Plectrude Lore Books

Description

Biography of Plectrude, the wife of Pepin II the Middle, Duchess of Francia, Regent of Neustrie.

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Plectrude

Plectrude, born a.d. 650, was the wife of Pepin II the Middle, Duke and Lord of the Frankish Empire.

As the wife of the majordomo, de facto ruler of the Frankish Empire (the monarch had no real power), Plectrude directly participated in state negotiations and was even a co-signatory on documents and papers issued by her husband. Plectrude had two sons from her marriage with Pepin, Drogon and Grimoald. However, neither of them inherited their father’s position.

Pepin also had a son, Charles, called Martel, who, though a bastard himself, claimed the inheritance. None of Plectrude’s sons later survived their father, so she tried to wrest the succession for her grandson, Grimoald’s son Theudoald. After Pepin’s death, she became regent of Neustria, which she intended to remain until Theudoald reached adulthood. Charles Martel spent the first years of her reign imprisoned in Cologne in what was then Austrasia.

The nobility soon began to speak out against this, according to whose view, on the contrary, Charles Martel was a legitimate successor, since he was descended from the union of Pepin and his second wife, Alpaida (polygamy was not considered an offence or sin at that time, and was practiced quite commonly by the nobility). Thanks to the help of the nobility, Charles was released from prison and proclaimed Lord of Austrasia.

The succession struggle later became even more heated and Plectrude was turned away from the Neustrian nobility, who, with the support of the Frisian duke Radbod, forced her to flee to Cologne with Theudoald. A final battle was fought near Cologne soon afterwards, after which Plectrude was forced to relinquish the royal treasury she was holding and abandon her claim to the position of majordomo for her grandson.

The last years of Plectrude’s life were spent in the Kolin monastery, which she herself founded and where she is still laid to eternal rest.