User:Cvredenburg01/sandbox

Gisela (757, Aachen, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany – 810–11, Chelles, Seine-et-Marne, Ile-de-France, France), was a Frankish princess and abbess. She was the daughter of Pepin the Short and his wife Bertrada of Laon. She was the sister of Charlemagne and Carloman.

Gisela is often said to be the only sister to Charlemagne and Carloman, but this was not the case. Pepin the Short in fact had seven legitimate children; Gisela had three older brothers, Rothaid III, born 740, Charlemagne, born 742, and Carloman, born 751. She had two older sisters, Adelheid, born 740, and Bertbelle, born 745. She also had a single younger brother, Charles, who was born 759. Most of her older siblings died before their father, although the years are unknown. Her little brother died in infancy, aged 2. She was one of three surviving children.

Early in life she was betrothed to Leo, the son of Byzantine Emperor Constantine V (the future Emperor Leo IV) but the contract was broken. There is also a brief mention of Gisela being betrothed to Adalgis, son of the Lombard king Desiderius in 770, but this also fell through, and it is likely that by this point she had been allowed to choose a life of religion for herself.

Alcuin was a close friend. Where he wrote personal poems for each of the king's [Charlemagne's] children, he also wrote one for Gisela, in which "Alcuin hailed her as a noble sister in the bond of sweet love, assuring her of her prayers of the brethren at Tours." Other correspondence which hints at a friendly relationship is a letter written to Gisela between 793 and 796, where he thanked her warmly for the gift of a hat. In September 798, he writes to her from his monastery at St. Loup de Troyes, where he laments that an acute fever has stopped him from traveling to see her. In this same letter, he thanks her for the gift of a cross, apparently made at her monastery, and he bade her farewell as a most beloved sister. Along with this, he dedicated the last two books of his commentary on John's gospel to her and her niece, Rotrudis.

The specific year of her death is unknown, but she died between 810 and 811 AD in Chelles, Seine-et-Marne, Ile-de-France, France, in the convent she had served for most of her life, aged between 53 and 54.

Gisela became a nun at Chelles Abbey, where she was eventually made abbess. As the abbess at Chelles Abbey, Gisela oversaw one of the most prolific scriptoria for nuns active in the eight and ninth centuries. Working within the Scriptorium allowed for her advanced education, as well as the potential to educate other monastic women, thus producing an increased number of educated, literate women overall in the early Medieval period. Chelles developed a distinctive writing style attached to its scriptorium that helps to identify manuscripts produced there and during this time. This work within the Abbey at Chelles provides a timeline of monastic activity and Carolingian rule.

Considering the active scriptoria in Gisela's abbey, it appears that she held an involved role in the Carolingian renaissance. Other work she was involved in was the rebuilding of the church of St. Mary at Chelles, as well as building up the library, according to a letter from Alcuin. In it, he encourages her leadership in the project and states his intention to send a pupil and friend, Fredegisus, to assist her.

1. "Birth of Gisela, Abbess of Chelles". Geni. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
2. Sanctity and Power: The Dual Pursuit of Early Medieval Women, Suzanne F. Wemple, Becoming Visible: Women in European History, ed. Renate Bridenthal, Claudia Koonz and Susan Stuard, (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987), 139.
3. "King Pippin III *the Short* of the Franks. Geneanet. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
4. Dales, Douglas (29 November 2012). Alcuin: His Life and Legacy . James Clarke & Co. p. 90. ISBN 9780227173466. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
5. Dales, Douglas (29 November 2012). Alcuin: His Life and Legacy James Clarke & Co. p. 91. ISBN 9780227173466. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
6. Dales, Douglas. Alcuin: His Life and Legacy James Clarke & Co, 2012, ISBN 9780227173466, p. 91
7. Dales, Douglas (29 November 2012). Alcuin: His Life and Legacy James Clarke & Co. p. 91. ISBN 9780227173466. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
8. "Death of Gisele, Abbess of Chelles at Chelles, Seine-et-Marne, Ile-de-France, France". Geni. Retrieved 17 October 2019.

Categories:

• 757 births
• 810 deaths
• French Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns
• 8th-century Frankish nobility
• 8th-century Frankish women
• 8th-century Christian nuns
• Frankish princesses
• Women's history stubs
• Chelles Abbey
• Abbess