Saint Arnoald

Arnoald, also called Arnoldus or Arnual (c. 540/560 – c. 611), was a Bishop of Metz between 601 and 609 or 611, the successor of his uncle Agilulf. He was the son of Ansbertus, a senator, and his wife Blithilde, whose parents were Charibert I and Ingoberga. Virtually no information survives concerning the acts of Arnoald prior to his becoming Bishop of Metz or during his occupation of the episcopal seat. From Paul the Deacon we learn that he was Roman and of senatorial extraction suggesting that he came from one of the families in southern Gaul whose members had held senatorial rank during the empire. The Commemoratio Genealogiae Domni Karoli Glorissimi Imperatoris, clearly incorrect in some respects (see below), suggests strongly that Arnoald was one of the Ferreoli, a family dating from the 4th century who were based in the Midi but appear to have switched their loyalties from the Visigothic Kingdom to the Frankish Kingdom of Austrasia with its capital at Metz during the two decades following the Battle of Vouillé in 507. Modern arguments have been made that this relationship was invented by contemporaries to give the Carolingians a Roman pedigree. However this is unlikely to have been the case inasmuch as (a) the Ferreoli, though significant, were far from the most prominent senatorial family in Gaul and (b) it would have been too easy for the Carolingians to obtain whatever Roman bloodline by marrying into remnants of those families. Still the interest taken by the Austrasians in the Ferreoli is enigmatic and significant and may have to do with their potential use in a conquest of Visigothic Septimania. Several members of the family were elevated to the rank of Patrician (senior Roman official) of Provence during the 6th century. Arnoald's acquisition of the bishopric of Metz is unsurprising inasmuch as his uncle Agilulf had held it. The reason Agilulf was granted the position is more obscure.