Caretene Explained

Caretene (also Caretena) (born died September 16, 506) was the wife of Gundobad, king of the Burgundians.^[1] Unlike her husband, who was an Arian, Caretene was a Catholic.^[2] She was probably the mother of Sigismund of Burgundy.^[3]

According to her epitaph, Caretene was known for helping the poor, and encouraging clemency toward her husband's prisoners.^[4] She is credited with founding a monastic Church of St. Michael in Lyons.^[5] Most likely, this church is also where she was buried.^[6]

Epitaph

Source:^[7]

Sources

• Martina Hartmann: Die Königin im frühen Mittelalter. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 2009,, S. 3f.; 11; 148; 159; 167f.; 206; 215.
• Reinhold Kaiser: Die Burgunder. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 2004,, S. 63; 118; 124; 152; 154; 159; 167.
• Gerd Kampers: Caretena – Königin und Asketin. Mosaiksteine zum Bild einer burgundischen Herrscherin, in: Francia 27, 1 (2000), S. 1–32.
• John Robert Martindale u. a.: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PRLE), Bd. 2, 1980, S. 260f.

References

1. Book: Mathisen . Ralph W. . The Battle of Vouillé, 507 CE: Where France Began . Shanzer . Danuta . 2012-07-04 . Walter de Gruyter . 978-1-61451-099-4 . en.
2. Book: Harries, Jill . Sidonius Apollinaris and the Fall of Rome, AD 407-485 . 1994 . Clarendon Press . 978-0-19-814472-4 . en.
3. Book: Hägermann . Dieter . Akkulturation: Probleme einer germanisch-romanischen Kultursynthese in Spätantike und frühem Mittelalter . Haubrichs . Wolfgang . Jarnut . Jörg . 2013-02-18 . Walter de Gruyter . 978-3-11-090976-0 . de.
4. Book: Dailey, E. T. . Radegund: The Trials and Triumphs of a Merovingian Queen . 2023 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-765610-5 . en.
5. Book: Hen . Yitzhak . The Bobbio Missal: Liturgy and Religious Culture in Merovingian Gaul . Meens . Rob . 2004-03-11 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-82393-7 . en.
6. Book: Nicholson, Oliver . The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity . 2018-04-19 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-256246-3 . en.
7. Book: Viator . 1994 . University of California Press . en.