The Secret Gospel of Ireland by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skywest Publishing

All the while Columbanus was building monasteries and defending his mission against jealous bishops, the throne was changing hands. Old King Guntram, the man who had been so supportive of Columbanus and his mission, died in 592. Then, because all of Guntram’s sons had died before him, his nephew Childebert II took the throne of Burgundy. Finally, in the year 596, Childebert II died and the lands of Burgundy and Austrasia were divided between his sons, Theuderic II and Theudebert II. So Theuderic inherited the Kingdom of Burgundy (today, southeastern France and parts of Switzerland), while his brother Theudebert took the Kingdom of Austrasia (today, northeastern France, western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and parts of Switzerland).

In the division of lands following their father’s death, Theuderic also received four lands that were previously Austrasian: the Saintois in the Moselle valley, Alsace, the Thurgau, and Campanensis. Naturally, his brother Theudebert, as King of Austrasia, believed he should have received these lands as part of his inheritance. It was a recipe for disaster. With this division of lands, all of the ingredients for a bloody and destructive feud were there. Yet history wouldn’t lay blame for the ensuing savagery on either brother. That distinction would go to the boys’ grandmother, the infamous Visigothic queen Brunhild. She was portrayed as the real power behind young King Theuderic’s throne, the woman who drove the brothers to war and Columbanus from Burgundy.

Legend has it that Brunhild was a conniving, power-hungry shrew who ruled Burgundy by controlling her grandson Theuderic like a puppet. To this end, she encouraged her grandson to take concubines instead of a wife so there would be no rival queen; and he sired four illegitimate sons by them. As the story goes, Columbanus came to the royal residence one day and was asked by Brunhild to bless Theuderic’s four illegitimate sons. But Columbanus refused. “Know that these boys will never bear the royal sceptre,” he said, “for they were begotten in sin.” Brunhild was so enraged at Columbanus that she let loose her wrath on him. She persuaded her grandson King Theuderic to ride to Luxeuil and demand entry to the inner cloisters of the monastery. To the monks, the inner cloisters of the monastery were sacred spaces like the Holy of Holies in King Solomon’s Temple. They were the spaces where the monks communed with God. For the king to force his way inside was an affront to the abbot’s authority and a violation of the asceticism that formed the very core of the monks’ way of life. And it was all a ruse. Predictably, Columbanus refused the king entry to the monastery. The king knew full well that Columbanus could not let him into the most sacred parts of Luxeuil. And as planned, Theuderic ordered that Columbanus be taken prisoner to the fortress town of Besançon, overlooking the River Doubs, for his “disobedience.” Brunhild had thus defeated the Irishman—or so it was written.

But that’s not what really happened. What really

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