Clotilde, known as the mad nun of Ouvrage, was the recipient of letters with Hamish Runcet, who told her about his account of an angel finishing his church cleaning (more of the story was told in the book, Letters to an Astigmatic Stigmatic, published by Gasogene Books) (Saint Fidgeta and Other Parodies, 104).
Inspiration[]
Clotilde was the second wife of the Frankish king Clovis I, and a princess of the kingdom of Burgundy, supposedly descended from the Gothic king Aþana-reiks. After their marriage in 492, Clotilde and her husband founded the Merovingian dynasty which ruled for over 200 years. Venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church as well as by the Eastern Orthodox, she was instrumental in her husband's famous conversion to Catholicism and, in her later years, was known for her almsgiving and penitential works of mercy. She is credited with spreading Christianity to the western world[1].
In line with Bellairs's mention of Ouvrage, Marie Clotilde of France was the sister of King Louis XVI of France and wife of King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia[2].
The identifier "mad" brings to mind another Bellairs creation, specifically Stefan Schimpf, the Mad Monk.
References[]
- ↑ Wikipedia: Clotilde
- ↑ Wikipedia: Clotilde of France, Queen of Sardinia