Galswintha (540-568) was the daughter of Athanagild, Visigothic king of Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal), and Goiswintha. Galswintha was the sister of Brunhilda, queen of Austrasia; and the wife of Chilperic I, the Merovingian king of Neustria.
Galswintha and Chilperic were married at Rouen in 567, but soon afterwards she was murdered at the instigation of Chilperic's mistress Fredegund, who then married him. Chilperic in turn was murdered by Fredegund in 584. [1]
Galswintha's death aroused the enmity of her sister Brunhilda against Chilperic, bringing about 40 years of warfare between the Frankish kingdoms of Austrasia and Neustria.
Commemorated in Verse
The Late Latin poet Venantius Fortunatus wrote a long commemorative poem (Carmina VI.5) in honour of Galswintha.
References
Venantius Fortunatus On Galswintha Translated by Judith George in Venantius Fortunatus: Personal & Political Poems, Liverpool, Translated Texts for Historians, 1995, p40 - 50.
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