Died 570 AD Name Ansbertus Ansbertus | ||
Spouse Blithilde, daughter of Clothar I Similar People Arnulf of Metz, Chlothar I, Munderic Born 505 AD, France | ||
Ansbertus or Ansbert, Ausbert was a Frankish Austrasian noble, as well as a Gallo-Roman Senator. He is thought to be the son of Ferreolus, Senator of Narbonne and his wife Saint Dode. This would perhaps make him the great-grandson of Sigimerus (son of Clodius) and his wife, a daughter of Ferreolus Tonantius (a Roman Senator and Praetorian Prefect of Gaul). His wife Billihild was reputed to be a daughter of Charibert I, Merovingian King of Paris, and granddaughter of Chlothar I.
Contents
Little of his actual life is known. Published centuries later, the Liber Historiae Francorum states that an Ansbertus married Blithilde (also called Bilichilde), and that she was the daughter of "Lothar the father of Dagobert", and then continues the line to the Pippinids through his son Arnoald and his granddaughter Itta (wife of Pepin of Landen).
Chronological problems
William of Malmesbury in his History of the Kings of England, repeats the line, without naming his source.
The chronological problems with the line as presented, have led modern genealogists to try to re-construct the line in various ways to fix them.
Marriage and issue
Some modern reconstructions posit that Ansbertus' wife must be, instead of a daughter of Lothar II, a daughter of Lothar I and make her the offspring of his brief relationship with Waldrada, proposing the following offspring:
However the contemporary source The History of the Franks, by Gregory of Tours, our main source on the Merovingians during the time of this supposed union, does not ascribe to Waldrada any children by her brief unmarried relationship with Chlothar.