e post
as one of the waiting women of the palace. It was not long before she
struck. The sensual and shallow nature of the King had soon wearied of
his new bride, whose chief charm was not, it would appear, her beauty.
A moment came when weariness became disgust. The sight of Fredegond
recalled his former passion, and the proud princess of the Goths soon
had the mortification of seeing the affections of her husband
transferred to her waiting woman. But this was not enough. A few days
afterwards Queen Galeswintha was found strangled in her bed, in 568.
Hilperik was not long in adding the dignity of queen to the position
of wife which he had already given to the triumphant Fredegond.

The sad young figure of this Spanish princess, brought up against her
will from sunnier courts into the midst of Merovingian brutality in
the dark palaces of Neustria, is one that affected many minds with
compassion for her fate. The story of the crystal lamp that hung above
her tomb in Rouen, which fell upon the marble pavement, yet was
neither broken nor extinguished, was but a poetical expression of the
universal pity.[2] In the heart of her sister Brunhilda pity flamed
rapidly into revenge. Sigebert was enlisted on the side of justice,
and Gunthram quickly followed him, with the object of making peace
between his brothers. The King of Neustria was condemned to forfeit
certain cities as punishment for the murder of his queen.

[Footnote 2: Gregory of Tours, H.F., iv. 28. "Post cuius obitum Deus
virtutem magnam ostendit. Lichinus enim ille, qui fune suspensus coram
sepulchrum eius ardebat, nullo tangente, disrupto fune, in pavimentum
conruit, et fugientem ante eam duriciam pavimenti, tanquam in aliquod
molle aelimentum discendit, atque medius est suffusus nec omnino
contritus."]

But the blood of Galeswintha still cried out for vengeance from the
ground, and the horrible series of murders that filled the century
began with Hilperik's unwarranted aggressions on the territory of his
brother Sigebert. Long months passed in pillage, in ineffectual
attempts at reconciliation, in perpetual reprisals. At last Brunhilda
rose and insisted that her husband should make an end with the
murderer of her sister. So Sigebert and his army moved forward to a
combined attack and chased Hilperik to the walls of Paris. Thither,
when Fredegond and her husband had fled to Rouen and then to Tournai,
Brunhilda came southwards to meet the conqueror who soon marc