Nanthild also known as Nantéchilde, Nanthechilde, Nanthildis, Nanthilde, or Nantechildis, was a Frankish queen consort and regent, the third of many consorts of Dagobert I

Dagobert I

Dagobert I was the king of Austrasia , king of all the Franks , and king of Neustria and Burgundy . He was the last Merovingian dynast to wield any real royal power...

, king of the Franks (629–639).

She was of Saxon lineage, born about 608 or 610. The Lexikon des Mittelalters calls her ein Mädchen aus dem Dienstpersonal ("a maiden of the royal [ Austrasia

Austrasia

Austrasia formed the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, comprising parts of the territory of present-day eastern France, western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Metz served as its capital, although some Austrasian kings ruled from Rheims, Trier, and...

n ] household"). Her elevation to consort may have given importance to her relatives: her brother Lanthegisel was an important landowner in the Limousin

Limousin (province)

Limousin is one of the traditional provinces of France around the city of Limoges. Limousin lies in the foothills of the western edge of the Massif Central, with cold weather in the winter...

 and a relation of Aldegisel. Dagobert set aside his wife Gomatrud to marry her, ca. 629; to her was born Clovis II

Clovis II

Clovis II succeeded his father Dagobert I in 639 as King of Neustria and Burgundy. His brother Sigebert III had been King of Austrasia since 634. He was initially under the regency of his mother Nanthild until her death in her early thirties in 642...

, second eldest of Dagobert's surviving sons and the one who succeeded him in Neustria

Neustria

The territory of Neustria or Neustrasia, meaning "new [western] land", originated in 511, made up of the regions from Aquitaine to the English Channel, approximating most of the north of present-day France, with Paris and Soissons as its main cities...

 and Burgundy

Kingdom of Burgundy

Burgundy is a historic region in Western Europe that has existed as a political entity in a number of forms with very different boundaries. Two of these entities - the first around the 6th century, the second around the 11th century - have been called the Kingdom of Burgundy; a third was very...

. After Dagobert's death in January 639, she was initially regent

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 for her son, accompanied by Aega

Aega (mayor of the palace)

Aega was the mayor of the palace and regent, alongside the queen mother Nanthild, of Neustria and Burgundy from 639, on the death of Dagobert I, to his death in 641, during the reign of the minor Clovis II. He was a hardened opponent of the local Burgundian nobility...

, mayor of the Neustrian palace and an opponent of the powerful contingent of nobles headed by Burgundofaro whose seat was at Meaux

Meaux

Meaux is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located east-northeast from the center of Paris. Meaux is a sub-prefecture of the department and the seat of an arondissement...

.

In the interest of reducing noble Burgundian independence of the Merovingian

Merovingian dynasty

The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region largely corresponding to ancient Gaul from the middle of the 5th century. Their politics involved frequent civil warfare among branches of the family...

 palace, she married her niece Ragnoberta to the Frank Flaochad

Flaochad

Flaochad was the mayor of the palace of Burgundy from 639 to 642. He was appointed by Nanthild, the queen mother, who gave him her niece, Ragnobert, in marriage...

 and had the magnates and bishops of the realm of Burgundy acclaim him mayor of the palace

Mayor of the Palace

Mayor of the Palace was an early medieval title and office, also called majordomo, from the Latin title maior domus , used most notably in the Frankish kingdoms in the 7th and 8th centuries....

 at Orléans

Orléans

-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...

 in 642. Soon she died at Landry in what was then Burgundy, where she had long resided; her body was translated to the Saint Denis Basilica

Saint Denis Basilica

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis is a large medieval abbey church in the commune of Saint-Denis, now a northern suburb of Paris. The abbey church was created a cathedral in 1966 and is the seat of the Bishop of Saint-Denis, Pascal Michel Ghislain Delannoy...

. Her untimely death allowed her son to fall under the influence of the nobility, who abhorred a strong royal hand.