Bertrada of Prüm

Rear of the towers of the Bertradaburg in Mürlenbach, Germany

Bertrada castle in Mürlenbach, named after Bertrada of Prüm

Bertrada (b. ca. 670; d. after 721), also called Berthe or Bertree, and perhaps a Merovingian princess, is known to be the mother of Charibert of Laon, with whom she is co-founder and benefactor of the Prüm Abbey. They founded the abbey in 721.

Through Charibert's daughter Bertrada of Laon, wife of Pippin the Short, Bertrada is the great-grandmother of Charlemagne. Her husband is unknown for certain, but Settippani believes that he was a son of an Irmina, in turn a daughter of Hugobert, and Chariveus, Count of Laon.

Bertrada and her husband had three children:

• Hardrad (d. after 720)
• Charibert of Laon
• Weta, married Cario.

Three alternative solutions to the question of her parentage have been suggested:

• She was daughter of the seneschal and Pfalzgraf Hugobert and Irmina of Oeren
• She was the daughter-in-law of Irmina (d. ca 704), daughter of Hugobert and Irmina, and her husband Charveus, Count of Laon, brother of Lambert, Count of Hesbaye
• She was daughter of Theuderic III, king of Neustria and Austrasia, and Clotilda of Herstal.

The last two possibilities are not mutually exclusive, and are supported by Settipani.

References

• Maurice Chaume, "Études carolingiennes I: La famille de saint Guillaume de Gellone", in _Annales de Bourgogne_, vol. I (1929), 27-56 who presents the hypothesis that she was daughter of Theuderic (Thierry).
• Medieval Lands Project, Merovingian Counts, 8th Century
• Christian, Settipani. "The Ancestors of Charlemagne: Addendum to Addena, 31 January 2000" (PDF).