A letter from Brunhild, queen of Austrasia and Burgundy (584)

Translated letter:

To the glorious lord, to be named with unutterable desire, sweetest grandson, king Athanagild, queen Brunhild. A desired opportunity of great happiness has come to me, dearest grandson, through which I may be brought by letter to those loveable eyes of the face I frequently/fervently desire, and in part consoled, in whom my sweet[est] daughter may be recalled to me, whom sins have taken away. I do not lose the daughter completely if, with the Lord helping, her progeny is preserved for me. For that reason, greeting your sweetest highness, discharging the observances most devotedly, praying urgently that divine clemency may order me to rejoice and be restored about your innocence, I am indicating to the most pious emperor through legates about certain conditions, ordering some things to be intimated orally. Through them you should learn about what will be arranged, if Christ, propitious, orders them to be carried out worthily. The end.

Original letter:

Domino glorioso atque ineffabili desederio nominando, dulcissimo nepoti, Athanagyldo regi, Brunehildis regina. Accessit mihi, nepus carissime, votiva magne felicitatis occasio, per quam, cuius aspectum frequenter desidero vel pro parte relevor, cum directis epistulis amabilibus illis oculis repraesentor, in quo mihi, quam peccata subduxerunt, dulcis filia revocatur; nec perdo natam ex integro, si, praestante Domino, mihi proles edita conservatur. Quapropter dulcissime celsitudini vestrae salutantes officia devinctissime persolventes et, ut me divina clementia de tua praecipiat innocentia gratulari ac refici, instanter exorans, significo, piissimo imperatore per nostros legatariis de quibusdam condicionibus aliqua verbo intimanda mandasse, per quos de his, quae disponenda sunt, poteritis agnoscere, si Christus propitius praeceperit dignanter implere. Finit.

Historical context:

Athanagild was the son of Brunhild’s late daughter Ingund and the Visigothic prince Hermengild; he was being held at the Byzantine court. According to Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, 6.40, Hermengild’s father had imprisoned him for rebellion and left his wife and son to be captured by the Greeks. Paul the Deacon explains that Hermingild had been converted by his wife and a bishop, arousing the anger of his Arian father, Livigild, king of the Spanish, who had his son put to death; Ingund fled and was captured by Greeks and brought to Sicily [or Carthage] where she died, and her child was brought to the emperor Maurice, History of the Lombards, 3.21.

Printed source:

MGH MK Epistolae Austrasicae, ep.27 p.139, and HGF4 ep51 p.83; small variants in vocabulary, "frequenter" for "ferventer," or "form," "persolvimus" for "persolventes," "dulcissima" for "dulcis," and a few case endings.

Date:

584