DAGOBERTO II, saint, martyr. - Martyr, king of the Franks of Austrasia, son of Sigiberto III and grandson of Dagoberto I. Upon his father’s death (656), he was tonsured by Grimoaldo and exiled to an Irish monastery. After the death of Childerico II (675), the Austrasians recalled him to his homeland, and Vilfrido of York brought him back there (675). Opposed by Teoderico III of Neustria and his mayor of the palace Ebroino, he was killed while hunting in the forest of Woëvre (679). Buried at Stenay in Lorraine, he was honoured as a martyr and saint. In 1591 the Huguenots destroyed his tomb. Feast day: 23 Dec.
BIBL.: G. Heuschen, De tribus Dagobertis Francorum regibus diatriba, Anversa 1665; P. E. Martin, Etudes critiques sur la Suisse, Ginevra 1910, pp. 236 ff. and 271 ff.; F. Lot, Histoire du moyen-âge, I, Parigi 1928, pp. 282 ff. and 286 ff.; see also MHG, Scriptores rer. Merov., II, p. 511 ff.; VII, pp. 474 ff. and 494 ff. Ireneo Daniele