Saint Gertrude of Nivelles (also spelled Geretrude, Geretrudis, Gertrud) (ca. 621 - March 17, 659) was a seventh century abbess who, with her mother Itta, founded the monastery of Nivelles in present-day Belgium.
Gertrude's father, Pepin of Landen (Pippin the Elder), a nobleman from east Francia, had been instrumental in persuading King Clothar II to crown his son, Dagobert I, as the King of Austrasia. Due to her position at the palace, Gertrude's mother, Itta of Metz, was likely acquainted with St. Amandus, the Bishop of Maastricht.
When Dagobert succeeded his father and the court moved to Neustria, Pippin became mayor of the palace, and his family (including young Gertrude) moved with the king's court. Thus, Gertrude became introduced to politics during her childhood in the royal court. Arnulf of Metz, Pippin's close ally, was one of several royal counselors who received ecclesiastical posts after a secular career.
Gertrude's biography begins with her father hosting a banquet when Gertrude was ten years old. That the king accepted Pippin's invitation to the dinner at all shows Pippin's power and standing as well as that of his family. At this feast, the King asked Gertrude if she would like to marry the "son of a duke of the Austrasians.... for the sake of his worldly ambition and mutual alliance." Gertrude declined and "lost her temper and flatly rejected him with an oath, saying that she would have neither him nor any earthly spouse but Christ the Lord."
Marriage alliances were important in this era although scholars disagree as to the extent parents or kings asserted power over spousal choice. The marriage between Gertrude's sister Begga and Ansegisel helped set the stage for a Carolingian takeover of Austrasia. The marriage of their son Pepin the Middle and Plectrude later secured the lands of Plectrude's parents Hugobert and Irmina of Oeren between the Rhine, Moselle and Meuse rivers, because Plectrued was an only child. Begga's sons enhanced Pepin's power by marrying women with political connections in the north and northwest. All agree that the girl's personal feeling mattered little. One scholar speculated that if Pippin I had lived longer, he would likely have forced Gertrude to marry the son of the Austrasian duke, thus giving power to the Pippinids sooner to supplant the Merovingians.
Dagobert died in 639 and was succeeded by Sigebert. When Pippin died, Gertrude's brother Grimoald competed with Otto to become the new mayor of the palace; he revolted in a grab for power. After Otto died in battle a decade later, "the dignity of mayor of Sigebert's palace and control of all the kingdom of Austrasia was thus decisively assured to Grimoald" and the Pippinids.
The mention of Gertrude's decided rejection of her Austrasian suitor is unique for the era. At least one scholar considers it to have been deliberately included by the chronicler as expressing her character. The reference to a prior betrothal to Christ, becomes common in later saints' lives. The suitor, while irritated, is not emotionally affected by this rejection.
After Dagobert's death in 640, Pippin returned to the east, taking Gertrude with him. Soon after, Pippin himself died, giving Gertrude the freedom to take the veil and enter the monastic life. Scholars debate the date of the death of Pippin. Some sources date it as late as 650, although others date it much earlier.
Just before her death in 659, Gertrude instructed the nuns at Nivelles to bury her in an old veil left behind by a travelling pilgrimess and Gertrude's own hair shirt. She died in poverty, 17 March 659, at the age, we are told, of thirty-three years.
SOURCE: Wikipedia
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