Far From the Home She Loves
While the animated Disney movie Frozen
certainly should not be trusted as a preeminent authority on the ins and outs
of queenship, it did capture an important element of the crown, namely the
fear, anxiety, and alienation that can accompany it. While the queens of the
biblical and medieval times were not necessarily fearful that they would
accidentally reveal their icy superpowers, their elevation to the status of
queen frequently was the result of a personal tragedy and a loss of normalcy,
such as the abandonment of the land and home that one loves. Rising to the
status of queen often meant bidding adieu to one’s family and coming to terms
with the reality of being exiled from one’s homeland.
Radegund, who lived approximately between 520 and 587, experienced a traumatic entrance into King Clothar’s “royal villa,” as Clothar, king of the Franks, destroyed her native land of Thuringia, where she had enjoyed the luxurious status of princess and daughter of King Bertechar (Carrasco 414, Halborg 70-71). Sure, Radegund’s family was by no means perfect, and her uncle Hermanfred did kill her father and take the control of the nobility for himself, but still, family is family, and leaving it behind came with its costs). Venantius Fortunatus, who was connected to Radegund and the nuns of her convent, eulogized Radegund and compared Radegund’s despair at leaving Thuringia to that of the ancient Israelites, exiled from their place of origin (Halborg 70, Carrasco 414). Fortunatus wrote, “She had lived with her noble family only a little while when the victorious Franks devastated the region with barbaric turmoil and, like the Israelites, she departed and migrated from her homeland” (Halborg 71).
Clothar et. al might have been able to take Radegund out of Thuringia, and yet, they could not succeed in taking the Thuringia out of her. Even while far from the home she loved, Radegund thought about her homeland and the family that she had left behind, including her brother, whose death devastated her and sparked her eventual escape away from the palace and into the monastic universe (Halborg 75). The land from which she had been exiled, and indeed the family she had left behind, held a special place in her heart, and while she mourned her brother’s death, she also penned lines upon lines of poetry, describing her grief on account of the Thuringian fate. In a letter that many have attributed to Radegund, Radegund described the total destruction of Thuringia, writing, “Alas, the corpses lie shamefully unburied on the field / An entire people, strewn in a common grave. / Not Troy alone must mourn her ruins: / the Thuringian land suffered equal slaughter" (Halborg 66).
Radegund maintained an emotional connection to the land from which she was taken during her childhood years, and in addition to bemoaning the “malevolent destiny” that her kingdom reached, she strived to uphold peace between the kings and rulers of different lands (Halborg 65). According to the nun Baudonivia’s elegy for Radegund, “whenever the different kingdoms made war on one another, she prayed for the lives of all the kings.” Recognizing the despair that kingly strife inflicted on her, Radegund prevents such violence from arising once more (Halborg 93).
Radegund emerges from the painful loss of her homeland to ascend to the position of queen, and Queen Esther also grapples with the distance between herself and her national homeland. Over 1,000 kilometers away from the Land of Israel, Esther continues to maintain a connection to it and to remember it during her reign as queen in the Persian Empire. Her path to the monarchy is through a beauty pageant that King Ahasuerus hosts to select the most beautiful and worthy of women as his bride. Lo and behold, he chooses an orphaned Jewish girl living with her uncle, who is promptly whisked away to the palace, leaving behind her family and her people (Book of Esther Chapter 2).
Throughout her time in the palace, she continued to maintain connections with the Jewish people, as her uncle Mordechai sent messages to her and informed her of the plight of the Jews and the viceroy Haman’s evil plans to destroy them. Esther’s devotion to her native people was evident, as she risked her life to beg the king to have mercy on her nation. Breaking the royal etiquette, Esther approached Ahasuerus without having been summoned, and she did so with the full knowledge that the king could execute her for such a deed (Book of Esther Chapter 4). Still, Esther was inextricably linked to the Jewish people, and she saw her lot as tied in with those of the rest of the Jews. Esther kept her Jewish identity on the down low and could have continued to rule as queen even if the Persians had massacred them, yet Esther said, “We have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to perish,” displaying her close tie to her people (Book of Esther 8:4).
But the cord connecting Esther to her identity stretched further than the distance between the palace and street—it extended over 1,000 kilometers, back to the city of Jerusalem. Esther and the rest of the Jews living in Persian were diaspora Jews, as the Book of Esther describes them. Specifically, the text mentions that Mordechai had been “exiled from Jerusalem with the exile that was exiled with Jeconiah, king of Judah, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had exiled” (Book of Esther 2:6). Esther then must deal both with the distance between herself and her people, and with the distance separating her entire people from her homeland. There were in fact Jews living in Jerusalem during this period, as Cyrus had begun to allow them to enter, yet the number was rather limited. Although according to the Babylonian Talmud, Esther did indeed have interactions with the Jewish institutions extant in Jerusalem. The Babylonian Talmud related a statement in this regard from Rabbi Shmuel bar Yehuda, who said, “Esther sent to the Sages: Establish me for future generations. Esther requested that the observance of Purim and the reading of the Megilla be instituted as an ordinance for all generations" (Tractate Megillah 7a).
This account of Esther reaching out to the authorities in Jerusalem shows that she acknowledged her link to the land of Israel and that she remained in communication with the Jews there despite the wide distance. Esther recognized that in order for the Persian Jews to be able to officially establish a permanent celebration for their victory, they must confer with the Jerusalemite Jews; they were unable to act separately and individually in that regard.
No matter how hard she squinted, Esther would not have be able to see the banks of the Jordan or the salt of the Dead Sea. She was too far removed. Radegund, too, would have had a rather tough time trying to catch glimpses of Thuringia from the palace in Soissons or from her monastery (Halborg 70). But out of sight was not out of mind for these queens. The attraction between them and the countries from which they were exiled endured, and their souls truly were homeward bound.
Sources:
“A Living Library of Jewish Texts ספריה חיה של טקסטים יהודיים.” Sefaria: a Living Library of Jewish Texts Online, www.sefaria.org/.
Carrasco, Magdalena Elizabeth. “Spirituality in Context: The Romanesque Illustrated Life of St. Radegund of Poitiers (Poitiers, Bibl. Mun., MS 250).” The Art Bulletin, vol. 72, no. 3, Sept. 1990, pp. 414–435., doi:10.2307/3045749.
Halborg, John E, et al., editors. Sainted Women of the Dark Ages. Duke University Press, 1992.
Radegund, who lived approximately between 520 and 587, experienced a traumatic entrance into King Clothar’s “royal villa,” as Clothar, king of the Franks, destroyed her native land of Thuringia, where she had enjoyed the luxurious status of princess and daughter of King Bertechar (Carrasco 414, Halborg 70-71). Sure, Radegund’s family was by no means perfect, and her uncle Hermanfred did kill her father and take the control of the nobility for himself, but still, family is family, and leaving it behind came with its costs). Venantius Fortunatus, who was connected to Radegund and the nuns of her convent, eulogized Radegund and compared Radegund’s despair at leaving Thuringia to that of the ancient Israelites, exiled from their place of origin (Halborg 70, Carrasco 414). Fortunatus wrote, “She had lived with her noble family only a little while when the victorious Franks devastated the region with barbaric turmoil and, like the Israelites, she departed and migrated from her homeland” (Halborg 71).
Clothar et. al might have been able to take Radegund out of Thuringia, and yet, they could not succeed in taking the Thuringia out of her. Even while far from the home she loved, Radegund thought about her homeland and the family that she had left behind, including her brother, whose death devastated her and sparked her eventual escape away from the palace and into the monastic universe (Halborg 75). The land from which she had been exiled, and indeed the family she had left behind, held a special place in her heart, and while she mourned her brother’s death, she also penned lines upon lines of poetry, describing her grief on account of the Thuringian fate. In a letter that many have attributed to Radegund, Radegund described the total destruction of Thuringia, writing, “Alas, the corpses lie shamefully unburied on the field / An entire people, strewn in a common grave. / Not Troy alone must mourn her ruins: / the Thuringian land suffered equal slaughter" (Halborg 66).
Radegund maintained an emotional connection to the land from which she was taken during her childhood years, and in addition to bemoaning the “malevolent destiny” that her kingdom reached, she strived to uphold peace between the kings and rulers of different lands (Halborg 65). According to the nun Baudonivia’s elegy for Radegund, “whenever the different kingdoms made war on one another, she prayed for the lives of all the kings.” Recognizing the despair that kingly strife inflicted on her, Radegund prevents such violence from arising once more (Halborg 93).
Radegund emerges from the painful loss of her homeland to ascend to the position of queen, and Queen Esther also grapples with the distance between herself and her national homeland. Over 1,000 kilometers away from the Land of Israel, Esther continues to maintain a connection to it and to remember it during her reign as queen in the Persian Empire. Her path to the monarchy is through a beauty pageant that King Ahasuerus hosts to select the most beautiful and worthy of women as his bride. Lo and behold, he chooses an orphaned Jewish girl living with her uncle, who is promptly whisked away to the palace, leaving behind her family and her people (Book of Esther Chapter 2).
Throughout her time in the palace, she continued to maintain connections with the Jewish people, as her uncle Mordechai sent messages to her and informed her of the plight of the Jews and the viceroy Haman’s evil plans to destroy them. Esther’s devotion to her native people was evident, as she risked her life to beg the king to have mercy on her nation. Breaking the royal etiquette, Esther approached Ahasuerus without having been summoned, and she did so with the full knowledge that the king could execute her for such a deed (Book of Esther Chapter 4). Still, Esther was inextricably linked to the Jewish people, and she saw her lot as tied in with those of the rest of the Jews. Esther kept her Jewish identity on the down low and could have continued to rule as queen even if the Persians had massacred them, yet Esther said, “We have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to perish,” displaying her close tie to her people (Book of Esther 8:4).
But the cord connecting Esther to her identity stretched further than the distance between the palace and street—it extended over 1,000 kilometers, back to the city of Jerusalem. Esther and the rest of the Jews living in Persian were diaspora Jews, as the Book of Esther describes them. Specifically, the text mentions that Mordechai had been “exiled from Jerusalem with the exile that was exiled with Jeconiah, king of Judah, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had exiled” (Book of Esther 2:6). Esther then must deal both with the distance between herself and her people, and with the distance separating her entire people from her homeland. There were in fact Jews living in Jerusalem during this period, as Cyrus had begun to allow them to enter, yet the number was rather limited. Although according to the Babylonian Talmud, Esther did indeed have interactions with the Jewish institutions extant in Jerusalem. The Babylonian Talmud related a statement in this regard from Rabbi Shmuel bar Yehuda, who said, “Esther sent to the Sages: Establish me for future generations. Esther requested that the observance of Purim and the reading of the Megilla be instituted as an ordinance for all generations" (Tractate Megillah 7a).
This account of Esther reaching out to the authorities in Jerusalem shows that she acknowledged her link to the land of Israel and that she remained in communication with the Jews there despite the wide distance. Esther recognized that in order for the Persian Jews to be able to officially establish a permanent celebration for their victory, they must confer with the Jerusalemite Jews; they were unable to act separately and individually in that regard.
No matter how hard she squinted, Esther would not have be able to see the banks of the Jordan or the salt of the Dead Sea. She was too far removed. Radegund, too, would have had a rather tough time trying to catch glimpses of Thuringia from the palace in Soissons or from her monastery (Halborg 70). But out of sight was not out of mind for these queens. The attraction between them and the countries from which they were exiled endured, and their souls truly were homeward bound.
Sources:
“A Living Library of Jewish Texts ספריה חיה של טקסטים יהודיים.” Sefaria: a Living Library of Jewish Texts Online, www.sefaria.org/.
Carrasco, Magdalena Elizabeth. “Spirituality in Context: The Romanesque Illustrated Life of St. Radegund of Poitiers (Poitiers, Bibl. Mun., MS 250).” The Art Bulletin, vol. 72, no. 3, Sept. 1990, pp. 414–435., doi:10.2307/3045749.
Halborg, John E, et al., editors. Sainted Women of the Dark Ages. Duke University Press, 1992.
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