Arnulf of Metz

Arnulf of Metz (August 13, 582 â€" August 16, 640) was a Frankish noble who had great influence in the Merovingian kingdoms as a bishop and was later canonized as a saint. He is also known by his anglicized name, Arnold.

Arnulf gave distinguished service at the Austrasian court under Theudebert II (595-612). About 611 he was made bishop of Metz. In 613, Arnulf and Pippin of Landen, whose daughter Begga, had married Arnulf's son Ansegisel, led the opposition of Frankish nobles to Queen Brunhilda of Austrasia. The revolt led to her overthrow, torture, and eventual execution, and the subsequent reunification of Frankish lands under Clotaire II, the dowager queen's nephew. Though Arnulf wanted to retreat to the Vosges mountains as a hermit, he was persuaded to stay and became the bishop of Metz.

From 623 (with Pippin of Landen, then the Mayor of the Palace), Arnulf was an adviser to Dagobert I. With his friend Romaric, he retired in 627 to a mountain site in the Vosges, to implement his lifelong resolution to become a hermit. Before he was consecrated, he had two sons by his wife Doda: Ansegisel and Chlodulf. Ansegisel married Pippin's daughter Begga, and their child was Pippin the Middle, one of Charlemagne's great-grandfathers. Chlodulf, like his father, became bishop of Metz. The existence of third son called Martin is considered dubious.

Arnulf was canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and is known as the patron saint of brewing. His feast day is either July 18 or August 16. In iconography, he is portrayed with a rake in his hand. He is often confused in legend with Arnold of Soissons, who is another patron saint of brewing. Saint Arnold Brewery, Houston, Texas, named after the saint, lists itself as the state's oldest microbrewery.

Uncertain ancestry

While Arnulf is recognised as one of the earliest documented ancestors of Charlemagne and thereby of most modern European royal families, Arnulf's own parentage is both uncertain and undocumented. Some have claimed that Arnulf's father was Arnoldus (c.535–600), and that his mother was Ada of Swabia. This Arnoldus is sometimes said to be the son of Ausbert, the Senator of Moselle and Berthe, daughter of Charibert, King of Paris. Others, professing to quote Frankish legends, make Arnulf the son of Bodigisel. Still others have claimed that Arnulf's mother was Bertha, Princess of Paris (539–640).

Arnulf's more distant descent from a 4th-century "Mellobaude" may be a genealogical fantasy to flatter the Carolingians:
*Mellobaude (320-376)
*Richemir (350-384) married Ascyla (d.352)
*Theodemir Magnus (370-414) married Valentina Justina (d.414)
*Clovis the Ripuarian (398-448) married Ildegonde de Cologne (399-450)
*Childebert of Cologne (430-483) married Amalaberge (435-478)
*Siegbert the Lame (d.509)
*Cloderic of Cologne (477-509) married Parricide
*Munderic (500-532) married Arthenia (500)
*Bodegisel I married Palatina
*Bodegisel II (d.588) married Oda of Suevian
*Arnulf (582-641) married Dode (586-612)

External links

*Catholic Encyclopedia 1908 "St. Arnulf of Metz"