Early life  Few clear records remain of Princess Rotrude's early
life. She was educated in the Palace School by Alcuin, who
affectionately calls her Columba in his letters to her. When she
was six, her father betrothed her to Constantine VI of
Byzantium, whose mother Irene was ruling as regent. The Greeks
called her Erythro and sent a scholar monk called Elisaeus to
educate her in Greek language and manners. However, the alliance
fell apart by 786 when she was eleven and Constantine's mother,
Irene, broke off the engagement in 788. Later life  Rotrude
eventually became a nun, joining her aunt Gisela, abbess of
Chelles. The two women authored a letter to Alcuin of York, who
was at Tours at the time, requesting that he write a commentary
explaining the Gospel of John. As a result, Alcuin eventually
produced his seven-book Commentaria in Iohannem Evangelistam, a
more accessible companion to the gospel than St. Augustine's
massive and challenging Tractatus in St. John. Commentators have
dated the letter to the sp