From Thuringia to the Frankish Court
Radegund was born around 520 in the Thuringian territories. Her father, Bertachar, was one of three kings ruling Thuringia; after he was killed in battle at the hands of his brother Hermanfrid, Radegund entered her uncle's household.
In 531 the Frankish kings Theuderic and Clotaire I defeated Hermanfrid and conquered Thuringia. Clotaire I took charge of Radegund and brought her back to Merovingian Gaul, sending the child to his villa of Athies in Picardy for several years before marrying her around 540.
Radegund became one of Clotaire I's several wives or concubines, a group that included Guntheuc, Chunsina, Ingund, Aregund, and Waldrada. She bore the king no children but earned recognition for her charitable works, ministering to the poor and to captives and founding a hospital for lepers.
Flight from the Court and Monastic Foundation
By about 545 Clotaire had murdered the last surviving brother of Radegund's Thuringian royal line. Radegund fled the court and sought the protection of the Church, persuading Medardus, the bishop of Noyon, to ordain her as a deaconess.
Around 560, with the king's eventual acquiescence, Radegund established the monastery of Sainte-Croix (Holy Cross) at Poitiers, where she cared for the infirm. The community followed the Rule for Virgins of Caesarius of Arles, under which the nuns were to read, write, study scripture, copy manuscripts, and perform weaving and needlework.
When Clotaire attempted to bring her back to court, the intercession of Saint Germanus is credited with dissuading him, and the king is said to have sought her forgiveness and prayers. The consecration of the community faced obstruction: Bishop Maroveus of Poitiers initially refused to install it, but King Sigebert I arranged for Bishop Eufronius to perform the ceremony.
The Relic of the True Cross
Radegund obtained a fragment of the True Cross from the Byzantine emperor Justin II, which made her foundation a major center of devotion.
The poet Venantius Fortunatus composed the hymn 'Vexilla Regis' to celebrate the arrival of the relic. Fortunatus and the historian Gregory of Tours were close associates of Radegund and documented her life extensively.
Asceticism
Radegund maintained a strict ascetic regime. According to the accounts of her life, she followed a vegan diet, refusing all animal products and eating only legumes and green vegetables. During Lenten periods she abstained from bread, oil, and salt, taking only water.
The sources further relate severe bodily mortifications: she wore iron circlets around her neck and arms that caused serious injury to her flesh, and on one occasion heated a brass cross and pressed it against her body.
Legacy and Veneration
Radegund died on 13 August 587 at the Abbey of the Holy Cross in Poitiers, at approximately 66 or 67 years of age. She was buried in what became the Church of St. Radegonde in Poitiers, where her tomb remains a place of devotion.
She is venerated in both the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches on 13 August. She is a patron saint of the city of Poitiers, of Jesus College, Cambridge — whose full name invokes 'the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund' — and of five English parish churches. By tradition she is invoked against drowning, fever, leprosy, and difficult marriages.
