Arnulf Bischof von Metz [7685] ¹⁸²²

   FamilySearch ID: L5PF-TWQ.

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Wikisource - dictionary of Saintly Women

St. Doda (2), ancestor of Charlemagne. Wife of St. Arnulf of Metz, a great patron saint of the French. She was a woman of noble birth, and great wealth and piety.
She was married in 609 to Arnulf, who held positions of the highest importance and trust under Theodebert II. and Clothaire.

Amulf and Doda had two sons,
Clodulfus (one of the many SS. Cloud), bishop of Metz, and
Ansigisilus, who married St. Begga, daughter of Pepin of Landen.

Soon after the birth of her second son, Doda became a nun at Trèves. Arnulf wished to join St. Romaric and became a monk, but the king and the people could not dispense with his services. About 612 the bishopric of Metz was forced upon him, although he was a layman, but he was still retained as the king's chief adviser and minister. He died a monk about 640. Many years after their separation, Arnulf and Doda had to meet to settle some of their affairs. She was so afraid that her presence might revive his mundane affections that she shaved her head; her precaution was successful,\emdash he was horrified at the sight of her.

At July 18, Bosch the Bollandist gives two lives of St. Arnulf, the earliest of which is by a contemporary author. He also gives an inscription in which she is called "St. Doda Herezogin von Schbbeina St. Arnulphen Gemachel." But he does not seem to attach much credit to this last. Doda is commemorated with her son St. Cloud, in Greven and Usuard. Clarus, Die Heilige Mathilde. Butler. Baillet. Smith and Wace.

Arnulf of Metz (c. 582 \endash 645) was a Frankish bishop of Metz and advisor to the Merovingian court of Austrasia. He later retired to the Abbey of Remiremont. In French he is also known as Arnoul or Arnoulf. In English he is known as Arnold.

The Vita Sancti Arnulfi (c. 657), written shortly after the saint's death, states that he was of Frankish ancestry, from "sufficiently elevated and noble parentage, and very rich in worldly goods". Tenth and eleventh century texts like Genealogiae Breves Regum Francorum often claim that Arnoald is Arnulf's father, but this is considered a fabrication. Medieval Frankish historians Patrick Geary and Richard Gerberding observe that the lack of contemporary written texts makes it impossible to trace Arnulf's ancestry.

Arnulf of Metz is traditionally considered the earliest named ancestor of Charlemagne and the Carolingian Dynasty. This belief originates from two sources written after Arnulf's death. Paul the Deacon's Liber de episcopis Mettensibus (c.784) presents Arnulf as Charlemagne's third great-grandfather, while Annales Mettenses Priores (805) depicts him as only a "close relative." Because these two accounts are inconsistent and written a century after Arnulf's death, there is widespread scholarly agreement that the familial connection between Arnulf and Charlemagne is an invention by Charlemagne.

Arnulf was born to an important Frankish family near Nancy in Lorraine around 582. The family owned vast domains between the Moselle and Meuse rivers. As an adolescent, he was called to the Merovingian court of king Theudebert II (595\endash 612) of Austrasia where he was educated by Gondulf of Provence. Arnulf was later sent to serve as dux at the Schelde.

Arnulf gave distinguished service at the Austrasian court under Theudebert II. He distinguished himself both as a military commander and in the civil administration; at one time he had under his care six distinct provinces. Arnulf married in 596 to a noblewoman whom later sources give the name of Dode, or Doda (born c. 584), the paternal aunt of Saint Glodesind of France, an abbess of a convent in Metz. Chlodulf of Metz was their oldest son, but more important is his second son Ansegisel, who married Begga daughter of Pepin I, Pepin of Landen. Arnulf is thus the male-line grandfather of Pepin of Herstal, great-grandfather of Charles Martel and great-great-great-grandfather of Charlemagne.

Around 611, he and his friend Romaricus, likewise an officer of the court, planned to make a pilgrimage to the Abbey of Lérins. Chlothachar, who appreciated Arnulf's administrative skills, offered him the vacant see of Metz, the capital of the Austrasian kingdom. His wife took the veil as a nun in a convent at Treves, and Arnulf saw it as a sign of God and became a priest and bishop afterwards. Arnulf continued to serve as the king's steward and courtier.

The rule of Austrasia came into the hands of Brunhilda, the grandmother of Theudebert, who ruled also in Burgundy in the name of her great-grandchildren. In 613 Arnulf joined his politics with Pepin of Landen and led the opposition of Frankish nobles against Queen Brunhilda. The revolt led to her overthrow, torture and eventual execution, and the subsequent reunification of Frankish lands under Chlothachar II.

Chlothachar later made his son Dagobert I king of Austrasia, which he ruled with the help of his adviser Arnulf. Pepin of Landen, became the mayor of the palace. In 624 Pepin and Arnulf encouraged Dagobert in the murder of Chrodoald, an important leader of the Frankish Agilolfings family. In 625 Arnulf took part in a council held by the Frankish bishops at Reims.

During his career he was attracted to religious life, and around 628 he retired to a hermitage at a mountain site in his domains in the Vosges to become a monk. His friend Romaric, whose parents had been killed by Brunhilda, had preceded him to the mountains around 613. Romaric and Amatus had already established Remiremont Abbey there. After the death of Chlothachar in 629, Arnulf settled near Habendum, where he died some time between 643 and 647. He was buried at Remiremont.

Arnulf is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. In iconography, he is typically portrayed with a pastoral staff or a rake in his hand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnulf_of_Metz
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Arnulf married St. Doda [7686] [MRIN: 5720] in Metz, Fränkisches Reich.¹⁸²³ (St. Doda [7686] was born in 583 in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Neustrie, royaume des Francs,¹⁸²² died on 23 October 650 in Trier, Austrasien, Fränkisches Reich ¹⁸²² and was buried in 650 in Kloster St. Irminen, Trier, Austrasien, Fränkisches Reich ¹⁸²².)