04 June - Clotilde, born around 474 or 475, is a Burgundian princess. She is the daughter of the Burgundian king Chilpéric II and Carétène. Clotilde's childhood and youth took place at the Burgundian court during the reigns of Gondioc, who died in the 470s, then of Chilpéric I, who died around 480, and then under the joint reign of Gondioc's four sons
Clotilde's father and mother were executed by Gondebaud, his uncle. Clotilde and his sister Croma escaped the massacre. They are condemned to exile, but apparently, a few years later, when Croma has become a nun, Clotilde is present at the court of Gondebaud where frank ambassadors notice her and report her to Clovis, who asks her to marry him. Clotilde marries Clovis around 493 in Soissons, and becomes his second wife. The meeting would have taken place in Villery (Villariacum), fifteen kilometres south of Troyes, on the Roman road.
She was influential in bringing Clovis to the baptism. She even took the initiative to have her first two sons baptized without taking the advice of her husband. The first one, called Ingomer, died immediately after the baptism. The king was bitter about this and blamed the queen for it. The same thing almost happened after the birth of Clodomir (around 495), but he recovered. The couple had other children, first two sons, Childebert (c. 497) and Clotaire (c. 498), then a daughter, Clotilde, who were all baptized and reached adulthood. It is said that, during the battle of Tolbiac, Clovis invoked the God of Clotilde (Jesus), promising him that if he was victorious, he would convert. The baptism of King Clovis accompanied by 3000 warriors and his two sisters Alboflède and Lanthechilde was celebrated on a Christmas Eve, probably between 496 and 499.
Clovis and Clotilde most often reside in Clichy, Épineuil, Chelles, Rueil or Bonneuil. After his victory of Vouillé over the Visigoths in 507, the king made Paris his capital. Before Clovis died in 511, the sovereign couple had the Basilica of the Holy Apostles built on the left bank of the Seine, where the king was buried.
The queen still remained in Paris, probably continuing to influence her three sons, Clodomir, Childebert and Clotaire, but mainly to support Clodomir and his family. Then, presumably following Clodomir's death in 524, Clotilde retired to Saint-Martin de Tours. A very pious widow, Clotilde was the first Christian queen who founded several religious establishments such as the former royal convent at Les Andelys. Nowadays, two buildings are certainly attributed to this queen. On the one hand, it is the basilica of Saint-Germain d'Auxerre. On the other hand, in the royal villa located in Chelles near Paris, she founded an oratory dedicated to Saint George. Because of this legitimacy, during the reign of the first Carolingians, this establishment became the most distinguished royal women's abbey at the time, welcoming Charlemagne's sister, Gisèle.
She ended her days in piety at the tomb of Saint Martin in Tours, where she died around 545. She was buried by her sons Childebert and Clotaire in Paris alongside her husband Clovis, in the sacrarium of the Basilica of the Holy Apostles, the future Abbey of Sainte-Geneviève, which she had helped to found. Relics of the Saint are present in the church of Vivières (Aisne); every year since 1947 a pilgrimage has been organised on the third Sunday of June.
