Merovingian Noblewomen

Abstract Fortunatus’ verse affords us glimpses of yet another group of patrons Merovingian women. Some of these vignettes, however, are more detailed and intense than any we have considered so far, and give us clearer insights both into the patrons they addressed and into the character of the poet himself. In devoting separate attention to Fortunatus’ poems to women we perhaps imply an expectation that they differ from those he addressed to men, or that women in Merovingian society had very different roles from their male contemporaries--or both. Yet, within the wealthy and educated class for whom Fortunatus wrote, there is evidence that neither assumption is necessarily nor invariably true.