Fastrada ¹

  General Notes:

Life
Fastrada was born circa 765 at Ingelheim, the daughter of the powerful East Frankish Count Rudolph (also called Eadolf), and his wife, Aeda.

Fastrada became the third wife of Charlemagne,[1] marrying him in October 783 at Worms, Germany, a few months after Queen Hildegard's death. A probable reason behind the marriage was to solidify a Frankish alliance east of the Rhine when Charles was still fighting the Saxons.

Due to her influence Pepin the Hunchback, son of Charlemagne and Himiltrude, was publicly tonsured after an attempted rebellion against his father. Fastrada soon won a reputation for cruelty, though contemporary sources suggest that she played an active role alongside her husband.[2]

Fastrada died on 10 August 794 in Frankfurt (in present-day Germany), during the synod of Frankfurt and was buried in St. Alban's Abbey, Mainz, long before the abbey was finished. Due to Archbishop Richulf's influence, she was not buried in the Basilique Saint-Denis, the burial site of almost all the Frankish and French monarchs, nor St. Arnulf's Abbey near Metz. After the destruction of St. Alban's Abbey in 1552, her tombstone was transferred to Mainz Cathedral, where it can be seen today in the wall of the southern nave.[3]

Fastrada married Charlemagne Emperor of the West, son of Pepin III "the Short" Martel Duke of Burgundy, Neustria, & Provence, King of the Franks and Bertha/Bertrada "with the Big Feet" of Laon, in Oct 783 in Worns, Germany. (Charlemagne Emperor of the West was born between 2 Apr 742 and 743 in Aix-la-Chapelle, Städteregion Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, died on 28 Jan 814 in Aix-la-Chapelle, Städteregion Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and was buried in Aix-la-Chapelle, Städteregion Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.)