Tryphine

Saint Tryphine, also spelled Trifine, Triphine and Tréphine, is a semi-⁠legendary Breton saint whose life is, by tradition, the basis of the tale of Bluebeard. In Brittany she is the patron of sick children and of those whose birth is overdue. She is commemorated on 21 July and on 7 November.

The sources

Her story first appears in the eleventh century, in the monk Vitalis of the abbey of Saint-⁠Gildas-⁠de-⁠Rhuys, in his Life of Saint Gildas. The legend seems to come from a historical person, the wife of the Breton ruler Conomor, who lived about the middle of the sixth century. Conomor married Tryphine, daughter of his ally Waroch I, but seems later to have abused her cruelly and then murdered her. He himself was later killed in battle by a rival and remained in Breton history as a legendary villain. Tryphine, along with her son Tremeur, was honoured as a martyr. Several churches bear their names, and a village is called after her, Sainte-⁠Tréphine.

The story

According to tradition, around the year 550, at the advice of Saint Gildas and to avoid a quarrel, Waroch I, king of Bro Waroch and count of Vannes, agreed to give his daughter in marriage to Conomor of Poher, king of Domnonia. By many marriages he sought to enlarge his domains. A prophecy had warned him that he would be killed by his own son, so he beheaded his wives as soon as they conceived. Tryphine, his fifth wife, was to meet the same fate. When she learned that she was with child, she fled to hide in the forest of Lanvaux. Conomor found her in a rage and cut her throat.

Warned by their servants, Waroch and his wife took the body of the martyr and went to the cell of Saint Gildas at Bieuzy, to remind him, not without bitterness, that he had been the cause of that marriage. To obtain forgiveness, Saint Gildas went to the castle of Hermine at Vannes, where the body of Tryphine lay on her bed, set the saint's head on her shoulders and raised her to life. Thus she was able to bear the future Saint Tremeur, and afterwards she built a monastery at Vannes, where she ended her days.

Later versions of the legend

Later legend adds that Conomor had murdered three wives before her. Tryphine did not want to marry him because of his reputation, but agreed when he threatened to invade her father's land, to spare its people. While Conomor was away she found a secret room holding the relics of the murdered wives, prayed for their souls, and their ghosts appeared to her and warned that he would kill her if she became pregnant. By one version the reason is the prophecy of the son who would kill him, by another that he wanted from his wives only pleasure. When he came home he discovered that she was with child. Tryphine escaped with the help of the dead wives, gave birth in the forest and hid her son, but Conomor caught her and beheaded her. Saint Gildas found her and raised her to life. She and her son then lived in saintly retirement, but after Tryphine's death Conomor found Tremeur and killed him. In other versions Conomor is killed when his castle collapses on him. It has been suggested that the tale of Bluebeard derives from this legend.

The folklorist François-⁠Marie Luzel also collected a mystery play in which King Arthur takes the place of Conomor and Tryphine takes on some traits of Guinevere. There her brother Kervoura schemes to inherit the kingdom: he kidnaps her, hides the child and falsely accuses her of murdering him and of adultery. Condemned to death, she is saved when her son Tremeur, now grown, appears just as she is about to be beheaded and defeats Kervoura in a duel. Arthur and Tryphine are reconciled.

Veneration

An altarpiece and a statue of Saint Tryphine are kept in Brittany, and her memory lives on there above all as a protectress of sick children.