ruin and found a way to turn the heart of the weak monarch to jealousy which piety, talents, the eminent qualities of his wife, and twenty-five years of constantly happy marriage were powerless to stop. Liutward was expelled from the court and the repudiated Empress retired to the monastery of Andlau. The legend of Saint Richarde was that she suffered the ordeal of fire and, dressed in a shirt coated with wax, was set fire in four places, she was not burned by the flames which were miraculously extinguished. In any case it was in this monastery that the wife of Charles the Fat ended her days in prayer and good works. She also found a source of consolation in letters in which she wrote with great distinction several beautiful poems which have been preserved until now where she writes of her resignation and the purity of her soul. She died before the end of the 9th century and was buried in a side chapel of the Andlau church. A century and a half later she was canonized by Pope Leo IX who was in Alsace, his homeland, and came to bless Andlau's new church built by the Abbess Mathilde, sister of Emperor Henry III. Andlau family The first references to the house of Andlau are in the 12th century which makes this family one of the oldest lines in France. The Andlau line forms 0.5% of the French nobility and their origins date back to the late Middle Ages so are considered old nobility – distinguished nobility or ancient nobility. The nobles of Andlau may have given their name to the town. According to some sources, the Andlau family arrived in Alsace in Roman times with another family: the Dandolo of Venice. This family had founded the castle of Bas-d'Andlau. Another version attributes the creation of the town to a man named Balthasard d'Andolo, a native of Bologna. He would have followed Charlemagne who was heading north in the 8th century. It would then be located in the valley of Eleon and could be the origin of the foundation of the noble lineage of the Andlau family who gave their name to Andlau. Balthasard and his son founded a small monastery in the valley near the Andlau river. This theory would therefore go against the version that it was Sainte Richarde who founded the abbey. Another proposal speaks of