Birth and Early Life

Queen Bertha of Kent is one of history’s enigmas. There are only a few surviving accounts of the 6th century and, like most women of that period, we hear of her primarily in connection with her male family members. However, there are a few things that we can work out.

Bertha seems to have been born in the early 560s. She was a Frankish princess – the daughter of Charibert I, King of Paris, and a woman named Ingoberga, whose parentage is unknown. Unfortunately, the marriage of Bertha’s parents does not seem to have been happy.

According to the 6th-century historian Gregory of Tours, Charibert took two of Ingoberga’s serving women as mistresses. In spite of Ingoberga’s attempts to dissuade him, he eventually left her for one of them. Charibert later married the other mistress and, since the two were sisters, was excommunicated. A fourth wife survived him at his death and a third mistress bore him a stillborn son.

This dysfunctional family situation is an interesting backdrop to the events of Bertha’s life. She is often shown as a semi-saintly Christian assisting in the ‘civilisation’ of her husband’s pagan country, but her own Christian family did not live up to the ideal.

Bertha and St Augustine

St Augustine was a monk from Rome sent by Pope Gregory the Great on a mission to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, beginning with the kingdom of Kent. King Æthelberht gave Augustine freedom to preach and reside in Canterbury, and did ultimately convert to Christianity.

Modern retellings of Augustine’s mission almost always include Bertha, suggesting that she played a role in welcoming Augustine and convincing Æthelberht to convert. However, medieval accounts do not actually describe any part played by the queen. Their aim was to record the actions of the saint and his companions.

Bede says that ‘the fame of the Christian religion had already reached [Æthelberht]’ as a result of his wife’s faith – a statement that gives her more impact than would be justified if it was her only role. By the 6th century, Christianity was an international religion and dominant in the Frankish kingdoms that were next to Æthelberht’s own. He would have been aware of the religion without his wife’s input. 

Later life and death

The date of Bertha’s death is almost as uncertain as her birth. She was definitely alive in 601 when Pope Gregory wrote to her, and tradition places her at the consecration of St Augustine’s Abbey in 604. She must have died some time before Æthelberht’s death in 616 as he seems to have had a second wife.

Ultimately Augustine’s mission of conversion was successful and England became a Christian country. However, this would take many decades and at the time of her death, even the conversion of Bertha’s own family was not complete. Her son Eadbald was still a pagan when he became king in 616.

Bertha is thought to have been buried under the step of St Martin’s church, where she had worshipped during her life in Kent.