Conflict in the Family of King Amalaric: Authentic Story or Early Medieval Deepfake?
Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod
For citation: Vershinina, Yuliya E. Conflict in the Family of King Amalaric: Authentic Story or Early Medieval Deepfake? // Drevneishie gosudarstva Vostochnoi Evropy (The Earliest States of Eastern Europe). 2025: Ways and Means of Conflict Resolution / Editor of the volume Т.N. Jackson. Мoscow: GAUGN-Press, 2025. S. 1–1.
DOI: 10.32608/1560-1382-2025-46-1-1
Abstract: Following the early medieval historians Gregory of Tours and Procopius of Caesarea, the conflict in the family of the Visigothic king Amalaric and his wife, the Frankish princess Clotilde the Younger, was traditionally interpreted as purely religious. The article establishes the political and religious contexts of their marriage, with the aim of identifying possible reasons for the subsequent conflict between the spouses. Among them there could have been the discontent of the Visigothic nobility, who saw this marriage as a symbol of subordination to the Franks; the supposed growth of Clotilde’s popularity among the Roman aristocracy and the Nicene clergy, that could have been seen by her husband as a threat to his power; and Clotilde’s inability to bear a child, which threatened the existence of the Baltic dynasty. It is proved that Clotilde’s loyalty to Nicene Christianity could not have been the main reason for the conflict, which does not exclude the use of it as a pretext. Suggestions are made that the conflict may have been “invented” by Clotilde’s brother with the aim of using it in the internal political struggle in the Frankish kingdom.
References
Ауров О.В. Королевства вестготов в истории средневекового Запада // Вестготская правда (Книга приговоров). Латинский текст. Перевод. Исследование. М., 2012. С. 32–95. [Aurov O.V. Korolevstva vestgotov v istorii srednevekovogo Zapada (The Visigothic Kingdoms in the History of the Medieval West) // Vestgotskaya pravda (Kniga prigovorov). Latinskij tekst. Perevod. Issledovanie. Moscow, 2012. S. 32–95.]
Вершинина Ю.Е. Браки между язычниками и христианами в «Истории франков» Григория Турского // ВЕДС. 2022. Вып. XXХIV: Межэтнические контакты в социокультурном контексте. С. 51–55. [Vershinina Yu.E. Braki mezhdu yazychnikami i hristianami v «Istorii frankov» Grigoriya Turskogo (Marriages between Pagans and Christians in Gregory of Tours' History of the Franks) // Vostochnaya Evropa v drevnosti i srednevekov’e. Vyp. XXXIV: Mezhetnicheskie kontakty v sociokul’turnom kontekste. Moscow, 2022. S. 51–55.]
Вольфрам Х. Готы. От истоков до середины VI века (опыт исторической этнографии) / Пер. с нем. Б.П. Миловидова, М.Ю. Некрасова; под ред. М.Б. Щукина, Н.А. Бондарко, П.В. Шувалова. СПб., 2003. [Wolfram H. Goty. Ot istokov do serediny VI veka (opyt istoricheskoj etnografii) (Die Goten. Von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des sechsten Jahrhunderts) / Per. s nem. B.P. Milovidova, M.Yu. Nekrasova; pod red. M.B. Shchukina, N.A. Bondarko, P.V. Shuvalova. St. Petersburg, 2003.]
Голдсуорти А. Падение Запада. Медленная смерть Римской империи / Пер. с англ. А.В. Короленкова, Е.А. Семеновой. М., 2014. [Goldsuorti A. Padenie Zapada. Medlennaya smert’ Rimskoĭ imperii (The Fall of the West: The Slow Death of the Roman Superpower) / Per. s angl. A.V. Korolenkova, E.A. Semenovoĭ. Moscow, 2014.]
Григорий Турский. История франков / Пер. с лат. В.Д. Савуковой. М., 1987. [Grigorij Turskij. Istoriya frankov (History of the Franks) / Per. s lat. V.D. Savukovoj. Moscow, 1987.]
Диснер Г.-И. Королевство вандалов / Пер. с нем. В.Л. Санина и С.В. Иванова. СПб., 2002. [Disner G.-I. Korolevstvo vandalov (Das Vandalenreich: Aufstieg und Untergang) / Per. s nem. V.L. Sanina i S.V. Ivanova. St. Petersburg, 2002.]
Дюмезиль Б. Королева Брунгильда / Пер. с франц. М.Ю. Некрасова. СПб., 2012. [Dumézil B. Koroleva Brungil’da (La reine Brunehaut) / Per. s franc. M.Yu. Nekrasova. St. Petersburg, 2012.]
Клауде Д. История вестготов / Пер. с нем. С.В. Иванова. СПб., 2003. [Klaude D. Istoriya vestgotov (Geschichte der Westgoten) / Per. s nem. S.V. Ivanova. St. Petersburg, 2003.]
Копылов И.А. Арианская церковь в Королевстве вестготов // Вестготская правда (Книга приговоров). Латинский текст. Перевод. Исследование. М., 2012. С. 173–187. [Kopylov I.A. Arianskaya cerkov’ v Korolevstve vestgotov (Arian Church in the Visigothic Kingdom) // Vestgotskaya pravda (Kniga prigovorov). Latinskij tekst. Perevod. Issledovanie. Moscow, 2012. S. 173–187.]
Прокопий Кесарийский. Война с готами / Пер. с греч. С.П. Кондратьева. М., 1950. [Prokopij Kesarijskij. Voĭna s gotami (Gothic War) / Per. s grech. S.P. Kondrat’eva. Moscow, 1950.]
Циркин Ю.Б. Испания от античности к Средневековью. СПб., 2010. [Tsirkin Yu.B. Ispaniya ot antichnosti k Srednevekov’yu (Spain from Antiquity to the Middle Ages). St. Petersburg, 2010.]
The Battle of Vouillé, 507 CE Where France Began / Ed. by R.W. Mathisen and D. Shanzer. Boston; B., 2012.
Beda Venerabilis. Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum // Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of The English People / Ed. with a facing-page transl. of the Latin text by B. Colgrave and R.A.B. Mynors. Oxford, 1969. P. 1–577.
Collins R. Early Medieval Spain. Unity in Diversity, 400–1000. L., 1991.
Collins R. Visigothic Spain 409–711.Oxford, 2004.
Crisp R.P. Marriage and Alliance in the Merovingian Kingdoms, 481–639: PhD. Diss. The Ohio State University. Ohio, 2003.
Dumézil B. Les racines chrétiennes de l’Europe: conversion et liberté dans les royaumes barbares: Ve – VIIIe siècles. P., 2005.
Ewig Е. Die Namengebung bei den ältesten Frankenkönigen und im merowingischen Königshaus // Francia. 1991. Bd. 18/1. S. 21–69.
Favrod J. Les Burgondes: un royaume oublié au coeur de l’Europe. Lausanne, 2002.
Gillett A. Ethnography and Imperium in the Sixth Century: Frankish and Byzantine Rhetoric in The Epistolae Austrasicae // Basileia: Essays on Culture and Imperium in Honour of E.M. and M.J. Jeffreys / Ed. by L. Garland, G. Nathan. Sydney, 2011. P. 76–78.
Gillett A. Was Ethnicity Politicized in the Earliest Medieval Kingdoms? // On Barbarian Identity: Critical Approaches to Identity in the Early Middle Ages / Ed. by A. Gillett. Turnhout, 2002. P. 115–118.
Gobry I. Les premiers rois de France: la dynastie des mérovingiens. P., 1998.
Goffart W. The Narrators of Barbarian History (A.D. 550–800): Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Bede, and Paul the Deacon. Princeton, 1988.
Gregorii Episcopi Turonensis. Historiarum Libri X / Hrsg. von B. Krusch, W. Levison. Hannoverae, 1951. (MGH SS rer. Merov.; V.1.1). P. 1–537.
Heather P. The Goths. Oxford, 1996.
Isla Frez M. Reinas de los godos // Hispania. 2004. LXIV/2, num. 217. P. 409–433.
Kampers G. Bonn Caretena – Königin und Asketin. Mosaiksteine zum Bild einer burgundischen Herrscherin (avec résumé français) // Francia. 2000. Bd. 27/1. S. 1–32.
O’Callaghan J.F. A History of Medieval Spain. L., 1975.
Procopius. History of the Wars. Books V and VI / Transl. by H.B. Dwing. L., 1919.
Schwarz A. The Settlement of the Vandals in North Africa // Vandals, Romans and Berbers: New Perspectives on Late Antique North Africa / Ed. by A.H. Merrills. Burlington, 2004.
Stein E. Histoire du Bas-Empire. T. II: De la disparition de l’Empire d’Occident à la mort de Justinien (476–565). P.; Bruxelles; Amsterdam, 1949.
Thompson E.A. The Goths in Spain. Oxford, 1969.
Valverde M.R. La monarquía visigoda y su política matrimonial. De Alarico I al fin del reino visigodo de Tolosa // Aquitania. 1999. Т. XVI. P. 295–315.
Viennot É. La France, Les Femmes et Le Pouvoir: L’invention de la loi salique (Ve–VIe siècle). P., 2006.
Wallace-Hadrill J.M. The Barbarian West 400–1000. N.Y.; Evanston, 1962.
Wolfram H. The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples / Transl. by Th. Dunlap. Berkeley; Los Angeles; L., 1997.
Wood I. The Merovingian Kingdoms 450–751. L.; N.Y., 1994.
Zöllner E., Werner J. Geschichte der Franken bis zur Mitte des sechsten Jahrhunderts. München, 1970.