Ancestral Trails 2016 » Galswintha of The VISIGOTHS (540-568)

Personal data Galswintha of The VISIGOTHS 

• She was born in the year 540 in Iberian Peninsula, Hispania.
• Title: Queen Consort of Neustria (Soissons)
• She died in the year 568 in Soissons, Aisne, Picardie, France, she was 28 years old.Source 1

  Murdered by strangulation

• A child of ATHANAGILD I OF THE VISIGOTHS and GOLSWINTHA

Household of Galswintha of The VISIGOTHS

She is married to CHILPERIC de SOISSONS.

They got married in the year 567, she was 27 years old.

Notes about Galswintha of The VISIGOTHS

Galswintha (540-568) was a queen consort of Neustria. She was the daughter of Athanagild, Visigothic king of Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal), and Goiswintha. Galswintha was the sister of Brunhilda, Queen of Austrasia; and the wife of Chilperic I, the Merovingian king of Neustria. Galswintha was murdered at the urging of Chilperic's former wife, Fredegund, instigating a 40 year civil war within the Merovingian kingdom.

History
Merovingian king, Chilperic I (561-584), sought Galswintha's hand in marriage after his brother, King Sigebert, had married the noblewoman, Brunhilda (Galswintha's sister), a union that violated the Merovingian tradition of seeking the hand of a lowborn woman instead. According to Gregory of Tours, Chilperic was betrothed to multiple women at the time of his marriage to Galswintha and had promised to dismiss all of them if she accepted his proposal, which she did and Chilperic honored his avowal by dispensing with his other wives. Immediately after marrying Galswintha sometime between 556-557, Chilperic gave to her the cities of Limoges, Bordeaux, Cahors, Bearn, and Bigorre as a gift. Chilperic supposedly loved her "dearly" due to her substantial dowry. His former wife Fredegund continued to visit the king's bedchamber, despite Chilperic's proclaimed commitment to Galswintha. She complained bitterly about this betrayal. Still in love with Fredegund, Chilperic allowed himself to be manipulated and had his wealthy wife murdered. Galswintha was apparently strangled. After Galswintha's death, however, the lands-formerly given by Chilperic-passed to her sister Brunhilda.

Even though Chilperic retained Galswintha's dowry, her untimely death aroused the enmity of her sister Brunhilda against him and Fredegund; it also incurred the wrath of his brother Sigebert, bringing about 40 years of conflict between the Frankish kingdoms of Austrasia and Neustria-a veritable Merovingian civil war. When Chilperic was murdered in 584, Brunhilda's anger remained unassuaged, and the conflict following Galswintha's murder continued until Fredegund's death in 597.

Galswintha remains listed in modern genealogical charts demonstrating the links between the Visigothic kingdoms and the Byzantine Empire.
SOURCE: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galswintha

Do you have supplementary information, corrections or questions with regards to Galswintha of The VISIGOTHS?
The author of this publication would love to hear from you!

Timeline Galswintha of The VISIGOTHS

Click on the names for more info. Symbols used:  grandparents    parents    brothers/sisters    children