Bertha 1
- Born: 539 2
- Marriage: Saint Æthelbert I King of Kent before 597 1
- Died: Abt 612 about age 73 2
General Notes:
She was a Frankish princess, daughter of Charibert and the pious Ingoberga. In marrying the pagan King Ethelbert of Kent, she brought her chaplain Liudhard with her, and restored a Christian church in Canterbury, which dated form the Roman occupation, dedicating it to St. Martin. The present St. Martin's at Canterbury occupies the same site. St. Augustine, who was sent by Gregory the Great to preach the Gospel in England in 596, no doubt owed much of his favourable reception to the influence of Bertha. St. Gregory in 601 addressed to her a letter of thanks, which is still preserved. It is printed in Haddan and Stubbs, III, 17. Ethelbert himself was baptized on Whitsunday in 597, and Canterbury became the mother-church of England. Bertha was sometimes styled "Saint", but there is no clear evidence of cultus.
[source: Ketil Ken Nygaard's Genealogy, http://nygaard.howards.net/]
Bertha married Saint Æthelbert I King of Kent, son of Eormenric King of Kent, before 597.1 (Saint Æthelbert I King of Kent was born in 552 2 and died on 24 Feb 616 1.)
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