Recent Articles

Arnulf of Metz

August 13, 582 - August 16, 640) was a Frankish noble, who had great influence in the Merovingian kingdoms.

Arnulf gave distinguished service at the Austrasian court under Theudebert II (595-612). In 613, however, with Pippin of Landen he led the aristocratic opposition to Queen Brunhilda of Austrasia that led to her downfall and the reunification of Frankish lands under Clotaire II. About the same year, he became Bishop of Metz.

From 623, again with Pippin, now Mayor of the Austrasian palace, Arnulf was adviser to Dagobert I, before retiring in 627 to become a hermit in the Vosges mountains.

With his wife, Ansegisel

• Chlodulf
• Martin

Ansegisel married Pippin's daughter, Begga, and the son of this marriage, Pippin II, was Charlemagne's great-grandfather.

Uncertain Ancestry

While Arnulf is recognised as one of the earliest documented ancestors of, say, Charlemagne and thereby most modern European Royal families, Arnulf's own parentage is both uncertain and undocumented:

• Some have claimed that Arnulf's father was Arnoldus (b Abt. 535, Saxony, Germany - d. 600), and that his mother was Ada of Schwabia
• According to Frankish myth, Arnulf was the son of Bodigisel.
• Others have claimed that Arnulf's mother was Berthe, Princess of Paris (539-640)
• Still others hold that Arnulf descended from Mellobaude thus:

Descendants of Mellobaude Mellobaude 320 - 376 Richemir 350 - 384 married Ascyla 352 - Theodemir Magnus 370 - 414 married Valentina Justina - 414 Clovis the Riparian 398 - 448 married Ildegonde De Cologne 399 - 450 Childebert of Cologne 430 - 483 married Amalaberge 435 - 478 Siegbert the Lame - 509 Cloderic of Cologne 477 - married Parricide Munderic 500 - 532 married Arthenia 500 - Bodegisel I married Palatina Bodegisel II - 588 married Oda of Suevian Arnulf 582 - 641 married Dode 586 - 612 (Mellobaude descent written by Alex R. Kuestner)