Princess Emma of Austrasia [7164] ¹⁶⁹⁸

   FamilySearch ID: GX3C-9VY.

  General Notes:

Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
EMMA .
"Emma Francorum regis filia et regis Eadbaldi copula" subscribed her husband's 618 charter. Although Emma seems an unlikely name for a Merovingian princess, given the more complex names which are typical of the family, Settipani suggests that it is the diminutive of a name containing a root similar to "Ermen-", like Ermenberga or Ermentrudis, which would also provide an explanation for the root "Eormen-" in the name of her son. Stenton says there seems no doubt that Eadbald's second wife belonged to the Frankish royal house but that her parentage has not been ascertained. Werner suggests that she was the daughter of Erchinoald, maior domus of Neustria, as the name root "Eorcen-" (similar to "Erchin-") was used among her descendants.

Settipani identifies Emma's parents as shown here, seemingly because he eliminates all other possible couples from the known members of the Merovingian royal family from a chronological viewpoint. He prefers a Merovingian ancestry to explain the name "Hlothhere" given to Emma's grandson, similar to "Chlothachar" or "Clotaire", the name of Emma's supposed father. m (after 618) as his second wife, EADBALD King of Kent, son of ÆTHELBERHT King of Kent & his first wife Berta of the Franks (-20 Jan 640).
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Emma (fl. early seventh century) was a member of the Austrasian royal family. She is sometimes identified with the Emma (or Ymma) who married Eadbald of Kent.

Emma was a daughter of Theudebert II, King of Austrasia from 595 to 612. He had previously shown little interest in the Kingdom of Kent, but Gregory the Great had written to him in 601, encouraging him to back Paulinus and Mellitus' missionary campaign, which was to be based in Canterbury.

In 616, Eadbald came to the throne of Kent. His mother appears to have been Bertha, a Merovingian princess. He came to throne following traditional Germanic religion, but was converted and gave up his first wife who, as his stepmother, was not considered acceptable by the Christian church. This development appears to have initiated closer relations between Kent and the Frankish kingdom. Eadbald made a second marriage, to a Christian named Emma, who is identified in the annals of St Augustine's Abbey as the daughter of a Frankish king - implying Emma, daughter of Theudebert.

However, S. E. Kelly, writing in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, holds that the belief that Eadbald married a daughter of Theudebert is the result of confusion between him and Adaloald, King of the Lombards. Kelly gives more credence to a suggestion that Eadbald's wife was the daughter of Erchinoald, the mayor of the palace in the Frankish kingdom of Neustria from 641 to 658.

The Emma who married Eadbald had, as described in the Kentish Royal Legend, three children: Eormenred, Eorcenberht and Eanswith.

She is known to have died in 642, two years after her husband. She was buried alongside Eadbald in the Church of St Mary, which he had built in the precincts of the monastery of St Peter and St Paul in Canterbury (a church later incorporated within the Norman edifice of St Augustine's). At that time, her relics were probably translated along with Eadbald's for reburial in the south transept ca. A.D. 1087.

  Noted events in her life were:

1. Title Of Nobility: Queen of Kent, between 616 and 640, in Kent, , Kent, England. ¹⁷⁰¹

2. Biographical Information: Marriage of Eadbald to his stepmother, in 618,. Eadbald m firstly (repudiated [618]) as her second husband, his stepmother, ---, widow of ÆTHELBERHT King of Kent, daughter of --- (-after [618]). Her second marriage is confirmed by Bede who records that "filius eius Eadbald" succeeded as king after the death of "Aedilbercti", adding that he refused to embrace Christianity and was also "fornicatione pollutus" because he had "uxorem patris", adding in a later passage that her husband was persuaded to repudiate her when he was converted to Christianity[297].

3. Biographical Information:,. There seems no doubt that Eadbald's second wife belonged to the Frankish royal house but that her parentage has not been ascertained.

Settipani[373] identifies Emma's parents as shown here, seemingly because he eliminates all other possible couples from the known members of the Merovingian royal family from a chronological viewpoint. He prefers a Merovingian ancestry to explain the name "Hlothhere" given to Emma's grandson, similar to "Chlothachar" or "Clotaire", the name of Emma's supposed father.

Emma married Eadbald King of Kent [7163] [MRIN: 5577], son of Æthelberht I Aathelbert of KENT King of Kent [7170] and Bertha Queen of Kent [7171], after 616.¹⁷⁰⁰ (Eadbald King of Kent [7163] was born before 580 in Kent, , Kent, England,¹⁶⁹⁸ died on 20 January 640 in Kent, , Kent, England ¹⁶⁹⁸ and was buried in 640 in Church of St Mary, St Peter and Saint Paul, Canterbury, Kingdom of Kent, Anglo Saxon England ¹⁶⁹⁸.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

1. They had a marriage annulled in 618 in Kent, , Kent, England. ¹⁷⁰⁰