Bertrada of Laon

Did You Know?

• Bertrada's nickname 'Bertha Broadfoot' dates to the 13th century, used in Adenes Le Roi's trouvère poem.
• The exact reason for the nickname is unclear; it is possible but unlikely that she was born with a clubfoot.

Biography

Bertrada was born in Laon to Count Charibert of Laon; her mother was Bertrada of Prüm, who co-founded Prüm Abbey with Charibert. Charibert's father may have been related to the Hugobertides, and the Annals of St. Bertin suggest a Merovingian connection through Charibert. She married Pepin the Short around 740 or 741. Because they were too closely related, the marriage was not canonically sanctioned until 749, after Charlemagne's birth. Some sources indicate Pepin may have had a previous wife named Leutberga, but historian Léon Levillain held that Bertrada was Pepin's only wife. The couple had eight children, including Charlemagne, Carloman, and Gisela, who survived to adulthood; a son named Pepin died young in 762. In 751 Pepin became king, and in June 754 Pope Stephen II crowned Pepin and blessed Bertrada, Charlemagne, and Carloman, a ceremony that underscored Pepin's legitimacy by linking him to the Merovingian line.

In literature

Bertrada inspired the 13th-century poem Li rouman de Berte aus grands piés by Adenes Le Roi, which first used the nickname 'Bertha Broadfoot.' The poem is likely entirely fictitious, and no contemporary source mentions any foot deformity. She also appears as 'Bertha Broadfoot' in François Villon's 15th-century Ballade des dames du temps jadis, and was adapted into the character Berthe for the 1972 Stephen Schwartz musical Pippin.