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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnulf_of_MetzArnold, Bishop of Metz bat 582 - 640/1
Arnulf was a powerful Austrasian noble during the time of Mayor Pepin I, and their two children Ansegisel and Begga were married. According to Frankish myth, Arnulf was the son of Bodigisel, a supposed son of Saint Gendolphus, Bishop of Tongress, and Oda de Savoy. This bishop was an actual historical figure, the son of Arthemia and Munderic of Vitry. According again to the myths, Munderic was the son of Cloderic the Paricide, son of the historic Sigisbert the Lame. This Sigisbert was the son of King Childebert of Cologne, another historical figure that died sometime shortly after 450. He was the suposed son of one Clovis the Riparian who died after 420.
Saint Arnulf of Metz was born of an important
Frankish family at an uncertain date around 582. In his younger years he was called to the
Merovingian court to serve king
Theudebert II of
Austrasia and as dux at the Schelde. Later he became bishop of
Metz. During his life he was attracted to religious life and he retired as a monk. After his death he was canonized as a
saint. In the French language he is also known as
Arnoul or
Arnoulf.
Arnulf gave distinguished service at the
Austrasian court under
Theudebert II After the death of Theudebert in 612 he was made
bishop of Metz. 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
Pippin 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 and he ruled with the help of his advisor Arnulf. Not satisfied with his position, as a bishop he was involved in the murder of
Chrodoald in 624, an important leader of the Frankish
Agilolfings family and a protégé of Dagobert.
From 623 , Arnulf was an adviser to
Dagobert I. He retired around 628 to a hermitage at a mountain site in the
Vosges, to realize his lifelong resolution to become a monk and a hermit. His friend
Romaric, whose parents were killed by
Brunhilda, had preceded him to the mountains and together with
Amatus had already established
Remiremont Abbey there. Arnulf settled there, and remained there until his death twelve years later.
Arnulf was canonized as a saint by the
Roman Catholic Church. In
iconography, he is portrayed with a rake in his hand and is often confused in legend with
Arnold of Soissons, who is a patron saint of brewing.
Shortly after 800, most likely in Metz, a brief genealogy of the
Carolingians was compiled, modelled in style after the
genealogy of Jesus in the
New Testament. According to this source, Arnulf's father was a certain
Arnoald, who in turn was the son of a nobilissimus
Ansbert and Blithilt , an alleged and otherwise unattested daughter of
Chlothar I. This late attribution of royal
Merovingian descent at a time when the
Carolingian dynasty was at the peak of its power contrasts clearly with the contemporary
Vita Sancti Arnulfi's failure to mention any such a connection: The Vita, written shortly after the saint's death, merely states that he was of
Frankish ancestry, from "sufficiently elevated and noble parentage, and very rich in worldly goods"
[1], without making any claims to royal blood. While modern historians generally dismiss the later Carolingian genealogy as spurious
[2], it constitutes an important link in
Christian Settipani's suggested line of
descent from antiquity via
Flavius Afranius Syagrius.
Arnulf was married ca 596 to a woman who later sources give the name of Dode or Doda, , and had children.
Chlodulf of Metz was his oldest son, but more important is his second son
Ansegisel, who married
Begga daughter of
Pepin I, Pippin of Landen.