Bilihildis of Altmünster

Bilhild (also spelled Bilihilt, Bilihildis, Bilehild; died 734) was a Frankish noblewoman, remembered as the founder and abbess of the monastery of Altmünster near Mainz, and venerated locally as a saint, on Nov.

[6] Bilihildis was born in the 7th century in Hocheim, typically identified as modern-day Veitshöchheim near Würzburg, Bavaria, the child of Count Jberin and his wife Mathilda.

Though she wanted to devote her life to Christ, her parents forced her to marry a pagan Frankish duke named Hetan around 672, whom she loved but was unable to convert.

[6] As for "Hetan", identification with Hedan I ("the elder") is difficult given the time frame; since he died (according to Hubert Mordek[16]) after 676, which would mean the founding of the abbey took place when Bilihildis was in her seventies, an unlikely proposition.

[20] German Protestant theologian Johannes Heinrich August Ebrard wrote a biography of Bilihildis, which was translated (or, "retold") in English by Julie Sutter and published by the Religious Tract Society, with a particular focus on the influence of Iroscottish Christianity.