The only way to understand human behaviour is by attributing meaning to it, since actions take on a completely different significance depending on the context. A punch in a boxing ring carries the elegance of a well-trained athletic movement; a punch in the street is just an act of violence and aggression. The same applies to objects and places: what might appear as a rather anonymous and unimposing building can reveal the traces of a glorious past once its history is revealed.
This is certainly the case of the church of Saint-Pierre de Xhignesse, located just south of Liege. The current version of the building goes back to the XI century, but its history is actually much older. The church was indeed founded between 687 and 714 by Plectrude, wife of Pepin of Herstal, a stateman and military leader who challenged the authority of the Merovingians, the dynasty that at that time ruled over a vast territory covering part of today’s France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany. Pepin had two sons with Plectrude, both destined to die before him, and then two more sons with different mistresses.
Before passing away in 714, he designated his legitimate grandson Theudoald as his heir. Since he was still a child at that time, Plectrude, his grandmother, was given the task of holding power until he came of age. Shortly afterwards however, two revolts broke out, threatening their position. The first came from Charles Martel, one of Pepin’s illegitimate sons, who was however swiftly imprisoned by Plectrude.
The other from Ragenfrid, leader of Neustria, a territory in the western part of the kingdom. Plectrude therefore assembled an army and sent it to challenge him, but her men were defeated in 715 close to Compiègne, forcing Theudoald to flee and seek refuge with her in Cologne.
As if this wasn’t bad news enough, Charles Martel managed to escape from his prison and quickly fielded an army with which he defeated Ragenfrid twice: first in at Amblève close to Liège in 716 and then at Vincy near Cambrai in 717. After this victory, he turned towards Cologne to deal once and for all with Theudoald and her grandmother. Faced by overwhelming odds, Plectrude had no other choice this time but to surrender.
Luckily for them, Charles Martel displayed a leniency that was quite unusual in the Middle Ages. He allowed Theudoald to live under his protection and when, a year later, he defeated Ragenfrid again he spared his life too, allowing him to withdraw to his county in Anjou.
Having reunited the kingdom under his command, Charles Martel would go on to stop the Arab conquest of Europe at the battle of Poitiers in 732, marking a victory that contemporary commentators defined, probably for the first time ever, as “European”. And he would then leave behind him the ruling dynasty of the Carolingians, destined to become legendary thanks to his grandson: Charlemagne.
As for Plectrude, her final defeat resulted in her possessions being seized and in her forced retirement in a convent, where she survived only for a few months. After having endured her husband’s repeated infidelity and death, witnessed the passing of her two sons and lost all of her power and wealth in
battle, there was nothing left that could be stolen from her.
Her last days were lonely, her bitter memories of betrayed love and vanished power mixing with the echo of her footsteps as she measured the empty silence of the monastery. She was once a great woman in a world of men and her hands had briefly grasped the future of Europe. But she had already been condemned to oblivion.
Plectrude was buried in the church of Saint Mary’s in the Capitol in Cologne, where she rests to this day. And Saint-Pierre de Xhignesse is one of the few remaining symbols of her long-forgotten life and struggles. When looking at it from the distance, it just seems another small stone church in the countryside, perched on a green hill and hugged by a sleepy village. But its walls stand at a crossroad in Europe’s history.
