Radegund
b. circa 520, probably Erfurt, Thuringia, Germany; d. 586, Poitiers, France
Radegund (Radegunda) was born in Thuringia, a German kingdom, and was orphaned at a young age. She was forced to marry Clotaire I, king of the Franks, becoming one of his four wives. She ministered to the poor and infirm and founded a leper hospital. When Clotaire I assassinated her brother (reasons unclear), she fled the court and became a nun. About 557, she established a convent in Poitiers and there became a close friend to a famous poet, Venantius Fortunatus, and a famous historian, Gregory of Tours. She was canonized by the Catholic Church in the ninth century.
