Brunechildis reginae epistolae (translation into Polish)
Małgorzata Chudzikowska-Wołoszyn
University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5631-7259
Abstract
In the collection of Austrasian Letters, the reader's attention is drawn to five letters written on behalf of the Austrasian queen Brunhilda. These letters belonged to two separate packages of diplomatic correspondence, which was prepared for the needs of envoys traveling to Constantinople between 585 and 593. The two missions undertaken at that time concerned the rather difficult and at the same time tense political situation that appeared in the relations between the Merovingians and Constantinople from 582. The main aim was to appease the dissatisfaction of the Byzantine emperor Mauricius due to the failure to fulfill earlier obligations, which consisted in actively involving the Franks in the war with the Lombards. The bargaining chip between the courts was Brunhilda's grandson Athanagild, who had been kidnapped to Constantinople. The queen's letters attached to the diplomatic package clearly stand out from the rest of the correspondence. They are distinguished by their personal content and emotional language, which did not correspond to the accepted diplomatic messages and formulas. However, a detailed analysis of Brunhilda's epistles allows us to state that they were an extremely precise and well-thought-out communication tool. The personal expression and emotional scenarios used in them became a kind of tactic aimed at exerting indirect influence on the emperor. The letters confirm not only the queen's thorough education, but also the position and political influence she had at the royal court. The cool political tactics and strategies she implemented also prove her leadership skills and authority.
Keywords:
Austrasian letters, Brunhild, letters of Brunhild, translationReferences
Corpus Francicae historiae veteris et sincerae, ed. M. Freher, Hanover 1613, s. 182-212.
Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Epp. III Epistulae Merouingici et Karolini aevi, ed. W. Ghundlach, Berlin 1892, s. 110-153.
Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 117, ed. H.M. Rochais, Turnhout 1957, s. 403-470.
Malaspina E., Il Liber epistolarum della cancelleria austrasica (sec. V-VI), Roma 2001.
Barrett G. – Woudhuysen G., Assembling the Austrasian Letters at Trier and Lorsch, „Early Medieval Europe” 24 (2016) s. 3-57. (Crossref)
Bętkowski M., Obraz stosunków bizantyjsko-frankijskich w listach władców merowińskich do Justyniana I. Część I: Posłowie, „Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. Prace Historyczne” 141/1 (2014) s. 1-14.
Bischoff B., Die Abtei Lorsch im Spiegel ihrer Handschriften, Lorsch 1989.
Dąbrowski K., Administracja Bizancjum – rozwój i upadek, „Studenckie Zeszyty Naukowe” 5/8 (2002) s. 74-87.
Dronke P., Women Writers of the Middle Ages. A Critical Study of Texts from Perpetua († 203) to Marguerite Porete († 1310), Cambridge 1984.
Faber G., Merowingowie i Karolingowie, tł. Z. Jaworski, Warszawa 1994.
Gillett A., Love and Grief in Post-Imperial Diplomacy: The Letters of Brunhild, w: Studies in Emotions and Power in the Late Roman World: Papers in honour of Ron Newbold, red. B. Sidwell – D. Dzino, Piscataway 2010, s. 127-165. (Crossref)
Gundlach W., Die Sammlung der Epistolae Austrasicae, „Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde” 13 (1888) s. 365-387.
Horváth E., Violence and Passion at Court: Brunhilda, a Visigothic Princess, „Acta Hispanica” 25 (2020) s. 137-152. (Crossref)
McKitterick R., System polityczny, w: Wczesne średniowiecze, red. R. McKitterick, tł. Z. Dalewski, Warszawa 2010, s. 35-77.
Nelson J., Queens as Jezebels: The Careers of Brunhild and Balthild in Merovingian History, w: Medieval Women, red. D. Baker, Oxford 1978, s. 31-77. (Crossref)
Riché P., Edukacja i kultura w Europie Zachodniej VI-VIII w., tł. M. Radożycka-Paoletti, Warszawa 1995.
Serejski M.H., Idea Imperium Romanum w Galii merowińskie w VI stuleciu, „Przegląd Historyczny” 25 (1925) s. 261-314.
Strzelczyk J., Goci – rzeczywistość i legenda, Warszawa 1984.
Tyrrell V.A., Merovingian Letters and Letter Writers, Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin 12, Turnhout 2019. (Crossref)
Wispelwey B., Biographical Index of the Middle Ages, t. 1-2, München 2008. (Crossref)
Wood I., Królestwa Merowingów. Władza – społeczeństwo – kultura, tł. M. Wilk, Warszawa 2009.
University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5631-7259
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Papers published in Vox Patrum are covered by the Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) licence. Authors and users can use published works licensed under the CC-BY-ND since 2018. For earlier publications, copyrights are available under fair use rights in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 on copyrights and related rights.