Ruothild (died 24 March 852) was a Carolingian princess and the abbess of Faremoutiers. She was a daughter of Charlemagne and his concubine Madelgard,; ; ; ; ; ; . who is the first of the concubines listed by Einhard in his Life of Charlemagne.; .
Ruothild is generally thought to have been born after the death of Charlemagne's last wife, Liutgard, in 800,; ; ; . although it has been suggested that she may be the unnamed daughter mentioned in a poem of Theodulf praising Liutgard's relationship with her stepchildren.. See also .
As a daughter of Charlemagne, Ruothild probably received an education. Later legend relates that her father gave her a gilt silver reliquary containing a piece of the True Cross. As abbess, she oversaw the transfer of the relics of Burgundofara, the founder and namesake of Faremoutiers, to a new shrine. She had the body wrapped in a red Byzantine silk decorated with bare-breasted Amazons. Her choice of silk suggests familiarity with Orosius' Seven Books of History Against the Pagans, the standard text on the Amazons at the time.; .
During her abbacy, Ruothild's half-brother, the Emperor Louis the Pious (), granted the smaller convent at Gy-les-Nonains to Faremoutiers to shore up its economic position (and increase his own family's power).; . In October 840, the Emperor Lothar I confirmed the grant to his "beloved aunt Rothildis" at her request.; ; ; ; . By 842, as a result of the Carolingian civil war, Faremoutiers fell under the rule of Lothar's half-brother, Charles the Bald, and Ruothild requested his confirmation of the convent's properties, which he gave.; .
Ruothild's year of death is indicated by a note added in the margin of the manuscript Reg. lat. 141 next to the year 852 in an Easter table.; ; . The manuscript was created at Faremoutiers and the note is contemporary.; . It reads simply ("Lady Ruothild, abbess, died"). The necrology of Faremoutiers supplies the day of her death, 24 March, without indicating the year.; . Ruothild was succeeded as abbess by Bertrada, who was probably Lothar's daughter. She had been a nun at Faremoutiers since the 830s.
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