Clotilde queen of the Franks

Born around 475 into the Burgundian royal family, she married Clovis, king of the Franks, around 493, while he was still pagan. A Catholic Christian when most Germanic kings were Arian, she pressed him year after year to receive baptism; their first son, baptised against his father's wishes, died in infancy, which did not help the argument. Gregory of Tours relates that Clovis turned to his wife's God at the height of the battle of Tolbiac and was baptised at Reims by bishop Remigius along with thousands of his warriors. The episode made Frankish Gaul a Catholic kingdom in a barbarian Europe that was largely Arian, which would decide many later balances. Widowed in 511, she saw her sons tear at one another and two of her grandsons murdered by their uncles. She withdrew to Tours, near the tomb of Martin, where she died around 545. She is commemorated on 4 June.