13. Fredegunda Tried to Crush Her Daughter’s Head
Abandoning her baby to die was at least driven by Fredegunda’s animal instinct for survival and the desire, ignoble as it might be, to save herself. Not so what she did to her own daughter, Rigunth. That worthy, a chip off the old block, was just as scheming as her other, but not as wily and ruthless. As she grew into a beautiful young woman, Rigunth took to bragging that she would soon take her mother’s place as the king’s mistress and queen consort. She should have recalled what her mother had done to other rivals, before running off the mouth like that. A jealous Fredegunda responded by trying to crush her daughter’s head. As described by a medieval chronicler:
“Fredegunda was jealous of her own daughter, Rigunth, who continually declared that she should be mistress in her place. She waited for her opportunity and under the pretense of magnanimity took her to the treasure room and showed her the King’s jewels in a large chest. Feigning fatigue, she exclaimed, “I am weary; put thou in thy hand, and take out what thou mayest find.” The mother thereupon forced down the lid on her neck and would have killed her had not the servants finally rushed to her aid“.
