Desiderata ( Latin Desiderata ; around 747 , Pavia - after 771 ) is the conventional name used by historians for one of the daughters of the King of the Lombards, Desiderius , whose real name has not been preserved in historical sources . She was probably the second wife of Charles the Great, King of the Franks .
| Desiderate | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| lat Desiderata | |||||||
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| Predecessor | Bertrad or Himiltrud | ||||||
| Successor | Hildegard | ||||||
| Birth | about 747 Pavia | ||||||
| Death | after 771 | ||||||
| Father | Desiderius | ||||||
| Mother | Ansa | ||||||
| Spouse | |||||||
Biography
Origin
The king of the Lombards, Desiderius and his wife Ansa, had five children: the son Adelhiz and four daughters - Anselperga , , Lutberg and the one whom historiography Desiderata. Her name is not mentioned in any of the early medieval sources. All of them, including the Frankish annals , the Life of Charlemagne by Einhard and the message of Pope Stephen III (IV) , call her only "... the daughter of King Desiderius ...". An exception is the chronicle of Andrei Bergamsky , who relied on legends and traditions in the description of events related to the events of the 770s. In it, the wife of Charlemagne is named Bertrada (Bertetrada), however, it is likely that the chronicler mistakenly endowed the wife of the monarch with the name of his mother [3] .
Until the beginning of the XIX century, there was no consensus among historians about the name of the Langobard wife of King Charles: she was called either Ermengard, then Theodora, then Berta, or Desiderata. The last of these names was based on an erroneous reading of the text of the life of St. Adalard , in which the Latin expression " desideratam filiam " was read not as "... the desired daughter ...", but as "... the daughter of Desideratus ...". The same mistake was contained in the publication of this historical source, carried out in 1828 as part of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica . Since then, thanks to the authority of this publication, the name of the Desideratus has been assigned to the anonymous daughter of the ruler of the Lombards in historical science [4] [5] .
In 1998, British historian suggested that the real name for Desiderata was Herperga (Herberg). As evidence, she pointed out that even some contemporary historical sources confused the facts from the biography of Herberg , the wife of King Karloman , with the facts from the biography of Karl the Great’s wife [6] . According to Janet Nelson, this became possible only because both spouses of kings-co-rulers had the same names. Another argument in favor of his theory, the historian considers the presence in the names of the other daughters of Desiderius the basis of perga , which probably should have included in his name the anonymous daughter of the Lombard king [7] .
Wife of Charlemagne
Nothing is known about the life of Desiderata until 770. In the same year, according to the Frankish annals, the mother of kings Karl and Karloman Bertrad made a trip to Italy , whose goal was to achieve a lasting peace between the Frankish state and the Kingdom of the Lombards . Bertrada visited Rome , where she met with Pope Stephen III, and Pavia , where she entered into an agreement with King Desiderius on an alliance that was to be held together by the marriage of his daughter and son Bertrada. Going home, the Queen of the Franks took Desiderata with her [8] .
The daughter of the Lombard king was intended by Bertrada to be the wife of her son Karl. However, at that time he was in love with a noble Frankish woman named Himiltrude and was the father of her son Pepin . In the Frankish sources of the 8th – 9th centuries, Himiltrud is called the king’s rivalry. However, many modern historians consider her the legal wife of Karl, basing their opinion on the text of the message of Pope Stephen III to the rulers of the Franks [9] .
Despite the active protests of Pope Stefan, who feared that the Franco-Lombard Union would make the papacy dependent on King Desiderius [10] , on December 25, 770, Charlemagne and Desiderata were married in Mainz . This marriage was the only marriage of King Charles with a foreign princess. Historians believe that this was an exclusively political move that the ruler of the Frankish state was forced to take under the strong pressure of his mother [11] .
Almost nothing is known about the joint life of Karl and Desiderata. Based on the fact that none of the contemporary events of historical sources calls Desiderata the “queen”, it is assumed that she did not exert any influence on the rule of her spouse [11] . The marriage of King Charles and Desiderata lasted only one year. Already in 771, there was a change in the foreign policy of the Frankish state, which caused a new aggravation of relations with the Kingdom of the Lombards. The reason for this was the capture of Rome by King Desiderius and the establishment of temporary control over the Pope by him. Under these conditions, Charlemagne, who no longer needed a marriage with Desiderata, announced his divorce from her and sent her home. The reason for the divorce was called the painfulness of the king’s wife and her sterility [12] . However, not all the close associates of King Charles reacted positively to his decision: the monarch’s mother, Bertrad, was categorically against divorce, but, excluded by her son from participating in government, could not do anything [13] . Also, the king's cousin, Adalard, who was a witness at the marriage ceremony of Karl and Desiderata, under the influence of these events left the courtyard and went to the monastery [4] [5] .
Nothing is known about the fate of Desiderata. It is assumed that she could be that unnamed daughter of King Desiderius, who in 774 was sent together with her parents to exile at Corby Abbey [14] . The possible date of death for the Desiderates is 776, but there is no evidence of this fact in modern documents [11] .
The new wife of Charlemagne was the representative of the noble Swabian clan Hildegard .
In art
The story of the unlucky marriage of Charlemagne with Desiderata A.F. Veltman laid the basis for the plot of his play "Ratibor Kholmogradsky" (1841), in which he named the daughter of Desiderius Ermengarda [15] .
Notes
- ↑ Settipani C. La Préhistoire des Capétiens : Première partie: Mérovingiens, Carolingiens et Robertiens - Villeneuve-d'Ascq : 1993. - P. 198. - ISBN 978-2-9501509-3-6
- ↑ Desiderate // Encyclopedic Dictionary - St. Petersburg. : Brockhaus - Efron , 1893. - T. X. - S. 282.
- ↑ Andrei Bergamsky. “History” (chap. 3).
- ↑ 1 2 Vita Adalardi, 7 // Monumenta Germaniae Historica. SS II. - Hannover: Impensis Bibliopolii Avlici Hahniani, 1828 .-- S. 525.
- ↑ 1 2 Hägermann D., 2003 , p. 77-79.
- ↑ In particular, sources mistakenly indicated that Karloman’s wife was also the daughter of King Desiderius.
- ↑ Janet L. Nelson. Making a Difference in Eighth-Century Politics: The Daughters of Desiderius // After Rome's Fall: Narrators and Sources of Early Medieval History. - Toronto: University of Toronto, 1998 .-- P. 171-190. - ISBN 978-0802007797 .
- ↑ Hägermann D., 2003 , p. 73-74.
- ↑ Hägermann D., 2003 , p. 310-312.
- ↑ Hägermann D., 2003 , p. 75-76.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Disiderta (Desiderata) (German) . Genealogie Mittelalter. Date of treatment May 27, 2012. Archived September 21, 2012.
- ↑ Notker Zaika . “The Acts of Charlemagne” (II, 17).
- ↑ Einhard. “The Life of Charlemagne the Great” (Ch. 18).
- ↑ Italy, emperors & kings . Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Date of treatment May 27, 2012. Archived September 21, 2012.
- ↑ Veltman A.F. Ratibor Kholmogradsky . - M .: printing house of N. Stepanov, 1841. - 231 p.
Literature
- Hagermann D. Charlemagne. - M .: LLC Publishing House AST: ZAO NPP Ermak, 2003. - 684 p. - ISBN 5-17-018628-7 .