Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky listener discretion advised. With the
Speaker 1: king lying dead out in the stable yard, chaos reigned
Speaker 1: inside the villa. Nobles grabbed what valuables they could and fled.
Speaker 1: Servants scrambled as rumors spread about assassins in their midst,
Speaker 1: and the Queen frantically paced in an adviser's chambers, unable
Speaker 1: or unwilling to visit her husband's body. Any shock or
Speaker 1: grief that Queen Fredigound felt on that fateful September night
Speaker 1: in five hundred eighty four was outweighed by her survival instincts.
Speaker 1: Fredegund knew how swiftly the pendulum of power could swing
Speaker 1: in the warring realms of Francia, having experienced higher highs
Speaker 1: and lower lows than just about anyone. If she did
Speaker 1: not act quickly, she and her infant son, whose existence
Speaker 1: she had kept a secret, would both be at the
Speaker 1: mercy of her enemies. By that point, she had already
Speaker 1: lost four boys and could not bear to lose another.
Speaker 1: She had spent years clawing and scheming her way from
Speaker 1: slavery to the pinnacle of the mayor Vingian monarchy, and
Speaker 1: she wasn't about to lose it all. So Fredigund fled
Speaker 1: to a cathedral in Paris and hold up with her baby,
Speaker 1: cornered but still calculating. Historians do not definitively know who
Speaker 1: ordered the hit on Fredgun's husband, but it's not hard
Speaker 1: to make an educated guess. Fredgund herself would have had
Speaker 1: an instant hunch about the orchestrator, because roughly a decade earlier,
Speaker 1: she herself had planned the assassination of a neighboring king
Speaker 1: king who was the husband of a fierce rival. Fredegund
Speaker 1: also knew that whether or not that rival, Queen Brunhild,
Speaker 1: was responsible, Brunhild would certainly seek to capitalize on the
Speaker 1: frenzied aftermath of the killing, because that was exactly how
Speaker 1: Fredagun's rival operated. Sure Enough, as panicky members of Fredagun's
Speaker 1: entourage fled, Brunhild was already waiting to intercept them with
Speaker 1: her own son and their robust army. Similar to Fredegund,
Speaker 1: Brunhild had weathered grave tragedies and engineered stunning victories. She
Speaker 1: too had once even found herself vulnerably confined in Paris
Speaker 1: after suddenly becoming a widow. As Brunhild's forces closed in,
Speaker 1: she was likely unaware that Fredegund had recently given birth.
Speaker 1: She was probably hoping that this conquest would help her
Speaker 1: own teenage son consolidate power over Francia with her expanding
Speaker 1: role as regent. The news that Fredegund had eluded capture
Speaker 1: and entrenched herself in a church would have surely been
Speaker 1: vexing to Brunehild, but probably not surprising. After all, that
Speaker 1: was how Brunehild's rival maneuvered. To some the two queen's
Speaker 1: looming showdown might have seemed like it would finally bring
Speaker 1: an end to their epic war perpetuating conflict, But for
Speaker 1: Brunhild and Fredegund, this would be yet one more blood
Speaker 1: stained piece of their utterly unprecedented puzzle. I'm Dana Schwartz,
Speaker 1: and this is noble blood. Quite a lot happened in
Speaker 1: Brunehild's and Freddigun's storylines prior to where we left them
Speaker 1: at the end of part one, and in quickly recapping
Speaker 1: the highlights, eerie parallels and stark differences in their reigns,
Speaker 1: the narrative practically comes off like a sensational boxing match.
Speaker 1: In the Austrasian corner, there was the early crowd favorite
Speaker 1: brune Hild, the highly touted princess turned queen fighting out
Speaker 1: of Neustria. There's the underdog Fredigund, a survivor who lifted
Speaker 1: herself all the way from forced servitude to the highest
Speaker 1: seat of power available. The early rounds of their battle
Speaker 1: saw fierce sparring, everything from Fredigund possibly influencing her husband
Speaker 1: to murder Brunhild's sister, to Brunhild helping mastermind a clever
Speaker 1: legal claim so that her husband, King Siegbert, could invade
Speaker 1: Fredagun's country. Just when Brunhild's side seemed poised to strike
Speaker 1: a knockout blow, Fredegund came in with a stunningly sneaky
Speaker 1: jab engineering King Siegbert's assassination. This flipped the whole fight
Speaker 1: and left Brunhild on the ropes. Nevertheless, she opted to
Speaker 1: go down swinging, saving her children and getting herself sent
Speaker 1: off to a convent. This is where we pick back up,
Speaker 1: with Brunhild stuck desperately figuring out how to get herself
Speaker 1: back in the game. Fortunately for Brunhild. In that convent
Speaker 1: in Ruan, she reportedly found an ideal co conspirator, Odovera,
Speaker 1: the banished first wife of Chilpric, Fredign's husband. According to
Speaker 1: some accounts, Otdevera had high status among the insular world
Speaker 1: of the nuns. This won her certain priviledges and a
Speaker 1: level of respect from the older bishop in charge, which
Speaker 1: in turn made her a useful ally for Brunhild, especially
Speaker 1: because the two had so much in common. Both Brunhild
Speaker 1: and Odevera had been deposed by Fredigend and Chilpric, suffering
Speaker 1: losses and humiliating ostracisms in the process. On top of
Speaker 1: all the painful and personal reasons, the queens may have
Speaker 1: wanted to seek revenge against the Nustrian monarchs, immense power
Speaker 1: and lucrative assets were hanging in the balance. Brunehild's son
Speaker 1: was in a risky position as the king of Austrasia,
Speaker 1: since he was so young and did not have her
Speaker 1: there as a protective regent for Otdevera. Her own children
Speaker 1: were supposed to inherit lands and titles after Chilprick's death,
Speaker 1: except those agreements were put in jeopardy by all of
Speaker 1: Fredigun's plotting and the birthing of her own heirs. So
Speaker 1: despite their limited resources inside the nunnery, Brunhild and Odevera
Speaker 1: yearned to execute a decisive move. Otdovera's connections evidently allowed
Speaker 1: them to send and receive covert messages, but the all
Speaker 1: important question was whom should they contact. Meanwhile, Fredegund was
Speaker 1: enjoying the dominance that her successful regicide had won. Her
Speaker 1: sources claimed that her husband would defer so significantly to
Speaker 1: Fredegund on court matters that he would sometimes refuse to
Speaker 1: take unilateral action without her approval. As previously mentioned, Fredegund
Speaker 1: seemed particularly keen on using her newfound authority to dole
Speaker 1: out brutal justice. She reportedly regularly sentenced failed assassins, servants,
Speaker 1: and supposedly disloyal subjects to having their hands, noses, and
Speaker 1: ears hacked off. There are also several recorded instances of
Speaker 1: her ordering her enemies to be broken on the rack
Speaker 1: or burned alive. Fredigund also often pursued her own ends
Speaker 1: without input from her husband, by bribing many officials and
Speaker 1: planning further assassinations. She was so effective in her aims
Speaker 1: that many Francs, particularly brune Hild's supporters, increasingly labeled her
Speaker 1: an evil witch, but there appears to be little to
Speaker 1: no evidence that Fredagund even tried to refute those supernatural rumors.
Speaker 1: Presumably she preferred being feared, with word of Fredagund's growing
Speaker 1: influence reaching even their convent. Brunhild and Otdevera knew the
Speaker 1: clock was ticking on their comeback, so their strategic instincts
Speaker 1: hit on the fastest means of gaining power. Marriage. They
Speaker 1: hatched a mutually beneficial plan for Brunhild to contact and
Speaker 1: marry otto Vera's oldest living son, who was Chilprick's son
Speaker 1: and Fredigun's step son. If you're keeping track, bucking norms,
Speaker 1: Brunehild even probably proposed to him. This is not just
Speaker 1: revisionist history. A seventh century scribe stated it that way,
Speaker 1: reframing the bride as the active party in theory that
Speaker 1: match would greatly elevate both vanished queen's positions. Otto Vera's
Speaker 1: son would become even more prominent, and they could then
Speaker 1: claim that he was the rightful heir of Neustria, undermining
Speaker 1: Fredigund and her children and Brunhild would be regent as
Speaker 1: her son ruled Austrasia, and she could be a queen consort.
Speaker 1: If her new husband overthrew his estranged father, she could
Speaker 1: potentially become queen of two thirds of Francia. Brunhild and
Speaker 1: Odevera's son wed in five hundred seventy six in the
Speaker 1: same cathedral where Brunhild's sister had married Chilpric. This wedding
Speaker 1: was much more cobbled together than Brunhild's first, and was
Speaker 1: also somewhat scandalous, since technically a groom marrying his uncle's
Speaker 1: widow was a form of incest frowned upon by the Church.
Speaker 1: But their union was bolstered by several elements. First, Brunhild
Speaker 1: and her new husband were not blood relatives. Second, Otdovera
Speaker 1: had previously gotten the presiding bishop to agree to be
Speaker 1: the groom's godfather, so he likely fancied himself a plumb
Speaker 1: position if his godson became the new king of Neustria.
Speaker 1: And Third, stirring up a bit of scandal was the
Speaker 1: whole point. Brunhild was trying to stoke a rebellion against
Speaker 1: her ex brother in law and new sister in law.
Speaker 1: Sorry for all the complicated inter family dynamics here, but
Speaker 1: the headline is this was a power move, and time
Speaker 1: to get your royal rivalry scorecards out, because both queens
Speaker 1: were fully back in the ring. Unfortunately for Brunhild, her
Speaker 1: new husband's army seems to have been defeated in such
Speaker 1: a quick manner that their downfall comes across as mystifyingly
Speaker 1: vague in most historical accounts. Nevertheless, what was clear was
Speaker 1: that Chilbric easily captured the newlyweds. He forced his wayward
Speaker 1: son to become a priest. Then, apparently tired of all
Speaker 1: these scandals and headaches that Brunhild was causing, the King
Speaker 1: negotiated with her to allow her to return to Austrasia
Speaker 1: if she promised to completely abandon her new husband. Brunhild's
Speaker 1: deal making skills were so honed by this point, though,
Speaker 1: that on top of securing her release, she also bought
Speaker 1: herself some added time to sneakily shore up her alliances.
Speaker 1: Before returning home, she supposedly secretly delivered more accrude treasure
Speaker 1: to that same enterprising bishop in case he could support
Speaker 1: her now disavowed husband in a second effort to overthrow
Speaker 1: his father, and on top of that, Brunhild somehow also
Speaker 1: got Chilbric to agree to return her hostaged daughters to her.
Speaker 1: So miraculously, if you're keeping, in a matter of months,
Speaker 1: Brunhild had managed to escape her convent, return home, richer
Speaker 1: in gold and allies, and reunite her family so she
Speaker 1: could watch over them as regent of Australia. Fredigund may
Speaker 1: have gained the upper hand in the last few rounds
Speaker 1: of their fight, but this one went resoundingly to Brunhild.
Speaker 1: Over the next eight years, both Brunhild and Fredigund both
Speaker 1: proved to be productive rulers. As regent, Brunhild became a
Speaker 1: skilled diplomat, deftly managed the squabbling nobles of her court,
Speaker 1: and heavily invested in infrastructure that included repairing old Roman
Speaker 1: roads and constructing a hospital and beautiful churches. Fredegund was
Speaker 1: noted for her popular tax reforms, as well as for
Speaker 1: sniffing out plots against her, both legitimate and perceived, and
Speaker 1: even for her military acumen. The legendary boldness and creativity
Speaker 1: that Fredigund exhibited especially when her forces were vastly outnumbered.
Speaker 1: Won her the respect of her armies and inspired numerous historians, writers,
Speaker 1: and tacticians, but Fredigund also suffered many tragedies through this period.
Speaker 1: She devastatingly lost four sons in a seven year span,
Speaker 1: mostly due to dysentery, and just after birthing a fifth
Speaker 1: son in secret, her life would once again be turned
Speaker 1: upside down. While staying at a villa outside of Paris
Speaker 1: in five hundred eighty four, her husband Chilpric, returned to
Speaker 1: his stables after a hunt. His party began to disperse,
Speaker 1: and allegedly, as he dismounted himself, an assassin lunged forward
Speaker 1: and stabbed him multiple times. Whether or not brun Hild
Speaker 1: sent the assassin, momentum was massively swinging back into her favor.
Speaker 1: The king bled out on the ground, and his death
Speaker 1: caused such an instant frenzy that no one dared approach
Speaker 1: the body for hours, being either afraid of associating themselves
Speaker 1: with the murder or too preoccupied with planning their next
Speaker 1: strategic moves. Fredigund fell into the latter category, while brun
Speaker 1: Hilled and her Australian forces rapidly approached. Fredigund fled to
Speaker 1: Paris to seek sanctuary in a huge cathedral that was,
Speaker 1: by all accounts as extravagant as most palaces, but it
Speaker 1: essentially amounted to Fredigund as an ornate bunker as she
Speaker 1: once again had to brainstorm how to avoid death or imprisonment. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: she would choose a similar strategy as the one Brunhild
Speaker 1: had used years ago, namely, using persuasive talents as well
Speaker 1: as a large stash of treasure, Fredigund successfully drew Brunhild
Speaker 1: and her son's full attention while also drawing the eye
Speaker 1: of another influential figure, Guntram, King of Burgundy. We haven't
Speaker 1: brought up Guntram and his third Kingdom of Francy up
Speaker 1: much until this point, because, frankishly speaking, his ambitions and
Speaker 1: actions did not seem to be as consistently dramatic or
Speaker 1: earthshaking as his brothers, let alone those of his sisters
Speaker 1: in law. Gontram often fell into the role of peacemaker,
Speaker 1: buffer or underdog supporter in the civil war. Basically, he
Speaker 1: didn't want either neighboring kingdom to become too powerful. Guontram
Speaker 1: also detested the idea of women ruling and thought widowed
Speaker 1: deposed queen's should stay stashed in convents, but when needed,
Speaker 1: Brunhild and Fredegund both found ways to get crafty with him.
Speaker 1: Knowing that Gutram had no surviving heirs, Brunehilde had managed
Speaker 1: to make a deal with him to adopt her son
Speaker 1: as heir to Burgundy in exchange for agreeing to stop
Speaker 1: the Australian's war against Neustria. Once again. She was angling
Speaker 1: to ensure that her line would eventually be able to
Speaker 1: control at least two thirds of Francia. However, Fredegund was
Speaker 1: apparently aware that Gutram had done that, and she had
Speaker 1: also intuited that Gutram was still resentful of Brunhild for
Speaker 1: wielding so much power. So, while stuck in her Paris
Speaker 1: cathedral with limited time and means of communication, Fredegund thought
Speaker 1: carefully on the best tact to take with her potential lifeline.
Speaker 1: She tapped into Gutram's paternal instincts, but rather than asking
Speaker 1: him for any adoption favors, she sent him a message
Speaker 1: appealing for pity since she had a newborn baby. According
Speaker 1: to Bishop Gregory of tour Our most thorough source from
Speaker 1: this time. Fredegund wrote to Gutram quote, let my lord
Speaker 1: come and take charge of his brother's kingdom. I have
Speaker 1: a tiny baby whom I longed to place in his arms.
Speaker 1: At the same time, I shall declare myself his humble servant.
Speaker 1: Fredigun's cleverly timed baby surprise worked. Guntram stepped in and
Speaker 1: he prevented Brunhild and her son from capturing Fredigund and
Speaker 1: her infant son, and Guntram also pushed for an end
Speaker 1: to his fellow Frankish country's civil war. For his troubles,
Speaker 1: he also likely helped himself to some of Fredigun's treasure,
Speaker 1: so major diplomacy points go to Fredegund here, although as
Speaker 1: part of the deal she agreed to step away from
Speaker 1: royal life. But at last there was relative peace, at
Speaker 1: least until Guntram died. Soon, Brunhild and Fredigund went right
Speaker 1: back to leading their queendoms against each other. Fredigund planned
Speaker 1: more assassinations and again grabbed her throne. Serving as regent
Speaker 1: for her son, she oversaw Neustria's army and one decisive
Speaker 1: military victories, despite almost always being outnumbered. At one point
Speaker 1: after one of her generals was felled on the battlefield.
Speaker 1: Fredigund reportedly shocked the enemy by leading the neustran charge herself.
Speaker 1: At the same same time, brune Hild shepherded her son's
Speaker 1: reign so skillfully that she was credited with impacting almost
Speaker 1: all of Austrasia's biggest decisions. The young king is usually
Speaker 1: portrayed as dependent and ineffectual. In five hundred ninety five,
Speaker 1: Brunhild's son died, leaving behind three of his own children.
Speaker 1: Surely there were some tributes to the dead king, but
Speaker 1: the fact that so many chronicles paid so little attention
Speaker 1: to his death goes to show how unremarkable of a
Speaker 1: ruler he probably was. Likewise, Brunhild's reaction to this loss
Speaker 1: comes off as murky. In some accounts. It must have
Speaker 1: been an emotional blow, but having learned the hard way
Speaker 1: that a king's death could rip away a queen's power,
Speaker 1: Brunhild prudently secured her position as regent for two of
Speaker 1: her grandsons. They were nine and ten, and technically the
Speaker 1: new rulers of Austrasia and Burgundy respectively. At that time.
Speaker 1: Fredigun's king son was only eleven, meaning Francia was entirely
Speaker 1: in the hands of child kings, although not really, the
Speaker 1: two queen mothers wielded all of the true power, and
Speaker 1: though both were in their ruling primes, if we were
Speaker 1: to update our royal rivalry score sheets at this point,
Speaker 1: Brunhild probably is winning for presiding over two thirds of Francia. Still,
Speaker 1: anytime Brunhild or Fredigund got the upper hand, the opposing
Speaker 1: queen would pull off a gritty move to save herself
Speaker 1: and her lineage. Astonishingly, considering how powerful and wily they
Speaker 1: each could be, Brunehild and Fredegund were so evenly matched
Speaker 1: that in the end neither was able to directly defeat
Speaker 1: the other and settle the final score. In five hundred
Speaker 1: and ninety seven, Fredagund suddenly died. She was in her fifties,
Speaker 1: She didn't seem to have a specific illness, and it
Speaker 1: didn't appear to be poison. It was a surprisingly quiet
Speaker 1: end for such a fiery person, and at long last,
Speaker 1: her decades spanning quarrel with Brunhild was over. Mostly Brunhild
Speaker 1: may have outlived Fredegund, but eventually Fredigun's line would get
Speaker 1: the final say and brune Hild's death wouldn't be anything
Speaker 1: close to quiet. Fast forward to six hundred and thirteen,
Speaker 1: brune Hild served as regent for her great grandson, meaning
Speaker 1: that she had been regent for three different generations, and
Speaker 1: no surprise, she was helping him wage war against Neustria,
Speaker 1: but many of their side defected and Fredigun's ruling son
Speaker 1: finally captured them. In the spirit of his mother's pensiant
Speaker 1: for creative punishments, he purportedly had Brunhild quartered, that is,
Speaker 1: tied to several horses and pulled apart in a grizzly
Speaker 1: public spectacle. For the first time in fifty two years.
Speaker 1: Francia became united under one ruler, but Frediguon's and Brunhild's
Speaker 1: legacies and long simmering hostilities would continue to haunt the
Speaker 1: realm for centuries. Although many subsequent monarchs and historians obscured
Speaker 1: certain facets of Brunhild's and Fredigun's lives, their reigns remain
Speaker 1: uniquely fascinating and have had meaningful impacts on art and
Speaker 1: popular culture. For example, Fredigun's military genius was on full
Speaker 1: display during the Battle of Drozi in five hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety three, Far outmatched by Australian forces, she disguised her
Speaker 1: army with branches and leaves. This made it appear to
Speaker 1: an enemy century as if the forest were moving, which
Speaker 1: reportedly got this watchman derided as a drunkard. Fredigund also
Speaker 1: had her mounted troops attach bells to their horses to
Speaker 1: make opposing soldiers think they were simply grazing cattle, thus
Speaker 1: allowing her army to sneak up and steal a victory.
Speaker 1: These specific tactics became so famous that scholars claim that
Speaker 1: Shakespeare borrowed and featured them in Macbeth. Brunehild was also
Speaker 1: an inspiration for the slightly differently spelled character Brunehild with
Speaker 1: an E at the end, the lead valkyrie in the
Speaker 1: famous four part cycle of musical dramas composed by Richard
Speaker 1: Wagner called the Ring Cycle. This became such a memorable
Speaker 1: role that brune Hild even affected how vikings are commonly
Speaker 1: visualized today. Many historians assert that by outfitting performers in
Speaker 1: winged and horned helmets, the costume designer of the opera's
Speaker 1: Cycle nineteen seventy six premiere inextricably linked Vikings with that
Speaker 1: headgear in modern depictions, despite there being no actual evidence
Speaker 1: that Viking warriors really wore pointy horns on their helmets.
Speaker 1: For many, the name Brunhild might even first conjure up
Speaker 1: images of bugs Bunny evading Elmer Fudd as he sings
Speaker 1: kill the Abbott in the nineteen fifty seven Looney Tunes
Speaker 1: cartoon What's Opera doc. It's impossible to say what brun
Speaker 1: Hild would have thought about her decades in power being
Speaker 1: distilled into an animated opera parody starring a rabbit in drag.
Speaker 1: But on the other hand, in terms of lasting legacies,
Speaker 1: how many other sixth century rulers can you say have
Speaker 1: been immortalized that way? Analyzing Fredigund and Brunhild also brings
Speaker 1: up intriguing questions about why the two are so often
Speaker 1: framed as adversaries in a heightened personal feud. On a
Speaker 1: basic level, conflict obviously sells, and the two did try
Speaker 1: to kill each other and each other's families quite a bit.
Speaker 1: It's worth asking whether Fredigund and Brunhild's actions, though, would
Speaker 1: be discussed or framed in these same terms if they
Speaker 1: were kings. Was it easier, particularly from many male historians' perspectives,
Speaker 1: to frame their relationship as a vindictive personal feud rather
Speaker 1: than a complicated imperial dispute. To be sure, there was
Speaker 1: ample fuel or personal vendettas, but there were also critical
Speaker 1: economic factors in play, treasuries, titles, lands, all up for grabs. Again,
Speaker 1: Brunhild and Siegert didn't invade Nustria on the official grounds
Speaker 1: that Brunhild's sister was murdered, but technically in order to
Speaker 1: reclaim her extremely valuable land. All of that said, just
Speaker 1: as viewing Fredigund and Brunhild's relationship through too much of
Speaker 1: a personal drama focused lens wouldn't reveal the full picture,
Speaker 1: neither is viewing their interrelated reigns as solely hinging on
Speaker 1: coldly logical chest moves. In sixth century Francia, it was
Speaker 1: difficult for women to exercise various freedoms, much less rule.
Speaker 1: Yet both Brunhild and Fredigund maintained power for many years,
Speaker 1: perhaps partly because both were able to affect actively master
Speaker 1: political strategy and harness deep levels of emotional intelligence. Another
Speaker 1: possible way to look at it is that instead of
Speaker 1: a passionate feud being a narrative that was forced on
Speaker 1: the queen's histories, it could be the other way around.
Speaker 1: Is it possible that having such a worthy adversary in
Speaker 1: some manner forced each other to, for lack of a
Speaker 1: better phrase, up their game, which then catapulted both to
Speaker 1: new history impacting heights. Brunehild and Fredigund are each undoubtedly
Speaker 1: worthy of extensive individual study, but nevertheless, discussing the two
Speaker 1: as a pair doesn't have to be productive and can
Speaker 1: actually be tremendously informative and also interesting. Even today, it's
Speaker 1: pretty tricky to find examples of two competing female rulers
Speaker 1: who simultaneous hold the amount of power that Brunhild and
Speaker 1: Fredegund did. Even with all the violence, upheaval and lingering
Speaker 1: questions of the two queen's reigns, one thing is for sure,
Speaker 1: their epic rivalry was unrivaled. That's the second part of
Speaker 1: the fascinating story of Brunhild and Fredigund. But stick around
Speaker 1: after a brief sponsor break to learn an additional method
Speaker 1: of trying to quantify our queen's power. Attempting to keep
Speaker 1: score on a rivalry that lasted over forty years may
Speaker 1: seem silly, but quantifying certain complicated subjects like individuals overall
Speaker 1: statuses in life was actually common practice for a time.
Speaker 1: Frankish law dictated that every citizen was given a monetary
Speaker 1: value called of airgeld, and if a heinous crime was
Speaker 1: committed against that person, their family could legally claim that
Speaker 1: amount as compensation. It was essentially a kind of life
Speaker 1: insurance policy. Women's verigelds were typically higher than men's and
Speaker 1: very dependent on their ages and abilities to have children.
Speaker 1: They usually ranged from around two hundred to six hundred
Speaker 1: gold coins. For female rulers, the calculus was on another scale.
Speaker 1: The killing of a queen could lead to a fine
Speaker 1: as sky high as fifty thousand gold coins, and, while
Speaker 1: not always the case, for some aging queens, their perceived
Speaker 1: worth did not simply depend on whether they could birth heirs,
Speaker 1: but on how much value they could provide in terms
Speaker 1: of their royal networking and ruling expertise. There don't appear
Speaker 1: to be surviving records guarding specific values assigned to Brunhild
Speaker 1: or Fredgund, but given their accumulated experience in ruling Francia,
Speaker 1: as they each stayed in power for longer than almost
Speaker 1: every Roman emperor and king who came before them. The
Speaker 1: two queen's exploits surely put them at the top of
Speaker 1: the all time franking order. Noble Blood is a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manke. Noble
Speaker 1: Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing
Speaker 1: and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannaswick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit
Speaker 1: and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and produced by
Speaker 1: Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima il KLi and executive
Speaker 1: producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more
Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.