HERISTAL, St. Arnulf de Bishop of Metz

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He 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 (595-612) of Austrasia and as Duke 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-grand children. 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 protoge of Dagobert. From 623 (with Pippin of Landen, then the Mayor of the Palace), 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 Ansbertus and Blithilt (or Blithilde), 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", without making any claims to royal blood. While modern historians generally dismiss the later Carolingian genealogy as spurious, it constitutes an important link in Christian Settipani's suggested line of descent from antiquity via Flavius Afranius Syagrius.

NOTE: Any ancestry beyond this point is pure speculation and, in many cases, borders of mythology and fancy.

Family/Spouse: SAVOY, Doda De. Doda was born about 586 in Old Saxony, Germany; died after 615. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Ansegisel Mayor Of The Palace Of Austrasia was born in 602 in Ansgise, Rhine Westphalia, France; died in 679 in Andenne, Namur, Belgium.
2. St. Cloud was born in 605; died before 8 Jun 696 in Metz, Austrasia, France.

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Arnoldus married HERISTAL, Dode Oda of a Swabian about 581. Dode was born about 556 in Herstal, Liege, Belgium; died after 611. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• Married: ca 581
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• Birth: Abt 536, Old Saxony, Germany
• Death: Abt 570

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Gallo-Roman Senator

Ansbertus married Blithildis (Bertha) of Cologne. Blithildis (daughter of Charibert King Of Paris and Ingeberge Queen Of Paris) was born about 470; died about 550. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• Name: Berthe Aldeberge Blithildis
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• Birth: Abt 541, Paris, Île-de-France, France

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• Name: Ferreolus Duke Of Moselle
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• Birth: Abt 470

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He was a Senator of Narbonne, then Narbo, who lived in Rodez and was al so a Senator there.

Ferreolus married Dode. Dode was born before 509; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Charibert married Ingeberge Queen Of Paris. Ingeberge was born about 520 in Paris, Île-de-France, France; died in 589. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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