_Eobba ASGARD _______+
|
_Ida BERNICIANS _____|
| |
| |_____________________
|
|
|--Ecca BERNICIANS
|
| _____________________
| |
|_Concubines (?) _____|
|
|_____________________
_Gundioc BURGUNDES __
|
_Chilperic BURGUNDES _|
| |
| |_____________________
|
|
|--St. Chlotilde BURGUNDY
| (0475 - 0548)
| _____________________
| |
|______________________|
|
|_____________________
[292]
Chlotilde was the person primarily responsible for Clovis' conversion
to Christianity, and, therefore, the conversion of all of France. She
went into a monastery at Tours after the death of Clovis, where she
stayed until her death. She was canonized a few years after her death,
and her traditional feast day is June 3.
Gregory of Tours writes:
The King of the Burgundes was called Gundioc; he was of the family of
that King Athanaric who persecuted the Christians and about whom I have
told you. He had four sons. Gundobad killed his brother Chilperic and
drowned Chilperic's wife after tying a stone round her neck. He drove
Chilperic's two daughters into exile; the elder became a relgious, and
the younger was called Clotild. Clovis often sent envoys to Burgundy
and they saw the girl Clotild. They observed that she was an elegant
young woman and clever for her years, and they discovered that she was
of the blood royal. They reported all this to Clovis and he
immediately sent more messengers to Gundobad to ask for her hand in
marriage. Gundobad was afraid to refuse and he handed Clotild over to
them. They took her back with them, and presented her to their King.
Clovis already had a son called Theuderic by one of his mistresses, but
he was delighted when he saw Clotild and made her his wife.
he first child which Clotild bore for Clovis was a son. She wanted to
have her baby baptized, and she kept on urging her husband to agree to
this. 'The gods whom you worship are no good,' she would say. 'They
haven't even been able to help themselves, let alone others. They are
carved out of stone or wood or some old piece of metal. The very names
which you have given them were the names of men, not of gods. Take
your Saturn, for example, who ran away from his own son to avoid being
exiled from his kingdom, or so they say; and Jupiter, that obscene
perpetrator of all sorts of mucky deeds, who couldn't keep his hands
off other men, who had his fun with all his female relatives and
couldn't even refrain from intercourse with his own sister. What have
Mars and Mercury ever done for anyone? They may have been endowed with
magic arts, but they were certainly not worthy of being called divine.
You ought instead to worship Him who created at a word and out of
nothing heaven, and earth, the sea and all that therein is, who made
the sun to shine, who lit the sky with stars, who peopled the water
with fish, the earth with beasts, the sky with flying creatures, at
whose nod the fields became fair with fruits, the trees with apples,
the vines with grapes, by whose hand the race of man was made, by whose
gift all creation is constrained to serve in deference and devotion the
man He made.'
owever often the Queen said this, the King came no nearer to belief.
'All these things have been created and produced at the command of OUR
gods,' he would answer. 'It is obvious that your God can do nothing,
and, what is more, there is no proof that he is a god at all.'
he Queen, who was true to her faith, brought her son to be baptized.
She ordered the church to be decorated with hangings and curtains, in
the hope that the King, who remained stubborn in the face of argument,
might be brought to the faith by ceremony. The child was baptized; he
was given the name Ingomer; but no sooner had he received baptism than
he died in his white robes. Clovis was extremely angry. He began
immediately to reproach his Queen. 'If he had been dedicated in the
name of my gods,' he said, 'he would have lived without question; but
now that he has been baptized in the name of your god he has not been
able to live a single day!'
I give thanks to Almighty God,' replied Clotild, 'the Creator of all
things, who has not found me completely unworthy, for He has deigned to
welcome to His kingdom a child conceived in my womb. I am not at all
cast down in my mind, because of what has happened, for I know that my
child, who was called away from this world in his white baptismal
robes, will be nurtured in the sight of God.'
ome time later Clotild bore a second son. He was baptized Chlodomer.
He began to ail and Clovis siad 'What else do you expect? It will
happen to him as it happened to his brother; no sooner is he baptized
in the name of your Christ than he will die!' Clotild prayed to the
Lord and at His command the baby recovered.
ueen Clotild continued to pray that her husband might recognize the
true God and give up his idol-worship. Nothing could persuade him to
accept Christianity. Finally war broke out against the Alamanni and in
this conflict he was forced by necessity to accept what he had refused
of his own free will. It so turned out that when the two armies met on
the battlefield there was a great slaughter and the troops of Clovis
were rapidly being annihilated. He raised his eyes to heaven when he
saw this, felt compunction in his heart and was moved to tears.
'Jesus Christ,' he said, 'you who Clotild maintains to be the Son fo
the Living God, you who deign to give help to those in travail and
victory to those who trust in you, in faith I beg the glory of your
help. If you will give me the victory over my enemies, and if I may
have evidence of that miraculous power which the people dedicated to
your name say that they have experienced, then I will believe in you
and I will be baptized in your name. I have called upon my own gods,
but, as I see only too clearly, they have no intention of helping me.
I therefore cannot believe that they possess any power, for they do not
come to the assistance of those who trust in them. I now call upon
you. I want to believe in you, but I must first be saved from my
enemies.'
ven as he said this the Alamanni turned their backs and began to run
away. As soon as they saw that their King was killed, they submitted
to Clovis. 'We beg you,' they said, 'to put an end to this slaughter.
We are prepared to obey you.' Clovis stopped the war. He made a
speech in which he called for peace. Then he went home. He told the
Queen how he had won a victory by calling on the name of Christ. This
happened in the fifteenth year of his rei
_Robert (Twin) DE BEAUMONT __________+
| (1040 - 1118) m 1096
_Robert "Bossu" DE BEAUMONT _|
| (.... - 1168) m 1120 |
| |_Isabelle (Elizabeth) DE VERMANDOIS _+
| (1081 - 1131) m 1096
|
|--Robert "Blanchmains" DE HARCOURT
| (1121 - 1190)
| _Ralph, Lord of Montfort DE GAEL ____
| |
|_Amice DE GAEL ______________|
m 1120 |
|_____________________________________
_Edgar "The Peacdful" ENGLAND ________+
| (0943 - 0007) m 0964
_Aethelred II "The Redeless" of ENGLAND _|
| (0968 - 1016) m 0984 |
| |_Elfrida (Elfthryth) ENGLAND _________+
| (0945 - 1000) m 0964
|
|--Edmund II "Ironside" ENGLAND
| (0989 - 1016)
| _Thored Ealderman (Torin) GUNNARSSON _+
| | (0938 - ....)
|_Alfflaed of ENGLAND ____________________|
(0968 - 1000) m 0984 |
|______________________________________
_James PEARCE _______+
| (1691 - 1755) m 1712
_James PEARCE _______|
| (1719 - 1767) |
| |_Martha WILBORE _____+
| (1690 - 1760) m 1712
|
|--Simeon PEARCE
| (1764 - ....)
| _____________________
| |
|_Sarah SIMMONS ______|
|
|_____________________
_George PEARCE ______+
| (1696 - 1764) m 1716
_Giles PEIRCE _______|
| (1765 - 1835) m 1785|
| |_Deborah SEARLE _____
| m 1716
|
|--George PEIRCE
|
| _____________________
| |
|_Hannah ARNOLD ______|
m 1785 |
|_____________________
_Dallas LeRoy SCHNEIDER _
| (1939 - ....) m 1961
_Steven Paul SCHNEIDER ____|
| |
| |_Gay Elizabeth SIVERS ___+
| (1943 - ....) m 1961
|
|--Meghan Michelle SCHNEIDER
|
| _________________________
| |
|_Cynthia Margaret SKORDAS _|
|
|_________________________
_John D. WIMBISH ______+
| (1790 - 1863) m 1809
_John C. WIMBISH ______|
| (1829 - ....) m 1851 |
| |_Anna Jane C. BRIDGES _+
| m 1809
|
|--Charles Bellonee WIMBISH
| (1866 - 1920)
| _______________________
| |
|_Eliza Malinda TOUPES _|
m 1851 |
|_______________________