Gertrude of Nivelles

Description

This Icon is a copy of the Hagiography (Holy Card Printing) that we have made in our Laboratory and we reserve the exclusive rights to reproduce these images, which are protected by copyright.

Dimensions of wooden plaque in inches : 10 X 13 cm – 5.11″ x 3.93″ inches – 18 x 13 cm – 7.08″ x 5.11″ inches – 24 x 18 cm – 9.45″x 7.08″ inches – 30 x 24 cm – 11.81″ x 9.45″ – 42 x 32 cm – 16.53″x12.59″ inches

Gertrude of Nivelles, OSB (also spelled Geretrude, Geretrudis, Gertrud; c. 628 – 17 March 659) was a seventh-century abbess who, with her mother Itta, founded the Abbey of Nivelles, now in Belgium.

Life
Family and childhood
The early history of Gertrude’s family is not well documented. The anonymous author of her Early Middle Ages biography, Vita Sanctae Geretrudis, only hints at her origins: “it would be tedious to insert in this account in what line of earthly origin she was descended. For who living in Europe does not know the loftiness, the names, and the localities of her lineage?” Gertrude’s father, Pepin of Landen (Pippin the Elder), a nobleman from east Francia, had been instrumental in persuading King Clothar II to crown his son, Dagobert I, as the King of Austrasia. Due to her position at the palace, Gertrude’s mother, Itta of Metz, was likely acquainted with Amandus, the Bishop of Maastricht.

When Dagobert succeeded his father and the court moved to Neustria, Pippin and his family (including young Gertrude) moved with the king’s court. Thus, Gertrude became introduced to politics during her childhood in the royal court. Arnulf of Metz, Pippin’s close ally, was one of several royal counselors who received ecclesiastical posts after a secular career. McNamara argues that Arnulf retired into religion at the time of Clothar’s death in 628, but he kept close ties to the family by marrying his son to Gertrude’s sister, Begga. However, later scholars have disagreed.

Gertrude’s biography begins with her father hosting a banquet when Gertrude was ten years old. That the king accepted Pippin’s invitation to the dinner at all shows Pippin’s standing as well as that of his family. At this feast, the King asked Gertrude if she would like to marry the “son of a duke of the Austrasians…. for the sake of his worldly ambition and mutual alliance.”Gertrude declined and “lost her temper and flatly rejected him with an oath, saying that she would have neither him nor any earthly spouse but Christ the Lord.”

Marriage alliances were important in this era although scholars disagree as to the extent parents or kings asserted power over spousal choice. The marriage between Gertrude’s sister Begga and Ansegisel helped set the stage for a Carolingian takeover of Austrasia. The marriage of their son Pepin the Middle and Plectrude later secured the lands of Plectrude’s parents Hugobert and Irmina of Oeren between the Rhine, Moselle and Meuse rivers, because Plectrude was an only child. Begga’s sons enhanced Pepin’s power by marrying women with political connections in the north and northwest. All agree that the girl’s personal feeling mattered little. One scholar speculated that if Pippin I had lived longer, he would likely have forced Gertrude to marry the son of the Austrasian duke, thus giving power to the Pippinids sooner to supplant the Merovingians.

Dagobert died in 639 and was succeeded in Neutria by Clovis II and in Austrasia by Sigebert III. When Pippin died, Gertrude’s brother Grimoald competed with Otto to become the new mayor of the palace. After Otto died in battle, “the dignity of mayor of Sigebert’s palace and control of all the kingdom of Austrasia was thus decisively assured to Grimoald” and the Pippinids.

The mention of Gertrude’s decided rejection of her Austrasian suitor is unique for the era. At least one scholar considers it to have been deliberately included by the chronicler as expressing her character. The reference to a prior betrothal to Christ becomes common in later saints’ lives. The suitor, while irritated, is not emotionally affected by this rejection.

After Dagobert’s death, Pippin returned to the east in 640, taking Gertrude with him. Soon after, Pippin himself died, giving Gertrude the freedom to take the veil and enter the monastic life. Scholars debate the date of the death of Pippin. Some sources date it as late as 650, although others date it much earlier.