Erchinoald

Who was Erchinoald?

Erchinoald succeeded Aega as the mayor of the palace of Neustria in 641 and succeeded Flaochad in Burgundy in 642 and remained such until his death in 658. According to Fredegar, he was a relative of Dagobert I's mother. Chaume cites the Notitia de Fundatione Monasterii Glanderiensis to suggest that Erchinoald was descended from the Gallo Roman senator Ansbertus through a son of that senator also named Erchinoald and that Erchinoald's son Leudesius, and was therefor a descendant of the gallo-roman families of the Syagrii and Ferrèoli Erchinoald's relationship with Merovingian King Dagobert has been proposed to have been through his mother Gerberga, daughter of Burgundian dux Ricomeres and Bertrude, her putative sister and mother of King Dagobert. Herchenfrida, mother of St Desiderius of Cahors will have also been of this family as is further evidenced inter alia by that Gallo Roman saint's close ties to King Dagobert, and a brother named "Syagrius".

Erchinoald introduced Balthild, an Anglo-Saxon slave, most probably of a high ranking Anglo Saxon family from East Anglia, to Clovis II, king of Neustria. The king's marriage to the pious Balthild reinforced Erchinoald's position at court. It has been suggested given the rarity of the name element "Erchin" among the Franks and Saxons that Queen Emma of Kent, thought to be from Frankia, and the wife of Eadbald of Kent was of this family and perhaps Erchinoald's daughter. Eadbald and Emma had a son Eorconbert b. ca 618 so Emma was probably born before 600 and was not a daughter but a sister or less likely a cousin of Erchinoald. This was a period of considerable Frankish influence in Kent and East Anglia and as one of the most powerful men in Frankia located at his estate at Peronne not far from the English channel when he was not at court, it was Erchinoald who wielded this influence during his lifetime. Erchinoald supported efforts of successors of the Augustinian mission to England. One notable manner in which he both exerted influence and aided the mission was his involvement in and support of convents within his sphere of influence in Nuestria into which some of the princesses of Kent, such as Eorcongota and East Anglia such as Aethelburg and Saethryth, in most cases his relations, retired and were made abbess.