Chlodosind
Overview
Biography
Chlodosind was the daughter of King Clothar and Ingund. Around 559 she married the Lombard king Alboin. This marriage was important politically, because it strengthened ties between the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms against the expansionist ambitions of the Byzantine Empire, the Lombards’ erstwhile ally. Paul the Deacon records that she had one child, Albsuinda, by Alboin. She died around 570, during the Lombard conquest of Italy (568-572).
The Lombards, and probably Alboin himself, were still largely pagan when Bishop Nicetius of Trier sent his letter to Chlodosind, a Nicene Christian. In it, Nicetius denounces the missionary activities of Arian Christians in Alboin’s court, and he provides Chlodosind with scriptural proofs to draw her husband to Nicene Christianity.*