Radegund (Latin: Radegundis; also spelled Rhadegund, Radegonde, or Radigund; c. 520 – 13 August 587) was a Thuringian princess and Frankish queen, who founded the Abbey of the Holy Cross at Poitiers.

However, having crushed his brothers and seized control of Thuringia, Hermanfrid reneged on his agreement with Theuderic to share sovereignty.

Radegund fled the court and sought the protection of the Church, persuading Medardus, the bishop of Noyon, to ordain her as a deaconess;[2] she founded the monastery of Sainte-Croix in Poitiers c. 560, where she cared for the infirm.

[5] This Rule strictly enclosed women, to the point that nuns of Sainte-Croix were unable to attend Radegund's funeral.

Her abbey was named for the relic of the True Cross that Radegund obtained from the Byzantine Emperor Justin II.

[7] She acted against the advice of others who warned her that her extreme ascetism might make her ill.[7] She bound her neck and arms with three iron circlets; her flesh was badly cut because of this.

[8] The poet Venantius Fortunatus and the bishop, hagiographer, and historian, Gregory of Tours, were close friends with Radegund and wrote extensively about her.

In her book Woman Under Monasticism: Chapters on Saint-Lore and Convent Life between A.D. 500 and A.D. 1500 (1896) Lina Eckenstein drew the attention of modern readers to the rebellion of the nuns at Poitiers after the death of Radegund, during which, for a period of two years, they refused to accept a new abbess who had been appointed by the male hierarchy.

[12] She is typically depicted "with royal robes, crown, and sceptre" and nearby there are "wolves and wild beasts" which are tame in her presence.

Sankt Radegund in Upper Austria is a municipality in the district of Braunau am Inn, situated at the western rim of the Innviertel region, where the Salzach river forms the border to the German state of Bavaria.

Close to the ruins of the castle Mühlburg which can be dated back to 704 above the village of Mühlberg in Thuringia in Germany, the foundations of a chapel dedicated to St Radegund can be visited.