The Queen and the Poet: Radegund’s Female Authority in Venantius Fortunatus’ Poems

The poetry of Venantius Fortunatus offers exceptional insight into a feminine form of leadership, exemplified by the former queen Radegund in sixth-century Gaul. His poems depict various forms of authority, with Radegund’s enduring royal status – recast as a form of heavenly queenship – being a prominent theme, particularly in book 8. The first ten poems of this book, dedicated to Radegund, are considered both individually, as compositions for specific occasions, and collectively, as they were probably published after the revolt of highborn nuns in 589–590 with a new communicative function. The paper shows that this collection served to restore the authoritative image of the monastery’s founder after her death. Other poems by Fortunatus demonstrate that Radegund enlisted her protégé to manage her political networks and reinforce her authority before contemporary magnates, notably when she sent an embassy to the Byzantine court to request a relic of the Holy Cross. The posthumous poems of Fortunatus, on the other hand, unveil a more private side of Radegund, portraying her primarily as a mother (mater) and a lady (domina).