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Bertha or Aldeberge (c. 565 [1] – d. in or after 601) was a Frankish princess who became queen of Kent. She influenced the 597 Gregorian mission, led by Augustine, which resulted in the conversion to Christianity of Anglo-Saxon England.
Queen Bertha: A Historical Enigma. In 597, St Augustine arrived in England to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Virtually every modern description of this mission mentions Queen Bertha of Kent. She has gone down in legend as the Christian queen who influenced her pagan husband, King Æthelberht, in Augustine’s favour.
Bertha was an influential queen of Kent, in southeastern England. Born into the royal Merovingian house of France, she was brought up as a Christian and married King Ethelbert of Kent before 589. As queen of Kent, she brought Merovingian Christian culture to southeast England.
- She Came from A Dysfunctional Family
- She Married King Æthelberht of Kent
- She Helped Convert Her Husband to Christianity
- Pope Gregory Wrote to Her
- She Had A Private Chapel in Kent
- She Might Be Buried at St. Martin’s Church
Bertha was born in the early 560s. She was a Frankish princess, daughter of the Merovingian King of Paris, Charibert I, and his wife Ingoberga, and was granddaughter of the reigning King Chlothar I. She was raised near Tours, France. It seems that her parents’ marriage was unhappy. According to the 6th-century historian Gregory of Tours, Charibert ...
Bertha married King Æthelberht of Kent, and it is for this reason that we know about her. It is unclear exactly when their marriage took place, but the historian Bede implied it was when her parents were both still alive, which pinpoints her as being wed in her early teenage years. Similarly, Gregory of Tours mentions her only once, stating “[Chari...
The monk St Augustine was sent from Rome by Pope Gregory the Greaton a mission to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. He began with the kingdom of Kent in 597 AD, where King Æthelberht gave him the freedom to preach and live in Canterbury. Nearly every modern description of St Augustine’s mission, which was successful in converting King...
Though Bertha may not have first introduced her husband to Christianity, it is generally agreed that she contributed towards his conversion. A letter to Bertha from Pope Gregory in 601 suggests that he was disappointed that she was not more active in converting her husband, and that to compensate she should encourage her husband to convert the whol...
Upon moving to Kent, Bertha was accompanied by a Christian bishop named Liudhard as her confessor. A former Roman church was restored just outside the city of Canterbury and dedicated to St Martin of Tours, which had a private chapel used only by Bertha, and was later taken over by St Augustinewhen he arrived in Kent. The present church still conti...
The date of Bertha’s death is unclear. It is certain that she was alive in 601 when Pope Gregory wrote to her, and it seems that she was consecrated in St Augustine’s Abbey in 604. However, she must have died before her husband Æthelberht did in 616 because he remarried. Bertha’s legacy has been variously debated. While it is clear that Augustine m...
Mar 24, 2023 · She was the wife of King Aethelbert of Kent and a pivotal figure in the establishment of Christianity in the late 6th century. She was instrumental in the conversion of her husband, Aethelberht and earned the praises of Pope Gregory the Great.
Queen Bertha of Kent, Princess of the Franks, is such a woman, whose influence on Britain could be, but should not be, overlooked. Bertha was daughter of Charibert I, King of Paris, and was born around 539 AD.
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Queen Bertha of Kent. Founder of the First Christian Church in Canterbury. 539 – 612 A.D. This noted woman was the daughter of Cherebert, king of Paris. She married Ethelbert, king of Kent, who succeeded to the throne about the year 560.
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