Analysis of the reasons why Brunhilde maintained power during the Merovingian period
Death of the sovereign. Merovingian queens usually retired to the monastery after the king's death, but Brünnhilde and Fredgonde retired to Rouen at the request of their husband's brother.
Some women retreat to monasteries to protect themselves when they are in danger, while women who fail in political battles are often sent to convents.
Three generations of male rulers of the Kingdom of Austria also died young: Sigibet was assassinated, Hildebert was widely believed to have been poisoned, and Trék died of dysentery. In wars with Neustria, or other opponents, the Austrian king often won, but there was no escape from the danger of ** or disease. Brunhilde was also assassinated, as was her contemporary, Hillperik.
Although there is no conclusive evidence as to who assassinated Sigibet, the royal family of Neustria, who survived the defeat of the war, benefited greatly from the assassination, which rewrote the history of the Frankish kingdom. The cause of Hilperik's death was more complicated;Fred Gundt blamed it on Treasurer Eberlov.
When Fred had just retreated to Rouen, he was stripped of most of his power, and a priest was sent to assassinate Brünnhilde;Brunhilde claimed that she had fled to him to protect Fred, but her plan was soon discovered, and she confessed to her crime under the whip and was sent back to Fred, who had just chopped off her hands and feet.
Based on Gregor's character, it is certain that he was a priest who had fled from Fred Hill to Brünnhilde, but it is doubtful that he was ordered to assassinate Brünnhilde. Friedgun himself denied that he had sent the assassin. Brünnhilde herself survived the assassination and illness, but the subsequent death of a male relative left her defeated.
Gregor explained that Hilperic was killed by an Assassin sent by Fred Gunda, and that the Assassin who wanted to kill Brünnhilde was also sent by Fred Gunda, but there is no record of killing Hilperik.
The description in the Frankish Chronicles of Fredegon's affair with the court minister Landrick and the assassination of Hilperic can be regarded as a common rumor in society at the time due to its low credibility. It is worth noting that Friedgang deliberately blamed Hilperic for Hilperik's death in this report and recorded the screams of **. Thus it can be concluded that there are two people suspected of killing Hilperik, who are either from Ostrakia or Novostria.
Friedgon had the support of most of the nobility at the time, and Guntram had no children, which meant that without the young Krotal, when Hildesch died, Hildebet would have been the only king who wished to inherit all the lands.
The Neustriaan nobility was ready to accept the young Klosters against Hildebet, a situation that lasted until the adult Klosters defeated Hildebet's grandson, which meant the eventual unification of Neustria.
After the death of the king, the childless queen abdicated;A queen with a male heir can return to power through an heir. If the son inherits the throne, the mother has the right to be regent. The power of a woman who is the widow of a king or a widow of a queen is that of a male monarch in her lineage;The death of a male monarch who left no sons meant that the lineage withdrew from political struggle.
Generational change of the royal family.
In the Merovingian dynasty, the regency of the Queen Mother was temporary under the patriarchal system, and when the young king grew up**, the Queen Mother had to do it"Regression"King, retired to harem or monastery.
Brunhilde's longevity compared to her contemporaries of aristocratic women was the most important reason why her influence on politics lasted for many years;However, not all older aristocratic women were able to participate in politics;First, they must have a male heir;Second, they must have a personal desire or practical need to participate in politics, such as widowed mothers caring for young children.
In the Merovingian society of the sixth century, sons sometimes honored their father with a solemn funeral as a rite of succession to their social status. But women have not received a similar new symbol. Their power depends on the status of their wives and mothers in the family.
When their children grow up**, society will be less nervous about their death and will work harder to maintain the bond between the new family and the original family. The next generation inherits the marital status of the woman, which lowers her"Public"Status and the importance that her family took to her death.
In societies such as North Gaul in the sixth century, older people were likely to be respected by others because of their age;This respect stems from their knowledge of the traditions of the time.
Hildebed's marriage and the emergence of a new ** at court inevitably weakened Brünnhilde's power, and some matters passed from the widow to the queen, but Brünnhilde's land, wealth, allies, and influence over Hildebet ensured her authority, unlike most retired widows during the Merovingian period.
Historians have criticized Brünnhilde's influence on his grandson's theuderic's marriage, but Brunhilde maintained his influence as queen mother in the absence of a noble queen. As an important figure in the Visigothic-French marriage, Brünnhilde must have known the beneficial influence of the noble queen on the king.
Brünnhilde's power was based on her kinship with male rulers, her wealth and allies cemented her power, and her power as an important woman in the royal family was shared with other women over time.
The battle was lost. 
Brünnhilde's defeat meant that the Austrian crown had lost a long battle with the new Austrian crown, and the Sigiberti family withdrew from the battle for the Frankish kingdom.
The chieftains of Ostrasia and Novasteria fought for three generations, and finally the Neostrian king Clotar (named after his grandfather) unified the Frankish kingdom. Of Clotal's four grandsons, Calibert and Guntram died without heirs, and Sigibert and Hilperic each had only one son each.
The presence of a male heir was an important guarantee of the continued strength of the state, and both young sons succeeded in ascending to the throne with the support of the nobility. Queen Brünnhild and Queen Fred Gunda played an important role in consolidating their son's power and developing the kingdom.
However, after the untimely death of Hildebert and the death of his two sons, the kingdoms of Burgundy and Austria passed to Brunhilde's great-grandson, 11-year-old Sigibet, and his rival, Clotaire, in the prime of life, and the age gap between the two rulers was one of the reasons for the defeat;The loss of the support of the nobility was also associated with Brunhilde's policy of strengthening the Burgundian crown and expanding the scope of taxation.
In addition, King Tiudric of Burgundy died shortly after the defeat of King Tiudbert of Austria, and the Austrian nobles, who had just lost King Tiudbert, betrayed Tiudric's son in revenge. After Hildebet's death, Burgundy and Austracia were divided into two mutually exclusive kingdoms, and the influence of Brunhilde's descendants in her time was limited to Burgundy and other regions ruled by Diorderick, which also explains the behavior of the Austrian nobles who took refuge in Chricerow.
The Merovingian aristocracy played an important role on the Frankish stage, sometimes switching sides. After Sigibet's death, Hildebet left Paris with the help of the Duke of Gondovaldo and returned to Metz to take the throne at the age of five. In fact, after Sidgebel's death, some Austrian nobles had already sought refuge or land from Hilperik.
Hildebert secretly fled to Maas and restored the spiritual unity of Austria, with nobles and clergy forming a cabinet to help the young ruler govern. Hildebet's experience of coming to power as a young man bears similarities with the failure of his grandson Sigibet in his youth, but the consequences are very different.
Hildebert was less than five years old when he sought the throne, and eleven when the latter sought power;The aristocracy tended to the former and turned their backs on the latter for various reasons;Together, the heir to the throne, foreign enemies, and nobility constituted a kind of balance that, depending on the circumstances of the time, could be tilted in favor of candidates or enemies. The Merovingian kings often gave land to their supporters, and the power of the nobility increased, which favored the rulers who somehow balanced or strengthened the power of the nobility.