GISELA, ABBESS OF CHELLES

GISELA, ABBESS OF CHELLES - 21 MAY

GISELA, ABBESS OF CHELLES

Église Saint-André de Chelles

Gisela (Itisburga), Virgin and Abbess, is commemorated on May 21. She was a sister of Charles the Great (Charlemagne).

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 2, Augsburg, 1861, p. 440)

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org

***

Gisela, born in A.D. 757, was a Frankish princess and abbess, the daughter of Pepin the Short and his wife Bertrada of Laon. One of Pepin's three surviving children; she was the sister of Charlemagne and Carloman.

Charlemagne's biographer Einhard states that Gisela had been dedicated to religion since her childhood. She 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 nuns' scriptoria active in the 8th and 9th centuries. While little is known about her education, there is suggestion she was well learned, for her correspondence with Alcuin was written and received in Latin. According to Einhard she had good relations with her brother Charlemagne, who "treated her with the same respect which he showed his mother."

Alcuin was a close friend. Where he wrote personal poems for each of the 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. In one of them Alcuin thanks Gisela 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.

Considering the active scriptoria in Gisela's abbey, it can be argued 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.

The specific year of her death is unknown, but she died between A.D. 810 and 811 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. Charlemagne and his wife Hildegard also named a daughter Gisela after the abbess. Gisela the Younger lived from about 781 to after at least 808, but little else is known of her life.

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gisela,_Abbess_of_Chelles

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