it the skull of Dagobert II or Sigebert IV that the phrase ’et in arcadia ego’ refers to?’ Vazart goes one step further saying that the skull was once in the keeping of Jean de Habsburg who had been linked to Marie Denarnaud, the confidente of Berenger Sauniere. Somehow we are supposed to understand that the mystery of Dagobert is related to Sauniere. Or maybe we should be thinking of the mystery of Irmina? Either way it suggests that Dagobert II has been picked to carry a 'mystery' ... which incidentally is indicated in the historical annals.
The 'story' continues ....
Eticho first enters history as a member of the faction of nobles which invited Childeric II to take the kingship of Neustria and Burgundy in 673 after the death of Chlothar III. As we saw above he married Berswinda, a relative of Leodegar, the famous Bishop of Autun, whose party he supported in the civil war which followed Childeric's assassination two years later (675). After Childeric's assassination Eticho threw his support behind Dagobert II for the Austrasian throne. Some time before that he had abandoned Leodegar and gone over to the side of Ebroin - the mayor of the palace of Neustria sometime before 677, when he appears as an ally of Theuderic, who granted him the monastery of Bèze. Taking advantage of the assassination of Hector of Provence in 679 to bid for power in Provence, Eticho marched on Lyon but failed to take it and, returning to Alsace, switched his support to the Austrasians once more, only to find himself dispossessed of his lands in Alsace by King Theuderic III, an ally (and puppet) of Ebroin's who had been opposing Dagobert in Austrasia since 675. The persons therefore working with Childeric II such as Leodegar and Eticho were related to the Merovingian line of Dagobert II and did not support Ebroin.
Balthild, the widow of King Clovis II of Neustria [who was a brother of Sigebert III and thus uncle of Dagobert II] had a son, Childeric II, who married Bilichild, a sister or stepsister of Dagobert II. Should we see a connection here of Chimnechild trying to keep the Merovingian throne within her family? Chimnechilds ally, Wulfoald, is implicated in these events and had a strong hand in the reinstatement of Dagobert II to the throne some years later. (Wulfoald was an aristocrat of Austrasia whose family owned huge estates in Austrasia and Burgundy. He seems to have been the father of the Bishop of Toul, Garilbald (d. 706) and he seems to have had a relationship to Gondoin, father of another Bishop of Toul. He was close also to the Dukes of Alsace where he owned large landed estates under the reign of Aldaric (or Eticho, the father of Saint Odile whose clan was hostile to Pépinides).
In the turmoil of these events perhaps Dagobert was rescued from the plans of Grimoald and Dido and was sent to Cale instead? How? Perhaps via Leodegar? Leodegar was of Germanic origin born into a family from the rich aristocracy of the Rhine, in Austrasia in about to 615. He was the son of Bodilon von Thurgau and Sigarde of Neustria (herself a daughter of Ansoud of Neustria) who later became the holy Sigarde. The niece of Leodegar was Berswinde and his brother was a Bishop of Poitiers. His uncle was Bishop Dido. Leodegar was in the right place at the right time to intervene in the kidnap of Dagobert II. He was living with his uncle Dido in Poitiers at the time of Dagobert's exile. He however worked for Balthild and may have been instrumental in bringing Dagobert back from exile much later.
According to the Vita S. Bathildis Balthild was beautiful and intelligent and Erchinoald (whose wife had died) was attracted to her and wanted to marry her but she refused. She hid herself away and waited until Erchinoald remarried. Next King Clovis noticed her and sometime in 649 asked for her hand in marriage. Balthild was nineteen when she became queen. According to Woods Erchinoald was an ally of Dagobert II and he was also the Mayor of the Palace of Clovis. Fredegar also said that Erchinoald was a relative of King Dagobert I through Dagobert‘s mother (Haldetrude). Erchinoald succeeded Aega as the mayor of the palace of Neustria in 641 and succeeded Flaochad in Burgundy in 642 and remained such until his death in 658. According to Fredegar, he was a relative (consanguineus) of Dagobert I's mother. Chaume cites the Notitia de Fundatione Monasterii Glanderiensis to suggest that Erchinoald was descended from the Gallo Roman senator Ansbertus through a son of that senator also named Erchinoald and that Erchinoald's son Leudesius, and was therefor a descendant of the gallo-roman families of the Syagrii and Ferrèoli. Erchinoald's relationship with Merovingian King Dagobert has been proposed to have been through his mother Gerberga, daughter of Burgundian dux Ricomeres and Bertrude, her putative sister and mother of King Dagobert. Herchenfrida (Erchinfreda), mother of St Desiderius of Cahors will have also been of this family as is further evidenced inter alia by that Gallo Roman saint's close ties to King Dagobert, and a brother named "Syagrius".
Erchinoald introduced Balthild, an Anglo-Saxon slave, most probably of a high ranking Anglo Saxon family from East Anglia (later canonised), to Clovis II, king of Neustria. The king's marriage to the pious Balthild reinforced Erchinoald's position at court. It has been suggested given the rarity of the name element "Erchin" (genuine or truly) among the Franks and Saxons that Queen Emma of Kent, thought to be from Frankia, and the wife of Eadbald of Kent was of this family and perhaps Erchinoald's daughter. Eadbald and Emma had a son Eorconbert b. ca 618 so Emma was probably born before 600 and was not a daughter but a sister or less likely a cousin of Erchinoald. This was a period of considerable Frankish influence in Kent and East Anglia and as one of the most powerful men in Frankia located at his estate at Peronne not far from the English channel when he was not at court, it was Erchinoald who wielded this influence during his lifetime. Erchinoald supported efforts of successors of the Augustinian mission to England. One notable manner in which he both exerted influence and aided the mission was his involvement in and support of convents within his sphere of influence in Nuestria (for example Faremoutiers) into which some of the princesses of Kent, such as Eorcongota and East Anglia such as Aethelburg and Saethryth, in most cases his relations, retired and were made abbess.
It is sometimes suggested that Dagobert II married an Anglo-Saxon princess. If this is correct it is more than likely that the princess may have been related to the royal family of the Kingdom of Kent. Why? Because Gregory the Great seems to have thought that the Merovingian kings under Theudebert I and Chilperic I exercised authority in Kent. Also Aethelberht married Charibert I’s daughter Bertha. Bertha’s daughter Ethelberga also felt able to send her children to King Dagobert I and his court for protection. Aethelberht had a son called Eadbald. He married Emma, a daughter of Erchinoald (who you remember was a cousin of Dagobert I through his mother Gerberge of Burgundy) a Mayor of the Palace whom we have already met and a supporter of Dagobert II.
When Dagobert II was kidnapped it seems apparent that his immediate family and friends did not know where he had gone. Later, when political events around Ebroin meant that he was conducting ‘witch hunts’, Adalric, a kinsman of Dagobert II, was trying to gain the ‘patricius’of Provence. Adalric had been a supporter of Theuderic III who was a stepbrother of Dagobert II. When he didn’t get the ‘patricius’ Adalric deserted Theuderic III. Apparently he deserted back to the ‘austrasians’ who then ‘recalled’ Dagobert II. What is fascinating is that this Adalric married Berswinde in 655, who according to the Chronicon Ebersheimense, was the daughter of a sister of Leodegar whom we met above and also sister of a queen of the Franks. The only queen who can match is Chimnéchilde - the possible mother of Dagobert II. However, others make Bereswinde, on onamastics grounds, a sister of the seneschal Hugobert as we saw above.
There are obviously some underlying events going on here. Adalric’s wife was Bereswinde who was a Merovingian herself. She was a possible sister of Chimnechilde. How likely is it that Chimnechilde is the mother of Dagobert II then? Why was he not brought back from exile when Grimoald was murdered? As some scholars have noted perhaps it was because he was not the son of Sigebert III’s widow, Chimnechild? Nothing is known about Dagobert’s mother’s family: had it been aristocratic it would have presented a constant challenge to Chimnechild during the reign of her son-in-law and daughter and they would have been waiting in the wings on Childeric II’s death. Instead what happened was that Childeric, son of Clovis II and Balthild (and mother of the reigning Neustrian king, Chlotar III) was married to his Austrasian cousin, the Merovingian princess, Bilichild, a daughter of Sigebert III and Queen Chimnechild, and sent to rule Austrasia with his mother-in-law, Chimnechild as regent.
Conclusions
It would seem that whichever way you reconstruct the family relationships of this Irmine of Oeren she would have had access to the life, exile and recall of Dagobert II. It is possible that she was related to him as Plantard and Cherisey speculated. Is there a muddled history here? We even have the Visigothic element, because the Etichonids [the descendants of the family above which includes the Irmine/Hugobertine scenario] a noble family, are suggested to have as antecedents those of Frankish, Burgundian or Visigothic origin, who rose to dominate the region of Alsace. In the mid-7th century a duke of the region named Amalgar and his wife Aquilina are noticed as major founders and patrons of monasteries. King Dagobert I and his father made donations to them to recover their loyalty and compensate them for the losses that they had sustained as supporters of Queen Brunhild and her grandson, Sigebert II. Amalgar and his wife founded a convent at Brégille and an abbey at Bèze, installing a son and daughter in the abbacies. They were succeeded by their third child, Adalrich, who was the father of Adalrich, Duke of Alsace. This second Adalrich was the true founder of the family's greatness in Alsace, where he secured the ducal title. His cognomen, Eticho, became the name of the family. Rather strangely Amalgaqire is sent on an envoy to Vascony by King Dagobert in 635 to get a trophy of war promised by the Visigoths after he [Dagobert] had provided military assistance to them.
I don't suppose we can go much further in these speculations. Unless of course, the manuscript said to rest in the reliquary of the skull of Dagobert II is ever released for researchers to see and analyse. It is supposed to have been written by this holy Irmina. As i said above it reports the 'the assassination of her father Dagobert II, the sojourn of her half brother Sigebert IV at the monastery of Oeren, and his refuge …. In January 681 he is smuggled to Rhedae’ . This skull of Dagobert II seems to have been romanticised in art work, according to Cherisey, being one of the central motifs used by Guercino and Poussin in their most famous paintings. De Cherisey asks ’Is it the skull of Dagobert II or Sigebert IV that the phrase ’et in arcadia ego’ refers to?’ Vazart goes one step further saying that the skull was once in the keeping of Jean de Habsburg who had been linked to Marie Denarnaud, the confidente of Berenger Sauniere. Somehow we are supposed to understand that the mystery of Dagobert is related to Sauniere. Or maybe we should be thinking of the mystery of Irmina? Either way it suggests that Dagobert II has been picked to carry a 'mystery' ... which incidentally is indicated in the historical annals.
The 'story' continues ....