Near the beginning of book IX of the Fall of Princes, Lydgate narrates the encounter between Bochas and the Frankish queen Brunhilde (d. 613), who wishes to tell her story and to defend her good name to the poet. Much of Brunhilde's story is recorded in Gregory of Tours's Historia Francorum, although Gregory did not live to see the queen killed by Lothar II, son of Chilperic and Fredegund, who dragged her behind a wild horse until she died. Bochas is sceptical, and tells Brunhilde he is certain that, like most women, she will tell her tale so that it shows her at her best:

Brunhilde assures him he is basing his scepticism on an inaccurate idea of what women are like, and Bochas relents, telling her he will endeavour to do her justice with his pen. After exhorting Bochas to ensure that he sticks to the truth of the matter (‘“Tak heed,” quod she, “& with riht good auis / Fro the trouthe bewar that thou nat varie!”’ (IX.225–6)), she begins to tell her tale.