2023-07-25 05:00:10
Adornment of Queen Arégonde dating from the 6th century. It was found in 1959 in the excavations of the Saint-Denis basilica. JEAN-GILLES BERIZZI/MUSEUM OF NATIONAL ARCHEOLOGY
What do you know of the Franks and the Merovingian kings? What remains of your school memories? A few names like Clovis, Clotilde or Dagobert. Images of Epinal like the baptism of Clovis in Reims on Christmas day, the story of the vase of Soissons, the murderous rivalry between queens Frédégonde and Brunehaut, lazy kings wallowing in carts pulled by oxen. A territory regularly cut into slices according to royal successions, an obscure High Middle Ages forged by barbarians. And, to finish, political recoveries, in particular that of the Vichy regime which remembered not without opportunism that, basically, the Franks were a Germanic people like the Germans. Lots of negative shots, then.
However, when, in 1959, the archaeologist Michel Fleury discovered in the basement of the Saint-Denis basilica a sarcophagus containing the remains of a woman and her funerary furniture, a sophisticated society, open to the world, appeared.
First of all, there is a gold name ring on which, around a monogram meaning “queen”, one can read in capital letters the name “ARNEGUNDIS”. After fourteen centuries of oblivion, Arégonde, wife of Clotaire I – son of Clovis – and mother of Chilpéric, who will inherit the kingdom of Soissons, has just reappeared.
“We don’t know much about her.recognizes Fanny Hamonic, curator in charge of the collections of the early Middle Ages at the National Archeology Museum of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines). We have just a few lines in the accounts of Grégoire de Tours. But even if Arégonde does not have an important political status, she is still buried in Saint-Denis. It is not yet the necropolis of the Merovingian kings but it is there that the high aristocracy is buried. »
Oriental silk and gemstones from Bohemia
Died around 580 to 60 years ago (according to the study of the bones), Arégonde was buried with what is supposed to be her favorite adornments, which bore traces of wear. Fragments of textiles have also made it possible to reconstruct the way in which his remains were dressed. You have to imagine the queen dressed in a purple silk coat, closed by an exceptional belt of which the sumptuously worked silver trim elements remain.
She also wore a veil studded with gold pins (including a large one adorned with garnets), a red tunic, stockings held up by complex garters including large studs with animal decoration, and pumps. In the jewelry category, there are two gold cloisonné brooches, decorated with garnets, and a pair of earrings.
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