Basina of Thuringia

13th century depiction of Basina and Childeric I.

Basina or Basine (c. 438 – 477) was a queen of Thuringia in the middle of the fifth century.

Biography

Basina was a daughter of the Thuringian king Basin and Basina, a Saxon princess.

She left her husband, king Bisinus and went to Roman Gaul. She herself took the initiative to ask for the hand of Childeric I, king of the Franks, and married him. For as she herself said, "I want to have the most powerful man in the world, even if I have to cross the ocean for him". This remark of hers may have been related to Childeric's successful invasion of the Roman Empire and his attempt to settle a Frankish kingdom on Roman soil.

She is the mother of the man who is remembered as the founder of the Frankish realm and modern France. She (not her husband Childeric) named her son Chlodovech, but he is better remembered under his Latinized name, Clovis I. The simple fact that Chlodovech's name was chosen and given by Basina is remarkable since it was a common practice for the Franks to name a son after a member of the family of the male-line of ancestors.

Through the ages historians have been intrigued by the story of Basina since she obviously acted as a player and not as bystander — which is not uncommon for women of the German clans, but highly uncommon for the Romans.

Marriage and children

In 463, Basina married Childeric I, son of Merovech and his wife, and had the following children:

1. Clovis I (466 – 511).
2. Audofleda (467 – 511). Queen of the Ostrogoths. Wife of Theodoric the Great
3. Lanthilde (468 – ¿¿??).
4. Aboflede (470 – ¿¿??).

Portrayals

Queen Basina of Thuringia is the central antagonist in the 2005 film, The Brothers Grimm.

See also

• Gregory of Tours

External links

• Project Continua: Biography of Basine Project Continua is a web-based multimedia resource dedicated to the creation and preservation of women’s intellectual history from the earliest surviving evidence into the 21st Century.