History of the Franks

By Saint Bishop of Tours Gregory

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Title: History of the Franks

Author: Gregory Bishop of Tours

Translator: Ernest Brehaut

Release date: December 20, 2024 [eBook #74955]

Language: English

Original publication: New York: Columbia University Press

Credits: Carol Brown, Brian Wilson, Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE FRANKS ***

Records of Civilization

SOURCES AND STUDIES

EDITED BY

JAMES T. SHOTWELL, PH.D.
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

IN COLLABORATION WITH

FRANKLIN H. GIDDINGS, PH.D., LL.D.
PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AND THE HISTORY OF
CIVILIZATION IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

MUNROE SMITH, J.U.D., LL.D.
PROFESSOR OF ROMAN LAW AND COMPARATIVE
JURISPRUDENCE IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

WILLIAM R. SHEPHERD, PH.D.
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITY

GEORGE W. BOTSFORD, PH.D.
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITY

JULIUS A. BEWER, PH.D.
PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT EXEGESIS IN
UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

CARLTON H. HAYES, PH.D.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY
IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

ELLERY C. STOWELL, PH.D.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL
LAW IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

HAROLD H. TRYON, M.A., B.D.
INSTRUCTOR IN NEW TESTAMENT AND CHURCH
HISTORY IN UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

[Illustration]

New York

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS

1916

_All rights reserved_

Records of Civilisation: Sources and Studies

HISTORY OF THE FRANKS

GREGORY BISHOP OF TOURS

SELECTIONS, TRANSLATED WITH NOTES

ERNEST BREHAUT, PH.D.

[Illustration: colophon]

New York

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS

1916

_All rights reserved_

Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1916.

Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

PREFACE

Among the narrative records of civilization inaccessible to those
whose reading is confined to English texts, few are of greater
historical interest than the _History of the Franks_ by Gregory
of Tours. The reason that it has remained so long untranslated
into English is clear, however, to any one who has ever seriously
considered the problem of which at least a partial solution is
offered here. In the first place, although part of Gregory’s
narrative deals with events and men of great importance, there are
long sections dealing with happenings which in themselves are not
worth our remembering. Yet, if one views the work as a source for the
history of society rather than merely as a narrative of the acts of
kings, queens, or saints, it is often these relatively unimportant
events which are most instructive and interesting; for Gregory’s
picture of manners and customs is given by way of a story of what
real people actually did and said. It follows from this, that, if
our main interest in the _History of the Franks_ is in its picture
of the life and customs of the times, we must find that picture in
what is often but a repetition of royal murders, social disorder,
and turmoil, lightened only by the equally persistent repetition of
saintly virtue. The editorial problem of how much or how little of
such data to include is naturally one of considerable difficulty. In
the next place, the historical value of the text varies, according as
Gregory dealt with past or present; so that, viewed as a narrative of
fact, the later portions have a much greater claim for preservation
than the earlier. If one were attempting to show what Gregory
contributed to our knowledge, one would be obliged to concentrate,
therefore, upon these later sections, and even there the value
varies. But, viewing the _History of the Franks_ as itself an exhibit
of the age which it records, we find ourselves often more interested
in what Gregory does not know of the past than in what he does know
of the present. In the very limitation of outlook, in the choice of
incident and arrangement of perspective, the narrative of distant
events reveals the state of culture of Merovingian Gaul in Gregory’s
day. Hence, for the history of thought and society, the poorest part
of Gregory’s work ranks in importance with the best.

It might be urged that the one solution for these editorial problems
would be to offer a translation of the whole of Gregory’s work. But
this, aside from the cost of publication, seems too great a bulk
of text for all but special students of the period, who should in
any case go to the original. The student of European history in its
larger aspects, to whom one Childebert is like another, demands an
anthology; for he finds the text so crowded with similar incidents
that he is likely not only to lose the thread of the narrative but
also to fail to appreciate the sections most significant for his
own purpose. In the circumstances, a middle course has been taken.
The chapters omitted are summarized and in cases where they contain
any items of special interest sections of them have been quoted in
the summary. This work of excision and condensation has been made
with the ever-present sense of the protest sure to come from the
medievalist when he sees the work of desecration at last accomplished
which Gregory himself so sadly feared, and upon the authors of which
he called down the wrath of Heaven throughout all eternity, in the
forceful words on page 247 of this translation. It is only to be
hoped that a new social value--which anthropologists tell us is the
basis of the sacred--may justify the sacrilege.

With reference to the text itself, the translator has attempted
to follow the original as faithfully as possible. It is difficult
to render into another language Gregory’s combination of literary
qualities, the chief of which are vigor, crudity, and a frequent
affectation of literary style; but this, we believe, Dr. Brehaut has
succeeded in accomplishing in a marked degree. There are chapters
which have the charm of Froissart, swift in motion and tinged with
romance; but the most romantic figure of all is the bishop of Tours
himself, whose quaint but shrewd outlook penetrates the whole; and
this impression of subjectivity the present version seeks to convey.

In addition to the text of the _History of the Franks_, the volume
contains some extracts from Gregory’s _Eight Books of Miracles_ and a
short apparatus of notes and aids for further study.

J. T. S.

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION ix

HISTORY OF THE FRANKS--Selections:

Book I 1

Book II 19

Book III 51

Book IV 73

Book V 103

Book VI 143

Book VII 167

Book VIII 187

Book IX 203

Book X 225

SELECTIONS FROM THE EIGHT BOOKS OF MIRACLES 249

NOTES 263

GENEALOGIES 276

BIBLIOGRAPHY 279

MAP _facing_ 280

INDEX 281

INTRODUCTION

The _History of the Franks_ by Gregory, bishop of Tours, is an
historical record of great importance. The events which it relates
are details of the perishing of the Roman Empire and the beginning
of a great modern state and for these events it is often the sole
authority. However although Gregory was relating history mainly
contemporaneous or recent, we must allow largely for error and
prejudice in his statements of fact. It is rather as an unconscious
revelation that the work is of especial value. The language and
style, the intellectual attitude with which it was conceived and
written, and the vivid and realistic picture, unintentionally
given, of a primitive society, all combine to make the _History of
the Franks_ a landmark in European culture. After reading it the
intelligent modern will no longer have pleasing illusions about
sixth-century society.

Gregory’s life covers the years from 538 to 594. He was a product
of central Gaul, spending his whole life in the Loire basin except
for brief stays elsewhere.[1] The river Loire may be regarded as
the southern limit of Frankish colonization and Gregory therefore
lived on the frontier of the barbarians. He was born and grew up
at Clermont in Auvergne, a city to which an inexhaustibly fertile
mountain valley is tributary. In this valley his father owned
an estate. Its wealth brought Clermont much trouble during the
disorderly period that followed the break-up of Roman rule, and
Gregory gives a hint of the eagerness which the Frankish kings felt
to possess this country.[2]

After 573 Gregory lived at Tours in the lower Loire valley. This
city with its pleasant climate and moderately productive territorial
background had more than a local importance in this age. It lay on
the main thoroughfare between Spain and Aquitania and the north. Five
Roman roads centered in it and the traffic of the Loire passed by
it. The reader of Gregory’s history judges that sooner or later it
was visited by every one of importance at the time. It was here that
the Frankish influences of the north and the Roman influences of the
south had their chief contact.

However the natural advantages of Tours at this time were surpassed
by the supernatural ones. Thanks to the legend of St. Martin this
conveniently situated city had become “the religious metropolis” of
Gaul. St. Martin had made a great impression on his generation.[3]
A Roman soldier, turned monk and then bishop of Tours, he was a man
of heroic character and force. He had devoted himself chiefly to the
task of Christianizing the _pagani_ or rural population of Gaul and
had won a remarkable ascendancy over the minds of a superstitious
people, and this went on increasing for centuries after his death.
The center of his cult was his tomb in the great church built a
century before Gregory’s time just outside the walls of Tours. This
was the chief point of Christian pilgrimage in Gaul, a place of
resort for the healing of the sick and the driving out of demons, and
a sanctuary to which many fled for protection.[4] In a time of dense
superstition and political and social disorder this meant much in
the way of securing peace, influence, and wealth, and it was to the
strategic advantage of the office of bishop of Tours as well as to
his own aggressive character that Gregory owed his position as the
leading prelate of Gaul.

Gregory does not neglect to tell us of his family connections and
status in society.[5] He belonged to the privileged classes. Of his
father’s family he tells us that “in the Gauls none could be found
better born or nobler,” and of his mother’s that it was “a great
and leading family.” On both his father’s and his mother’s side he
was of senatorial rank, a distinction of the defunct Roman empire
which still retained much meaning in central and southern Gaul.
But the great distinction open at this time to a Gallo-Roman was
the powerful and envied office of bishop. Men of the most powerful
families struggled to attain this office and we can therefore judge
of Gregory’s status when he tells us proudly that of the bishops of
Tours from the beginning all but five were connected with him by
ties of kinship. We hear much of Gregory’s paternal uncle Gallus,
bishop of Auvergne, under whom he probably received his education and
entered the clergy, and of his grand-uncle Nicetius, bishop of Lyons,
and of his great-grandfather Gregory, bishop of Langres, in honor of
whom Gregory discarded the name of Georgius Florentinus which he had
received from his father. Entering on a clerical career with such
powerful connections he was at the same time gratifying his ambitions
and obeying the most strongly felt impulse of his time.

In spite of all these advantages, under the externals of Christianity
Gregory was almost as superstitious as a savage. His superstition
came to him straight from his father and mother and from his whole
social environment. He tells us that his father, when expecting in
534 to go as hostage to king Theodobert’s court, went to “a certain
bishop” and asked for relics to protect him. These were furnished
to him in the shape of dust or “sacred ashes” and he put them in
a little gold case the shape of a pea-pod and wore them about his
neck, although he never knew the names of the saints whose relics
they were. According to Gregory’s account the miraculous assistance
given to his father by these relics was a common subject of family
conversation. After his death the relics passed to Gregory’s mother,
who on one occasion extinguished by their help a great fire that
had got started in the straw stacks on the family estate near
Clermont. While on a horseback journey from Burgundy to Auvergne
Gregory himself happened to be wearing these same relics. A fearful
thunderstorm threatened the party, but Gregory “drew the beloved
relics from his breast and lifted them up against the cloud, which at
once separated into two parts and passed on the right and left, and
after that did no harm to them or any one else.” In spite of himself
Gregory could not help being somewhat elated at the incident and he
hinted to his companions that his own merit must have had something
to do with it. “No sooner were the words spoken than my horse shied
suddenly and threw me heavily on the ground; and I was so shaken that
I could scarcely get up. I understood that my vanity was the cause
of it, and it was a lesson to me to be on my guard against the spur
of pride. And if thereafter I happened to have the merit merely to
behold miracles of the saints I would say distinctly that they had
been worked by God’s grace through faith in the saints.”[6]

The number of miracles at which Gregory “assisted” was great. A
picturesque and significant one is the following: “It happened once
that I was journeying to visit my aged mother in Burgundy. And when
passing through the woods on the other side of the river Bèbre we
came upon highwaymen. They cut us off from escape and were going to
rob and kill us. Then I resorted to my usual means of assistance and
called on St. Martin for help. And he came to my help at once and
efficiently, and so terrified them that they could do nothing against
us. And instead of causing fear they were afraid, and were beginning
to flee as fast as they could. But I remembered the apostle’s words
that our enemies ought to be supplied with food and drink, and told
my people to offer them drink. They wouldn’t wait at all, but fled
at top speed. One would think that they were being clubbed along or
were being hurled along involuntarily faster than their horses could
possibly go.”[7]

The reality of this incident need not be doubted. The highwaymen were
as superstitious as Gregory, probably more so. When they found what
they had against them they fled in a panic. The peculiar wording of
the last sentence makes it seem likely that Gregory for his part
thought that the highwaymen had demons to help them and that these in
their urgent flight before the superior “virtue” of St. Martin were
responsible for the appearance he describes.

* * * * *

Of Gregory’s education and literary training we receive scanty
details. At the age of eight he was beginning to learn to read.[8]
The books he read were naturally the Scriptures and works of
Christian writers and his contact with pagan literature of the
classical period must have been slight; he appears to have read
Virgil and Sallust’s _Catiline_ but probably did not go beyond
these.[9] His attitude toward pagan literature was the conventional
one of his age,--fear of the demonic influences embodied in it;[10]
he expresses it thus: “We ought not to relate their lying fables lest
we fall under sentence of eternal death.”[11] Among Christian writers
Sulpicius Severus, Prudentius, Sidonius Apollinaris, and Fortunatus
were the only ones to exercise a genuine influence on his style.

The question has been much discussed whether sixth-century education
in Gaul included a knowledge of the liberal arts. Gregory gives
us no definite information on the point. It is true that he is
explicit as to his own case. He says, “I was not trained in grammar
or instructed in the finished style of the heathen writers, but the
influence of the blessed father Avitus, bishop of Auvergne, turned
me solely to the writings of the church.”[12] Gregory does indeed
mention Martianus Capella’s work on the seven liberal arts and seems
to have had some notion of the scope of each one,[13] but in the face
of his repeated confessions of ignorance of the most elementary of
them as well as the actual proof of ignorance which he constantly
gives, the conclusion must be that they were not included in his
education. As to the general situation the only evidence is furnished
by Gregory’s famous preface in which he declares that “liberal
learning is declining or rather perishing in the Gallic cities,” and
no one could be found sufficiently versed in the liberal arts to
write the _History of the Franks_ as it ought to be written. We may
feel certain that Gregory’s idea of the qualifications for historical
writing were not high; correct spelling, knowledge of the rules of
grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic as laid down in the text-books would
be sufficient. But, as he tells us, no person so qualified could
be found to undertake the task. Again we hear of bishops who were
illiterate. It is plain that the trend of the evidence is all in one
direction, namely that in Gaul by this time the liberal arts had
disappeared from education.

Gregory’s Latin presents many problems. Its relation to sixth-century
linguistic development is not well understood although it has been
closely scrutinized. Gregory’s vocabulary does not show the decadence
that might be expected. It is extremely rich and varied and contains
a moderate number of Celtic, Germanic, and Hunnish additions. Old
Latin words, however, often have new and unexpected meanings. In the
field of grammar the situation is different. Judged by anything like
a classical standard Gregory is guilty of almost every conceivable
barbarity. He spells incorrectly, blunders in the use of the
inflections, confuses genders, and often uses the wrong case with the
preposition. In addition he is very awkward in handling the Latin
verb: the different voices, tenses, and modes are apt to look alike
to him. His constructions, too, are frequently incorrect. In all this
he seems very erratic; he may use the correct form ten times and
then give us something entirely different. No method has so far been
traced in his vagaries.

Gregory’s literary style is as peculiar as his language. It is often
vigorous and direct, giving realistic and picturesque delineations
of events. Within his limitations he well understood the complexity
of human motives and actions, and now and then he shows a trace
of humor. However, offending elements often appear; sometimes his
realism verges on a brutal plainness. He is also by no means free
from literary affectation; indeed by his choice of expressions, his
repetitions and unnatural arrangement of words, he is almost always
striving for effect. In his day the tradition of literary workmanship
was quite dead but it would seem as if its ghost tortured Gregory. On
the whole his literary style is uncouth, awkward, and full of rude
surprises.

There are well-marked variations in the style. At times we have
the conventionalized jargon of the church, in which Gregory was
proficient and which was always in the back of his mind ready to
issue forth when other inspiration failed. At the opposite extreme
from this is the easy, clear narrative in which the popular tales,
both Frankish and Roman, are often recited. It is believed that
in some of these we have a version of epic recitals of Frankish
adventures. Then there are the passages, like the baptism of
Clovis[14] or the tale of the two lovers, which Gregory labored to
make striking. These do not offend; they are so naïvely overdone that
they are merely amusing.

In the light of these conclusions, objectively reached,[15] as to
Gregory’s language and style, how shall we interpret the confessions
in regard to them which he repeatedly makes? In these confessions
there are two leading notions: first, that he is without the
qualifications to write in the literary style; second, that the
popular language can be more widely understood. The inference is
always therefore that Gregory writes in the language of the day.
This, however, cannot be so. A language spoken by the people would
have something organic about it, and it would not defy as Gregory’s
does the efforts of scholars to find its usages. It would be
simpler than the literary language and probably as uniform in its
constructions. We must decide then that Gregory’s self-analysis is
a mistaken one, correct in the first part but not in the second. He
knew he could not write the literary language but in spite of this he
made the attempt, and the result is what we have, a sort of hybrid,
halfway between the popular speech and the formally correct literary
language.

* * * * *

In the Epilogue of the _History of the Franks_ written in 594, the
year of Gregory’s death, he gives us a list of his works: “I have
written ten books of _History_, seven of _Miracles_, one on the
_Lives of the Fathers_, a commentary in one book on the _Psalms_, and
one book on the _Church Services_.”[16] These works represent two
sides of Gregory’s experience,--his profession, and his relations
with the Merovingian state.

In the former sphere the overshadowing interest was the miraculous.
We have eight books devoted to miracles and it may be said that as
a churchman Gregory never got very far away from them. It is idle
to discuss the question whether he believed in them or not. It is
more to the point to attempt to appreciate the part they played in
the thought and life of the time. They were considered as the most
significant of phenomena. They seemed a guarantee that the relations
were right between the supernatural powers on the one hand and on the
other the men who possessed the “sanctity” to work miracles and those
who had the faith or merit to be cured or rescued by them. Gregory’s
eight books of _Miracles_ were thus a register of the chief interest
of his day, with an eye of course to its promotion, and it is much
more remarkable that he wrote a _History of the Franks_ than that he
compiled this usually wearisome array of impossibilities.

A brief glance at the practical situation that lay back of the four
books which Gregory devotes to the miracles wrought by St. Martin
will be enlightening. The cult of St. Martin was a great organized
enterprise at the head of which Gregory was placed. In the sixth
century St. Martin’s tomb was a center toward which the crippled,
the sick, and those possessed by demons flowed as if by gravity
from a large territory around Tours. The cures wrought there did
much “to strengthen the faith.” They passed from mouth to mouth and
brought greater numbers to the shrine and it was to aid this process
that the four books of St. Martin’s miracles were written. Gregory
is here a promoter and advertiser. To get at the practical side of
the situation we have only to remember that St. Martin’s tomb was
the chief place of healing among the shrines of Gaul, and that the
shrines of the sixth century stood for the physicians, hospitals,
drugs, patent medicines, and other healing enterprises of the
twentieth.

The _History of the Franks_ is Gregory’s chief work. It was written
in three parts. The first, comprising books I-IV, begins with the
creation, and after a brief outline of events enters into more detail
with the introduction of Christianity into Gaul. Then follow the
appearance of the Franks on the scene of history, their conversion,
the conquest of Gaul under Clovis, and the detailed history of the
Frankish kings down to the death of Sigibert in 575. At this date
Gregory had been bishop of Tours two years. The second part comprises
books V and VI and closes with Chilperic’s death in 584. During
these years Chilperic held Tours and the relations between him and
Gregory were as a rule unfriendly. The most eloquent passage in the
_History of the Franks_ is the closing chapter of book VI, in which
Chilperic’s character is unsympathetically summed up. The third part
comprises books VII-X. It comes down to the year 591 and the epilogue
was written in 594, the year of Gregory’s death. The earlier part
of the work does not stand as it was first written; Gregory revised
it and added a number of chapters. It will be noticed that from the
middle of the third book on, Gregory was writing of events within his
own lifetime, and in the last six books, which are of especial value,
of those that took place after he became bishop. For the earlier part
of the work he depended on various chronicles, histories and local
annals,[17] and also on oral tradition.

For the task undertaken by Gregory in the _History of the Franks_
no one else was so well qualified. His family connections were such
as to afford him every opportunity of knowing the occurrences of
central Gaul, while his position as bishop of Tours with all that
it entailed brought him into touch with almost every person and
matter of interest throughout the country. His frequent journeys
and wide acquaintance, his leadership among the bishops, and his
personal relations with four kings, Sigibert, Chilperic, Gunthram,
and Childebert and also with most of the leading Franks, gave him
unsurpassed opportunities for learning what was going on. Perhaps
his most realistic notions of the working of Frankish society were
obtained in dealing with the political refugees who sought refuge
in St. Martin’s church. Though these people must have always been
interesting to talk with, they were the cause of some of Gregory’s
most harrowing and at the same time informing experiences. This
varied contact with the world about him made Gregory what every
reader feels him to be, a vivid and faithful delineator of his time.

The _History of the Franks_ must not be looked upon as a secular
history. The old title, _Ecclesiastical History of the Franks_, is a
better one descriptively. It is written not from the point of view of
the Gallo-Roman or the Frank, but solely from that of the churchman,
almost that of the bishop. Gregory does not take a tone of loyalty
to the Frankish kings, much less of inferiority. His attitude toward
them is cold unless they are zealous supporters of the church, and he
speaks with the utmost disgust of their civil wars, which seemed to
him absolute madness in view of the greater war between the good and
evil supernatural powers.[18] On the other hand his loyalty to his
worthy fellow-bishops is often proved. No doubt the words he quotes
from Paulinus expressed his own feelings: “Whatever evils there
may be in the world, you will doubtless see the worthiest men as
guardians of all faith and religion.”[19] Everywhere we can read in
the lines and between the lines Gregory’s single-minded devotion to
the church and above all to the cult of St. Martin.

* * * * *

The great value of Gregory’s writings is that we get in them an
intimate view of sixth-century ideas. At first sight, perhaps, we
seem to have incongruous elements which from the modern viewpoint
we cannot bring into harmony with one another. Credulity and
hard-headed judgment appear side by side. How could Gregory be so
shrewd and worldly-minded in his struggle with Chilperic and at the
same time show such an appetite for the miraculous? How could he
find it necessary to preface his history, as no other historian has
done, with an exact statement of his creed? And how could he relate
Clovis’s atrocities and then go on to say, “Every day God kept
laying his enemies low before him and enlarging his kingdom because
he walked with right heart before him and did what was pleasing in
his eyes”? These apparently glaring incongruities must have some
explanation.

The reason why they have usually passed as incongruities is perhaps
that it is difficult for us to take an unprejudiced view of religious
and moral phenomena that are in the direct line of our cultural
descent. If we could regard the Franks and Gallo-Romans as if they
were alien to us, living, let us say, on an island of the southern
Pacific, and believing and practising a religion adapted to their
general situation, the task of understanding the _History of the
Franks_ would become easier. It is really a primitive society with a
primitive interpretation of life and the universe with which we have
to deal.

Look at the conception of religion held by Gregory. It seems most
explicable, not by the creed he thrusts at us or by any traditional
elements interpreted in a traditional sense, but by the living
attitude toward the supernatural which he held. Two words are always
recurring in his writings; _sanctus_ and _virtus_,[20] the first
meaning sacred or holy, and the second the mystic potency emanating
from the person or thing that is sacred. These words have in
themselves no ethical meaning and no humane implications whatever.
They are the key-words of a religious technique and their content
is wholly supernatural. In a practical way the second word is the
more important. It describes the uncanny, mysterious power emanating
from the supernatural and affecting the natural. The manifestation
of this power may be thought of as a contact between the natural and
the supernatural in which the former, being an inferior reality, of
course yielded. These points of contact and yielding are the miracles
we continually hear of. The quality of sacredness and the mystic
potency belong to spirits, in varying degrees to the faithful, and
to inanimate objects. They are possessed by spirits, acquired by the
faithful, and transmitted to objects.

There was also a false mystic potency. It emanated from spirits who
were conceived of as alien and hostile, and, while it was not strong
as the true “virtue,” natural phenomena yielded before it and it had
its own miracles, which however were always deceitful and malignant
in purpose. This “virtue” is associated with the devil, demons,
soothsayers, magicians, pagans and pagan gods, and heretics, and
through them is continually engaged in aggressive warfare on the true
“virtue.”[21]

For the attainment of the true mystic potency asceticism was the
method. This was not a withdrawal from lower activities of life
to gain more power for higher activities, but it was undertaken
in contempt of life, and in the more thoroughgoing cases the
only restraint was the desire to avoid self-destruction, which
was forbidden. Almost every known method of self-denial and
self-mortification was practised. Humility of mind was insisted on
as an always necessary element. Fasting was part of the prescribed
method. The strength of the motive behind asceticism may be judged
from the practice of immuring,[22] several specimens of which are
related by Gregory. In this the ascetic was shut in a cell and the
door walled up and only a narrow opening left to hand in a scanty
supply of food. Here he was to remain until he died. Such men were
regarded as having the true “virtue” in the highest degree. In
reality their life must have made them distinctly inferior in all the
ordinary virtues of a natural existence.[23]

As asceticism was the method by which mystic potency was attained, so
miracles were the product, and the proof that it had been acquired.
Of course in theory the main object of the mystic was to assimilate
himself to the supernatural and not expressly to work miracles.
Still to society in general the miracles were the important thing.
In the first place they served the immediate purpose for which a
miracle might be needed, healing the sick or driving out a demon or
something of the sort; in the second place they encouraged society
by evidencing the fact that things in general were right and that
their spiritual leaders had the right “medicine.” Incredulity is not
to be expected in such a situation. The miracle played an integral
part in the life-theory of the time. It was the proof of religion and
it did not need to be proved itself. Furthermore many miracles were
real; for example, the cessation of a pain or natural recovery from a
sickness would be regarded as a miracle.

Some mention should be made of the transmissibility of the mystic
potency. The case of St. Martin is a good example. During his
lifetime he acquired this power in a large degree. When he died on
November 8, 397, at a village half-way between Tours and Poitiers,
the inhabitants of these cities were all ready to fight for his body,
when the people of Tours managed to secure it by stealth. This was
because of the sanctity and mystic “virtue” inherent in it. It was
carried to Tours and buried there and proved the greatest asset of
the city. The mystic potency resided in the tomb and the area about
it, and was transmitted to the dust accumulated on it, the wine and
oil placed on it for the purpose, and was carried in these portable
forms to all parts of Gaul. Gregory himself, for example, carried
relics of St. Martin on his journeys and records that they kept his
boat from sinking in the river Rhine.

The system of superstition just outlined is the greater and more
real part of Gregory’s religion. There was the right mystery and the
wrong mystery; and both were of a low order; men had to deal with
capricious saints and malignant demons. It was a real, live, local
religion comparable with that of savages. By the side of this and
intertwined with it the elements of traditional Christianity in a
more or less formalized and ritualized shape were retained. Here the
great stress was laid on the creed, not, however, that it amounted
to anything in Gregory’s mind as a creed. He was no theologian. His
acceptance of it and insistence on it was ritualistic. However,
although he accepted it as he tells us with _pura credulitas_,[24]
that is, without a critical thought, it was not mere formality. He
felt, no doubt, that it was a sort of mystic formula, especially the
Trinitarian part of it,--for putting men into the right relation with
the supernatural. If they believed in the creed they had the right
“medicine”; if they did not, they had not.

This system of superstition was not calculated to nourish delicate
moral sensibilities. Life had gone too far back to the primitive.
The word applied to the adept in this religion was _sanctus_, and it
indicated not moral excellence at all but a purely mystic quality.
The “virtue” which this person possessed was mystic potency, which
was not moral but a supernatural force. The orthodox of course called
the saint good, but this was merely because they were on the same
side, just as Cicero for example six centuries before called the
members of his political party the _boni_. Gregory’s moral praise
or blame is distributed in the same way. When he praises a man we
must look for the service done by this man to the church, and when
he blames one we must look in like manner for the opposite. Outside
of the interests of the orthodox group Gregory is not morally
thin-skinned; he shared in the brutality of his contemporaries, as
we can see in many recitals. His portrait of Clovis throws no false
light back on Gregory. Clovis was a champion and favorite of the
right supernatural powers in their fight with the wrong ones, and
any occasional atrocities he committed in the struggle were not only
pardonable but praiseworthy.[25]

* * * * *

Secular activities and the state of mind just indicated could not
coexist in the same society. We have noticed already how education
was desecularized. It is of interest to note also what had happened
to the secular professions of medicine and law.

The profession of medicine had almost completely disappeared. It
is true indeed that we hear of a few physicians. For example when
Austrechild, king Gunthram’s wife, was dying, she accused her two
physicians of having given her “potions” that were proving fatal,
and asked the king to take an oath to have them executed. He did
so and kept his word and Gregory remarks with what seems excessive
moderation, “Many wise men think that this was not done without
sin.”[26] Again we hear of Gregory’s own illness, when he sent for
a physician. He soon decided that “secular means could not help the
perishing,” and sent for some dust from St. Martin’s tomb which he
put in water and drank, and was soon cured.[27] Such tales indicate
the status of the medical profession.

The truth was that the condition of the people’s minds made the
profession an impossibility. Disease was looked upon as supernatural.
The sick man thought he had a better chance if he called the priest
rather than the doctor. Gregory tells us of Vulfilaic, who was
suddenly covered from head to foot with angry pimples; he rubbed
himself with oil consecrated at St. Martin’s tomb, and they speedily
disappeared. He reasoned that if they had been driven away by St.
Martin, they had plainly been sent by the devil.[28] This meant to
him that the whole thing was supernatural and that the true mystic
power had driven out the false which had caused the trouble.

Perhaps this was not the reasoning in every case, but at any rate
the people went to the shrines and churches to be healed. In some
cases the diagnosis was quite clear as with a patient at Limoges. The
priest put holy oil on his head and “the demon went down into his
finger-nail; seeing this the priest poured oil on the finger and soon
the skin burst, blood flowed from the place, and the demon thus took
his departure.”[29]

Such practices were not isolated or unusual, but typical. Mystical
healing was adjusted to an everyday basis as many “cases” cited by
Gregory indicate. Many like the following are found: “Charigisil,
king Clothar’s secretary, whose hands and feet were made helpless
by a humor, came to the holy church, and devoting himself to prayer
for two or three months, was visited by the blessed bishop[30] and
had the merit to obtain health in his crippled limbs. He was later
_domesticus_ of the king I have mentioned, and did many kindnesses
to the people of Tours and the officials of the holy church.” An
analysis of this record reveals the typical elements, with the
exception of fasting which is usually mentioned. The miraculous
properties of St. Martin were thus reënforced by change of scene,
prolonged treatment, and a rigorous mental and physical regimen.

With such a state of mind prevailing no rivals of the clergy in the
healing art were to be found except among those healers who used
a “virtue” of another kind--the false virtue of the magicians and
demons; the few physicians who remained were not real competitors.

The administration of justice was also affected by the same causes
which brought about the disappearance of medicine. There was little
inducement to look for evidence when an appeal could be made to
superstitious fear. Hence the importance of the oath. Gregory
himself, when he was charged with slandering queen Fredegunda, had
to take oath to his innocence on three altars. We have also other
appeals to the supernatural in the trial by combat and the ordeal.
Another interference in the domain of law was a peculiar one; holy
men seemed to have a particular desire to set prisoners free. Gregory
himself begs them off. We hear of one dead bishop whose body sank
like lead on the street before the jail and could not be moved until
all in the jail were let loose.[31] Another holy man tried to secure
the pardon of a notorious criminal, and failing, brought him back to
life after he was executed.

In the _History of the Franks_ attention is given from time to time
to natural phenomena. With few exceptions these passages deal with
prodigies. Gregory tells for example of the prodigies of the year
587. Most of them are given from his own personal observation.[32]
Mysterious marks which could not be deleted in any way appeared on
dishes; vines made a new growth and bore deformed fruit in the month
of October after the vintage; at the same time fresh leaves and
fruits appeared on fruit trees; rays of light were seen in the north.
In addition Gregory mentions from hearsay that snakes had fallen from
the clouds, and that a village with its inhabitants and dwellings had
disappeared entirely. He goes on to say, “Many other signs appeared
such as usually announce a king’s death or the destruction of a
country.” In the same way he tells us of the signs preceding plagues.
Sometimes he relates the prodigies without giving any sequel to them.
In one case he says, “I do not know what these prodigies foretold.”
It is evident that the idea which Gregory had of the phenomena of
nature was such as to prevent his giving any intelligent attention to
them. The supernatural came between him and objective realities in
such a way as to prevent the latter from having a natural effect upon
his mind.

The inhibiting and paralyzing force of superstitious beliefs
penetrated to every department of life, and the most primary and
elementary activities of society were influenced. War, for example,
was not a simple matter of a test of strength and courage, but
supernatural matters had to be taken carefully into consideration.
When Clovis said of the Goths in southern Gaul, “I take it hard that
these Arians should hold a part of the Gauls; let us go with God’s
aid and conquer them and bring the land under our dominion,”[33] he
was not speaking in a hypocritical or arrogant manner but in real
accordance with the religious sentiment of the time. What he meant
was that the Goths, being heretics, were at once enemies of the
true God and inferior to the orthodox Franks in their supernatural
backing. Considerations of duty, strategy, and self-interest all
reënforced one another in Clovis’s mind. However, it was not always
the orthodox side that won. We hear of a battle fought a few years
before Gregory became bishop of Tours between king Sigibert and
the Huns,[34] in which the Huns “by the use of magic arts caused
various false appearances to arise before their enemies and overcame
them decisively.” It is very plain that one exceedingly important
function of the leader of a sixth-century army was to keep in the
right relation with the supernatural powers. Clovis is represented as
heeding this necessity more than any other Frankish king.[35]

It is clear that in the sixth-century state of mind in Gaul nothing
was purely secular. As far as possible all secular elements had been
expelled. Men did not meet the objective realities of society and
of nature as they were; there was a superstitious interpretation
for everything. The hope in such a condition of things lay only in
unconscious developments which might break through the closed system
of thought before the latter realized that it was on the defensive.

The most promising element in the situation was the Frankish state.
Apparently the Frankish kingship was not to any large extent a
magico-religious institution, but simply a recent development arising
out of the conquest. As an institution it was not grounded in the
superstitious past, and the cold hostility of the bishops kept it
from the development usual in a benighted society. To this chance we
may perhaps attribute a momentous result; in it lay the possibility
and promise of a secular state.

In the case of King Chilperic we apparently have a premature
development in this direction. We must read between the lines when
Gregory speaks of him. Gregory calls him “the Nero and Herod of
our time,” and loads him with abuse. He ridicules his poems, and
according to his own story overwhelms him with an avalanche of
contempt when he ventures to state some new opinions on the Trinity.
The significant thing about Chilperic was this, that he had at this
time the independence of mind to make such a criticism, as well as
the hard temper necessary to fight the bishops successfully. “In his
reign,” Gregory tells us, “very few of the clergy reached the office
of bishop.” Chilperic used often to say: “Behold our treasury has
remained poor, our wealth has been transferred to the churches; there
is no king but the bishops; my office has perished and passed over to
the bishops of the cities.”[36] Chilperic was thus the forerunner of
the secular state in France.

E. B.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Besides Clermont and Tours in which cities Gregory
spent most of his life we hear of stays at Poitiers,
Saintes, Bordeaux, Riez, Cavaillon, Vienne, Lyons,
Chalon-sur-Saône, Châlons-sur-Marne, Rheims, Soissons,
Metz, Coblentz, Braine, Paris, Orleans. Monod, _Sources
de l’histoire Mérovingienne_, p. 37.

[2] Childebert the elder is represented as saying: _Velim
unquam Arvernam Lemanem quae tantae jocunditatis gratia
refulgere dicitur, oculis cernere._ _H. F._ III, 9.

[3] In France, including Alsace and Lorraine, there are
at the present time three thousand six hundred and
seventy-five churches dedicated to St. Martin, and four
hundred and twenty-five villages or hamlets are named
after him. C. Bayet, in Lavisse, _Histoire de France_,
=2=1 p. 16.

[4] C. Bayet, in Lavisse, _Histoire de France_, =2=1, pp.
13 ff.

[5] Monod, _op. cit._ pp. 25 ff. See pp. 13, 84, 109, 140.

[6] _Gloria Martyrum_, c. 83.

[7] _De Virtut. S. Mart._ I, 36.

[8] _Vitæ Patrum_, VIII, 3.

[9] Bonnet, _Le Latin de Gregoire de Tours_, pp. 48-76.

[10] Speaking of Jupiter, Mercury, Minerva, Venus, a
character in the _Vitæ Patrum_, XVII, 5, says,
_Nolite, o viri, nolite eos invocare, non sunt enim
dii isti sed dæmones_.

[11] _Gloria Martyrum_, Pref.

[12] _Vitæ Patrum_, II, Pref.

[13] See p. 240.

[14] See p. 40.

[15] They are substantially the conclusions of Bonnet in
_Le Latin de Gregoire de Tours_, Paris, 1890.

[16] See p. 247. In the Arndt and Brusch edition in the
_Monumenta Germaniæ Historica_ we have all these
titles included. The commentary on the _Psalms_
however is in a fragmentary condition, and the _Lives
of the Fathers_ appears as one of eight books of
_Miracles_. The book on _Church Services_ is there
entitled _Account of the Movements of the Stars as
they ought to be observed in performing the Services_.
It is really a brief astronomical treatise the purpose
of which was in the absence of clocks to guide the
church services at night.

[17] The list as given by Manitius is as follows:
Chronicles of Jerome, Victor, Sulpicius
Severus; history of Orosius; church history of
Eusebius-Rufinus; life of St. Martin by Sulpicius
Severus; letters of Sidonius Apollinaris and
Ferreolus; writings of Avitus; histories of Renatus
Profuturus Frigeridus and Sulpicius Alexander
(not elsewhere known); annals of Arles, Angers,
Burgundy. _Geschichte der Lateinischen Litteratur des
Mittelalters_, p. 220.

[18] III, Pref. and IV, Pref.

[19] _H. F._, II, 13. Cf. V, 11. p. 113.

[20] Nunc autem cognovi quod magna est virtus eius beati
Martini. Nam ingrediente me atrium domus, vidi virum
senem exhibentem arborem in manu sua, quae mox
extensis ramis omne atrium texit. Ex ea enim unus me
adtigit ramus, de cuius ictu turbatus corrui. VII, 42.

[21] See pp. 38, 162, 185, 205.

[22] For an objective account of immuring as the climax of
religious practice see vol. II, chap. 1, Sven Hedin’s
_Trans-Himalaya_, 1909. The following is his account
of an immured monk who was brought out from his cell
after a long time. “He was all bent up together and
as small as a child and his body was nothing but a
light-gray parchment-like skin and bones. His eyes had
lost their color, were quite bright and blind. His
hair hung round his head in uncombed matted locks and
was pure white. His body was covered only by a rag for
time had eaten away his clothing and he had received
no new garments. He had a thin unkempt beard, and had
never washed himself all the time or cut his nails.”

[23] pp. 147-150, 158, 198-199.

[24] _H. F._, I, Pref.

[25] See pp. 47-50.

[26] p. 130.

[27] _De Virtut. S. Martin._, II, 1.

[28] p. 196.

[29] _Glor. Conf._, c. 9.

[30] St. Martin.

[31] _De Virtut. S. Martin._, I, 21, 25.

[32] IX, 5.

[33] See p. 45.

[34] _H. F._, IV, 29.

[35] pp. 36-38, 40, 45, 53-54.

[36] See p. 166.

HISTORY OF THE FRANKS

BY GREGORY BISHOP OF TOURS

HERE BEGINS GREGORY’S FIRST PREFACE

With liberal culture on the wane, or rather perishing in the Gallic
cities, there were many deeds being done both good and evil: the
heathen were raging fiercely; kings were growing more cruel; the
church, attacked by heretics, was defended by Catholics; while the
Christian faith was in general devoutly cherished, among some it was
growing cold; the churches also were enriched by the faithful or
plundered by traitors--and no grammarian skilled in the dialectic
art could be found to describe these matters either in prose or
verse; and many were lamenting and saying: “Woe to our day, since
the pursuit of letters has perished from among us and no one can be
found among the people who can set forth the deeds of the present on
the written page.” Hearing continually these complaints and others
like them I [have undertaken] to commemorate the past, in order that
it may come to the knowledge of the future; and although my speech
is rude, I have been unable to be silent as to the struggles between
the wicked and the upright; and I have been especially encouraged
because, to my surprise, it has often been said by men of our day,
that few understand the learned words of the rhetorician but many the
rude language of the common people. [A]I have decided also that for
the reckoning of the years the first book shall begin with the very
beginning of the world, and I have given its chapters below.

HERE BEGIN THE CHAPTERS OF THE FIRST BOOK

1. Adam and Eve.
2. Cain and Abel.
3. Enoch the Just.
4. The flood.
5. Cush, inventor of idols.
6. Babylonia.
7. Abraham and Ninus.
8. Isaac, Esau, Job and Jacob.
9. Joseph in Egypt.
10. Crossing of the Red Sea.
11. The people in the desert and Joshua.
12. The captivity of the people of Israel and the generations to
David.
13. Solomon and the building of the Temple.
14. The division of the kingdom of Israel.
15. The captivity in Babylonia.
16. Birth of Christ.
17. The various kingdoms of the nations.
18. When Lyons was founded.
19. The gifts of the magi and the slaughter of the infants.
20. The miracles and suffering of Christ.
21. Joseph who buried Him.
22. James the apostle.
23. The day of the Lord’s resurrection.
24. The ascension of the Lord and the death of Pilate and Herod.
25. The suffering of the Apostles and Nero.
26. James, Mark and John the evangelist.
27. The persecution under Trajan.
28. Hadrian and the heretics’ lies and the martyrdom of Saint
Polycarp and Justin.
29. Saints Photinus, Irenæus and the rest of the martyrs of Lyons.
30. The seven men sent into the Gauls to preach.
31. The church of Bourges.
32. Chrocus and the shrine in Auvergne.
33. The martyrs who suffered in Auvergne.
34. The holy martyr, Privatus.
35. Quirinus, bishop and martyr.
36. Birth of St. Martin and the finding of the cross.
37. James, bishop of Nisibis.
38. Death of the monk Antony.
39. The coming of St. Martin.
40. The matron Melania.
41. Death of the emperor Valens.
42. Imperial rule of Theodosius.
43. Death of the tyrant Maximus.
44. Urbicus, bishop of Auvergne.
45. The holy bishop Hillidius.
46. The bishops Nepotian and Arthemius.
47. The chastity of the lovers.
48. St. Martin’s death.

IN CHRIST’S NAME HERE END THE CHAPTERS OF THE FIRST
BOOK

IN CHRIST’S NAME

HERE BEGINS THE FIRST BOOK OF THE HISTORIES

[B]As I am about to describe the struggles of kings with the heathen
enemy, of martyrs with pagans, of churches with heretics, I desire
first of all to declare my faith so that my reader may have no doubt
that I am Catholic. I have also decided, on account of those who are
losing hope of the approaching end of the world, to collect the total
of past years from chronicles and histories and set forth clearly how
many years there are from the beginning of the world. But I first beg
pardon of my readers if either in letter or in syllable I transgress
the rules of the grammatic art in which I have not been fully
instructed, since I have been eager only for this, to hold fast,
without any subterfuge or irresolution of heart, to that which we are
bidden in the church to believe, because I know that he who is liable
to punishment for his sin can obtain pardon from God by untainted
faith.

I believe, then, in God the Father omnipotent. I believe in Jesus
Christ his only Son, our Lord God, born of the Father, not created.
[I believe] that he has always been with the Father, not only since
time began but before all time. For the Father could not have been
so named unless he had a son; and there could be no son without a
father. But as for those who say: “There was a time when he was
not,”[37] reject them with curses, and call men to witness that they
are separated from the church. I believe that the word of the Father
by which all things were made was Christ. I believe that this word
was made flesh and by its suffering the world was redeemed, and I
believe that humanity, not deity, was subject to the suffering. I
believe that he rose again on the third day, that he freed sinful
man, that he ascended to heaven, that he sits on the right hand of
the Father, that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I
believe that the holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son,
that it is not inferior and is not of later origin, but is God, equal
and always co-eternal with the Father and the Son, consubstantial in
its nature, equal in omnipotence, equally eternal in its essence,
and that it has never existed apart from the Father and the Son and
is not inferior to the Father and the Son. I believe that this holy
Trinity exists with separation of persons, and one person is that of
the Father, another that of the Son, another that of the Holy Spirit.
And in this Trinity I confess that there is one Deity, one power, one
essence. I believe that the blessed Mary was a virgin after the birth
as she was a virgin before. I believe that the soul is immortal but
that nevertheless it has no part in deity. And I faithfully believe
all things that were established at Nicæa by the three hundred and
eighteen bishops. But as to the end of the world I hold beliefs which
I learned from our forefathers, that Antichrist will come first.
And Antichrist will first propose circumcision, asserting that he
is Christ; next he will place his statue in the temple at Jerusalem
to be worshiped, just as we read that the Lord said: “You shall see
the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.” But the
Lord himself declared that that day is hidden from all men, saying:
“But of that day and that hour knoweth no one not even the angels
in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father alone.” Moreover we
shall here make answer to the heretics[38] who attack us, asserting
that the Son is inferior to the Father since he is ignorant of this
day. Let them learn then that Son here is the name applied to the
Christian people, of whom God says: “I shall be to them a father
and they shall be to me for sons.” For if he had spoken these words
of the only-begotten Son he would never have given the angels first
place. For he uses these words: “Not even the angels in heaven nor
the Son,” showing that he spoke these words not of the only-begotten
but of the people of adoption. But our end is Christ himself, who
will graciously bestow eternal life on us if we turn to him.

[C]As to the reckoning of this world, the chronicles of Eusebius,
bishop of Cæsarea, and of Jerome the priest, speak clearly, and they
reveal the plan of the whole succession of years. Orosius too,
searching into these matters very carefully, collects the whole
number of years from the beginning of the world down to his own time.
Victor also examined into this in connection with the time of the
Easter festival. And so we follow the works of the writers mentioned
above and desire to reckon the complete series of years from the
creation of the first man down to our own time, if the Lord shall
deign to lend his aid. And this we shall more easily accomplish if we
begin with Adam himself.

1. In the beginning the Lord shaped the heaven and the earth in his
Christ, who is the beginning of all things, that is, in his son; and
after creating the elements of the whole universe, taking a frail
clod he formed man after his own image and likeness, and breathed
upon his face the breath of life and he was made into a living soul.
And while he slept a rib was taken from him and the woman, Eve, was
created. There is no doubt that this first man Adam before he sinned
typified the Redeemer. For as the Redeemer slept in the stupor of
suffering and caused water and blood to issue from his side, he
brought into existence the virgin and unspotted church, redeemed
by blood, purified by water, having no spot or wrinkle, that is,
washed with water to avoid a spot, stretched on the cross to avoid
a wrinkle. These first human beings, who were living happily amid
the pleasant scenes of Paradise, were tempted by the craft of the
serpent. They transgressed the divine precepts and were cast out from
the abode of angels and condemned to the labors of the world.

2. Through intercourse with her companion the woman conceived and
bore two sons. But when God received the sacrifice of the one with
honor, the other was inflamed with envy; he rushed on his brother,
overcame and killed him, becoming the first parricide by shedding a
brother’s blood.

3. Then the whole race rushed into accursed crime, except the just
Enoch, who walked in the ways of God and was taken up from the midst
by the Lord himself on account of his uprightness, and freed from a
sinful people. For we read: “Enoch walked with the Lord, and he did
not appear for God took him.”

4. And so the Lord, being angered against the iniquities of the
people who did not walk in his ways, sent a flood, and by its waters
destroyed every living soul from the face of the earth; only Noah,
who was most faithful and especially belonged to him and bore the
stamp of his image, he saved in the ark, with his wife and those of
his three sons, that they might restore posterity. Here the heretics
upbraid us because the holy Scripture says that the Lord was angry.
Let them know therefore that our God is not angry like a man; for he
is aroused in order to inspire fear; he drives away to summon back;
he is angry in order to amend. Furthermore I have no doubt that
the ark typified the mother church. For passing amidst the waves
and rocks of this world it protects us in its motherly arms from
threatening ills, and guards us with its holy embrace and protection.

Now from Adam to Noah are ten generations, namely: Adam, Seth, Enos,
Cainan, Malalehel, Jareth, Enoch, Mattusalam, Lamech, Noah. In these
ten generations 2242 years are included. The book Joshua clearly
indicates that Adam was buried in the land of Enacim, which before
was called Hebron.

5. Noah had after the flood three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. From
Japheth issued nations, and likewise from Ham and from Shem. And, as
ancient history says, from these the human race was scattered under
the whole heaven. The first-born of Ham was Cush. He was the first
inventor of the whole art of magic and of idolatry, being instructed
by the devil. He was the first to set up an idol to be worshipped, at
the instigation of the devil, and by his false power he showed to men
stars and fire falling from heaven. He passed over to the Persians.
The Persians called him Zoroaster, that is, living star. They were
trained by him to worship fire, and they reverence as a god the man
who was himself consumed by the divine fire.

6. Since men had multiplied and were spreading over all the earth
they passed out from the East and found the grassy plain of Senachar.
There they built a city and strove to raise a tower which should
reach the heavens. And God brought confusion both to their vain
enterprise and their language, and scattered them over the wide
world, and the city was called Babyl, that is, confusion, because
there God had confused their tongues. This is Babylonia, built by the
giant Nebron, son of Cush. As the history of Orosius tells, it is
laid out foursquare on a very level plain. Its wall, made of baked
brick cemented with pitch, is fifty cubits wide, two hundred high,
and four hundred and seventy stades[D] in circumference. A stade
contains five agripennes.[E] Twenty-five gates are situated on each
side, which make in all one hundred. The doors of these gates, which
are of wonderful size, are cast in bronze. The same historian tells
many other tales of this city, and says: “Although such was the glory
of its building still it was conquered and destroyed.”

[7. Abraham, who is described as “the beginning of our faith.”

8. Isaac, Esau, Jacob, Job. 9. The twelve patriarchs, the story
of Joseph, and the coming out of Egypt to the crossing of the Red
Sea.][39]

10. Since many authorities have made varying statements about this
crossing of the sea I have decided to give here some information
concerning the situation of the place and the crossing itself. The
Nile flows through Egypt, as you very well know, and waters it by
its flood, from which the inhabitants of Egypt are named Nilicolæ.
And many travellers say its shores are filled at the present time
with holy monasteries. And on its bank is situated, not the Babylonia
of which we spoke above, but the city of Babylonia in which Joseph
built wonderful granaries of squared stone and rubble.[40] They are
wide at the base and narrow at the top in order that the wheat might
be cast into them through a tiny opening, and these granaries are
to be seen at the present day. From this city the king set out in
pursuit of the Hebrews with armies of chariots and a great infantry
force. Now the stream mentioned above coming from the east passes in
a westerly direction towards the Red Sea; and from the west a lake or
arm of the Red Sea juts out and stretches to the east, being about
fifty miles long and eighteen wide.[41] And at the head of this lake
the city of Clysma is built, not on account of the fertility of the
soil, since there is nothing more barren, but because of the harbor,
since ships coming from the Indias lie there for the convenience of
the harbor; and the wares purchased there are carried through all
Egypt. Toward this arm the Hebrews hastened through the wilderness,
and they came to the sea itself and encamped, finding fresh water.
It was in this place, shut in by the wilderness as well as by the
sea, that they encamped, as it is written: “Pharaoh, hearing that
the sea and the wilderness shut them in and that they had no way by
which they could go, set out in pursuit of them.” And when they were
close upon them and the people cried to Moses, he stretched out his
wand over the sea, according to the command of the Deity, and it was
divided, and they walked on dry ground, and, as the Scripture says,
they crossed unharmed under Moses’ leadership, a wall of water on
either hand, to that shore which is before Mount Sinai, while the
Egyptians were drowned. And many tales are told of this crossing,
as I have said. But we desire to insert in this account what we
have learned as true from the wise, and especially from those who
have visited the place. [F]They actually say that the furrows which
the wheels of the chariots made remain to the present time and are
seen in the deep water as far as the eye can trace them. And if the
roughness of the sea obliterates them in a slight degree, when the
sea is calm they are divinely renewed again as they were. Others say
that they returned to the very bank where they had entered, making a
small circuit through the sea. And others assert that all entered by
one way; and a good many, that a separate way opened to each tribe,
giving this evidence from the Psalms: “Who divided the Red Sea in
parts.”[42] But these parts ought to be understood according to the
spirit and not according to the letter. For there are many parts in
this world, which is figuratively called a sea. For all cannot pass
to life equally or by one way. Some pass in the first hour, that is
those who are born anew by baptism and are able to endure to the
departure from this life unspotted by any defilement, of the flesh.
Others in the third hour, plainly those who are converted later in
life; others in the sixth hour, being those who hold in check the
heat of wanton living. And in each of these hours, as the evangelist
relates, they are hired for the work of the Lord’s vineyard, each
according to his faith. These are the parts in which the passage
is made across this sea. As to the opinion that upon entering the
sea they kept close to the shore and returned, these are the words
which the Lord said to Moses: “Let them turn back and encamp before
Phiahiroth which is between Magdalum and the sea before Belsephon.”
There is no doubt that this passage of the sea and the pillar of
cloud typified our baptism, according to the words of the blessed
Paul the apostle: “I would not, brethren, have you ignorant that
our fathers were all under the cloud and all baptized unto Moses
in the cloud and in the sea.” And the pillar of fire typified the
holy Spirit. Now from the birth of Abraham to the going forth of the
children of Israel from Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea, which
was in the eightieth year of Moses, there are reckoned four hundred
and sixty-two years.

[G][11. The Israelites spend forty years in the wilderness. 12. From
the crossing of the Jordan to David. 13. Solomon. 14. Division of
the kingdom into Judæa and Israel. 15. The captivity. 16. From the
captivity to the birth of Christ.]

17. In order not to seem to have knowledge of the Hebrew race
alone[43] we shall tell what the remaining kingdoms were in the
time of the Israelites. In the time of Abraham Ninus ruled over the
Assyrians; Eorops over the Sitiones; among the Egyptians it was the
sixteenth government, which they call in their own tongue dynasty.
In Moses’ time lived Trophas, seventh king of the Argives; Cecrops,
first in Attica; Cencris, who was overwhelmed in the Red Sea, twelfth
among the Egyptians; Agatadis, sixteenth among the Assyrians; Maratis
was ruler of the Sicionii….[44]

[18. Beginning of the Roman empire; founding of Lyons, a city
afterwards ennobled by the blood of martyrs. 19. Birth of Christ.
20. Christ’s crucifixion. 21. Joseph is imprisoned and escapes
miraculously. 22. James fasts from the death of the Lord to the
resurrection. 23. The day of the Lord’s resurrection is the first,
not the seventh. 24. Pilate transmits an account of Christ to
Tiberius. The end of Pilate and of Herod. 25. Peter and Paul are
executed at Rome by order of Nero, who later kills himself. 26.
The martyrs, Stephen, James and Mark; burning of Jerusalem by
Vespasian; death of John. 27. Persecution under Trajan. 28. The rise
of heresy. Further persecutions. 29. The martyrs of Lyons. Irenæus,
second bishop, converts the whole city. His death and that of “vast
numbers,” of whom Gregory knows of forty-eight.]

30. Under the emperor Decius many persecutions arose against the
name of Christ, and there was such a slaughter of believers that
they could not be numbered. Babillas, bishop of Antioch, with his
three little sons, Urban, Prilidan and Epolon, and Xystus, bishop of
Rome, Laurentius, an archdeacon, and Hyppolitus, were made perfect by
martyrdom because they confessed the name of the Lord. Valentinian
and Novatian were then the chief heretics and were active against
our faith, the enemy urging them on. At this time seven men were
ordained as bishops and sent into the Gauls to preach, as the history
of the martyrdom of the holy martyr Saturninus relates. [H]For it
says: “In the consulship of Decius and Gratus, as faithful memory
recalls, the city of Toulouse received the holy Saturninus as its
first and greatest bishop.” These bishops were sent: bishop Catianus
to Tours; bishop Trophimus to Arles; bishop Paul to Narbonne; bishop
Saturninus to Toulouse; bishop Dionisius to Paris; bishop Stremonius
to Clermont; bishop Martial to Limoges.

[I]And of these the blessed Dionisius, bishop of Paris, after
suffering divers pains in Christ’s name, ended the present life by
the threatening sword. And Saturninus, already certain of martyrdom,
said to his two priests: “Behold, I am now to be offered as a victim
and the time of my death draws near. I ask you not to leave me at
all before I come to the end.” But when he was seized and was being
dragged to the capitol he was abandoned by them and was dragged
alone. And so when he saw that he was abandoned he is said to have
made this prayer; “Lord Jesus Christ, grant my request from holy
heaven, that this church may never in all time have the merit to
receive a bishop from among its citizens.” And we know that to the
present it has been so in this city. And he was tied to the feet of
a mad bull, and being sent headlong from the capitol he ended his
life. Catianus, Trophimus, Stremonius, Paul and Marcial lived in
the greatest sanctity, winning people to the church and spreading
the faith of Christ among all, and died in peace, confessing the
faith. And thus the former by martyrdom, as well as the latter by
confession, left the earth and were united in the heavens.

31. One of their disciples went to the city of Bourges and carried
to the people the news of Christ the lord as the saviour of all. A
few of them believed and were ordained priests and learned the ritual
of psalm-singing, and were instructed how to build a church and how
they ought to observe the worship of the omnipotent God. But as they
had small means for building as yet, the citizens asked for the house
of a certain man to use for a church. But the senators and the rest
of the better class of the place were at that time devoted to the
heathen religion and the believers were of the poor, according to the
word of the Lord with which he reproached the Jews saying; “Harlots
and publicans go into the kingdom of God before you.” And they did
not obtain the house from the person from whom they asked it, but
they found a certain Leocadius,[45] the first senator of the Gauls,
who was of the family of Vectius Epagatus, who, we have said above,
suffered in Lyons in Christ’s name. And when they had made known to
him at the same time their petition and their faith he answered,
“If my own house in the city of Bourges were worthy of this work I
would not refuse to offer it.” And when they heard this they fell
at his feet and offered three hundred gold pieces on a silver dish
and said the house was very worthy of this mystery. And he accepted
three gold pieces from them for a blessing and kindly returned the
rest, although he was yet entangled in the error of idolatry, and he
became a Christian and made his house a church. This is now the first
church in the city of Bourges, built with marvelous skill and made
illustrious by the relics of Stephen, the first martyr.

32. Valerian and Gallienus received the Roman imperial power in the
twenty-seventh place, and set on foot a cruel persecution of the
Christians. At that time Cornelius brought fame to Rome by his happy
death, and Cyprian to Carthage. In their time also Chrocus the famous
king of the Alemanni raised an army and overran the Gauls. This
Chrocus is said to have been very arrogant. And when he had committed
a great many crimes he gathered the tribe of the Alemanni, as we
have stated,--by the advice, it is said, of his wicked mother,--and
overran the whole of the Gauls, and destroyed from their foundations
all the temples which had been built in ancient times. And coming
to Clermont he set on fire, overthrew and destroyed that shrine[J]
which they call Vasso Galatæ in the Gallic tongue. It had been built
and made strong with wonderful skill. And its wall was double, for on
the inside it was built of small stone and on the outside of squared
blocks. The wall had a thickness of thirty feet. It was adorned on
the inside with marble and mosaics. The pavement of the temple was
also of marble and its roof above was of lead.

[33. Martyrs of Clermont. 34. The bishop of Gévaudan is maltreated by
the Alemanni.]

35. Under Diocletian, who was emperor of Rome in the thirty-third
place, a cruel persecution of the Christians was kept up for four
years, at one time in the course of which great numbers of Christians
were put to death, on the sacred day of Easter, for worshiping the
true God. At that time Quirinus, bishop of the church of Sissek,[46]
endured glorious martyrdom in Christ’s name. The cruel pagans cast
him into a river with a millstone tied to his neck, and when he had
fallen into the waters he was long supported on the surface by a
divine miracle, and the waters did not suck him down since the weight
of crime did not press upon him. And a multitude of people standing
around wondered at the thing, and despising the rage of the heathen
they hastened to free the bishop. He saw this and did not permit
himself to be deprived of martyrdom, and raising his eyes to heaven
he said: “Jesus lord, who sittest in glory at the right hand of the
Father, suffer me not to be taken from this course, but receive my
soul and deign to unite me with thy martyrs in eternal peace.” With
these words he gave up the ghost, and his body was taken up by the
Christians and reverently buried.

36. Constantine was the thirty-fourth emperor of the Romans, and he
reigned prosperously for thirty years. In the eleventh year of his
reign, when peace had been granted to the churches after the death
of Diocletian, our blessed patron Martin was born at Sabaria, a city
of Pannonia, of heathen parents, who still were not of the lowest
station. This Constantine in the twentieth year of his reign caused
the death of his son Crispus by poison, and of his wife Fausta by
means of a hot bath, because they had plotted to betray his rule. In
his time the venerated wood of the Lord’s cross was found, through
the zeal of his mother Helen on the information of Judas, a Hebrew
who was called Quiriacus after baptism. [K]The historian Eusebius
comes down to this period in his chronicle. The priest Jerome
continues it from the twenty-first year of Constantine’s reign. He
informs us that the priest Juvencus wrote the gospels in verse at the
request of the emperor named above.

[37. James of Nisibis and Maximin of Trèves. 38. Hilarius bishop of
Poitiers.]

39. At that time our light arose and Gaul was traversed by the rays
of a new lamp, that is, the most blessed Martin then began to preach
in the Gauls, and he overcame the unbelief of the heathen, showing
among the people by many miracles that Christ the Son of God was
the true God. He destroyed heathen shrines, crushed heresy, built
churches, and while he was glorious for many other miracles, he
completed his title to fame by restoring three dead men to life.
At Poitiers, in the fourth year of Valentinian and Valens, Saint
Hilarius passed to heaven full of sanctity and faith, a priest of
many miracles; for he too is said to have raised the dead.

[40. Melania’s journey to Jerusalem.]

41. After the death of Valentinian, Valens, who succeeded to the
undivided empire, gave orders that the monks be compelled to serve in
the army, and commanded that those who refused should be beaten with
clubs. After this the Romans fought a very fierce battle in Thrace,
in which there was such slaughter that the Romans fled on foot after
losing their horses, and when they were being cut to pieces by the
Goths, and Valens was fleeing with an arrow wound, he entered a small
hut, the enemy closely pursuing, and the little dwelling was burned
over him. And he was deprived of the burial he desired. And thus the
divine vengeance finally came for shedding the blood of the saints.
Thus far Jerome; from this period the priest Orosius wrote at greater
length.

[42. The pious emperor Theodosius. 43. The emperor Maximus with
capital at Trèves. 44. Urbicus, second bishop of Clermont, and his
wife. 45. Hillidius, third bishop of Clermont, and his miracles. 46.
Nepotian and Arthemius, fourth and fifth bishops of Clermont. 47.
Legend of the two lovers of Clermont.]

48. In the second year of the reign of Arcadius and Honorius, Saint
Martin, bishop of Tours, departed this life at Candes, a village
of his diocese, and passed happily to Christ in the eighty-first
year of his life and the twenty-sixth of his episcopate, a man full
of miracles and holiness, doing many services to the infirm. [L]He
passed away at midnight of the Lord’s day, in the consulship of
Atticus and Cæsarius. Many heard at his passing away the sound of
psalm-singing in heaven, which I have spoken of at greater length in
the first book of his _Miracles_. Now as soon as the saint of God
fell sick at the village of Candes, as we have related, the people
of Poitiers came to be present at his death, as did also the people
of Tours. And when he died, a great dispute arose between the two
peoples. For the people of Poitiers said: “As a monk, he is ours; as
an abbot, he belonged to us; we demand that he be given to us. Let it
be enough for you that when he was a bishop on earth you enjoyed his
conversation, ate with him, were strengthened by his blessings and
cheered by his miracles. Let all that be enough for you. Let us be
permitted to carry away his dead body.” To this the people of Tours
replied: “If you say that the working of his miracles is enough for
us, let us tell you that while he was placed among you he worked
more miracles than he did here. For, to pass over most of them, he
raised two dead men for you, and one for us; and as he used often to
say himself, there was more virtue in him before he was bishop than
after. And so it is necessary that he complete for us after death
what he did not finish in his lifetime. For he was taken away from
you and given to us by God. If a custom long established is kept,
a man shall have his tomb by God’s command in the city in which he
was ordained. And if you desire to claim him because of the right
of the monastery, let us tell you that his first monastery was at
Milan.” While they were arguing in this way the sun sank and night
closed in. And the body was placed in the midst, and the doors were
barred and the body was guarded by both peoples, and it was going to
be carried off by violence by the people of Poitiers in the morning.
But omnipotent God was unwilling that the city of Tours should be
deprived of its protector. Finally at midnight the whole band from
Poitiers were overwhelmed with sleep and no one remained out of this
multitude to keep watch. Then when the people of Tours saw that they
had fallen asleep they seized on the clay of the holy body and some
thrust it out the window[M] and others received it outside, and
placing it in a boat they went down the river Vienne with all their
people and entered the channel of the Loire, and made their way to
the city of Tours with great praises and plentiful psalm-singing,
and the people of Poitiers were waked by their voices, and having
no treasure to guard they returned to their own place greatly
crestfallen. And if any one asks why there was only one bishop, that
is, Litorius, after the death of bishop Gatianus to the time of
Saint Martin, let him know that for a long time the city of Tours
was without the blessing of a bishop, owing to the resistance of the
heathen. For they who lived as Christians at that time celebrated
the divine office secretly and in hiding. For if any Christians were
found by the heathen they were punished with stripes or slain by the
sword.

Now from the suffering of the Lord to the passing of Saint Martin,
412 years are included.

* * * * *

HERE ENDS THE FIRST BOOK CONTAINING 5597 YEARS WHICH ARE RECKONED
FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD TO THE DEATH OF THE HOLY BISHOP
MARTIN.

FOOTNOTES:

[37] A leading belief of Arian Christology.

[38] The Arians.

[39] The square brackets indicate where less significant
sections of the text have been summarized.

[40] The Pyramids, apparently.

[41] Gregory’s geography is mixed.

[42] Psalms cxxxv. 13.

[43] Gregory’s purpose is not realized.

[44] Jerome’s Chronicle was the source for the history
summarized here. It is clear that Gregory had not much
sense of the historical perspective in spite of a list
of names which might impress his audience. He passes
directly from “Servius the sixth king of Rome” to
Julius Caesar the founder of the empire.

[45] Gregory’s paternal grandmother was Leocadia, who
traced her descent from Vectius Epagatus. See
_Historia Francorum_ ed. Arndt, Introd. p. 4, in
_Monumenta Germaniae Historica_. The story related
above was from Gregory’s family tradition.

[46] In Hungary.

HERE BEGIN THE CHAPTERS OF THE SECOND BOOK

1. The episcopate of Bricius.
2. The Vandals and the persecution of the Christians under them.
3. Cyrola the heretics’ bishop and the holy martyrs.
4. The persecution under Athanaric.
5. Bishop Aravatius and the Huns.
6. St. Stephen’s church in the city of Metz.
7. The wife of Ætius.
8. What the historians have written about Ætius.
9. What the same say of the Franks.
10. What the prophets of the Lord write about the images of the
nations.
11. The emperor Avitus.
12. King Childeric and Egidius.
13. The episcopate of Venerandus and of Rusticus in Auvergne.
14. The episcopate of Eustochius at Tours and of Perpetuus; St.
Martin’s church.
15. The church of St. Simphorianus.
16. Bishop Namatius and the church at Clermont.
17. His wife and St. Stephen’s church.
18. How Childeric went to Orleans and Odoacer to Angers.
19. War between the Saxons and Romans.
20. Duke Victor.
21. Bishop Eparchius.
22. Bishop Sidonius.
23. The holiness of bishop Sidonius and the visitation of the
divine vengeance for the wrongs done to him.
24. The famine in Burgundy and Ecdicius.
25. The persecutor Euvarege.
26. Death of the holy Perpetuus and the episcopates of Volusianus
and Virus.
27. Clovis becomes king.
28. Clovis marries Clotilda.
29. Death of their first son in his baptismal garments.
30. War with the Alamanni.
31. Clovis’s baptism.
32. War with Gundobad.
33. Killing of Godegisel.
34. How Gundobad wished to be converted.
35. Clovis and Alaric have an interview.
36. Bishop Quintian.
37. War with Alaric.
38. King Clovis is made patrician.
39. Bishop Licinius.
40. Killing of Sigibert the elder and his son.
41. Killing of Chararic and his son.
42. Killing of Ragnachar and his brothers.
43. Death of Clovis.

HERE END THE CHAPTERS

HERE BEGINS THE SECOND BOOK

Following the order of time we shall mingle together in our tale the
miraculous doings of the saints and the slaughters of the nations.
I do not think that we shall be condemned thoughtlessly if we tell
of the happy lives of the blessed together with the deaths of the
wretched, since it is not the skill of the writer but the succession
of times that has furnished the arrangement. The attentive reader,
if he seeks diligently, will find in the famous histories of the
kings of the Israelites that under the just Samuel the wicked Phineas
perished, and that under David, whom they called Stronghand, the
stranger Goliath was destroyed. Let him remember also in the time
of the great prophet Elias, who prevented rains when he wished and
when he pleased poured them on the parched ground, who enriched the
poverty of the widow by his prayer, what slaughters of the people
there were, what famine and what thirst oppressed the wretched earth.
Let him remember what evil Jerusalem endured in the time of Hezekiah,
to whom God granted fifteen additional years of life. Moreover under
the prophet Elisha, who restored the dead to life and did many other
miracles among the peoples, what butcheries, what miseries crushed
the very people of Israel. So too Eusebius, Severus and Jerome in
their chronicles, and Orosius also, interwove the wars of kings
and the miracles of the martyrs. We have written in this way also,
because it is thus easier to perceive in their entirety the order
of the centuries and the system of the years down to our day. And
so, leaving the histories of the writers who have been mentioned
above,[N] we shall describe at God’s bidding what was done in the
later time.

[O]1. After the death of the blessed Martin, bishop of Tours, a very
great and incomparable man, whose miracles fill great volumes in our
possession, Bricius succeeded to the bishopric. Now this Bricius,
when he was a young man and the saint was yet living in the body,
used to lay many traps for him, because he was often accused by Saint
Martin of following the easy way. And one day when a sick man was
looking for the blessed Martin in order to get medicine from him he
met Bricius, at this time a deacon, in the square, and he said to
him in a simple fashion: “Behold I am seeking the blessed man, and I
don’t know where he is or what he is doing.” And Bricius said: “If
you are seeking for that crazy person look in the distance; there he
is, staring at the sky in his usual fashion, as if he were daft.” And
when the poor man had seen him and got what he wanted, the blessed
Martin said to the deacon: “Well, Bricius, I seem to you crazy, do
I?” And when the latter, in confusion at this, denied he had said
so, the saint replied: “Were not my ears at your lips when you said
this at a distance? Verily I say unto you that I have prevailed upon
God that you shall succeed to the bishop’s office after me, but let
me tell you that you will suffer many misfortunes in your tenure of
the office.” Bricius on hearing this laughed and said: “Did I not
speak the truth that he uttered crazy words?” Furthermore, when he
had attained to the rank of priest, he often attacked the blessed
man with abuse. But when he had become bishop by the choice of the
citizens, he devoted himself to prayer. And although he was proud
and vain he was nevertheless considered chaste in his body. But in
the thirty-third year after his ordination there arose against him a
lamentable ground for accusation. For a woman to whom his servants
used to give his garments to be washed, one who had changed her garb
on the pretext of religion, conceived and bore a child. Because of
this the whole population of Tours arose in wrath and laid the whole
blame on the bishop, wishing with one accord to stone him. For they
said: “The piety of a holy man has too long been a cover for your
wantonness. But God does not any longer allow us to be polluted by
kissing your unworthy hands.” But he denied the charge forcibly.
“Bring the infant to me,” said he. And when the infant, which was
thirty days old, was brought, the bishop said to it: “I adjure you in
the name of Jesus Christ, son of omnipotent God, to declare publicly
to all if I begot you.” And the child said: “It is not you who are
my father.” When the people asked him to inquire who was the father,
the bishop said: “That is not my affair. I was troubled in so far as
the matter concerned me; inquire for yourselves whatever you want.”
Then they asserted that this had been done by magic arts, and arose
against him in a conspiracy, and dragged him along, saying: “You
shall not rule us any longer under the false name of a shepherd.”
And to satisfy the people he placed red-hot coals in his cloak and
drawing it close to him he walked as far as the tomb of the blessed
Martin along with throngs of the people. And when the coals were cast
down before the tomb his robe was seen to be unburned. And he said:
“Just as you see this robe uninjured by the fire, so too my body
is undefiled by union with a woman.” And when they did not believe
but denied it, he was dragged, abused, and cast out, in order that
the words of the saint might be fulfilled: “Let me tell you that
you will suffer many misfortunes in your episcopate.” When he was
cast out they appointed Justinian to the office of bishop. Finally
Bricius went to see the pope of the city of Rome, weeping and wailing
and saying: “Rightly do I suffer this because I sinned against a
saint of God and often called him crazy and daft; and when I saw
his miracles I did not believe.” And after his departure the people
of Tours said to their bishop: “Go after him and attend to your own
interest, for if you do not attack him, you shall be humiliated by
the contempt of us all.” And Justinian went forth from Tours and
came to Vercelli, a city of Italy, and was smitten by a judgment of
God and died in a strange country. The people of Tours heard of his
death, and persisting in their evil course, they appointed Armentius
in his place. But bishop Bricius went to Rome and related to the
pope all that he had endured. And while he remained at the apostolic
see he often celebrated the solemn ceremony of the mass, weeping
for the wrong he had done to the saint of God. In the seventh year
he left Rome and by the authority of that pope purposed to return
to Tours. And when he came to the village called Mont-Louis at the
sixth mile-stone from the city, he resided there. Now Armentius was
seized with a fever and died at midnight. This was at once revealed
to bishop Bricius in a vision, and he said to his people: “Rise
quickly, so that we may go to bury our brother, the bishop of Tours.”
And when they came and entered one gate of the city, behold they
were carrying his dead body out by another. And when he was buried,
Bricius returned to the bishop’s chair and lived happily seven years
after. And when he died in the forty-seventh year of his episcopate,
Saint Eustochius, a man of magnificent holiness, succeeded him.

2. After this the Vandals left their own country and burst into the
Gauls under king Gunderic.[P] And when the Gauls had been thoroughly
laid waste they made for the Spains. The Suebi, that is, Alamanni,
following them, seized Gallicia.[Q] Not long after, a quarrel arose
between the two peoples, since they were neighbors. And when they had
gone armed to the battle, and were already at the point of fighting,
the king of the Alemanni said: “Why are all the people involved in
war? Let our people, I pray, not kill one another in battle, but
let two of our warriors go to the field in arms and fight with one
another. Then he whose champion wins shall hold the region without
strife.” To this all the people agreed, that the whole multitude
might not rush on the edge of the sword. In these days king Gunderic
had died and in his place Thrasamund held the kingdom. And in the
conflict of the champions the side of the Vandals was overcome, and,
his champion being slain, Thrasamund promised to depart, and so, when
he had made the necessary preparations for the journey, he removed
from the territories of Spain.

About the same time Thrasamund persecuted the Christians, and by
torture and different sorts of death tried to force all Spain to
consent to the perfidy of the Arian sect. And it so happened that a
certain maiden bound by religious vows was brought to trial. She was
very rich and of the senatorial nobility according to the ranking of
the world, and what is nobler than all this, strong in the catholic
faith and a blameless servant of Almighty God. And when she was
brought before the eyes of the king he first began to coax her with
kind words to be baptized again. And when she repelled his venomous
shaft by the armor of the faith, the king commanded that wealth be
taken from her who already in her heart possessed the kingdom of
paradise, and later that she should be tortured without hope of
this life. Why make a long story? After long examinations, after
losing the treasure of earthly riches, when she could not be forced
to attack the blessed Trinity she was led against her will to be
re-baptized. And when she was being forcibly immersed in that filthy
bath and was crying loudly; “I believe that the Father and the holy
Spirit are of one substance with the Son,” when she said this she
stained the water with a worthy ointment,[47] that is, she defiled it
with excrement. Then she was taken to the examination according to
the law, and after the needle, flame and claw, she was beheaded for
Christ the lord. After this the Vandals crossed the sea, the Alemanni
following as far as Tangier, and were dispersed throughout all Africa
and Mauretania.

[3. Persecutions of Catholics by Arians under the Vandal king Honeric
of Africa. 4. The same, under the Gothic king Athanaric of Spain. 5.
Journey of Bishop Aravatius of Tongres to Rome that he might avert by
prayer the threatened invasion of the Huns. But there he learns that
“it was sanctioned in the council of the Lord that the Huns must come
into the Gauls and ravage them.” He returns to Tongres and dies.]

6. Now the Huns left Pannonia and, as certain say, on the very
watch-night of holy Easter arrived at the city of Metz, after
devastating the country, and gave the city over to burning, slaying
the people with the edge of the sword and killing the very priests
of the Lord before the holy altars. And there remained in the city
no place unburned except the oratory of the blessed Stephen, the
deacon and first martyr. And I do not hesitate to tell what I have
heard from certain persons about this oratory. For they say that
before these enemies came, a man of the faith saw in a vision the
blessed levite Stephen as if conferring with the holy apostles Peter
and Paul, and speaking as follows about this disaster: “I beg you,
my lords, to prevent by your intercession the burning of the city of
Metz by the enemy, because there is a place in it in which the relics
of my life on earth are preserved; rather let the people learn that I
have some influence with God. But if the wickedness of the people has
grown too great, so that nothing else can be done except deliver the
city to burning, at least let this oratory not be consumed.” And they
replied to him: “Go in peace, beloved brother, your oratory alone
the fire shall not burn. But as for the city, we shall not prevail,
because the sentence of the will of the Lord has already gone out
over it. For the sin of the people has grown great, and the outcry of
their wickedness ascends to the presence of God; therefore this city
shall be burned with fire.” [R]Whence it is certain that it was by
the intercession of these that when the city was burned the oratory
remained unharmed.

7. And Attila king of the Huns went forth from Metz and when he had
crushed many cities of the Gauls he attacked Orleans and strove to
take it by the mighty hammering of battering rams. Now at that time
the most blessed Annianus was bishop in the city just mentioned, a
man of unequaled wisdom and praiseworthy holiness, whose miracles are
faithfully remembered among us. And when the people, on being shut
in, cried to their bishop, and asked what they were to do, trusting
in God he advised all to prostrate themselves in prayer, and with
tears to implore the ever present aid of God in their necessities.
Then when they prayed as he had directed, the bishop said: “Look from
the wall of the city to see whether God’s mercy yet comes to your
aid.” For he hoped that by God’s mercy Ætius was coming, to whom he
had recourse before at Arles when he was anxious about the future.
But when they looked from the wall, they saw no one. And he said:
“Pray faithfully, for God will free you this day.” When they had
prayed he said: “Look again.” And when they looked they saw no one
to bring aid. He said to them a third time: “If you pray faithfully,
God comes swiftly.” And they besought God’s mercy with weeping and
loud cries. When this prayer also was finished they looked from the
wall a third time at the old man’s command, and saw afar off a cloud
as it were arising from the earth. When they reported this the bishop
said: “It is the aid of the Lord.” Meanwhile, when the walls were now
trembling from the hammering of the rams and were just about to fall,
behold, Ætius came, and Theodore, king of the Goths and Thorismodus
his son hastened to the city with their armies, and drove the enemy
forth and defeated him. And so the city was freed by the intercession
of the blessed bishop, and they put Attila to flight. And he went to
the plain of Moirey and got ready for battle. And hearing this, they
made manful preparations to meet him….

Ætius with the Goths and Franks fought against Attila. And the latter
saw that his army was being destroyed, and escaped by flight. And
Theodore, king of the Goths, was slain in the battle. Now let no one
doubt that the army of Huns was put to flight by the intercession
of the bishop mentioned above. And so Ætius the patrician, along
with Thorismodus, won the victory and destroyed the enemy. And when
the battle was finished, Ætius said to Thorismodus: “Make haste and
return swiftly to your native land, for fear you lose your father’s
kingdom because of your brother.” The latter, on hearing this,
departed speedily with the intention of anticipating his brother,
and seizing his father’s throne first. At the same time Ætius by a
stratagem caused the king of the Franks to flee. When they had gone,
Ætius took the spoils of the battle and returned victoriously to
his country with much booty. And Attila retreated with a few men.
Not long after Aquileia was captured by the Huns and burned and
altogether destroyed. Italy was overrun and plundered. Thorismodus,
whom we have mentioned above, overcame the Alans in battle, and was
himself defeated later on by his brothers, after many quarrels and
battles, and put to death.

[8. The history of Renatus Frigeridus is quoted for the character of
Ætius and an account of his death.]

[S]9. The question who was the first of the kings of the Franks
is disregarded by many writers. Though the history of Sulpicius
Alexander tells much of them, still it does not name their first
king, but says that they had dukes. However, it is well to relate
what he says of them. For when he tells that Maximus, losing all hope
of empire, remained within Aquileia, almost beside himself, he adds:
“At that time the Franks burst into the province of Germany under
Genobaud, Marcomer, and Sunno, their dukes, and having broken through
the boundary wall they slew most of the people and laid waste the
fertile districts especially, and aroused fear even in Cologne. And
when word was carried to Trèves, Nanninus and Quintinus, the military
officers to whom Maximus had intrusted his infant son and the
defense of the Gauls, assembled an army and met at Cologne. Now the
enemy, laden with plunder after devastating the richest parts of the
provinces, had crossed the Rhine, leaving a good many of their men
on Roman soil all ready to renew their ravages. An attack upon these
turned to the advantage of the Romans, and many Franks perished by
the sword near Carbonnière. And when the Romans were consulting after
their success whether they ought to cross into Francia, Nanninus said
no, because he knew the Franks would not be unprepared and would
doubtless be stronger in their own land. And since this displeased
Quintinus and the remainder of the officers, Nanninus returned to
Mayence, and Quintinus crossed the Rhine with his army near the
stronghold of Neuss, and at his second camp from the river he found
dwellings abandoned by their occupants and great villages deserted.
For the Franks pretended to be afraid and retired into the more
remote tracts, where they built an abattis on the edge of the woods.
And so the cowardly soldiers burned all the dwellings, thinking that
to rage against them was the winning of victory, and they passed a
wakeful night under the burden of their arms. At the first glimmer of
dawn they entered the wooded country under Quintinus as commander of
the battle, and wandered in safety till nearly mid-day, entangling
themselves in the winding paths. At last, when they found everything
solidly shut up by great fences, they struggled to make their exit
into the marshy fields which were adjacent to the woods, and the
enemy appeared here and there, and sheltered by trunks of trees or
standing on the abattis as if on the summit of towers, they sent as
if from engines a shower of arrows poisoned by the juices of herbs,
so that sure death followed even superficial wounds inflicted in
places that were not mortal. Later the army was surrounded by the
enemy in greater number, and it eagerly rushed into the open places
which the Franks had left unoccupied. And the horsemen were the
first to plunge into the morasses, and the bodies of men and animals
fell indiscriminately together, and they were overwhelmed by their
own confusion. The foot soldiers also who had escaped the hoofs of
the horses were impeded by the mud, and extricated themselves with
difficulty, and hid again in panic in the woods from which they had
struggled a little before. And so the ranks were thrown into disorder
and the legions cut in pieces. Heraclius, tribune of the Jovinians,
and nearly all the officers were slain, when night and the lurking
places of the woods offered a safe escape to a few.” This he narrated
in the third book of his History.

And in the fourth book, when he tells of the killing of Victor, son
of Maximus, the tyrant, he says: “At that time Carietto and Sirus who
had been appointed in place of Nanninus, were absent in the province
of Germany with the army opposed to the Franks.” And a little later
when the Franks had taken booty from Germany, he added: “Arbogastes,
wishing no further delay, warned Cæsar that the punishment due
must be exacted from the Franks, unless they speedily restored all
the plunder they had taken the previous year when the legions were
destroyed, and delivered up the instigators of the war to be punished
for their treachery in breaking the peace.” He related that this
had been done under the leadership of dukes and says further: “A
few days later he held a hasty conference with Marcomer and Sunno,
princes[48] of the Franks and required hostages of them as usual,
and then retired to Trèves to spend the winter.” But when he calls
them princes, we do not know whether they were kings or held in the
place of kings. Still the same writer, when he told of the hard
straits of the emperor Valentinian, added this: “While events of
various sorts were taking place in the East throughout Thrace, the
public order was disturbed in Gaul. Valentinian the emperor was shut
up in Vienne in the palace, and reduced almost below the position
of a private person, and the military command was given over to the
Frankish allies, and even the civil offices fell under the control
of Arbogast’s faction, and no one of all the oath-bound soldiery was
found to dare to heed the familiar speech or obey the command of
the emperor.” Then he says: “In the same year Arbogast pursued with
heathenish hate the princes of the Franks, Sunno and Marcomer, and
hastened to Cologne in the depth of winter, since he knew that all
the retreats of Francia could be safely penetrated and ravaged with
fire when the woods, left bare and dry by the fall of the leaves,
could not conceal men lying in ambush. And so he gathered an army and
crossed the Rhine, and devastated the country of the Brictori, near
the bank, and also the district which the Chamavi inhabit, and no
one met him anywhere, except that a few of the Ampsivarii and Chatti
appeared with Marcomer as duke on the ridges of distant hills.” At
another time this writer, no longer mentioning dukes and princes,
openly asserts that the Franks had a king, and without mentioning
his name he says: “Then the tyrant Eugenius undertook a military
expedition, and hastened to the Rhine to renew in the customary way
the old alliances with the kings of the Alemanni and the Franks and
to threaten the barbarian nations at that time with a great army.”
So much the historian mentioned above wrote about the Franks.

Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus, whom we have already mentioned, in
his story of the capture and destruction of Rome by the Goths, says:
“Meantime when Goare had gone over to the Romans, Respendial, king
of the Alamanni, turned the army of his people from the Rhine, since
the Vandals were getting the worse of the war with the Franks, having
lost their king Godegisil, and about 20,000 of the army, and all the
Vandals would have been exterminated if the army of the Alamanni[49]
had not come to their aid in time.” It is surprising to us that when
he names the kings of the other nations he does not name the king of
the Franks as well. However, when he says that Constantine, after
seizing imperial power, commanded his son Constantius to come to
him from the Spains, he speaks as follows: “The tyrant Constantine
summoned from the Spains his son Constans, also a tyrant, in order
to consult with him about their general policy; and so Constans
left at Saragossa his court and his wife, and gave Gerontius charge
over all in the Spains, and hastened to his father without breaking
his journey. And when they met, many days passed and there was no
danger from Italy, and Constantine gave himself up to gluttony and
urged his son to return to Spain. And while Constans was sending his
troops forward, being still with his father, news came from Spain
that Maximus, one of his clients, had been given imperial authority
by Gerontius, and was securing a following of the barbarians. Alarmed
at this, they sent Edobeccus forward to the German tribes, and
Constans and Decimus Rusticus, now a prefect,--he had been master of
the offices,--hastened to the Gauls, with the intention of presently
returning to Constantine with the Franks and Alamanni and all the
soldiers.”

Again, when he writes that Constantine was being besieged, he
uses these words: “The fourth month of the siege of Constantine
was scarcely yet under way, when news came suddenly from farther
Gaul that Iovinus had assumed royal state, and was threatening the
besiegers with the Burgundians, Alamanni, Franks, Alans, and all
his army. So the attack on the walls was hastened, the city opened
its gates, and Constantine surrendered. He was sent hastily into
Italy, and was slain at the river Mincio by assassins sent to meet
him by the emperor.” And a little later the same writer says: “At the
same time Decimus Rusticus, prefect of the tyrants, Agrœtius, one
of the chief secretaries of Jovinus, and many nobles, were captured
in Auvergne by the commanders of Honorius and cruelly put to death.
The city of Trèves was plundered and burnt in a second inroad of the
Franks.” And when Asterius had been made a patrician by an imperial
letter, he adds this: “At the same time Castinus, count of the
body-guard, undertook an expedition against the Franks and was sent
into the Gauls.” This is what these have told of the Franks. And the
historian Horosius says in the seventh book of his work: “Stilico
gathered the nations, crushed the Franks, crossed the Rhine, wandered
through the Gauls, and made his way as far as the Pyrenees.”

This is the evidence that the historians who have been named have
left us about the Franks, and they have not mentioned kings. Many
relate that they came from Pannonia and all dwelt at first on
the bank of the Rhine, and then crossing the Rhine they passed
into Thuringia, and there among the villages and cities appointed
long-haired kings over them from their first or, so to speak, noblest
family. This title Clovis’ victories afterwards made a lasting one,
as we shall see later on. [T]We read in the Fasti Consulares that
Theodomer, king of the Franks, son of Richimer, and Ascyla his
mother, were once on a time slain by the sword. They say also that
Chlogio, a man of ability and high rank among his people, was king of
the Franks then, and he dwelt at the stronghold of Dispargum which
is within the borders of the Thuringians. And in these parts, that
is, towards the south, the Romans dwelt as far as the Loire. But
beyond the Loire the Goths were in control; the Burgundians also,
who belonged to the sect of the Arians, dwelt across the Rhone in
the district which is adjacent to the city of Lyons. And Chlogio
sent spies to the city of Cambrai, and they went everywhere, and he
himself followed and overcame the Romans and seized the city, in
which he dwelt for a short time, and he seized the land as far as the
river Somme. Certain authorities assert that king Merovech, whose son
was Childeric, was of the family of Chlogio.

10. Now this people seems to have always been addicted to heathen
worship, and they did not know God, but made themselves images of
the woods and the waters, of birds and beasts, and of the other
elements as well. They were wont to worship these as God and to offer
sacrifice to them. O! would that that terrible voice had touched
the fibers of their hearts which spoke through Moses to the people
saying, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make
unto thee any graven image nor worship any likeness of anything that
is in heaven or on earth or in the water; thou shalt not make them
and shalt not worship them.”…

And in Isaiah he speaks a second time: “I am the first, and I am
the last, and besides me there is no god and creator whom I do not
know. They that fashion a graven image are all of them vanity, and
the things that they delight in shall not profit them. They are
themselves witnesses of what they are, that they do not see nor
have understanding, and they are confounded in them. Behold all his
fellows shall be put to shame, for the workmen are of men. On the
coals and with hammers did he form it, and he worked it with his
strong arm. In like manner, too, the carpenter fashioned it with
compasses, and made the likeness of a man as if of a comely man
dwelling in a house. He hewed down the wood, he worked and made a
graven image, and worshiped it as a god, he fastened it with nails
and hammers so that it should not fall to pieces. They are carried
because they cannot walk; and the remainder of the wood is prepared
by men for the hearth and they are warmed. And from another he
made a god, and a graven image for himself. He bends before it and
worships it and prays, saying: ‘Deliver me, for thou art my god. I
burned half of it with fire; and baked bread upon its coals; I baked
flesh and ate, and from the residue I shall make an idol, I shall
worship before a wooden trunk; part of it is ashes.’ The foolish
heart worshiped it, and did not deliver his soul. And he does not
say: ‘Perhaps there is a lie in my right hand?’” The nation of the
Franks did not understand at first; but it understood later, as the
following history relates.

[11. Avitus, citizen of Clermont, emperor of Rome, and bishop of
Placentia.]

12. Childeric was excessively wanton and being king of the Franks he
began to dishonor their daughters. And they were angry with him on
this account and took his kingdom from him. And when he learned that
they wished also to kill him he hastened to Thuringia, leaving there
a man who was dear to him to calm their furious tempers; he arranged
also for a sign when he should be able to return to his country, that
is, they divided a gold piece between them and Childeric took one
half and his friend kept the other part, saying: “Whenever I send you
this part and the joined parts make one coin, then you shall return
securely to your native place.” Accordingly Childeric went off to
Thuringia and remained in hiding with king Basinus and Basina his
wife. The Franks, after he was driven out, with one accord selected
as king Egidius, whom we have mentioned before as the commander of
the troops sent by the republic. And when he was in the eighth year
of his reign over them that faithful friend secretly won the good
will of the Franks and sent messengers to Childeric with the part
of the divided coin which he had kept, and Childeric learned by
this sure sign that he was wanted by the Franks, and returned from
Thuringia at their request and was restored to his kingdom. Now when
these princes were reigning at the same time, the Basina whom we have
mentioned above left her husband and came to Childeric. And when he
asked anxiously for what reason she had come so far to see him it
is said that she answered: “I know your worth,” said she, “and that
you are very strong, and therefore I have come to live with you. For
let me tell you that if I had known of any one more worthy than you
in parts beyond the sea I should certainly have sought to live with
him.” And he was glad and united her to him in marriage. And she
conceived and bore a son and called his name Clovis. He was a great
and distinguished warrior.

[13. Artemius, bishop of Clermont, is succeeded by Venerandus, and he
by Rusticus.]

[U]14. In the city of Tours after the death of bishop Eustochius
in the 17th year of his episcopate, Perpetuus was ordained fifth
bishop after the blessed Martin. And when he saw that miracles were
being worked continually at Saint Martin’s tomb, and that the chapel
which had been built over it was a tiny one, he judged it unworthy
of such miracles, and moving it away he built there a great church
which remains to the present day, situated 550 paces from the city.
It is 160 feet long and 60 wide and 45 high to the vault; it has 32
windows in the part around the altar, 20 in the nave; 41 columns; in
the whole building 52 windows; 120 columns; 8 doors, three in the
part around the altar and five in the nave. The feast of the church
is given sanctity by a triple virtue; that is, the dedication of the
temple, the transfer of the body of the saint, and his ordination
as bishop. This feast you shall observe four days before the Nones
of July, and remember that his burial is the third day before the
Ides of November. And if you celebrate these faithfully, you will
merit the protection of the blessed bishop both in the present life
and that to come. And since the ceiling of the former chapel was of
choice workmanship the bishop thought it unworthy that this work
should perish, and he built another church in honor of the blessed
apostles Peter and Paul in which he placed the ceiling. He built many
other churches which remain to the present time in Christ’s name.

[15. Eufronius, bishop of Autun, who “piously sent the block of
marble which is placed above the holy tomb of the blessed Martin.”]

16. Now after the death of the bishop Rusticus, saint Namatius became
the eighth bishop of Clermont. He undertook the task of building
the older church which is still standing and is contained within
the walls of the city, one hundred and fifty feet in length, sixty
in width,--that is, the nave,--fifty in height to the vault, with
a round apse in front and on each side aisles finely built; the
whole building is laid out in the form of a cross; it has forty-two
windows, seventy columns, eight doors. The fear of God is in it and a
great brightness is seen, and in the spring a very pleasant fragrance
as if of spices is perceived there by the devout. It has near the
altar walls of variegated work adorned with many kinds of marble. The
blessed bishop on finishing the building in the twelfth year, sent
priests to Bologna in Italy, to procure relics of saints Agricola and
Vitalis, who we know very certainly were crucified in the name of
Christ our God.

17. His wife built the church of Saint Stephen in the outskirts of
the city. And wishing to adorn it with colors she used to carry
a book in her bosom, reading the histories of ancient times and
describing to the painters what they were to represent on the walls.
It happened one day that while she sat in the church and read, a
certain poor man came to pray, and seeing her in black clothing,
already an old woman, he thought she was one of the needy, and he
took out part of a loaf and put it in her lap and went off. But she
did not disdain the gift of the poor man who did not know her, but
took it and thanked him and put it away, and setting it before her at
meals used it as holy bread until it was used up.

18. Now Childeric fought at Orleans and Odoacer came with the Saxons
to Angers. At that time a great plague destroyed the people. Egidius
died and left a son, Syagrius by name. On his death Odoacer received
hostages from Angers and other places. The Britanni were driven from
Bourges by the Goths, and many were slain at the village of Déols.
Count Paul with the Romans and Franks made war on the Goths and
took booty. When Odoacer came to Angers, king Childeric came on the
following day, and slew count Paul, and took the city. In a great
fire on that day the house of the bishop was burned.

19. After this war was waged between the Saxons and the Romans; but
the Saxons fled and left many of their people to be slain, the Romans
pursuing. Their islands were captured and ravaged by the Franks,
and many were slain. In the ninth month of that year, there was an
earthquake. Odoacer made an alliance with Childeric, and they subdued
the Alamanni, who had overrun part of Italy.

20. Euric, king of the Goths, in the 14th year of his reign, placed
duke Victorius in command of seven cities. And he went at once
to Clermont, and desired to add it to the others, and writings
concerning this exist to the present. He gave orders to set up at the
church of Saint Julian the columns which are placed there. He gave
orders to build the church of Saint Laurentius and saint Germanus at
the village of Licaniacus. He was at Clermont nine years. He brought
charges against Euchirius, a senator, whom he ordered to be put in
prison and taken out at night, and after having him bound beside
an old wall he ordered the wall to be pushed over upon him. As for
himself, since he was over-wanton in his love for women, and was
afraid of being killed by the people of Auvergne, he fled to Rome,
and there was stoned to death because he wished to practise a similar
wantonness. Euric reigned four years after Victorius’s death, and
died in the twenty-seventh year of his reign. There was also at that
time a great earthquake.

[21. Bishop Eparchius of Clermont finds his church at night full of
demons.]

[V]22. The holy Sidonius was so eloquent that he generally improvised
what he wished to say without any hesitation and in the clearest
manner. And it happened one day that he went by invitation to a
fête at the church of the monastery which we have mentioned before,
and when his book, by which he had been wont to celebrate the holy
services, was maliciously taken away, he went through the whole
service of the fête improvising with such readiness that he was
admired by all, and it was believed by the bystanders that it was not
a man who had spoken there but an angel. And this we have set forth
more fully in the preface of the book which we have composed about
the masses written by him. Being a man of wonderful holiness and,
as we have said, one of the first of the senators, he often carried
silver dishes away from home, unknown to his wife, and gave them to
poor people. And whenever she learned of it, she was scandalized at
him, and then he used to give the value to the poor and restore the
dishes to the house.

[23. Terrible fate of priests who rebelled against their bishop. 24.
In time of famine in Burgundy Ecdicius feeds more than four thousand
persons. 25. The Gothic king Evatrix persecutes the Christians in
southwestern Gaul. 26. A bishop being “suspected by the Goths” is
carried a captive into Spain.]

[W]27. After these events Childeric died and Clovis his son reigned
in his stead. In the fifth year of his reign Siagrius, king of the
Romans, son of Egidius, had his seat in the city of Soissons which
Egidius, who has been mentioned before, once held. And Clovis came
against him with Ragnachar, his kinsman, because he used to possess
the kingdom, and demanded that they make ready a battle-field. And
Siagrius did not delay nor was he afraid to resist. And so they
fought against each other and Siagrius, seeing his army crushed,
turned his back and fled swiftly to king Alaric at Toulouse. And
Clovis sent to Alaric to send him back, otherwise he was to know
that Clovis would make war on him for his refusal. And Alaric was
afraid that he would incur the anger of the Franks on account of
Siagrius, seeing it is the fashion of the Goths to be terrified,
and he surrendered him in chains to Clovis’ envoys. And Clovis took
him and gave orders to put him under guard, and when he had got
his kingdom he directed that he be executed secretly. At that time
many churches were despoiled by Clovis’ army, since he was as yet
involved in heathen error. Now the army had taken from a certain
church a vase of wonderful size and beauty, along with the remainder
of the utensils for the service of the church. And the bishop of the
church sent messengers to the king asking that the vase at least be
returned, if he could not get back any more of the sacred dishes.
On hearing this the king said to the messenger: “Follow us as far
as Soissons, because all that has been taken is to be divided there
and when the lot assigns me that dish I will do what the father[50]
asks.” Then when he came to Soissons and all the booty was set in
their midst, the king said: “I ask of you, brave warriors, not to
refuse to grant me in addition to my share, yonder dish,” that is,
he was speaking of the vase just mentioned. In answer to the speech
of the king those of more sense replied: “Glorious king, all that we
see is yours, and we ourselves are subject to your rule. Now do what
seems well-pleasing to you; for no one is able to resist your power.”
When they said this a foolish, envious and excitable fellow lifted
his battle-ax and struck the vase, and cried in a loud voice: “You
shall get nothing here except what the lot fairly bestows on you.”
At this all were stupefied, but the king endured the insult with the
gentleness of patience, and taking the vase he handed it over to the
messenger of the church, nursing the wound deep in his heart. And
at the end of the year he ordered the whole army to come with their
equipment of armor, to show the brightness of their arms on the field
of March.[X] And when he was reviewing them all carefully, he came
to the man who struck the vase, and said to him: “No one has brought
armor so carelessly kept as you; for neither your spear nor sword nor
ax is in serviceable condition.” And seizing his ax he cast it to
the earth, and when the other had bent over somewhat to pick it up,
the king raised his hands and drove his own ax into the man’s head.
“This,” said he, “is what you did at Soissons to the vase.” Upon
the death of this man, he ordered the rest to depart, raising great
dread of himself by this action. He made many wars and gained many
victories. In the tenth year of his reign he made war on the Thuringi
and brought them under his dominion.

28. Now the king of the Burgundians was Gundevech, of the family of
king Athanaric the persecutor, whom we have mentioned before. He
had four sons; Gundobad, Godegisel, Chilperic and Godomar. Gundobad
killed his brother Chilperic with the sword, and sank his wife in
water with a stone tied to her neck. His two daughters he condemned
to exile; the older of these, who became a nun, was called Chrona,
and the younger Clotilda. And as Clovis often sent embassies to
Burgundy, the maiden Clotilda was found by his envoys. And when they
saw that she was of good bearing and wise, and learned that she was
of the family of the king, they reported this to King Clovis, and he
sent an embassy to Gundobad without delay asking her in marriage.
And Gundobad was afraid to refuse, and surrendered her to the men,
and they took the girl and brought her swiftly to the king. The king
was very glad when he saw her, and married her, having already by a
concubine a son named Theodoric.

29. He had a first-born son by queen Clotilda, and as his wife wished
to consecrate him in baptism, she tried unceasingly to persuade her
husband, saying: “The gods you worship are nothing, and they will
be unable to help themselves or any one else. For they are graven
out of stone or wood or some metal. And the names you have given
them are names of men and not of gods, as Saturn, who is declared
to have fled in fear of being banished from his kingdom by his
son; as Jove himself, the foul perpetrator of all shameful crimes,
committing incest with men, mocking at his kinswomen, not able to
refrain from intercourse with his own sister as she herself says:
_Jovisque et soror et conjunx_. What could Mars or Mercury do? They
are endowed rather with the magic arts than with the power of the
divine name. But he ought rather to be worshipped who created by his
word heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is out of a state
of nothingness, who made the sun shine, and adorned the heavens with
stars, who filled the waters with creeping things, the earth with
living things and the air with creatures that fly, at whose nod the
earth is decked with growing crops, the trees with fruit, the vines
with grapes, by whose hand mankind was created, by whose generosity
all that creation serves and helps man whom he created as his own.”
But though the queen said this the spirit of the king was by no means
moved to belief, and he said: “It was at the command of our gods that
all things were created and came forth, and it is plain that your God
has no power and, what is more, he is proven not to belong to the
family of the gods.” Meantime the faithful queen made her son ready
for baptism; she gave command to adorn the church with hangings and
curtains, in order that he who could not be moved by persuasion might
be urged to belief by this mystery. The boy, whom they named Ingomer,
died after being baptized, still wearing the white garments in which
he became regenerate. At this the king was violently angry, and
reproached the queen harshly, saying: “If the boy had been dedicated
in the name of my gods he would certainly have lived; but as it is,
since he was baptized in the name of your God, he could not live at
all.” To this the queen said: “I give thanks to the omnipotent God,
creator of all, who has judged me not wholly unworthy, that he should
deign to take to his kingdom one born from my womb. My soul is not
stricken with grief for his sake, because I know that, summoned from
this world as he was in his baptismal garments, he will be fed by the
vision of God.”

After this she bore another son, whom she named Chlodomer at baptism;
and when he fell sick, the king said: “It is impossible that anything
else should happen to him than happened to his brother, namely, that
being baptized in the name of your Christ, he should die at once.”
But through the prayers of his mother, and the Lord’s command, he
became well.

30. The queen did not cease to urge him to recognize the true God
and cease worshiping idols. But he could not be influenced in any
way to this belief, until at last a war arose with the Alamanni, in
which he was driven by necessity to confess what before he had of his
free will denied. It came about that as the two armies were fighting
fiercely, there was much slaughter, and Clovis’s army began to be
in danger of destruction. He saw it and raised his eyes to heaven,
and with remorse in his heart he burst into tears and cried: “Jesus
Christ, whom Clotilda asserts to be the son of the living God, who
art said to give aid to those in distress, and to bestow victory on
those who hope in thee, I beseech the glory of thy aid, with the vow
that if thou wilt grant me victory over these enemies, and I shall
know that power which she says that people dedicated in thy name have
had from thee, I will believe in thee and be baptized in thy name.
For I have invoked my own gods, but, as I find, they have withdrawn
from aiding me; and therefore I believe that they possess no power,
since they do not help those who obey them. I now call upon thee, I
desire to believe thee, only let me be rescued from my adversaries.”
And when he said this, the Alamanni turned their backs, and began to
disperse in flight. And when they saw that their king was killed,
they submitted to the dominion of Clovis, saying: “Let not the people
perish further, we pray; we are yours now.” And he stopped the
fighting, and after encouraging his men, retired in peace and told
the queen how he had had merit to win the victory by calling on the
name of Christ. This happened in the fifteenth year of his reign.

31. Then the queen asked saint Remi, bishop of Rheims, to summon
Clovis secretly, urging him to introduce the king to the word of
salvation. And the bishop sent for him secretly and began to urge
him to believe in the true God, maker of heaven and earth, and to
cease worshiping idols, which could help neither themselves nor any
one else. But the king said: “I gladly hear you, most holy father;
but there remains one thing: the people who follow me cannot endure
to abandon their gods; but I shall go and speak to them according to
your words.” He met with his followers, but before he could speak
the power of God anticipated him, and all the people cried out
together: “O pious king, we reject our mortal gods, and we are ready
to follow the immortal God whom Remi preaches.” This was reported to
the bishop, who was greatly rejoiced, and bade them get ready the
baptismal font. The squares were shaded with tapestried canopies,
the churches adorned with white curtains, the baptistery set in
order, the aroma of incense spread, candles of fragrant odor burned
brightly, and the whole shrine of the baptistery was filled with a
divine fragrance: and the Lord gave such grace to those who stood
by that they thought they were placed amid the odors of paradise.
And the king was the first to ask to be baptized by the bishop.
Another Constantine advanced to the baptismal font, to terminate the
disease of ancient leprosy and wash away with fresh water the foul
spots that had long been borne. And when he entered to be baptized,
the saint of God began with ready speech: “Gently bend your neck,
Sigamber;[Y] worship what you burned; burn what you worshipped.” The
holy bishop Remi was a man of excellent wisdom and especially trained
in rhetorical studies, and of such surpassing holiness that he
equalled the miracles of Silvester. For there is extant a book of his
life which tells that he raised a dead man. And so the king confessed
all-powerful God in the Trinity, and was baptized in the name of the
Father, Son and holy Spirit, and was anointed with the holy ointment
with the sign of the cross of Christ. And of his army more than 3000
were baptized.[Z] His sister also, Albofled, was baptized, who not
long after passed to the Lord. And when the king was in mourning for
her, the holy Remi sent a letter of consolation which began in this
way: “The reason of your mourning pains me, and pains me greatly,
that Albofled your sister, of good memory, has passed away. But I can
give you this comfort, that her departure from the world was such
that she ought to be envied rather than mourned.” Another sister also
was converted, Lanthechild by name, who had fallen into the heresy of
the Arians, and she confessed that the Son and the holy Spirit were
equal to the Father, and was anointed.

32. At that time the brothers Gundobad and Godegisel were kings of
the country about the Rhone and the Saône together with the province
of Marseilles. And they, as well as their people, belonged to the
Arian sect. And since they were fighting with each other, Godegisel,
hearing of the victories of King Clovis, sent an embassy to him
secretly, saying: “If you will give me aid in attacking my brother,
so that I may be able to kill him in battle or drive him from the
country, I will pay you every year whatever tribute you yourself
wish to impose.” Clovis accepted this offer gladly, and promised
aid whenever need should ask. And at a time agreed upon he marched
his army against Gundobad. On hearing of this, Gundobad, who did
not know of his brother’s treachery, sent to him, saying: “Come to
my assistance, since the Franks are in motion against us and are
coming to our country to take it. Therefore let us be united against
a nation hostile to us, lest because of division we suffer in turn
what other peoples have suffered.” And the other said: “I will come
with my army, and will give you aid.” And these three, namely,
Clovis against Gundobad and Godegisel, were marching their armies
to the same point, and they came with all their warlike equipment
to the stronghold named Dijon. And they fought on the river Ouche,
and Godegisel joined Clovis, and both armies crushed the people of
Gundobad. And he perceived the treachery of his brother, whom he
had not suspected, and turned his back and began to flee, hastening
along the banks of the Rhone, and he came to the city of Avignon. And
Godegisel having won the victory, promised to Clovis a part of his
kingdom, and departed quietly and entered Vienne in triumph, as if he
now held the whole kingdom. King Clovis increased his army further,
and set off after Gundobad to drag him from his city and slay him.
He heard it, and was terrified, and feared that sudden death would
come to him. However he had with him Aridius, a man famed for energy
and wisdom, and he sent for him and said: “Difficulties wall me in on
every side, and I do not know what to do, because these barbarians
have come upon us to slay us and destroy the whole country.” To
this Aridius answered: “You must soften the fierceness of this man
in order not to perish. Now if it is pleasing in your eyes, I will
pretend to flee from you and to pass over to his side, and when I
come to him, I shall prevent his harming either you or this country.
Only be willing to do what he demands of you by my advice, until
the Lord in his goodness deigns to make your cause successful.” And
Gundobad said: “I will do whatever you direct.” When he said this,
Aridius bade him good-by and departed, and going to King Clovis he
said: “Behold I am your humble servant, most pious king, I come to
your protection, leaving the wretched Gundobad. And if your goodness
condescends to receive me, both you and your children shall have in
me a true and faithful servant.” Clovis received him very readily,
and kept him by him, for he was entertaining in story-telling, ready
in counsel, just in judgment, and faithful in what was put in his
charge. Then when Clovis with all his army sat around the walls of
the city, Aridius said: “O King, if the glory of your loftiness
should kindly consent to hear the few words of my lowliness,
though you do not need counsel, yet I would utter them with entire
faithfulness, and they will be advantageous to you and to the cities
through which you purpose to go. Why,” said he, “do you keep your
army here, when your enemy sits in a very strong place? If you ravage
the fields, lay waste the meadows, cut down the vineyards, lay low
the olive-yards, and destroy all the produce of the country, you do
not, however, succeed in doing him any harm. Send an embassy rather
and impose tribute to be paid you every year, so that the country
may be safe and you may rule forever over a tributary. And if he
refuses, then do whatever pleases you.” The king took this advice,
and commanded his army to return home. Then he sent an embassy to
Gundobad, and ordered him to pay him every year a tribute. And he
paid it at once and promised that he would pay it for the future.

33. Later he regained his power, and now contemptuously refused to
pay the promised tribute to king Clovis, and set his army in motion
against his brother Godegisel, and shut him up in the city of Vienne
and besieged him. And when food began to be lacking for the common
people, Godegisel was afraid that the famine would extend to himself,
and gave orders that the common people be expelled from the city.
When this was done, there was driven out, among the rest, the artisan
who had charge of the aqueduct. And he was indignant that he had been
cast out from the city with the rest, and went to Gundobad in a rage
to inform him how to burst into the city and take vengeance on his
brother. Under his guidance an army was led through the aqueduct, and
many with iron crowbars went in front, for there was a vent in the
aqueduct closed with a great stone, and when this had been pushed
away with crowbars, by direction of the artisan, they entered the
city, and surprised from the rear the defenders who were shooting
arrows from the wall. The trumpet was sounded in the midst of the
city, and the besiegers seized the gates, and opened them and entered
at the same time, and when the people between these two battle lines
were being slain by each army, Godegisel sought refuge in the church
of the heretics, and was slain there along with the Arian bishop.
Finally the Franks who were with Godegisel gathered in a tower. But
Gundobad ordered that no harm should be done to a single one of them,
but seized them and sent them in exile to king Alaric at Toulouse,
and he slew the Burgundian senators who had conspired with Godegisel.
He restored to his own dominion all the region which is now called
Burgundy. He established milder laws[AA] for the Burgundians lest
they should oppress the Romans.

[34. King Gundobad is converted to the doctrine of the Trinity but
will not confess it in public. The writings of bishop Avitus are
described.]

35. Now when Alaric, king of the Goths, saw Clovis conquering nations
steadily, he sent envoys to him saying: “If my brother consents, it
is the desire of my heart that with God’s favor we have a meeting.”
Clovis did not spurn this proposal but went to meet him. They met in
an island of the Loire which is near the village of Amboise in the
territory of Tours, and they talked and ate and drank together, and
plighted friendship and departed in peace. Even at that time many in
the Gauls desired greatly to have the Franks as masters.

36. Whence it happened that Quintian, bishop of Rodez, was driven
from his city through ill-will on this account. For they said: “It is
your desire that the rule of the Franks be extended over this land.”
A few days later a quarrel arose between him and the citizens, and
the Goths who dwelt in the city became suspicious when the citizens
charged that he wished to submit himself to the control of the
Franks; they took counsel and decided to slay him with the sword.
When this was reported to the man of God he rose in the night and
left the city of Rodez with his most faithful servants and went to
Clermont. There he was received kindly by the holy bishop Eufrasius,
who had succeeded Aprunculus of Dijon, and he kept Quintian with
him, giving him houses as well as fields and vineyards, and saying:
“The wealth of this church is enough to keep us both; only let the
charity which the blessed apostle preaches endure among the bishops
of God.” Moreover the bishop of Lyons bestowed upon him some of the
possessions of the church which he had in Auvergne. And the rest
about the holy Quintian, both the plottings which he endured and the
miracles which the Lord deigned to work through him, are written in
the book of his life.

[AB]37. Now Clovis the king said to his people: “I take it very
hard that these Arians hold part of the Gauls. Let us go with God’s
help and conquer them and bring the land under our control.” Since
these words pleased all, he set his army in motion and made for
Poitiers where Alaric was at that time. But since part of the host
was passing through Touraine, he issued an edict out of respect to
the blessed Martin that no one should take anything from that country
except grass for fodder, and water. But one from the army found a
poor man’s hay and said: “Did not the king order grass only to be
taken, nothing else? And this,” said he, “is grass. We shall not
be transgressing his command if we take it.” And when he had done
violence to the poor man and taken his hay by force, the deed came
to the king. And quicker than speech the offender was slain by the
sword, and the king said: “And where shall our hope of victory be
if we offend the blessed Martin? It would be better for the army to
take nothing else from this country.” The king himself sent envoys
to the blessed church saying: “Go, and perhaps you will receive some
omen of victory from the holy temple.” Then giving them gifts to set
up in the holy place, he said: “If thou, O Lord, art my helper, and
hast determined to surrender this unbelieving nation, always striving
against thee, into my hands, consent to reveal it propitiously at the
entrance to the church of St. Martin, so that I may know that thou
wilt deign to be favorable to thy servant.” Clovis’ servants went
on their way according to the king’s command, and drew near to the
place, and when they were about to enter the holy church, the first
singer, without any prearrangement, sang this response: “Thou hast
girded me, O Lord, with strength unto the battle; thou hast subdued
under me those that rose up against me, and hast made mine enemies
turn their backs unto me, and thou hast utterly destroyed them that
hated me.” On hearing this singing they thanked the Lord, and paying
their vow to the blessed confessor they joyfully made their report to
the king. Moreover, when he came to the river Vienne with his army,
he did not know where he ought to cross. For the river had swollen
from the rains. When he had prayed to the Lord in the night to show
him a ford where he could cross, in the morning by God’s will a hind
of wonderful size entered the river before them, and when it passed
over the people saw where they could cross. When the king came to the
neighborhood of Poitiers and was encamped some distance off, he saw
a ball of fire come out of the church of Saint Hilarius and pass, as
it were, over him, to show that, aided by the light of the blessed
confessor Hilarius, he should more boldly conquer the heretic armies,
against which the same bishop had often fought for the faith. And
he made it known to all the army that neither there nor on the way
should they spoil any one or take any one’s property.

There was in these days a man of praiseworthy holiness, the abbot
Maxentius, who had become a recluse in his own monastery in Poitou
because of his fear of God. We have not put the name of the monastery
in this account because the place is called to the present day
_Cellula sancti Maxentii_. And when his monks saw a division of the
host approaching the monastery, they prayed to the abbot to come
forth from his cell to consult with them. And as he stayed, they were
panic-stricken and opened the door and dragged him from his cell. And
he hastened boldly to meet the enemy to ask for peace. And one of
them drew out his sword to launch a stroke at his head, and when he
had raised his hand to his ear it became rigid and the sword fell.
And he threw himself at the feet of the blessed man, asking pardon.
And the rest of them seeing this returned in great fear to the army,
afraid that they should all perish together. The man’s arm the holy
confessor rubbed with consecrated oil, and made over it the sign of
the cross and restored it to soundness. And owing to his protection
the monastery remained uninjured. He worked many other miracles also,
and if any one diligently seeks for them he will find them all in
reading the book of his Life. In the twenty-fifth year of Clovis.

Meantime king Clovis met with Alaric, king of the Goths, in the plain
of Vouillé[AC] at the tenth mile-stone from Poitiers, and while the
one army was for fighting at a distance the other tried to come to
close combat. And when the Goths had fled as was their custom, king
Clovis won the victory by God’s aid. He had to help him the son of
Sigibert the lame, named Chloderic. This Sigibert was lame from a
wound in the leg, received in a battle with the Alemanni near the
town of Zülpich. Now when the king had put the Goths to flight and
slain king Alaric, two of the enemy suddenly appeared and struck
at him with their lances, one on each side. But he was saved from
death by the help of his coat of mail, as well as by his fast horse.
At that time there perished a very great number of the people of
Auvergne, who had come with Apollinaris and the leading senators.
From this battle Amalaric, son of Alaric, fled to Spain and wisely
seized his father’s kingdom. Clovis sent his son Theodoric to
Clermont by way of Albi and Rodez. He went, and brought under his
father’s dominion the cities from the boundaries of the Goths to
the limit of the Burgundians. Alaric reigned twenty-two years. When
Clovis had spent the winter in Bordeaux and taken all the treasures
of Alaric at Toulouse, he went to Angoulême. And the Lord gave him
such grace that the walls fell down of their own accord when he gazed
at them. Then he drove the Goths out and brought the city under his
own dominion. Thereupon after completing his victory he returned to
Tours, bringing many gifts to the holy church of the blessed Martin.

38. Clovis received an appointment to the consulship from the emperor
Anastasius, and in the church of the blessed Martin he clad himself
in the purple tunic and chlamys, and placed a diadem on his head.
Then he mounted his horse, and in the most generous manner he gave
gold and silver as he passed along the way which is between the gate
of the entrance [of the church of St. Martin] and the church of the
city, scattering it among the people who were there with his own
hand, and from that day he was called _consul_ or _Augustus_.[AD]
Leaving Tours he went to Paris and there he established the seat of
his kingdom. There also Theodoric came to him.

[39. Licinius was bishop of Tours at the time of Clovis’ visit. His
travels.]

40. When King Clovis was dwelling at Paris he sent secretly to the
son of Sigibert saying: “Behold your father has become an old man and
limps in his weak foot. If he should die,” said he, “of due right
his kingdom would be yours together with our friendship.” Led on by
greed the son plotted to kill his father. And when his father went
out from the city of Cologne and crossed the Rhine and was intending
to journey through the wood Buchaw, as he slept at midday in his
tent his son sent assassins in against him, and killed him there,
in the idea that he would get his kingdom. But by God’s judgment he
walked into the pit that he had cruelly dug for his father. He sent
messengers to king Clovis to tell about his father’s death, and to
say: “My father is dead, and I have his treasures in my possession,
and also his kingdom. Send men to me, and I shall gladly transmit to
you from his treasures whatever pleases you.” And Clovis replied: “I
thank you for your good will, and I ask that you show the treasures
to my men who come, and after that you shall possess all yourself.”
When they came, he showed his father’s treasures. And when they were
looking at the different things he said: “It was in this little
chest that my father used to put his gold coins.” “Thrust in your
hand,” said they, “to the bottom, and uncover the whole.” When he
did so, and was much bent over, one of them lifted his hand and
dashed his battle-ax against his head, and so in a shameful manner he
incurred the death which he had brought on his father. Clovis heard
that Sigibert and his son had been slain, and came to the place and
summoned all the people, saying: “Hear what has happened. When I,”
said he, “was sailing down the river Scheldt Cloderic, son of my
kinsman, was in pursuit of his own father, asserting that I wished
him killed. And when his father was fleeing through the forest of
Buchaw, he set highwaymen upon him, and gave him over to death, and
slew him. And when he was opening the treasures, he was slain himself
by some one or other. Now I know nothing at all of these matters. For
I cannot shed the blood of my own kinsmen, which it is a crime to
do. But since this has happened, I give you my advice, if it seems
acceptable; turn to me, that you may be under my protection.” They
listened to this, and giving applause with both shields and voices,
they raised him on a shield, and made him king over them. He received
Sigibert’s kingdom with his treasures, and placed the people, too,
under his rule. For God was laying his enemies low every day under
his hand, and was increasing his kingdom, because he walked with an
upright heart before him, and did what was pleasing in his eyes.

41. After this he turned to Chararic. When he had fought with
Siagrius this Chararic had been summoned to help Clovis, but stood at
a distance, aiding neither side, but awaiting the outcome, in order
to form a league of friendship with him to whom victory came. For
this reason Clovis was angry, and went out against him. He entrapped
and captured him and his son also, and kept them in prison, and gave
them the tonsure; he gave orders to ordain Chararic priest and his
son deacon. And when Chararic complained of his degradation and wept,
it is said that his son remarked: “It was on green wood,” said he,
“that these twigs were cut, and they are not altogether withered.
They will shoot out quickly, and be able to grow; may he perish as
swiftly who has done this.” This utterance was reported to the ears
of Clovis, namely, that they were threatening to let their hair grow,
and kill him. And he ordered them both to be put to death. When they
were dead, he took their kingdom with the treasures and people.

42. Ragnachar was then king at Cambrai, a man so unrestrained in his
wantonness that he scarcely had mercy for his own near relatives. He
had a counsellor Farro, who defiled himself with a like vileness.
And it was said that when food, or a gift, or anything whatever was
brought to the king, he was wont to say that it was enough for him
and his Farro. And at this thing the Franks were in a great rage.
And so it happened that Clovis gave golden armlets and belts, but
all only made to resemble gold--for it was bronze gilded so as to
deceive--these he gave to Ragnachar’s _leudes_ to be invited to
attack him. [AE]Moreover, when Clovis had set his army in motion against
him, and Ragnachar was continually sending spies to get information,
on the return of his messengers he used to ask how strong the force
was. And they would answer: “It is a great sufficiency for you and
your Farro.” Clovis came and made war on him, and he saw that his
army was beaten and prepared to slip away in flight, but was seized
by his army, and with his hands tied behind his back, he was taken
with Ricchar his brother before Clovis. And Clovis said to him: “Why
have you humiliated our family in permitting yourself to be bound?
It would have been better for you to die.” And raising his ax he
dashed it against his head, and he turned to his brother and said:
“If you had aided your brother, he would not have been bound.” And
in the same way he smote him with his ax and killed him. After their
death their betrayers perceived that the gold which they had received
from the king was false. When they told the king of this, it is said
that he answered: “Rightly,” said he, “does he receive this kind of
gold, who of his own will brings his own master to death;” it ought
to suffice them that they were alive, and were not put to death, to
mourn amid torments the wicked betrayal of their masters. When they
heard this, they prayed for mercy, saying it was enough for them if
they were allowed to live. The kings named above were kinsmen of
Clovis, and their brother, Rignomer by name, was slain by Clovis’
order at the city of Mans. When they were dead Clovis received all
their kingdom and treasures. And having killed many other kings and
his nearest relatives, of whom he was jealous lest they take the
kingdom from him, he extended his rule over all the Gauls. However
he gathered his people together at one time, it is said, and spoke
of the kinsmen whom he had himself destroyed. “Woe to me, who have
remained as a stranger among foreigners, and have none of my kinsmen
to give me aid if adversity comes.” But he said this not because of
grief at their death but by way of a ruse, if perchance he should be
able to find some one still to kill.

43. After all this he died at Paris, and was buried in the church
of the holy apostles, which he himself had built together with his
queen Clotilda. He passed away in the fifth year after the battle of
Vouillé, and all the days of his reign were thirty years, and his age
was forty-five. From the death of St. Martin to the death of king
Clovis, which happened in the eleventh year of the episcopate of
Licinius, bishop of Tours, one hundred and twelve years are reckoned.
Queen Clotilda came to Tours after the death of her husband and
served there in the church of St. Martin, and dwelt in the place with
the greatest chastity and kindness all the days of her life, rarely
visiting Paris.

HERE ENDS THE SECOND BOOK

FOOTNOTES:

[47] For _aqua sanguine cuncta infecit_ read _digne aquas
unguine infecit_. See Bonnet, _Le Latin de Gregoire de
Tours_, p. 457.

[48] _Regalibus._

[49] Alamanni for Alani.

[50] _papa._ The word was used in the early Middle Ages in
unrestricted, informal sense, and applied widely to
bishops. Cf. Du Cange, _Glossarium_.

HERE BEGIN THE CHAPTERS OF THE THIRD BOOK

1. The sons of Clovis.
2. Episcopates of Dinifius, Apollinaris and Quintian.
3. The Danes make an attack on the Gauls.
4. The kings of the Thuringi.
5. Sigimund kills his own son.
6. Death of Chlodomer.
7. War with the Thuringi.
8. Hermenfled’s death.
9. Childebert visits Auvergne.
10. Amalaric’s death.
11. Childebert and Clothar go to the Burgundies, Theodoric to
Auvergne.
12. Devastation of Auvergne.
13. Lovolautrum and Chastel-Marlhac.
14. Munderic’s death.
15. Captivity of Attalus.
16. Sigivald.
17. The bishops of Tours.
18. Death of Chlodomer’s sons.
19. The holy Gregory and the site of Dijon.
20. Theodobert is betrothed to Visigard.
21. Theodobert departs for Provence.
22. He later marries Deoteria.
23. Sigivald’s death.
24. Childebert makes gifts to Theodobert.
25. Theodobert’s goodness.
26. Death of Deoteria’s daughter.
27. Theodobert marries Visigard.
28. Childebert and Theodobert march against Clothar.
29. Childebert and Clothar march into the Spains.
30. The Spanish kings.
31. The daughter of Theodoric, king of Italy.
32. Theodobert marches into Italy.
33. Asteriolus and Secundinus.
34. Theodobert’s gift to the citizens of Verdun.
35. Sirivald’s death.
36. Theodobert’s death and the slaying of Parthenius.
37. A severe winter.

HERE ENDS THE LIST OF CHAPTERS

IN CHRIST’S NAME HERE BEGINS THE THIRD BOOK

I wish, if it is agreeable, to make a brief comparison of the
successes that have come to Christians who confess the blessed
Trinity and the ruin which has come to heretics who have tried to
destroy the same. And let us omit how Abraham worshipped the Trinity
at the oak,[51] and Jacob preached it in his blessing, and Moses
recognized it in the bush, and the people followed it in the cloud
and dreaded the same in the mountain, and how Aaron carried it on
his breastplate, or how David made it known in the Psalms, praying
to be made new by a right spirit and that the holy spirit should
not be taken from him and that he be comforted by the chief spirit.
And, for my part, I consider this a great mystery, namely that the
voice of the prophet proclaimed as the chief spirit that which the
heretics assert to be the lesser. But passing over these, as we
have said, let us return to our times. For Arius, who was the first
wicked inventor of this wicked sect, was subjected to infernal fires
after he had lost his entrails in a privy. But Hilarius, the blessed
defender of the undivided Trinity, though sent into exile for its
sake, was restored both to his native land and to Paradise. King
Clovis confessed it, and crushed the heretics by its aid and extended
his kingdom over all the Gauls; Alaric, on the other hand, who
denied it, was deprived of kingdom and people, and what is more, of
eternal life itself. And to true believers, even if through the plots
of the enemy they lose something, the Lord restores it a hundred
fold, but heretics do not gain any advantage, but what they seem to
have is taken from them. This is proved by the deaths of Godegisel,
Gundobad,[AF] and Godomar, who at the same time lost their country
and their souls. But we confess one God, invisible,[52] infinite,
incomprehensible, glorious, always the same, and everlasting, one
in Trinity in respect to the number of persons, that is, the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit; we confess him also triple in unity in
respect to equality of substance, deity, omnipotence or power, the
one greatest omnipotent God ruling for eternal centuries.

[AG]1. Now on the death of king Clovis, his four sons, namely,
Theodoric, Chlodomer, Childebert and Chlothar, received his kingdom
and divided it among them in equal parts. Theodoric had already at
that time a handsome and valiant son named Theodobert. And since they
were very brave and had abundant strength in their army, Amalaric,
son of Alaric, king of Spain, asked for their sister in marriage,
and they kindly granted his request, and sent her into the Spanish
country with a great quantity of beautiful things.

[2. Quintianus, ex-bishop of Rodez, is rewarded for his faithfulness
to the Franks by being made bishop of Clermont. 3. The Danes plunder
the coast of Theodoric’s kingdom. 4. Hermenfred becomes sole king of
the Thuringi by Theodoric’s help.]

5. Now on Gundobad’s death his son Sygismund held his kingdom, and
he built with great skill the monastery of St. Maurice, with its
dwellings and churches. And losing his first wife, the daughter of
Theodoric,[AH] king of Italy, he married another, and she began
to malign his son bitterly and make charges against him as is the
custom of stepmothers. From this it came about that on a day of
ceremonial when the boy recognized his mother’s dress on her, he was
filled with anger, and said to her: “You are not worthy to have on
your back those garments which are known to have belonged to your
mistress, that is, my mother.” And she was set on fire with rage and
she stirred her husband up with crafty words, saying: “The wicked boy
wishes to possess your kingdom, and he plans when you are killed to
extend it as far as Italy, forsooth, that he may possess the kingdom
which his grandfather Theodoric held in Italy. For he knows that
while you live he cannot accomplish this; and unless you fall he
will not rise.” Sygismund was aroused by these words, and taking the
advice of his wicked wife he became a wicked parricide. For when his
son had been made drowsy by wine he bade him sleep in the afternoon;
and while he slept a napkin was placed under his neck and tied
under his chin, and he was strangled by two servants who drew in
opposite directions. When it was done the father repented too late,
and falling on the lifeless corpse began to weep most bitterly. And
a certain old man is reported to have spoken to him in these words:
“Henceforth wail for yourself,” said he, “that you have become a most
cruel parricide through base counsel. For there is no need to wail
for this innocent boy who has been strangled.” Nevertheless he went
off to the holy Saint Maurice and spending many days in weeping and
fasting he prayed for pardon. After establishing there a perpetual
service of song he returned to Lyons, the divine vengeance attending
on his footsteps. King Theodoric had married his daughter.

[AI]6. Queen Clotilda spoke to Chlodomer and her other sons, saying:
“Let me not repent, dearest sons, that I have nursed you lovingly;
be angry, I beg you, at the insult to me, and avenge with a wise
zeal the death of my father and mother.” They heeded this; and they
hastened to the Burgundies and marched against Sygismund and his
brother Godomar. Their army was completely routed and Godomar fled.
But Sygismund was taken by Chlodomer when he was endeavoring to make
his escape to the holy St. Maurice, and led away captive with his
wife and sons, and was placed under guard and kept prisoner in the
territory of the city of Orleans. When the kings departed Godomar
recovered his courage and gathered the Burgundians and gained his
kingdom back. And Chlodomer was making preparations to march against
him a second time and determined to kill Sygismund. And the blessed
abbot Avitus, a great priest of that time, said to him: “If,” said
he, “you would look to God and amend your counsel so as not to allow
these men to be killed, God will be with you and you shall go and win
the victory; but if you kill them you shall be surrendered yourself
into the hands of your enemies and shall perish in the same way. And
what you do to Sygismund and his wife and children shall be done
to you and your wife and sons.” But he despised listening to this
counsel, and said: “I think it is foolish advice to leave enemies
at home and march against the rest, and when the former rise up in
the rear and the latter in front I shall fall between two armies.
The victory will be won better and more easily if one is separated
from the other; if one is slain it will be possible to doom the
others to death easily.” He gave orders to slay Sygismund at once,
with his wife and children, by casting them into a well in the
village Columna, of the city Orleans, and hastened to the Burgundies,
summoning to his aid king Theodoric. And the latter promised to go,
not caring to avenge the wrong done to his father-in-law. And when
they met near Visorontia, a place of the city of Vienne, they fought
with Godomar. And when Godomar had fled with his army and Chlodomer
was pursuing and was separated a considerable distance from his men,
the others, imitating his rallying cry, called to him saying: “This
way, come this way, we are your men.” And he believed it and went,
and fell into the midst of his enemies, and cutting off his head and
setting it on a pike they raised it aloft. The Franks saw this and
perceived that Chlodomer was dead, and rallying, they put Godomar
to flight and crushed the Burgundians and reduced their country to
subjection, and Clothar immediately married his brother’s wife,
Guntheuca by name. And queen Clotilda, after the period of mourning
was past, took his sons and kept them; and one of these was called
Theodoald, a second, Gunther, a third, Chlodovald. Godomar recovered
his kingdom a second time.

7. Afterward Theodoric, remembering the wrongs done by Hermenfred,
king of the Thuringi,[AJ] called his brother Clothar to his aid and
prepared to march against him, promising that a share of the plunder
should be given to king Clothar, if by God’s help the gift of victory
should come to them. So he called the Franks together and said to
them: “Be angry, I beg of you, both because of my wrong and because
of the death of your kinsmen, and recollect that the Thuringi once
made a violent attack upon our kinsmen and inflicted much harm on
them. And they gave hostages and were willing to conclude peace with
them, but the Thuringi slew the hostages with various tortures, and
made an attack upon our kinsmen, took away all their property, and
hung youths by the sinews of their thighs to trees, and cruelly
killed more than two hundred maidens, tying them by their arms to
the necks of horses, which were then headed in opposite directions,
and being started by a very sharp goad tore the maidens to pieces.
And others were stretched out upon the city streets and stakes were
planted in the ground, and they caused loaded wagons to pass over
them, and having broken their bones they gave them to dogs and birds
for food. And now Hermenfred has deceived me in what he promised, and
refuses to perform it at all. [AK]Behold, we have a plain word. Let
us go with God’s aid against them.” They heard this and were angry at
such a wrong, and with heart and mind they attacked Thuringia. And
Theodoric took his brother Clothar and his son Theodobert to help
him and went with his army. And the Thuringi prepared stratagems
against the coming of the Franks. For they dug pits in the plain
where the fight was to take place, and covering the openings with
thick turf they made it seem a level plain. So when they began to
fight, many of the Frankish horsemen fell into these pits and it was
a great obstacle to them, but when this stratagem was perceived they
began to be on their guard. When finally the Thuringi saw that they
were being fiercely cut to pieces and when their king Hermenfred
had taken to flight, they turned their backs and came to the stream
Unstrut. And there such a slaughter of the Thuringi took place that
the bed of the stream was filled with heaps of corpses, and the
Franks crossed upon them as if on a bridge to the further shore. The
victory being won they took possession of that country and brought
it under their control. And Clothar went back, taking with him as
a captive Radegunda, daughter of king Berthar, and he married her,
and her brother he afterwards killed unjustly by the hands of wicked
men. She also turned to God, changing her garments, and built a
monastery for herself in the city of Poitiers. And being remarkable
for prayer, fasting and charity, she attained such fame that she was
considered great by the people. And when the kings who have been
mentioned were still in Thuringia, Theodoric wished to kill his own
brother Clothar, and preparing armed men secretly, he summoned him on
the pretext that he wished to consult him privately. And stretching
a tent-cloth in one part of the house from one wall to the other, he
ordered the armed men to stand behind it. And since the cloth was
somewhat short the feet of the armed men were in full sight. Clothar
learned of this, and came into the house with his men armed also. And
Theodoric perceived that he had learned of these things and he made a
pretence, and talked of one thing after another. Finally, not knowing
how to put a good appearance on his stratagem, he gave him as a
favor a great silver dish. And Clothar said good-by and thanked him
for the gift and returned to his place of encampment. But Theodoric
complained to his people that he had lost his dish for no evident
reason, and he said to his son Theodobert; “Go to your uncle and ask
him to give you of his own free will the gift I gave him.” He went,
and got what he asked for. In such stratagems Theodoric was very
skilful.

8. He returned to his own country and urged Hermenfred to come to him
boldly, pledging his faith, and he enriched him with honorable gifts.
It happened, however, when they were talking one day on the walls of
the city of Tolbiac that Hermenfred was pushed by some one or other,
and fell from the height of the wall to the ground and there died.
But we do not know who cast him down from there; many however assert
that a stratagem of Theodoric was plainly revealed in this.

[9. King Childebert takes possession of Auvergne on a false report
of Theodoric’s death. 10. He leaves Auvergne and makes an expedition
into Spain to avenge the ill-treatment of his sister Chlotchild by
her husband Amalaric. 11-13. King Theodoric takes vengeance on the
people of Auvergne for receiving Childebert.]

14. Now Munderic, who asserted that he was a kinsman of the king,
was puffed up with pride and said: “What have I to do with king
Theodoric. For the throne of the kingdom is as much my due as his.
I shall go out and gather my people, and exact an oath from them,
that Theodoric may know that I am king just as much as he.” And he
went out, and began to lead the people astray, saying: “I am a chief,
follow me, and it will be well with you.” A multitude of country
people followed him, as one might expect from the frailty of mankind,
taking the oath of fidelity and honoring him as a king. And when
Theodoric found this out he sent a command to him, saying: “Come to
see me, and if any share of my kingdom is due you, take it.” Now
Theodoric said this deceitfully, thinking that he would kill him
when he came. But the other was unwilling and said: “Go, bear back
word to your king that I am king just as he is.” Then the king gave
orders to set his army in motion, in order to crush him by force
and punish him. And he learned this, and not being strong enough
to defend himself, he hastened to the walls of the stronghold of
Vitry,[AL] and strove to fortify himself in it with all his property,
gathering together those whom he had led astray. Now the army got
under way, and surrounded the stronghold, and besieged it for seven
days. And Munderic resisted with his people, saying: “Let us make a
brave stand, and fight together even to death, and not submit to the
enemy.” And when the army kept hurling javelins against them on every
side, and accomplished nothing, they reported this to the king. And
he sent for a certain one of his people, named Aregyselus, and said
to him: “You see,” said he, “what this traitor is able to do in his
arrogance. Go and swear an oath to him that he shall go forth safe.
And when he has come forth, kill him, and blot out his memory from
our kingdom.” He went away and did as he had been ordered. He had
however first given a sign to the people, saying: “When I speak words
thus and so, rush upon him immediately and kill him.” Now Aregyselus
went in and said to Munderic: “How long will you sit here like one
without sense? You will not be able to resist the king long, will
you? Behold, your food has been cut off. When hunger overcomes you,
you will come forth whether or no, and surrender yourself into the
hands of the enemy, and you will die like a dog. Listen rather to my
advice, and submit to the king, that you may be able to live, you and
your sons.” Then the other, disheartened by these words, said: “If I
go out, I shall be seized by the king and slain, both I and my sons
and all my friends who are gathered with me.” And Aregyselus said
to him: “Do not be afraid, but if you decide to go forth, receive
my oath as to your crime, and stand securely before the king. Do
not be afraid. You shall be on the same terms with him as you were
before.” To this Munderic answered: “I wish I were sure I should not
be killed.” Then Aregyselus put his hands on the holy altar, and
swore to him that he should go out safely. So when the oath had been
taken, Munderic went out from the gate of the stronghold, holding
Aregyselus’ hand, and the people gazed at him from a distance. Then
as a sign Aregyselus said: “Why do you gaze so intently, O people?
Did you never see Munderic before?” And at once the people rushed
upon him. But he understood and said: “I see very plainly that by
these words you gave a sign to the people to kill me, but I tell you
who have deceived me by perjury, no one shall ever see you alive
again.” And he drove his lance into his back, and thrust it through
him and he fell and died. Then Munderic unsheathed his sword, and
with his followers made great slaughter of the people, and until he
died did not shrink back from any one he could reach. And after he
had been slain his property was added to the treasury.

[AM]15. Theodoric and Childebert made a treaty, and swearing to each
other that neither would attack the other, they took hostages from
each other, in order that their agreement might be more secure. Many
sons of senators were given as hostages on that occasion, but a
quarrel arose later between the kings, and they were given over to
servitude and those who had taken them to guard now made slaves of
them. Many of them however escaped by flight, and returned to their
native place, but a good many were kept in slavery. Among these was
Attalus, nephew of the blessed Gregory, bishop of Langres, who became
a slave and was appointed keeper of horses. He was in servitude to
a certain barbarian[AN] in the territory of Trèves. Now the blessed
Gregory sent servants to inquire for him, who found him, and offered
presents to the man, but he rejected them contemptuously, saying:
“This fellow, belonging to such a family, ought to be ransomed with
ten pounds of gold.” And when they had returned, a certain Leo,
belonging to the kitchen of his master, said: “I wish you would give
me permission, and perhaps I might be able to bring him back from
captivity.” His master was glad of the offer, and he went straight to
the place, and desired to carry the youth away secretly, but could
not. Then bargaining with a certain man he said: “Come with me, and
sell me in the house of that barbarian, and take the profit of my
price, only let me have a freer opportunity of doing what I have
decided.” After taking an oath, the man went and sold him for twelve
gold pieces, and departed. The purchaser asked the new slave what
work he could do, and he answered: “I am very skilled in preparing
all the things that ought to be eaten at the tables of masters, and
I am not afraid that my equal in skill can be found. For I tell you
that even if you desire to make ready a feast for the king, I can
prepare kingly viands, and no one better than I.” And he said: “The
day of the sun is near,”--for thus the Lord’s day is usually named in
the barbarian fashion--“on this day my neighbors and kinsmen shall
be invited to my house. I ask you to make me such a feast as to make
them wonder and say ‘we have not seen better in the king’s palace.’”
And the other said: “Let my master order a great number of fowls,
and I will do what you command.” Accordingly the preparations which
the slave had asked for were made, and the Lord’s day dawned, and
he made a great feast full of delicacies. And when all had feasted
and praised the viands, the master’s kinsmen went away. The master
thanked this slave, and gave him authority over the food that he had
ready for use, and he loved him greatly, and the slave used to serve
food to all who were with his master. After the space of a year, when
his master was now certain of him, Leo went out into a meadow which
was near the house, with the slave Attalus, the keeper of the horses,
and lying on the ground with him a long distance off, with their
backs turned so they would not be recognized as together, he said to
the youth: “It is time that we ought to be thinking of our native
place. Therefore I advise you not to allow yourself to go to sleep
to-night when you bring the horses to be shut in, but as soon as I
call you, come, and let us undertake the journey.” Now the barbarian
had invited many of his kinsmen to a feast, and among them was his
son-in-law, who had married his daughter. And at midnight they rose
from the banquet and retired to rest, and Leo attended his master’s
son-in-law to the place assigned and offered him drink. The man said
to him: “Tell me, if you can, trusted servant of my father-in-law,
when will you decide to take his horses and go to your own country.”
He said this in a joking way. In the same way the other jokingly gave
the truthful answer: “To-night, I think, if it is God’s will.” And
he said: “I hope my attendants will be on the watch that you take
nothing of mine.” They parted laughingly. And when all were asleep,
Leo called Attalus, and when the horses were saddled, he asked him
if he had a sword. He answered: “I do not need one, I have only a
small lance.” But the other went into his master’s house, and took
his shield and spear. And when he asked who it was, and what he
wanted, he answered: “I am Leo, your slave, and I am waking Attalus,
so that he may rise quickly and take the horses to pasture; for he
is sleeping as soundly as if he were drunk.” And he said: “Do as you
please.” And saying this he fell asleep. The other went out of doors
and armed the youth, and found unbarred, by divine help, the gates of
the yard, which at nightfall he had barred with wedges driven by a
hammer, to keep the horses safe; thanking God they took the remaining
horses and went off, taking also a roll of garments. They came to
the river Moselle[AO] in order to cross it, and being detained by
certain persons they left their horses and clothes and swam over the
river, supported on a shield, and climbing the further bank they hid
themselves in the woods amid the darkness of the night. The third
night was come since they had been on their way without tasting food.
Then by God’s will they found a tree full of the fruit which is
commonly called plums, and ate and were strengthened somewhat, and
began the journey through Champagne. And as they hastened, they heard
the tramping of horses going at a rapid gait, and they said: “Let us
throw ourselves down on the ground, so as not to be seen by the men
who are coming.” And behold they suddenly came upon a great bramble
bush, and they passed behind and threw themselves on the ground with
their swords unsheathed, in order to defend themselves quickly from
wicked men if they should be noticed. And when the others had come
to the thorn-bush they stopped; and one of them said, while their
horses were making water: “Woe is me that these accursed wretches
are escaped and cannot be found; but by my salvation, if they are
found I command one to be condemned to the gallows, and the other to
be cut to fragments by strokes of the sword.” Now the barbarian who
said this was their master who was coming from the city of Rheims
seeking for them, and he would certainly have found them on the way
if night had not prevented. Then starting their horses, they went
off. The fugitives reached the city on this very night, and going
in, they found a man of whom they made inquiries, and he told them
where the house of the priest Paulellus was. And while they were
passing through the square, the bell was rung for matins--for it was
the Lord’s day--and knocking at the priest’s door, they went in, and
Leo told about his master. And the priest said to him: “It was a
true vision I had. For last night I saw two doves fly toward me and
settle on my hand, and one of them was white, and the other black.”
And Leo said to the priest: “May the Lord be kind as the day is holy.
For we ask you to give us some food; for the fourth day is dawning
since we have tasted bread and meat.” He hid the slaves, and gave
them bread soaked in wine, and went away to matins. The barbarian
followed them, asking for the boys a second time, but he was deceived
by the priest, and he went back. For the priest had an old friendship
with the blessed Gregory. Then the youths, after refreshing their
strength with food, and remaining two days in the home of the priest,
departed, and thus they came to the holy Gregory. The bishop rejoiced
at seeing them, and wept on the neck of Attalus his nephew; he set
Leo free from the yoke of slavery with all his family, and gave him
land of his own, on which he lived a free man with his wife and
children all the days of his life.

[16. Sigivald, duke of Auvergne, is miraculously punished for taking
church property. 17. Seven successive bishops of Tours are mentioned,
one of them, Leo, being “a man of energy and skill in the building of
wooden structures.”]

18. While queen Clotilda was staying at Paris, Childebert saw that
his mother loved with especial affection the sons of Chlodomer, whom
we have mentioned above, and being envious and fearful that they
would have a share in the kingdom through the favor of the queen,
he sent secretly to his brother king Clothar, saying: “Our mother
keeps our brother’s sons with her, and wishes them to be kings. You
must come swiftly to Paris, where we will take counsel together and
discuss what ought to be done about them, whether their hair shall
be cut and they be treated like the rest of the common people, or
whether we shall kill them and divide our brother’s kingdom between
ourselves equally.” And Clothar was very glad at these words, and
came to Paris. Now Childebert had spread the report among the people
that the kings were meeting for the purpose of raising the little
ones to the throne. And when they met, they sent to the queen, who
was then dwelling in the city, saying: “Send the little ones to us,
that they may be raised to the throne.” And she rejoiced, not knowing
their treachery, and giving the boys food and drink, she sent them
saying: “I shall not think that I have lost my son, if I see you
occupy his place in the kingdom.” And they went, and were seized
at once, and were separated from their servants and tutors, and
they were guarded separately, in one place the servants, in another
these little ones. Then Childebert and Clothar sent Arcadius, whom
we have mentioned before, to the queen, with a pair of scissors and
a naked sword. And coming he showed both to the queen, and said:
“Most glorious queen, your sons, our masters, ask your decision as
to what you think ought to be done with the boys, whether you give
command for them to live with shorn hair,[AP] or for both to be
put to death.” She was terrified by the news and at the same time
enraged, especially when she saw the naked sword and the scissors,
and being overcome with bitterness, and not knowing in her grief
what she was saying, she said imprudently: “It is better for me
to see them dead rather than shorn, if they are not raised to the
kingship.” But he wondered little at her grief, and did not think
what she would say later in less haste, but went swiftly, taking the
news and saying: “Finish the task you have begun with the queen’s
favor; for she wishes your design to be accomplished.” There was no
delay. Clothar seized the older boy by the arm, and dashed him to
the earth, and plunging his hunting knife into his side, he killed
him pitilessly. And while the child was screaming, his brother threw
himself at Childebert’s feet and seized his knees and said: “Help me,
kind father, lest I perish like my brother.” Then Childebert, his
face covered with tears, said: “Dearest brother, I ask you to grant
his life to me in your generosity, and let me pay for his life what
you wish, only let him not be killed.” But the other attacked him
with abuse, and said: “Cast him from you, or you shall surely die in
his place. It is you,” said he, “that are the guilty instigator[53]
of this matter. Do you so easily break faith?” Childebert heeded
this and cast the boy away from him to the other, who seized him and
plunged his knife into his side and slew him as he had his brother
before: then they killed the servants and the tutors. When they
were killed Clothar mounted his horse and went off, making a small
matter of the killing of his nephews. And Childebert retired to the
outskirts of the city. And the queen placed their little bodies on a
bier and followed them to the church of St. Peter with loud singing
and unbounded grief, and buried them side by side. One was ten years
old, the other seven. But the third, Clodoald, they were unable to
seize, since he was freed by the aid of brave men. He gave up his
earthly kingdom and passed to the Lord’s service, and cutting his
hair with his own hand he became a clerk, busied with good works,
and as a priest passed from this life. The two kings divided equally
between them the kingdom of Chlodomer. And queen Clotilda showed
herself such that she was honored by all; she was always diligent
in alms, able to endure the whole night in watching, unstained in
chastity and uprightness; with a generous and ready good-will she
bestowed estates on churches, monasteries, and holy places wherever
she saw there was need, so that she was believed to serve God
diligently, not as a queen but as his own handmaid, and neither her
royal sons, nor worldly ambition, nor wealth, raised her up for
destruction, but her humility exalted her to grace.

19. There lived at that time in the city of Langres the blessed
Gregory, a great bishop of God, renowned for his signs and miracles.
And since we have spoken of this bishop, I think it not unpleasing
to insert in this place an account of the site of Dijon, where he
was especially active. It is a stronghold with very solid walls,
built in the midst of a plain, a very pleasant place, the lands rich
and fruitful, so that when the fields are ploughed once the seed is
sown and a great wealth of produce comes in due season. On the south
it has the Ouche, a river very rich in fish, and from the north
comes another little stream, which runs in at the gate and flows
under a bridge and again passes out by another gate, flowing around
the whole fortified place with its quiet waters, and turning with
wonderful speed the mills before the gate. The four gates face the
four regions of the universe, and thirty-three towers adorn the whole
structure, and the wall is thirty feet high and fifteen feet thick,
built of squared stones up to twenty feet, and above of small stone.
And why it is not called a city I do not know. It has all around it
abundant springs, and on the west are hills, very fertile and full of
vineyards, which produce for the inhabitants such a noble Falernian
that they disdain wine of Ascalon. The ancients say this place was
built by the emperor Aurelian.

[20. Betrothal of Theodoric’s son Theodobert to Visigard. 21. The
Franks retake some of the cities taken by Clovis from the Goths. 22.
Theodobert falls in love with Deoteria.]

23. In those days Theodoric killed his kinsman Sigivald with the
sword, sending secretly to Theodobert that he should slay Sigivald’s
son Sigivald whom he had with him. But he was unwilling to destroy
him, because he had taken him from the sacred font.[AQ] But he gave
him the letter to read which his father had sent, saying: “Flee
from here, because I have received my father’s command to kill you;
and if he dies and you hear that I am reigning, then return to me
safely.” On hearing this Sigivald thanked him, said good-by, and
departed. Now at that time the Goths had taken possession of the
city of Arles,[AR] from which Theodobert still had hostages. To it
Sigivald fled. But he saw that he was not safe there, and went to
Latium, and remained hidden there. While this was going on, word was
brought to Theodobert that his father was seriously ill, and that if
he did not hasten swiftly to him so as to find him alive, he would be
excluded by his uncles, and would never be allowed to return. And he
postponed everything on hearing this, and hastened thither, leaving
Deoteria with her daughter at Clermont. And not many days after he
had gone, Theodoric died, in the twenty-third year of his reign. And
Childebert and Clothar rose against Theodobert and wished to take the
kingdom from him, but he was defended by his _leudes_, after they had
received gifts from him, and was established in his kingdom. He sent
later to Clermont and summoned Deoteria thence, and married her.

24. Childebert saw that he was not able to prevail, and sent an
embassy to him, and bade him come to him, saying: “I have no sons,
I wish to treat you as a son.” And when he came he bestowed such
rich gifts upon him that all wondered. For he presented him with
three pairs of all the articles of armor, vestments, and other
equipments that it becomes a king to have, and likewise with horses
and chains. Sigivald heard this, namely, that Theodobert had received
his father’s kingdom, and returned to him from Italy. And Theodobert
rejoiced, and kissed him, and bestowed upon him a third part of the
gifts which he had received from his uncle, and he gave orders that
all that his father had seized of the property of Sigivald’s father,
should be returned to him.

25. And he was established in his kingdom, and showed himself great,
and distinguished by every goodness. For he ruled his kingdom with
justice, respecting the bishops, making gifts to the churches,
relieving the poor, and doing kindnesses to many persons with a pious
and generous heart. He kindly remitted all the tribute which was
payable to his treasury from the churches situated in Auvergne.

26. Now Deoteria saw that her daughter was quite grown up, and was
afraid that the king would desire and take her. She placed her in a
litter to which wild oxen were yoked, and sent her headlong over a
bridge; and she lost her life in the river. This happened in the city
of Verdun.

27. As it was now the seventh year since Theodobert and Visigard
had been betrothed, and he was unwilling to take her on account of
Deoteria, the Franks, when they met, were greatly scandalized at him
because he had abandoned his betrothed. Then he was alarmed, and
abandoning Deoteria, by whom he had a little son named Theodobald, he
married Visigard. And when she died not long after, he took another
wife. But he did not have Deoteria after that.

[28. Childebert and Theodobert march against Chlothar but are turned
back by a miraculous hailstorm sent by St. Martin.]

29. Later king Childebert set out for Spain. And entering the country
with Clothar, they surrounded the city of Saragossa with their army,
and besieged it. But the besieged turned to God in such humility that
they put on haircloth, abstained from food and drink, and made the
round of the walls of the city with psalm-singing, carrying the tunic
of the blessed Vincent, the martyr; the women, too, followed wailing,
clothed in black robes, with their hair hanging loose and ashes upon
it, so that one would think they were attending the funerals of their
husbands. And to such a degree did that city place its whole hope in
God’s mercy that it was said they were celebrating the fast of the
Ninevites[AS] there, and there was no idea of any other possibility
than that the divine mercy might be won by prayers. But the besiegers
did not know what was going on, and when they saw them go around the
wall in such a way they supposed they were engaged in some sorcery.
Then seizing one of the common people of the place, they asked him
what it was they were doing. And he said: “They are carrying the
blessed Vincent’s tunic, and at the same time they are praying the
Lord to pity them.” And they were afraid at this, and went away from
that city. However, they acquired a very large part of Spain, and
returned to the Gauls with great spoils.

30. After Amalaric, Theoda was ordained king in the Spains. But when
he was slain they raised Theodegisil to the throne. When he was
dining with his friends and was very cheerful, suddenly the lights
were put out in the dining hall and he was slain by his enemies,
being thrust through with a sword. After him Agila became king. For
the Goths had formed the detestable habit of attacking with the
sword any one of their kings who did not please them, and they would
appoint as king any one that took their fancy.

31. Theodoric of Italy having married a sister of king Clovis, died,
and left his wife and a little daughter. When this girl was grown,
because of her fickle temper she refused the counsel of her mother,
who was looking out for a king’s son for her, and took her slave
named Traguilanis, and fled with him to a city where she hoped to
defend herself. And when her mother raged at her furiously, and
begged her not to disgrace further a noble family, and said it was
her duty to send the slave off and take one of equal rank with
herself from a royal family, whom her mother had provided, she was
by no means willing to agree to it. Then her mother, still raging
at her, set an army in motion. And they came upon them, and killed
Traguilanis with the sword, chastised the girl herself, and took
her to her mother’s house. Now they belonged to the Arian sect, and
as it is their custom that of those going to the altar the kings
receive one cup and the lesser people another, she put poison in
the cup from which her mother was going to receive the communion.
And she drank it and died forthwith. There is no doubt that such
harm is from the devil. What shall the wretched heretics answer to
this charge that the enemy dwells in their holy place? But as for
us who confess the Trinity in one similar equality and omnipotence,
even if we should drink a deadly draught in the name of the Father,
Son and holy Spirit, the true and incorruptible God, it would not
do us any harm. The Italians were indignant at this woman, and they
invited Theodad, king of Tuscia, and made him king over them. When
he learned what the harlot had been guilty of, how she had slain
her mother on account of a slave whom she had taken, he gave orders
that a bath be raised to a great heat, and that she be shut in the
same with one maid. And when she entered the hot vapors she fell at
once on the pavement, and died, and was consumed. And when the kings
Childebert and Chlothar, her cousins, as well as Theodobert, learned
this, namely, that she had been put to death in so shameful a manner,
they sent an embassy to Theodad, blaming him for her death, and
saying: “If you do not make an arrangement with us for what you have
done, we will take your kingdom from you, and condemn you to a like
punishment.” Then he was afraid, and sent to them fifty thousand gold
pieces. And Childebert, being as ever envious of king Clothar, and
deceitful, joined with Theodobert his nephew, and they divided the
gold between them, and refused to give any of it to king Clothar. But
he made an attack upon the treasures of Chlodomer, and took much more
from them than that of which they had defrauded him.

32. Theodobert went to Italy, and there made great gains. But as
those places according to report are full of diseases, his army was
attacked by various fevers, and many of them died there. Seeing this,
Theodobert returned from the country and brought much spoil, himself
and his men. It is related that at that time he went as far as the
city of Pavia to which he again sent Buccelenus. And he captured
lesser Italy and brought it under the sway of the king who has
been mentioned, and attacked greater Italy; here he fought against
Belsuarius many times and won the victory. And when the emperor saw
that Belsuarius was being beaten more frequently he removed him, and
put Narses in his place, and, as a humiliation, he made Belsuarius
count of the stable, a place he had held before. But Buccelenus
fought great battles against Narses: capturing all Italy he extended
his boundaries to the sea, and he sent great treasures from Italy to
Theodobert. When Narses made this known to the emperor, the emperor
hired nations and sent aid to Narses, and in the battle later he was
defeated. Then Buccelenus seized Sicily and exacting tribute from it
he sent it to the king. He enjoyed great prosperity in these matters.

[33. Feud between Asteriolus and Secundinus, advisers of King
Theodobert.]

[AT]34. Desideratus, bishop of Verdun, to whom king Theodoric had
done many wrongs, was restored to liberty at the Lord’s command,
after many losses and reverses and griefs, and received the office
of bishop, as we have said, at the city of Verdun, and seeing its
inhabitants very poor and destitute he grieved for them, and since
he was left without his own property because of Theodoric, and had
nothing of his own with which to relieve them, knowing the goodness
and kindness to all of king Theodobert, he sent an embassy to him
saying: “The fame of your goodness is spread over all the earth,
since your generosity is such that you give aid even to those who do
not seek it. I beg of your kindness if you have any money, that you
lend it to us that we may be able to relieve our fellow-citizens; and
when those in charge of business secure a return in our city such
as the rest have, we will repay your money with lawful interest.”
Then Theodobert was stirred with pity and furnished seven thousand
gold pieces, which the bishop received and paid out among his
fellow-citizens. And they who were engaged in business were made rich
through this and are considered great to the present day. And when
the bishop who has been just mentioned offered the money which was
due to the king, the king answered: “I have no need to take this; it
is enough for me if the poor men who were suffering want have been
relieved by your care because of your suggestion and my generosity.”
And he whom we have mentioned made the citizens rich without
demanding anything.

[35. Syagrius avenges wrongs done to his father by killing Syrivald.]

[AU]36. After this king Theodobert began to be sick. And the
physicians gave him much care; but he did not get well because the
Lord was already bidding him be summoned. And so after a very long
illness he died of his infirmity. And as the Franks hated Parthenius
intensely, because he had subjected them to tribute in the time of
the king just mentioned, they began to attack him. He saw that he
was in danger, and fled from the city, and humbly begged two bishops
to conduct him to the city of Trèves, and check the sedition of the
frenzied people by their preaching. While they were on their way he
was lying on his bed at night, and suddenly he made a loud cry in his
sleep, saying: “Ho! Ho! Help, you who are here, and assist one who
is perishing.” By this shouting those who were there were awakened,
and they asked him what the matter was. He answered: “Ausanius, my
friend, and my wife Papianella, whom I slew long ago, were summoning
me to judgment, saying: ‘Come to defend yourself, since you are
going to plead with us in the presence of the Lord.’” Now he had
slain his innocent wife and his friend some years before, under the
influence of jealousy. Accordingly, the bishops approached the city
just mentioned, and since they could not calm the sedition among the
rebellious people, they wished to hide him in the church, placing
him in a chest, and strewing above him vestments which were used in
the church. The people came in, and after searching every corner of
the church, went out in a rage when they found nothing. Then one
said suspiciously: “Behold a chest in which our enemy has not been
sought for.” And when the guards said that there was nothing in it
except that it contained furniture of the church, they demanded
the key, saying: “Unless you quickly unlock it we will break it
open ourselves.” Finally the chest was unlocked, the linen cloths
were removed, and they found him and dragged him out, rejoicing and
saying: “God has delivered our enemy into our hands.” Then they
struck him with their fists, and spat on him, and tying his hands
behind his back, they stoned him to death beside a column. He was
very voracious in eating, and what he ate he digested speedily,
taking aloes in order to be made hungry soon again…. And so he
perished, meeting this kind of end.

37. In that year the winter was a grievous one and more severe than
usual, so that the streams were held in the chains of frost and
furnished a path for the people like dry ground. Birds, too, were
affected by the cold and hunger, and were caught in the hand without
any snare when the snow was deep.

Now from the death of Clovis to the death of Theodobert there are
reckoned thirty-seven years. When Theodobert died in the fourteenth
year of his reign, Theodoald his son reigned in his stead.

HERE ENDS THE THIRD BOOK.

FOOTNOTES:

[51] _ad ilicem._ Not in the Vulgate. Gregory probably used
in part a rude popular version of the Scriptures. See
Bonnet, p. 61.

[52] Reading _invisibilem_ for _indivisibilem_.

[53] Reading for _incestator_, _instecator_. Bonnet, _Le
Latin de Gregoire de Tours_, p. 454, 5.

HERE BEGIN THE CHAPTERS OF THE FOURTH BOOK

1. Queen Clotilda’s death.
2. King Clothar attempts to take a third of the revenues of the
churches.
3. His wives and children.
4. The counts of the Bretons.
5. The holy bishop Gallus.
6. The priest Cato.
7. The episcopate of Cautinus.
8. The kings of the Spaniards.
9. Theodovald’s death.
10. Rebellion of the Saxons.
11. The people of Tours at the bidding of the king invite Cato to
be their bishop.
12. The priest Anastasius.
13. Chramnus’s frivolity and wickedness and about Cautinus and
Firmin.
14. Clothar makes a second expedition against the Saxons.
15. Episcopate of the holy Eufronius.
16. Chramnus and his followers and the crimes he committed and
how he went to Dijon.
17. How Chramnus deserted to Childebert.
18. Duke Austrapius.
19. Death of the holy bishop Medard.
20. Death of Childebert and killing of Chramnus.
21. King Clothar’s death.
22. Division of the kingdom among his sons.
23. Sigibert marches against the Huns and Chilperic seizes his
cities.
24. The patrician Celsus.
25. Gunthram’s wives.
26. Charibert’s wives.
27. Sigibert marries Brunhilda.
28. Chilperic’s wives.
29. Sigibert’s second war with the Huns.
30. The people of Auvergne at King Sigibert’s bidding go to take
Arles.
31. About the town of Tauredunum and other marvels.
32. The monk Julian.
33. The abbot Sunniulf.
34. The monk of Bordeaux.
35. The episcopate of Avitus in Auvergne.
36. The holy Nicetius of Lyons.
37. The holy recluse Fiard.
38. The Spanish kings.
39. Death of Palladius at Clermont.
40. Emperor Justinus.
41. Albin and the Lombards settle in Italy.
42. Wars between them and Mummulus.
43. The archdeacon of Marseilles.
44. The Lombards and Mummulus.
45. Mummulus goes to Tours.
46. The killing of Andarchius.
47. Theodobert takes possession of the cities.
48. The monastery of Latta.
49. Sigibert goes to Paris.
50. Chilperic enters into a treaty with Gunthram; death of
Theodobert his son.
51. Death of king Sigibert.

HERE END THE CHAPTERS

HERE BEGINS THE FOURTH BOOK WITH HAPPY AUSPICES

[1. Queen Clotilda dies at Tours and is buried at Paris.]

[AV]2. King Clothar had ordered all the churches of his kingdom to
pay into his treasury a third of their revenues. But when all the
other bishops, though grudgingly, had agreed to this and signed
their names, the blessed Injuriosus scorned the command and manfully
refused to sign, saying, “If you attempt to take the things of God
the Lord will take away your kingdom speedily because it is wrong
for your storehouses to be filled with the contributions of the poor
whom you yourself ought to feed.” He was irritated with the king and
left his presence without saying farewell. Then the king was alarmed
and being afraid of the power of the blessed Martin he sent after him
with gifts, praying for pardon and admitting the wrongfulness of what
he had done, and asking also that the bishop avert from him by prayer
the power of the blessed Martin.

3. The king had seven sons by several wives; namely, by Ingunda,
Gunthar, Childeric, Charibert, Gunthram, Sigibert, and a daughter
Chlotsinda; by Aregunda, sister of Ingunda, Chilperic; and by
Chunsina he had Chramnus. I will tell why it was he married his
wife’s sister. When he was already married to Ingunda and loved her
alone, he received a hint from her saying: “My Lord has done with his
handmaid what he pleased and has taken me to his couch. Now let my
lord the king hear what his servant would suggest to make his favor
complete. I beg that you consent to find a husband for my sister, a
man who will be of advantage to your servant and possess wealth, so
that I shall not be humiliated but rather exalted and shall be able
to serve you more faithfully.” To this request he gave heed and being
of a wanton nature he fell in love with Aregunda and went to the
estate on which she was living and married her himself. Having done
this he returned to Ingunda and said: “I have tried to do the favor
which your sweet self asked of me. I sought for a man of riches and
wisdom to unite to your sister but I found no one better than myself.
And so allow me to tell you that I have married her, which I think
will not displease you.” And she replied; “Let my Lord do what seems
good in his eyes; only let his handmaid live in favor with the king.”

Now Gunthar, Chramnus and Childeric died in their father’s lifetime.
Of the death of Chramnus I shall write later. And Albin, king of the
Lombards, married Chlotsinda, his daughter. Injuriosus, bishop of
Tours, died in the seventeenth year of his episcopate and Baudinus, a
former official of king Clothar, succeeded him, the sixteenth after
the death of the blessed Martin.

4. Chanao, count of the Bretons, killed three of his brothers. He
wished to kill Macliavus also, and seized him and kept him in prison
loaded with chains. But he was freed from death by Felix, bishop
of Nantes. After this he swore that he would be faithful to his
brother, but from some reason or other he became inclined to break
his oath. Chanao was aware of this and began to attack him again
and when Macliavus saw that he could not escape, he fled to another
count of that district, Chonomor by name. When Chonomor learned
that Macliavus’ pursuers were near at hand, he hid him in a box
underground and heaped a mound over it in the regular way leaving a
small airhole so that he could breathe. And when his pursuers came,
they said: “Behold here lies Macliavus dead and buried.” On hearing
this they were glad and drank on his tomb and reported to his brother
that he was dead. And his brother took the whole of his kingdom.
For since Clovis’s death the Bretons have always been under the
dominion of the Franks and their rulers[AW] have been called counts,
not kings. Macliavus rose from underground and went to the city of
Vannes and there received the tonsure and was ordained bishop. But
when Chanao died he left the priesthood, let his hair grow long, and
took back not only his brother’s kingdom but also the wife whom he
had abandoned when he became a priest. However he was excommunicated
by the bishops. What his end was I shall describe later. Now bishop
Baudinus died in the sixth year of his episcopate, and the abbot
Gunthar was appointed in his place, the seventeenth after the passing
of the blessed Martin.

[5. How St. Gall, bishop of Clermont, averted the plague from his
people.]

And when Saint Gall had departed from this world and his body had
been washed and carried to the church, Cato the priest immediately
received the congratulations of the clergy on becoming bishop. And as
if he were already bishop he took under his control all the church
property, removed the superintendents and cast the lesser officials
out and regulated everything himself.

[AX]6. The bishops who came to St. Gall’s funeral said to Cato the
priest after the funeral: “We see that you are the choice of by far
the largest part of the people; come then, join us, and we will
bless and ordain you as bishop. The king is very young and if any
fault is found with you, we will take you under our protection and
deal with the leading men of Theodovald’s kingdom so that no wrong
shall be done you. Trust us faithfully, since we promise that even
if some loss shall come to you, we will make it all good from our
own properties.” But he was puffed up with the pride of vainglory
and said: “You know from widespread report that from the beginning
of my life I have always lived religiously, that I have fasted,
delighted in almsgiving, often kept watch without ceasing and have
frequently continued the singing of psalms without a break the whole
night through. The Lord God to whom I have paid such service will not
allow me to be deprived of this office. For I attained all the grades
of the clergy as directed in the canons. I was reader ten years, I
performed the duties of sub-deacon five years, I have been priest
now for twenty years. What more is left for me except to receive
the office of bishop which my faithful service deserves. You then
return to your cities and busy yourselves with whatever tends to your
advantage. For I intend to gain this office in the manner prescribed
by the canons.” The bishops heard this and departed cursing his empty
boasting.

7. He was accordingly designated to be bishop by the choice of the
clergy, and when he had taken charge of everything though he was not
yet ordained, he began to make various threats against the archdeacon
Cautinus, saying: “I will cast you out, I will degrade you, I will
cause many sorts of violent death to threaten you.” And he answered:
“I wish to have your favor, pious master; and if I win it, there is
one kindness I can do. Without any trouble on your part and without
any deceit I will go to the king and obtain the office of bishop
for you, asking no reward except to win your favor.” But the other
was suspicious that he meant to make a mock of him and rejected the
offer with great disdain. And when Cautinus perceived that he was
in disgrace and was the object of ill report he pretended sickness,
and left the city by night, going to king Theodovald and reporting
the death of Saint Gall. And when he and his court were informed of
it they assembled the bishops at the city of Metz, and Cautinus the
archdeacon was ordained bishop. And on the arrival of the messengers
of the priest Cato he was already bishop. Then by the king’s order
these clerks were delivered over to him and all that they had
brought from the property of the church, and bishops and officials
of the treasury were appointed to accompany him, and they sent him
on his way to Clermont. And he was gladly received by the clergy
and citizens and was thus made bishop of Clermont. But later enmity
arose between him and Cato the priest because no one was ever able
to influence Cato to submit to his bishop. A division of the clergy
appeared and some followed the bishop Cautinus and others the priest
Cato. This was a great drawback to them. And Cautinus saw that Cato
could not be forced in any way to submit to him and took all church
property from him and his friends and whoever took his part, and
left them weak and empty. But whoever of them returned to him, again
received what he had lost.

[8. King Agila of Spain loses cities to the emperor which his
successor Athanagild recovers.]

9. When Theodovald[AY] had grown up he married Vuldetrada. This
Theodovald, they say, had a bad disposition so that when he was angry
with any one whom he suspected of taking his property he would make
up a fable, saying: “A snake found a jar full of wine. He went in
by its neck and greedily drained what was inside. But being puffed
out by the wine he could not go out by the opening by which he had
entered. And the owner of the wine came, and when the snake tried to
get out but could not, he said to him: ‘First vomit out what you have
swallowed and then you will be able to go free.’” This fable made
him greatly feared and hated. Under him Buccelenus after bringing all
Italy under the rule of the Franks was slain by Narses, and Italy
was taken by the emperor’s party and there was no one to recover it
later. In his time we saw grapes grow on the tree we call _saucum_
[elder-tree] without having any vine on it, and the blossoms of the
same trees, which as you know usually produce black seeds, yielded
the seeds of grapes. At that time a star coming from the opposite
direction was seen to enter the disk of the fifth moon. I suppose
these signs announced the death of the king. He became very sick and
could not move from the waist down. He gradually grew worse and died
in the seventh year of his reign, and king Clothar took his kingdom,
taking Vuldetrada his wife to his bed. But being rebuked by the
bishops he left her, giving her to duke Garivald and sending his son
Chramnus to Clermont.

[10. King Clothar destroys the greater part of the rebellious Saxons
and lays Thuringia waste.]

11. Bishop Gunthar died at Tours, and at a suggestion, it is said,
of bishop Cautinus the priest Cato was requested to undertake the
government of the church at Tours. And the clergy accompanied by
Leubastes, keeper of the relics and abbot, went in great state to
Clermont. And when they had declared the king’s will to Cato he
would not answer them for a few days. But they wished to return and
said: “Declare your will to us so that we may know what we ought to
do; otherwise we will return home. For it was not of our own will
that we came to you but at the command of the king.” And Cato in his
greed for vainglory got together a crowd of poor men and instructed
them to shout as follows: “Good father, why do you abandon us your
children, whom you taught until now? Who will strengthen us with food
and drink if you go away? We beg you not to leave us whom you are
wont to support.” Then he turned to the clergy of Tours and said:
“You see now, beloved brothers, how this multitude of the poor loves
me; I cannot leave them to go with you.” They received this answer
and returned to Tours. Now Cato had made friends with Chramnus and
got a promise from him that if king Clothar should die at that time,
Cautinus was to be cast out at once from the bishop’s office and Cato
was to be given control of the church. But he who despised the chair
of the blessed Martin did not get what he desired, and in this was
fulfilled that which David sang, saying: “He refused the blessing and
it shall be kept far from him.” He was puffed up with vanity thinking
that no one was superior to him in holiness. Once he hired a woman to
cry aloud in the church as if possessed and say that he was holy and
great and beloved by God, but Cautinus the bishop was guilty of every
crime and unworthy to hold the office of bishop.

12. Now Cautinus on taking up the duties of bishop became greatly
addicted to wine, and proved to be of such a character that he was
loathed by all. He was often so befuddled by drink that four men
could hardly take him away after dinner. Because of this habit he
became an epileptic later on--a disease which frequently showed
itself in public. He was also so avaricious that if he could not get
some part of the possessions of those whose boundaries touched him he
thought it was ruin for him. He took from the stronger with quarrels
and abuse, and violently plundered the weaker. And as our Sollius[54]
says, he would not pay the price because he despised doing so, and
would not accept deeds because he thought them useless.

There was at that time a priest Anastasius, of free birth, who held
some property secured by deeds of queen Clotilda of glorious memory.
Usually when he met him the bishop would entreat him to give him the
deeds of the queen mentioned above, and place the property under his
charge. And when Anastasius postponed complying with the will of his
bishop, the latter would try now to coax him with kind words and
now to terrify him with threats. When he continued unwilling to the
end, he ordered him to be brought to the city and there shamelessly
detained, and unless he surrendered the deeds, he was to be loaded
with insults and starved to death. But the other made a spirited
resistance and never surrendered the deeds, saying it was better
for him to waste away with hunger for a time than to leave his
children in misery. Then by the bishop’s command he was given over
to the guards with instructions to starve him to death if he did not
surrender these documents. Now there was in the church of St. Cassius
the martyr a very old and remote crypt, in which was a great tomb of
Parian marble wherein it seems the body of a certain man of long ago
had been placed. In this tomb upon the dead body the living priest
was placed and the tomb was covered with the stone with which it had
been covered before, and guards were placed at the entrance. But
the faithful guards seeing that he was shut in by a stone as it was
winter lit a fire and under the influence of hot wine fell asleep.
But the priest like a new Jonah prayed insistently to the Lord to
pity him from the interior of the tomb as from the belly of hell,
and the tomb being large, as we have said, he was able to extend his
hands freely wherever he wished although he could not turn his whole
body. There came from the bones of the dead, as he used to relate,
a killing stench, which made him shudder not only outwardly but in
his inward parts as well. While he held his robe tightly against his
nose and could hold his breath his feelings were not the worst, but
when he thought that he was suffocating and held the robe a little
away from his face he drank in the deadly smell not merely through
mouth and nose but even, so to speak, through his very ears. Why
make too long a story! When he had suffered, as I suppose, like the
Divine Nature, he stretched out his right hand to the side of the
sarcophagus and found a crowbar which had been left between the cover
and the edge of the tomb when the cover sank into place. Moving this
by degrees he found that with God’s help the stone could be moved,
and when it had been moved so far that the priest could get his
head out he made a larger opening with greater ease and so came out
bodily. Meanwhile the darkness of night was overspreading the day
though it had not spread everywhere as yet. So he hastened to another
entrance to the crypt. This was closed with the strongest bars and
bolts, but was not so smoothly fitted that a man could not see
between the planks. The priest placed his head close to this entrance
and saw a man go by. He called to him in a low voice. The other
heard, and having an ax in his hand he at once cut the wooden pieces
by which the bars were held and opened the way for the priest. And he
went off in the darkness and hastened home after vigorously urging
the man to say nothing of the matter to any one. He entered his home
and finding the deeds which the queen mentioned before had given him
took them to king Clothar, informing him at the same time how he
had been committed to a living burial by his own bishop. All were
amazed and said that never had Nero or Herod done such a deed as to
place a live man in the grave. Then bishop Cautinus appeared before
king Clothar but upon the priest’s accusation he retreated in defeat
and confusion. The priest, according to directions received from the
king, maintained his property as he pleased and kept possession of it
and left it to his children. In Cautinus[AZ] there was no holiness,
no quality to be esteemed. He was absolutely without knowledge of
letters both ecclesiastical and secular. He was a great friend of the
Jews and subservient to them, not for their salvation, as ought to be
the anxious care of a shepherd, but in order to purchase their wares
which they sold to him at a higher price than they were worth, since
he tried to please them and they very plainly flattered him.

[BA]13. At this time Chramnus lived at Clermont.[BB] He did many
things contrary to reason and for this his departure from the world
was hastened; and he was bitterly reviled by the people. He made
friends with no one from whom he could get good and useful counsel,
but he gathered together young men of low character and no stability
and made friends of them only, listening to their advice and at
their suggestion he even directed them to carry off daughters of
senators by force. He offered serious insults to Firmin and drove
him out of his office as count of the city, and placed Salust son of
Euvodius in his place. Firmin with his mother-in-law took refuge in
the church. It was Lent and bishop Cautinus had made preparations to
go in procession singing psalms to the parish of Brioude, according
to the custom established by St. Gall as we described above. And so
the bishop went forth from the city with loud weeping, afraid that
he would meet some danger on the way. For king[BC] Chramnus had been
uttering threats against him. And while he was on the way the king
sent Innachar and Scaphthar his chief adherents, saying: “Go and
drag Firmin and Cæsaria his mother-in-law away from the church by
force.” So when the bishop had departed with psalm singing, as I have
said before, the men sent by Chramnus entered the church and strove
to calm the suspicions of Firmin and Cæsaria with many deceitful
words. And when they had talked over one thing after another for a
long time, walking to and fro in the church, and the fugitives had
their attention fixed on what was being said, they drew near to the
doors of the sacred temple which were then open. Then Innachar seized
Firmin in his arms and Scaphthar Cæsaria, and cast them out from the
church, where their slaves were ready to lay hold of them. And they
sent them into exile at once. But on the second day their guards were
overcome with sleep and they saw that they were free and hastened to
the church of the blessed Julian, and so escaped from exile. However
their property was confiscated. Now Cautinus had suspected that he
himself would be subjected to outrage, and as he walked along on the
journey I have told of, he kept near by a saddled horse, and looking
back he saw men coming on horseback to overtake him and he cried:
“Woe is me, for here are the men sent by Chramnus to seize me.” And
he mounted his horse and gave up his psalm singing and plying his
steed with both heels arrived all alone and half dead at the entrance
of Saint Julian’s church. As I tell this tale I am reminded of
Sallust’s[BD] saying which he uttered with reference to the critics
of historians. He says: “It seems difficult to write history; first
because deeds must be exactly represented in words and second because
most men think that the condemnation of wrong-doing is due to ill
will and envy.” However let us continue.

14. Now when Clothar after Theodovald’s death had received the
kingdom of Francia and was making a progress through it,[BE] he
heard from his people that the Saxons were engaged in a second mad
outburst and were rebelling against him and contemptuously refusing
to pay the tribute which they had been accustomed to pay every year.
Aroused by the reports he hastened toward their country, and when
he was near their boundary the Saxons sent legates to him saying:
“We are not treating you contemptuously, and we do not refuse to
pay what we have usually paid to your brothers and nephews, and we
will grant even more if you ask for it. We ask for only one thing,
that there be peace so that your army and our people shall not come
into conflict.” King Clothar heard this and said to his followers:
“These men speak well. Let us not go against them for fear that we
sin against God.” But they said: “We know that they are deceitful and
will not do at all what they have promised. Let us go against them.”
Again the Saxons offered half of their property in their desire for
peace. And Clothar said to his men: “Give over, I beg you, from
these men, lest the anger of God be kindled against us.” But they
would not agree to it. Again the Saxons brought garments, cattle and
every kind of property, saying: “Take all this together with half of
our land, only let our wives and little ones remain free and let war
not arise between us.” But the Franks were unwilling to agree even
to this. And king Clothar said to them: “Give over, I beseech you,
give over from this purpose; for we have not the right word; do not
go to war in which we may be destroyed. If you decide to go of your
own will I will not follow.” Then they were enraged at king Clothar
and rushed upon him and tore his tent in pieces and overwhelmed
him with abuse and dragged him about violently and wished to kill
him if he would not go with them. Upon this Clothar went with them
though unwillingly. And they began the battle and were slaughtered
in great numbers by their adversaries and so great a multitude from
both armies perished that it was impossible to estimate or count
them. Then Clothar in great confusion asked for peace, saying that
it was not of his own will that he had come against them. And having
obtained peace he returned home.

15. The people of Tours heard that the king had returned from the
battle with the Saxons and making choice of the priest Eufronius
they hastened to him. When their suggestion had been made the king
replied: “I had given directions for Cato the priest to be ordained
there; why has my command been slighted?” They answered: “We invited
him but he refused to come.” And while they were speaking Cato the
priest suddenly appeared to request the king to expel Cautinus and
command that he himself be appointed in Clermont. When the king
laughed at him he made a second request, that he should be ordained
at Tours which he had contemptuously refused before. And the king
said to him: “I at first gave directions that they should ordain
you bishop of Tours, but as I hear, you looked down on that church;
therefore you shall be kept from becoming master of it.” And so he
went off in confusion. When the king asked about the holy Eufronius
they told him that he was grandson of the blessed Gregory, whom I
have mentioned before. The king answered:[BF] “It is a great and
leading family. Let the will of God and the blessed Martin be done;
let the choice be confirmed.” And according to his command the holy
Eufronius was ordained bishop, the eighteenth after the blessed
Martin.

[16. Chramnus, king Clothar’s son, opposes bishop Cautinus at
Clermont. He goes to Poitiers and enters into an agreement with his
uncle Childebert against Clothar. He assumes authority over part
of Clothar’s realm and Clothar sends two other sons, Charibert and
Gunthram, against him. When they are ready to fight Chramnus causes a
report of Clothar’s death to be circulated and Charibert and Gunthram
hasten off; Chramnus marches to Dijon where he consults the Bible as
to his future. King Clothar meanwhile fights the Saxons. 17. Chramnus
joins Childebert in Paris. Childebert ravages Clothar’s territory
as far as Rheims. 18. Duke Austrapius takes refuge in St. Martin’s
church in fear of Chramnus. Chramnus orders him to be starved in the
church. But he obtains drink miraculously and is saved. He later
becomes a priest. 19. Medard bishop of Soissons dies.]

20. King Childebert fell ill and after being bedridden for a long
time died at Paris. He was buried in the church of the blessed
Vincent which he had built. King Clothar took his kingdom and
treasures and sent into exile Vulthrogotha and her two daughters.
Chramnus presented himself before his father, but later he proved
disloyal. And when he saw he could not escape punishment he fled to
Brittany and there with his wife and daughters lived in concealment
with Chonoober count of the Bretons. And Wilichar, his father-in-law,
fled to the church of Saint Martin.[BG] Then because of Wilichar
and his wife the holy church was burned for the sins of the people
and the mockeries which occurred in it. This we relate not without
a heavy sigh. Moreover the city of Tours had been burned the year
before and all the churches built in it were deserted. Then by order
of king Clothar the church of the blessed Martin was roofed with tin
and restored in its former beauty. Then two hosts of locusts appeared
which passed through Auvergne and Limousin and, they say, came to the
plain of Romagnac where a battle took place between them and there
was great destruction. Now king Clothar was raging against Chramnus
and marched with his army into Brittany against him. Nor was Chramnus
afraid to come out against his father. And when both armies were
gathered and encamped on the same plain and Chramnus with the Bretons
had marshaled his line against his father, night fell and they
refrained from fighting. During the night Chonoober, count of the
Bretons, said to Chramnus: “I think it wrong for you to fight against
your father; allow me to-night to rush upon him and destroy him with
all his army.” But Chramnus would not allow this to be done, being
held back I think by the power of God. When morning came they set
their armies in motion and hastened to the conflict. And king Clothar
was marching like a new David to fight against Absalom his son,
crying aloud and saying: “Look down, Lord, from heaven and judge my
cause since I suffer wicked outrage from my son; look down, Lord, and
judge justly, and give that judgment that thou once gavest between
Absalom and his father.” When they were fighting on equal terms
the count of the Bretons fled and was slain. Then Chramnus started
in flight, having ships in readiness at the shore; but in his wish
to take his wife and daughters he was overwhelmed by his father’s
soldiers and was captured and bound fast. This news was taken to king
Clothar and he gave orders to burn Chramnus with fire together with
his wife and daughters. They were shut up in a hut belonging to a
poor man and Chramnus was stretched on a bench and strangled with a
towel; and later the hut was burned over them and he perished with
his wife and daughters.

21. In the fifty-first year of his reign king Clothar set out for the
door of the blessed Martin with many gifts and coming to the tomb
of the bishop just mentioned at Tours, and repeating all the deeds
he had perhaps done heedlessly, and praying with loud groaning that
the blessed confessor of God would obtain God’s forgiveness for his
faults and by his intercession blot out what he had done contrary to
reason, he then returned, and in the fifty-first year of his reign,
while hunting in the forest of Cuise, he was seized with a fever
and returned thence to a villa in Compiègne. There he was painfully
harassed by the fever and said: “Alas![BH] What do you think the
king of heaven is like when he kills such great kings in this way?”
Laboring under this pain he breathed his last, and his four sons
carried him with great honor to Soissons and buried him in the church
of St. Medard. He died the next day in the revolving year after
Chramnus had been slain.

[22. The four sons of Clothar make “a lawful division” of his
kingdom. To Charibert is assigned Paris for his capital, to Gunthram,
Orleans, to Chilperic, Soissons, to Sigibert, Rheims. 23. The Huns
attack Sigibert and Chilperic takes the opportunity to seize some of
his cities. Sigibert recovers them.]

24. When king Gunthram had taken his part of the realm like his
brothers, he removed the patrician[BI] Agricola and gave the office
of patrician to Celsus, a man of tall stature, strong shoulders,
strong arms and boastful words, ready in retort and skilled in the
law. And then such a greed for possessing came upon him that he often
took the property of the churches and made it his own. Once when he
heard a passage from the prophet Isaiah being read in the church,
which says: “Woe to those who join house to house and unite field
to field even to the boundaries of the place,” he is said to have
exclaimed: “It is out of place to say; woe to me and my sons.” But he
left a son who died without children and left the greater part of his
property to the churches which his father had plundered.

25. The good king Gunthram first took a concubine Veneranda, a slave
belonging to one of his people, by whom he had a son Gundobad. Later
he married Marcatrude, daughter of Magnar, and sent his son Gundobad
to Orleans. But after she had a son Marcatrude was jealous, and
proceeded to bring about Gundobad’s death. She sent poison, they say,
and poisoned his drink. And upon his death, by God’s judgment she
lost the son she had and incurred the hate of the king, was dismissed
by him, and died not long after. After her he took Austerchild, also
named Bobilla. He had by her two sons, of whom the older was called
Clothar and the younger Chlodomer.

26. Moreover king Charibert married Ingoberga, by whom he had a
daughter who afterwards married a husband in Kent and was taken
there. At that time Ingoberga had in her service two daughters of a
certain poor man, of whom the first was called Marcovefa, who wore
the robe of a nun, and the other was Merofled. The king was very
much in love with them. They were, as I have said, the daughters of
a worker in wool. Ingoberga was jealous that they were loved by the
king and secretly gave the father work to do, thinking that when
the king saw this he would dislike his daughters. While he was
working she called the king. He expected to see something strange,
but only saw this man at a distance weaving the king’s wool. Upon
this he was angry and left Ingoberga and married Merofled. He also
had another, a daughter of a shepherd, named Theodogild, by whom he
is said to have had a son who when he came from the womb was carried
at once to the grave. In this king’s time Leontius gathered the
bishops of his province at the city of Saintes and deposed Emeri
from the bishopric, saying that this honor had not been given him in
accordance with the canons. For he had had a decree of king Clothar
that he should be ordained without the consent of the metropolitan
who was not present. When he had been expelled from his office they
made choice of Heraclius, then a priest of the church of Bordeaux,
and they sent word of these doings in their own handwriting by the
priest just named to king Charibert. He came to Tours and related to
the blessed Eufronius what had been done, begging him to consent to
subscribe to this choice. But the man of God flatly refused to do so.
Now after the priest had come to the gates of the city of Paris and
approached the king’s presence he said: “Hail, glorious king. The
apostolic see sends to your eminence the most abundant greetings.”
But the king replied: “You haven’t been at Rome, have you, to bring
us the greeting of the pope?” “It is your father Leontius” the priest
went on, “who, together with the bishops of his province, sends you
greeting and informs you that Cymulus--this was what they used to
call Emeri as a child--has been expelled from the episcopate because
he neglected the sacred authority of the canons and sought actively
for the office of bishop in the city of Saintes. And so they have
sent you their choice in order that his place may be filled, so that
when men who violate the canons are condemned according to rule,
the authority of your kingdom will be extended into distant ages.”
When he said this the king gnashed his teeth and ordered him to be
dragged from his sight, and placed on a wagon covered with thorns
and thrust off into exile, saying: “Do you think that there is no
one left of the sons of king Clothar to uphold his father’s acts,
since these men have cast out without our consent the bishop whom he
chose?” And he at once sent men of religion and restored the bishop
to his place, sending also certain of his officers of the treasury
who exacted from bishop Leontius 1000 gold pieces and fined the other
bishops up to the limit of their power of payment. And so the insult
to the prince was avenged. After this he married Marcovefa, sister
of Merofled. For which reason they were both excommunicated by the
holy bishop Germanus. But since the king did not wish to leave her,
she was struck by a judgment of God and died. Not long after the king
himself died. And after his death, Theodogild, one of his queens,
sent messengers to king Gunthram offering herself in marriage to
him. To which the king sent back this answer: “Let her not be slow
to come to me with her treasures. For I will take her and make her
great among the people, so that she will surely have greater honor
with me than with my brother who has just died.” And she was glad and
gathered all together and set out to him. And the king seeing this
said: “It is better for these treasures to be in my control than in
the hands of this woman who has unworthily gone to my brother’s bed.”
Then he took away much and left little, and sent her to a convent at
Arles. But she took it very hard to be subject to fasts and watches,
and made proposals to a Goth by secret messengers, promising that
if he would take her to Spain and marry her she would leave the
monastery with her treasures and follow him willingly. This promise
he made without hesitation, but when she had got her things together
and packed and was ready to go from the convent, the diligence of the
abbess frustrated her purpose, and the wicked project was detected,
and orders were given to beat her severely and put her under guard.
And she continued in confinement to the end of her life on earth,
consumed with no slight passions.

27. Now when king Sigibert saw that his brothers were taking wives
unworthy of them, and to their disgrace were actually marrying slave
women, he sent an embassy into Spain and with many gifts asked for
Brunhilda, daughter of king Athanagild. She was a maiden beautiful in
her person, lovely to look at, virtuous and well-behaved, with good
sense and a pleasant address. Her father did not refuse, but sent her
to the king I have named with great treasures. And the king collected
his chief men, made ready a feast, and took her as his wife amid
great joy and mirth. And though she was a follower of the Arian law
she was converted by the preaching of the bishops and the admonition
of the king himself, and she confessed the blessed Trinity in unity,
and believed and was baptized. And she still remains catholic in
Christ’s name.

28. When Chilperic saw this, although he had already too many wives,
he asked for her sister Galsuenda, promising through his ambassadors
that he would abandon the others if he could only obtain a wife
worthy of himself and the daughter of a king. Her father accepted
these promises and sent his daughter with much wealth, as he had done
before. Now Galsuenda was older than Brunhilda. And coming to king
Chilperic she was received with great honor, and united to him in
marriage, and she was also greatly loved by him. For she had brought
great treasures. But because of his love of Fredegunda whom he had
had before, there arose a great scandal which divided them. Galsuenda
had already been converted to the catholic law and baptized. And
complaining to the king that she was continually enduring outrages
and had no honor with him, she asked to leave the treasures which she
had brought with her and be permitted to go free to her native land.
But he made ingenious pretences and calmed her with gentle words. At
length he ordered her to be strangled by a slave and found her dead
on the bed. After her death God caused a great miracle to appear. For
the lighted lamp which hung by a rope in front of her tomb broke the
rope without being touched by anyone and dashed upon the pavement and
the hard pavement yielded under it and it went down as if into some
soft substance and was buried to the middle but not at all damaged.
Which seemed a great miracle to all who saw it. But when the king had
mourned her death a few days, he married Fredegunda again. After this
action his brothers thought that the queen mentioned above had been
killed at his command, and they tried to expel him from the kingdom.
Chilperic at that time had three sons by his former wife Audovera,
namely Theodobert, whom we have mentioned above, Merovech and Clovis.
But let us return to our task.

29. The Huns were again endeavoring to make an entrance into the
Gauls. Sigibert marched against them with his army, leading a great
number of brave men. And when they were about to fight, the Huns,
who were versed in magic arts, caused false appearances of various
sorts to come before them and defeated them decisively. Sigibert’s
army fled, but he himself was taken by the Huns and would have
remained a prisoner if he had not overcome by his skill in making
presents the men whom he could not conquer in battle. He was a man
of fine appearance and good address. He gave gifts and entered into
an agreement with their king that all the days of their lives they
should fight no battles with one another. And this incident is
rightly believed to be more to his credit than otherwise. The king
of the Huns also gave many gifts to king Sigibert. He was called
Gaganus.[BJ] All the kings of that people are called by this name.

[30. King Sigibert attempts to take Arles from his brother Gunthram
but fails.]

31. Now a great prodigy appeared in the Gauls at the town of
Tauredunum, situated on the river Rhone. After a sort of rumbling had
continued for more than sixty days, the mountain was finally torn
away and separated from another mountain near it, together with men,
churches, property and houses, and fell into the river, and the banks
of the river were blocked and the water flowed back. For that place
was shut in on either side by mountains and the torrent flowed in a
narrow way. It overflowed above and engulfed and destroyed all that
was on the bank. Then the gathered water burst its way downstream and
took men by surprise, as it had above, and caused a loss of life,
overturned houses, destroyed beasts of burden, and overwhelmed with
a sudden and violent flood all that was on the banks as far as the
city of Geneva. It is told by many that the mass of water was so
great that it went over the walls into the city mentioned. And there
is no doubt of this tale because as we have said the Rhone flows
in that region between mountains that hem it in closely, and being
so closely shut in, it has no place to turn aside. It carried away
the fragments of the mountain that had fallen and thus caused it to
disappear wholly. And after this thirty monks came to the place where
the town fell in ruins and began to dig in the ground which remained
when the mountain had fallen, trying to find bronze and iron. And
while engaged in this they heard a rumbling of the mountain like the
former one. And while they were kept there by their greed the part
of the mountain which had not yet fallen fell on them and covered
and destroyed them and none of them was found. In like manner too
before the plague at Clermont great prodigies terrified that region.
For three or four great shining places frequently appeared about
the sun and the rustics used to call them suns, saying: “Behold,
three or four suns in the sky.” Once on the first of October the sun
was so darkened that not a quarter of it continued bright, but it
looked hideous and discolored, about like a sack. Moreover a star
which certain call a comet, with a ray like a sword, appeared over
that country through a whole year, and the sky seemed to be on fire
and many other signs were seen. In the church at Clermont while the
morning watches were being observed at a certain festival, a bird of
the kind we call lark entered, flapping its wings above the lights,
and so swiftly extinguished them all that one would think they had
been taken by the hand of a single man and plunged into water. The
bird passed under the veil into the sanctuary and attempted to
put out the light there but it was prevented from doing so by the
door-keepers and killed. In the church of the blessed Andrew another
bird did the same with the lighted lamps. And presently the plague
came, and such a carnage of the people took place through the whole
district that the legions that fell could not be counted. For when
sepulchers and grave-stones failed, ten or more would be buried in
a single trench. Three hundred dead bodies were counted one Sunday
in the church of the blessed Peter alone. Death was sudden. A wound
the shape of a serpent would appear on groin or armpit and the man
would be so overcome by the poison as to die on the second or third
day. Moreover the power of the poison rendered the victim insensible.
At that time Cato the priest died. For when many had fled from the
plague he never left the place, but remained courageously burying the
people and celebrating mass. He was a priest of great kindliness and
a warm friend of the poor. And if he had some pride, this virtue I
think counterbalanced it. But the bishop Cautinus, after running from
place to place in fear of this plague, returned to the city, caught
it and died on the day before Passion Sunday. At that very hour too,
Tetradius his cousin died. At that time Lyons, Bourges, Cahors, and
Dijon were seriously depopulated from this plague.

[32. The remarkable virtue of the priest Julian. 33. The good abbot
and the warning he received to be more severe with his monks.]

34. I will relate what happened at that time in a certain monastery,
but I do not wish to give the name of the monk, who is still
alive, for fear that when this account comes to him he may become
vainglorious and lose merit. A young man came to the monastery and
presented himself to the abbot with the proposal to pass his life
in God’s service. The abbot made many objections, explaining that
the service there was hard, and he could never accomplish what was
required of him. But he promised that he would call on the Lord’s
name and accomplish it all. And so he was admitted by the abbot.
After a few days during which he proved to all that he was humble and
holy, it happened that the monks threw out of the granary about three
_chori_ of grain and left it to dry in the sun and appointed this
monk to guard it. And while the others were taking refreshment and he
was left to guard the grain, the sky suddenly became overcast, and
a heavy rain with roaring wind came swiftly in the direction of the
heap of grain. Upon seeing it the monk knew not how to act or what to
do. He thought however that even if he called the rest considering
the great quantity of grain they would not be able to store it in the
granary before the rain, and so giving up everything else he devoted
himself to prayer, beseeching the Lord not to allow a drop of the
rain to fall on the wheat. And when he threw himself on the ground
and prayed, the cloud was divided, and although there was a heavy
downpour all around, if it is right to say so, it did not dampen a
single grain of the wheat. And when the other monks and the abbot
became aware of the coming storm they came quickly to take the grain
within, and saw this miracle, and looking for the man in charge of
the grain they found him close by stretched out on the sand praying.
The abbot on seeing this prostrated himself close to him, and when
the rain had passed and the prayer was finished he called to him to
arise, and gave orders to seize him and punish him with stripes,
saying:[BK] “My son, you must grow in the fear and service of God
with humility, and not be puffed up with prodigies and miracles.” He
ordered him to remain shut up in his cell seven days, and to fast
as if he were at fault, in order to keep vainglory from forming an
obstacle before him. At the present time, as we learn from men of
the faith, the same monk is so abstemious that he eats no bread in
the forty days of Lent and drinks only a cup of barley-water every
third day. And may the Lord with your prayers deign to keep him as is
pleasing to himself until his life is ended.

[35. The priest Eufrasius and the archdeacon Avitus are candidates
for the bishopric of Auvergne. The former Gregory describes in these
words: “He was indeed a man of refined manners, but his acts were not
virtuous and he often made the barbarians drunk and rarely helped
the needy.” 36. Nicetius succeeds Sacerdos as bishop of Lyons. He
is succeeded in turn by the wicked Priscus. 37. Death of the holy
Friard. 38. Leuva and Leuvield, kings of Spain. The latter slew
“all who had been accustomed to kill the kings.” 39. Palladius and
Parthenius, respectively count and bishop of Gévaudan, quarrel.
Palladius accuses the bishop of unnatural crime; he is removed and
Romanus becomes count.]

39. … It happened that one day Palladius and Romanus met in Clermont,
and in their dispute about the office of count Palladius was told
that he was going to be put to death by king Sigibert. However the
story was false, and was ascertained to have been put in circulation
principally by Romanus. Then Palladius was terrified and reduced to
such despair that he threatened to kill himself with his own hand.
And although he was carefully watched by his mother and his kinsman
Firmin, to prevent the deed which he had conceived in the bitterness
of his heart, he escaped from his mother’s sight for a short time and
went into his chamber where he could be alone, unsheathed his sword,
and putting his feet on the crosshilt of the sword he put its point
at his breast and pushed on the sword from above, and it entered at
one of his breasts and came out at the shoulder-blade, and raising
himself up a second time he thrust himself in like manner in the
other breast and fell dead. I regard this deed with astonishment
since it could not have been done without the help of the devil. For
the first wound would have killed him if the devil had not supported
him so that he could accomplish his wicked purpose. His mother rushed
in half dead with alarm, and fell in a faint on the body of the son
she had lost, and the whole household uttered cries of lamentation.
Nevertheless he was carried to the monastery of Cournon and buried
there, but without being placed near the bodies of Christians or
receiving the solemn service of the mass. And this evidently happened
to him for nothing else than his insult to the bishop.

[BL][40. Justin, a man of many vices, succeeds the emperor Justinian.
He associates with himself Tiberius “who was just, charitable, a
discerner of the right and winner of victories and--a feature that
surpasses all other excellences--a most orthodox Christian.”]

[BM]41. Albin, king of the Lombards, who had married Chlotsinda,
daughter of king Clothar, abandoned his country and set out for
Italy with all the Lombard people. They put their army in motion
and went with their wives and children, purposing to remain there.
They entered the country and spent seven years chiefly in wandering
through it, despoiling the churches, killing the bishops, and
bringing the land under their control. When his wife Chlotsinda
died, Albin married another wife whose father he had killed a short
time before. For this reason the woman always hated her husband and
awaited an opportunity to avenge the wrong done her father, and so
it happened that she fell in love with one of the household slaves
and poisoned her husband. When he died she went off with the slave
but they were overtaken and put to death together. Then the Lombards
chose another king over them.

42. Eunius, who was also named Mummulus, was made patrician by king
Gunthram. I think that certain details should be given as to the
beginning of his military service. He was a son of Peonius and native
of the city of Auxerre. Peonius governed this town as count. And when
he had sent gifts to the king by his son to secure reappointment, the
son gave his father’s presents and asked for his father’s office,
and took his place when he should have helped him. From this start
he gradually rose and attained a greater prominence. And upon the
invasion of the Gauls by the Lombards the patrician Amatus, who had
lately succeeded Celsus, went against them and engaged in battle,
but was defeated and slain. And it is said that the slaughter of the
Burgundians by the Lombards was so great on that occasion that the
slain could not be counted. And the Lombards loaded with plunder
departed again for Italy. And upon their departure Eunius, also named
Mummulus, was summoned by the king and raised to the high office of
patrician. When the Lombards made a second inroad into the Gauls and
came as far as _Mustiæ Calmes_ near the city of Embrun, Mummulus
set his army in motion and came to that place with the Burgundians.
He surrounded the Lombards with his army and made an abattis and
attacked them in pathless woods, and killing many took a number of
captives whom he sent to the king. The king ordered them to be kept
under guard in various places through the country, but a few in one
way or another escaped and took the news to their native land. There
were present in this battle Salonius and Sagittarius, brothers and
bishops, who armed themselves not with the cross of heaven but with
the worldly helmet and coat of mail, and, what is worse, are reported
to have killed many with their own hands. This was Mummulus’ first
victory. Then the Saxons, who had entered Italy with the Lombards,
made a second expedition into the Gauls, and pitched camp in the
territory of Riez, that is, near the village of Estoublon, scattering
from there among the villages belonging to neighboring cities, taking
booty, leading off captives and laying all waste. When Mummolus
learned of this he set his army in motion and attacked them, killing
many thousands, and he did not cease to cut them down until evening
when night made an end. For he had taken them off their guard when
they expected nothing of what happened. In the morning the Saxons
marshaled their army and made ready for battle, but messengers passed
from one army to the other and they made peace. They gave presents
to Mummolus, and surrendered all the plunder of the region with
the captives, and departed[BN] after taking oath that they would
return to the Gauls in obedience to the kings and as allies to the
Franks. And so the Saxons returned to Italy, and taking their wives
and little ones and all their possessions undertook the return
journey into the Gauls with the intention of presenting themselves
to king Sigibert and establishing themselves again in the district
which they had left. They formed two wedges [_cunios_] as they call
them; and one came by way of Nice and the other by Embrun, keeping
in fact to the road they had come the previous year, and the two
divisions united in the territory of Avignon. It was then harvest
time, and that country had its crops chiefly in the open fields and
the inhabitants had not stored any of them. When the Saxons came they
divided the crops among them and gathered and threshed the grain and
used it, leaving nothing to those who had done the work. But after
the harvest had been used up and they came to the shore of the river
Rhone in order to cross the torrent and present themselves in the
kingdom of king Sigibert, Mummolus met them and said: “You shall not
cross this torrent. Behold, you have devastated the land of my lord
the king, you have gathered the crops, plundered the herds, burned
the houses, cut down the olive groves and vineyards. You shall not
go up unless you first satisfy those whom you have left in want;
otherwise you shall not escape my hands, but I shall draw my sword
against you and your wives and little ones and avenge the wrong done
to my lord king Gunthram.” Then they were very much afraid and gave
many thousand pieces of coined gold as a ransom, and were allowed to
cross, and thus they came to Clermont. It was then springtime. They
brought there pieces of bronze engraved like gold, and any one seeing
them would have no doubt that it was gold tested and weighed; for it
was colored by some device or other. And a good many were deceived
by the false appearance and gave gold and received bronze and became
poor. And they went on to king Sigibert and were settled in the land
they had left.

[43. Albinus, governor of Provence, seizes archdeacon Virgilius on
Christmas day in the church for failing to punish his men; Albinus
is fined. 44. Three Lombard chiefs invade Gaul but are defeated and
driven back into Italy by Mummolus. 45. Mummolus recovers Tours and
Poitiers for Sigibert from Chilperic.]

46. As I am about to speak of the death of Andarchius, it seems best
to tell first of his birth and native place. He was a slave of the
senator Felix as they say, and being assigned to attend his young
master he entered with him upon the study of letters and became
distinguished for his learning. For he was fully instructed in the
works of Virgil, the books of the Theodosian law, and the art of
calculation. Being puffed up with such knowledge he began to hold
his masters in contempt, and devoted himself to the service of
duke Lupus when he went to the city of Marseilles by order of king
Sigibert. When Lupus left Marseilles he told Andarchius to go with
him and secured for him the favor of king Sigibert and put him at
his service. And Sigibert sent him to various places and gave him an
opportunity for military service. Being held in a sort of honor[BO]
because of this he came to Clermont and there entered into friendship
with Ursus, a citizen of the city. Then being of an ambitious temper
he wished to be betrothed to Ursus’ daughter, and concealed a coat
of mail, as they tell, in a chest in which documents used to be
kept, and said to Ursus’ wife: “I give in your care a multitude of
gold pieces, more than sixteen thousand, which I have placed in
this chest, and it shall be yours if you will cause your daughter
to be betrothed to me.” [BP]“To what do you not drive the hearts
of men, accursed greed for gold?” The woman believed him without
reserve and in her husband’s absence agreed to betroth the girl to
him. He went back to the king and brought an order to the judge of
the place[BQ] commanding him to marry this girl, saying: “I paid
the earnest money at the betrothal.” But Ursus denied it saying: “I
do not know who you are and I have none of your property.” When the
quarrel continued and grew hotter Andarchius had Ursus summoned to
the presence of the king. And coming to the village of Braine he
found another man named Ursus whom he caused to be taken secretly to
the altar and to swear and say: “By this holy place and the relics
of the blessed martyrs I will not delay in paying you the sixteen
thousand _solidi_, since I am not to give my daughter in marriage
to you.” Now witnesses were standing in the sanctuary listening
secretly to what was said but not seeing the person who spoke. Then
Andarchius soothed Ursus with gentle words and caused him to return
to his native place without seeing the king. After this he made an
oath and when Ursus went away he produced before the king a document
containing the oath and said: “Such and such is the writing I have
from Ursus, and therefore I request an order from your glory that he
give his daughter to me in marriage. Otherwise let me have authority
to take his possessions until I receive sixteen thousand _solidi_ and
am satisfied in this case.” Then he received the order and returned
to Clermont and showed the judge the king’s order. Ursus retired into
the territory of Velay. And when his property was turned over to
Andarchius he also went to Velay, and going into one of Ursus’ houses
he bade them prepare supper for him and heat water for bathing. And
when the slaves of the household did not obey their new master, he
beat some with clubs, others with switches, and struck some on the
head, drawing blood. The whole household was in confusion but the
supper was prepared; he bathed in hot water, became drunk with wine
and stretched himself on his couch. He had only seven slaves with
him. And when they were sound asleep, weighed down by drowsiness not
less than by wine, the household was gathered together, and Ursus
closed the doors of the house which were made of wooden boards. He
took the keys and tore down the stacks of grain near by and heaped
piles of the grain which was then in the sheaf around and above the
house until it was seen that the house was entirely covered. Then he
set fire to it in different places and when the burning timbers of
the building were falling on the luckless ones they awoke and began
to shout but there was no one to listen to them and the whole house
was burned and the fire consumed all alike. Ursus fled in fear to
the church of St. Julian, and after making presents to the king he
received again a good title to his property.

[47. Civil war between Chilperic and Sigibert. “There was at
that time a worse outcry among the churches than in the time of
Diocletian’s persecution.” 48. The wickedness of the people of Gaul
as compared with earlier times; the plundering of the monastery of
Latta. 49. The civil war is continued. Sigibert forces Chilperic to
restore his cities. 50. Chilperic shuts himself up in Tournai.]

51. In that year lightning[BR] was seen to traverse the sky as once
we saw before the death of Clothar. Now Sigibert took the cities this
side of Paris and marched as far as Rouen, wishing to destroy these
same cities with his army. But he was prevented from doing so by his
own people. He returned thence and entered Paris. And there Brunhilda
came to him with her children. Then the Franks who had once looked to
the older Childebert, sent an embassy to Sigibert that if he would
come to them they would abandon Chilperic and make him king over
them. On hearing this he sent men to besiege his brother in the city
mentioned above, and he himself purposed to hasten thither. And the
holy bishop Germanus said to him: “If you go and do not purpose to
kill your brother you shall return alive and victorious; but if you
have another purpose in mind you shall die. For thus said the Lord
through Solomon: ‘You who prepare a pit for your brother shall fall
into it.’” But because of his wickedness he failed to pay heed. And
when he came to the village named Vitry, all the army was gathered
about him, and they placed him on a shield and made him king over
them. Then two slaves who had been placed under a charm by Queen
Fredegunda, carrying strong knives with poisoned blades--of the sort
commonly called _scramasaxi_--approached him on some pretext and
stabbed him one on each side. He cried aloud and fell and died in a
short time. At the same time Charigysel, his chamberlain, was slain
and Sigila who came from the land of the Goths was seriously wounded.
He was afterwards seized by King Chilperic and met a cruel death,
every joint being burned with white-hot irons and his limbs being
torn one from the other. Charigysel was both fickle and avaricious.
He had risen from a lowly place and become great with the king by
flattery. He was a man who grasped other men’s property,[BS] and was
a breaker of wills, and the end of his life was such that he did not
succeed in making his own will when death threatened, he who had so
often destroyed the wills of others.

Chilperic was in suspense and did not know whether he should escape
or perish, when messengers came to him to tell of his brother’s
death. Then he left Tournai with his wife and children and clothed
Sigibert and buried him in the village of Lambres. Whence he was
later transferred to Soissons to the church of the holy Medard which
he had built, and was buried there by the side of his father Clothar.
He died in the fourteenth year of his reign, the fortieth of his
life. From the death of Theodobert the elder to that of Sigibert
twenty-nine years are included, and there were eighteen days between
his death and that of his nephew Theodobert. Upon the death of
Sigibert, Childebert his son reigned in his place.

From the beginning to the flood there were 2242 years; from the flood
to Abraham 942 years; from Abraham to the going out of the children
of Israel from Egypt 462 years; from the going of the children of
Israel from Egypt to the building of the temple of Solomon 480
years; from the building of the temple to its desolation and the
migration to Babylon 390 years; from the migration to the passion
of the Lord 668 years; from the passion of the Lord to the death of
St. Martin 412 years; from the death of St. Martin to the death of
King Clovis 112 years; from the death of King Clovis to the death of
Theodobert 37 years; from the death of Theodobert to the death of
Sigibert 29 years. Which make a total of 5774 years.

HERE ENDS THE FOURTH BOOK.

FOOTNOTES:

[54] Sidonius Apollinaris.

HERE BEGIN THE CHAPTERS OF THE FIFTH BOOK

1. The rule of the younger Childebert; his mother.
2. Merovech marries Brunhilda.
3. War with Chilperic; Rauching’s wickedness.
4. Roccolenus comes to Tours.
5. The bishops of Langres.
6. Leonastis, archdeacon of Bourges.
7. The recluse Senoch.
8. The holy Germanus, bishop of Paris.
9. The recluse Caluppa.
10. The recluse Patroclus.
11. Conversion of Jews by bishop Avitus.
12. The abbot Brachio.
13. Mummulus devastates Limoges.
14. Merovech after receiving the tonsure flees to St. Martin’s
church.
15. War between the Saxons and Suevi.
16. Death of Macliavus.
17. The uncertainty about Easter; the church at Chinon; how king
Gunthram killed Magnachar’s sons and lost his own and then
allied himself with Childebert.
18. Bishop Prætextatus and Merovech’s death.
19. Tiberius’s charities.
20. Bishops Salunius and Sagittarius.
21. The Breton Winnoc.
22. Death of Samson, Chilperic’s son.
23. Prodigies that appeared.
24. Gunthram Boso takes his daughters from the church of the holy
Hilarius and Chilperic attacks Poitiers.
25. Death of Dacco and of Dracolinus.
26. The army marches against the Bretons.
27. Salunius and Sagittarius are degraded.
28. Chilperic’s taxes.
29. The ravaging of Brittany.
30. The rule of Tiberius.
31. The attacks of the Bretons.
32. Sacrilege done in the church of St. Denis because of a woman.
33. Prodigies.
34. Dysentery and the death of Chilperic’s sons.
35. Queen Austrechild.
36. Bishop Eraclius and Count Nanthinus.
37. Martin, bishop of Galicia.
38. Persecution of the Christians in the Spains.
39. Clovis’s death.
40. Bishops Elafius and Eunius.
41. Legates from Galicia and prodigies.
42. Maurilio, bishop of Cahors.
43. Dispute with a heretic.
44. Chilperic’s writings.
45. Death of bishop Agricola.
46. Death of bishop Dalmatius.
47. Eunomius becomes count.
48. Leudast’s wickedness.
49. The plots he formed against us and how he was himself brought
low.
50. Prediction of the blessed Salvius about Chilperic.

HERE END THE CHAPTERS

HERE BEGINS THE FIFTH BOOK WITH HAPPY AUSPICES. AMEN

I am weary of relating the details of the civil wars that mightily
plague the nation and kingdom of the Franks; and the worst of it
is that we see in them the beginning of that time of woe which the
Lord foretold: “Father shall rise against son, son against father,
brother against brother, kinsman against kinsman.” They should have
been deterred by the examples of former kings who were slain by their
enemies as soon as they were divided. How often has the very city
of cities, the great capital of the whole earth, been laid low by
civil war and again, when it ceased, has risen as if from the ground!
Would that you too, O kings, were engaged in battles like those in
which your fathers struggled, that the heathen terrified by your
union might be crushed by your strength! Remember how Clovis won your
great victories, how he slew opposing kings, crushed wicked peoples
and subdued their lands, and left to you complete and unchallenged
dominion over them! And when he did this he had neither silver nor
gold such as you now have in your treasuries. What is your object?
What do you seek after? What have you not in plenty? In your homes
there are luxuries in abundance, in your storehouses wine, grain and
oil abound, gold and silver are piled up in your treasuries. One
thing you lack: without peace you have not the grace of God. Why does
one take from another? Why does one desire what another has? I beg of
you, beware of this saying of the apostle: “But if ye bite and devour
one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.”
Examine carefully the books of the ancients and you will see what
civil wars beget. Read what Orosius writes[BT] of the Carthaginians,
who says that after seven hundred years their city and country were
ruined and adds: “What preserved this city so long? Union. What
destroyed it after such a period? Disunion.” Beware of disunion,
beware of civil wars which destroy you and your people. What else is
to be expected but that your army will fall and that you will be left
without strength and be crushed and ruined by hostile peoples. And,
king, if civil war gives you pleasure, govern that impulse which the
apostle says is urgent within man, let the spirit struggle against
the flesh and the vices fall before the virtues; and be free and
serve your chief who is Christ, you who were once a fettered slave of
the root of evil.

[1. Sigibert’s son, Childebert, not yet five years old, is made king.
Chilperic seizes Brunhilda and keeps her in exile at Rouen.]

2. Chilperic sent his son Merovech to Poitiers with an army. [BU]But
he disobeyed his father’s orders and came to Tours and spent there
the holy days of Easter. His army did great damage to that district.
Merovech himself in pretence that he wanted to go to see his
mother[BV] went to Rouen and there met queen Brunhilda and married
her. Upon news of this Chilperic became very bitter because Merovech
had married his uncle’s widow contrary to divine law and the canons,
and quicker than speech he hastened to the above mentioned city.
But when they learned that he was determined to separate them they
took refuge in the church of St. Martin that is built of boards upon
the wall of the city. But when the king on his arrival strove to
entice them thence by many artifices and they refused to trust him,
thinking that he was acting treacherously, he took oath to them,
saying: “If it was the will of God, he himself would not attempt to
separate them.” They accepted this oath and came out of the church
and Chilperic kissed them and gave them a fitting welcome and feasted
with them. But after a few days he returned to Soissons, taking
Merovech with him.

[3. Godin makes an attack on Chilperic’s territory but is defeated.
Chilperic suspects Merovech of being involved in the attack. Godin’s
wife after his death marries a notorious character, Rauching.]

3. … Godin’s wife married Rauching, a man full of every vanity,
swollen with haughtiness, wanton with pride, who treated those under
him in such a way that one could not perceive that he had any human
feeling in him, and he vented his rage on his own people beyond the
limits of human wickedness and folly and committed unspeakable
wrongs. For whenever a slave held a candle for him at dinner, as
the custom is, he would make him bare his legs and hold the candle
against them until it went out; when it was lighted he would do the
same thing again until the legs of the slave who held the candle were
burned all over. And if he uttered a cry or tried to move from that
place to another a naked sword at once threatened him, and when he
wept Rauching could scarcely contain himself for delight. Certain
ones tell the story that two of his slaves at that time loved one
another, namely, a man and a maid--a thing that often happens. And
when this love had lasted a space of two years or more, they were
united together and took refuge in the church. When Rauching found it
out he went to the bishop of the place and demanded that his slaves
be returned to him at once, and said they would not be punished. Then
the bishop said to him: “You know what respect should be paid to the
churches of God; you cannot take them unless you give a pledge of
their permanent union, and likewise proclaim that they shall remain
free from every bodily punishment.” When he had continued silent for
a long time in doubtful thought, he finally turned to the bishop and
placed his hands on the altar and swore, saying: “They shall never be
parted by me but I will rather cause them to continue in this union
permanently, because although it is annoying to me that this was done
without my consent, still I welcome this feature of it, that he has
not married a maid belonging to another nor she another’s slave.” The
bishop in a simple-hearted way believed the crafty fellow’s promise
and restored the slaves under the promise that they would not be
punished. Rauching took them and thanking the bishop went home. He
at once directed a tree to be cut down and the trunk cut off close
to the branches and split with wedges and hollowed out. He ordered
the earth to be dug to a depth of three or four feet and half the
trunk put in the trench. Then he placed the maid there as if she were
dead and ordered them to throw the man in on top. And he put the
covering on and filled the trench and buried them alive, saying: “I
have not broken my oath that they should never be separated.” When
this was reported to the bishop he ran swiftly, and fiercely rebuking
the man he finally succeeded in having them uncovered. However it
was only the man who was alive when dragged out; he found the girl
suffocated. In such actions Rauching showed himself very wicked,
having no other aptitude except in loud laughter and trickery and
every perversity. Therefore he justly met a fitting death, since he
so behaved himself when he enjoyed this life; but I shall tell of
this later.…

4. In these days Roccolenus being sent by Chilperic came to Tours
with great boasting and pitching camp beyond the Loire he sent
messengers to us that we ought to drag from the holy church Gunthram,
who was at that time wanted for the death of Theodobert;[BW] if we
would not do it he would give orders to burn the city with fire and
all its suburbs. On hearing this we sent messengers to him saying
that what he asked to have done had not been done from ancient time;
moreover the holy church could not now be violated; if it should
be, it would not be well for him or for the king who had given this
command; let him rather stand in awe of the holiness of the bishop
whose power only the day before had given strength to paralytic
limbs. But he had no fear of such words and while he was dwelling in
a house belonging to the church beyond the river Loire he tore down
the house itself which had been built with nails. The people of Mans
who had come on that occasion with him carried the nails[BX] off,
filling their bags, and they destroyed the grain and laid everything
waste. But while Roccolenus was engaged on this he was struck by God,
and becoming saffron color[BZ] from the royal disease he sent harsh
commands saying: “Unless you cast duke Gunthram out of the church
to-day I will destroy every green thing around the city so that the
country will be ready for the plow.”[55] Meantime the sacred day of
Epiphany came and he began to be in greater and greater torture.
Then after taking counsel with his people he crossed the river and
approached the city. And when [the clergy] were hastening from the
cathedral to the holy church[BY] singing psalms, he rode on horseback
behind the cross, preceded by his standards. But when he entered
the holy church his rage and threats cooled and going back to the
cathedral he could take no food on that day. Then being very short of
breath he departed for Poitiers. Now these were the days of holy Lent
during which he often ate young rabbits. And after setting for the
first of March the actions by which he meant to ruin and fine the
citizens of Poitiers, he rendered up his life on the preceding day;
and so his pride and insolence ceased.

5. At that time Felix, bishop of Nantes,[CA] wrote me a letter full
of insults, writing also that my brother had been slain because he
had killed a bishop, being himself greedy for the bishopric. But the
reason Felix wrote this was because he wanted an estate belonging
to the church. And when I would not give it he was full of rage and
vented on me, as I have said, a thousand insults. I finally replied
to him: “Remember the words of the prophet: ‘Woe unto them that
join house to house, that lay field to field! They are not going to
inhabit the earth alone, are they?’ I wish you had been bishop of
Marseilles! For ships would never have brought oil or other goods
there, but only paper that you might have greater opportunity for
writing to defame honest men. It is the scarcity of paper that sets
a limit to your wordiness.” He was a man of unlimited greed and
boastfulness. Now I shall pass over these matters, not to appear
like him, and merely tell how my brother passed from the light of
day and how swift a vengeance the Lord visited upon his assassin.
The blessed Tetricus,[56] bishop of the church of Langres, who was
already growing old,[CB] expelled the deacon Lampadio from his place
as procurator,[CC] and my brother[CD] in his desire to aid the poor
men whom Lampadio had wickedly despoiled, joined in bringing about
his humiliation and thus incurred his hatred. Meantime the blessed
Tetricus had an apoplectic stroke. And when the poultices of the
doctors did him no good, the clergy were disquieted, and seeing they
were bereft of their shepherd they asked for Monderic. The king
granted their request and he was given the tonsure and ordained
bishop with the understanding that while the blessed Tetricus lived
he should govern the town of Tonnerre as archpriest and dwell there,
and when his predecessor died he should succeed him. But while he
lived in the town he incurred the king’s anger. For it was charged
against him that he had furnished supplies and made gifts to king
Sigibert when he was marching against his brother Gunthram. And so
he was dragged from the town and thrust off into exile on the bank
of the Rhone in a certain tower that was very small and had lost
its roof. Here he lived for nearly two years to his great hurt,
and then through the intercession of the blessed bishop Nicetius
he returned to Lyons and dwelt with him for two months. But since
he could not prevail on the king to restore him to the place from
which he had been expelled he fled in the night and passed over to
Sigibert’s kingdom and was made bishop of the village of Arisitum[CE]
with fifteen parishes more or less under him. These the Goths had
held at first, and now Dalmatius, bishop of Rodez, judges them.
When he went away the people of Langres again requested as bishop,
Silvester, a kinsman of ours and of the blessed Tetricus. Now they
asked for him at the instigation of my brother. Meantime the blessed
Tetricus passed away and Silvester received the tonsure and was
ordained priest and took the whole authority over the property of
the church. And he made preparations to go and receive the blessing
of the bishops at Lyons. While this was going on he was stricken by
an attack of epilepsy, having been long a victim of the disease,
and being more cruelly bereft of his senses than before he kept
continually uttering a moaning cry for two days and on the third day
breathed his last. After this Lampadius, who had lost his position
and his means as is described above, united with Silvester’s son in
hatred of Peter the deacon, plotting and asserting that his father
had been killed by Peter’s evil arts. Now the son being young and
light-minded was aroused against him, accusing him in public of
murder. Upon hearing this Peter carried his case before the holy
bishop Nicetius, my mother’s uncle, and went to Lyons and there in
the presence of bishop Siagrius and many other bishops as well as
secular princes he cleared himself by oath of ever having had any
part in Silvester’s death. But two years later, being urged to it
again by Lampadius, Silvester’s son followed Peter the deacon on the
road and killed him with a lance wound. When the deed was done Peter
was taken from that place and carried to the town of Dijon and buried
beside the holy Gregory, our great-grandfather. But Silvester’s son
fled and passed over to king Chilperic, leaving his property to the
treasury of king Gunthram. And when he was wandering through distant
parts because of the crime he had committed, and there was no safe
place for him to dwell in, at length, I suppose, innocent blood
called upon the divine power against him and when he was traveling in
a certain place he drew his sword and slew a man who had done him no
harm. And the man’s kinsmen, filled with grief at the death of their
relative, roused the people, and drawing their swords they cut him
in pieces and scattered him limb by limb. Such a fate did the wretch
meet by God’s just judgment, so that he who slew an innocent kinsman
should not himself live longer in guilt. Now this happened to him in
the third year.

After Silvester’s death the people of Langres again demanded a
bishop, and received Pappolus who had once been archdeacon at Autun.
According to report he did many wicked deeds, which are omitted by us
that we may not seem to be disparagers of our brethren. However, I
shall not fail to mention what his end was. In the eighth year of his
episcopate, while he was making the round of the parishes and domains
of the church, one night as he slept the blessed Tetricus appeared
to him with threatening face and said: “What are you doing here,
Pappolus? Why do you pollute my see? Why do you invade my church? Why
do you so scatter the flock that was put in my charge? Yield your
place, leave the see, go far from this territory.” And so speaking he
struck the rod he had in his hand sharply against Pappolus’ breast.
Upon this Pappolus woke up and while he was thinking what this meant
a sharp pang darted in that place and he was tortured with the
keenest pain. He loathed food and drink and awaited the approach of
death. Why more? He died on the third day with a rush of blood from
the mouth. Then he was carried forth and buried at Langres. In his
place the abbot Mummolus, called also Bonus, was made bishop. To him
many give great praise: that he is chaste, sober, moderate, very
ready for every goodness, a friend of justice and a zealous lover of
charity. When he took the bishopric he perceived that Lampadius had
taken much of the church property by fraud, and by spoiling the poor
had gathered lands, vineyards and slaves, and he ordered him to be
stripped of all and driven out from his presence. He now lives in
the greatest want and gets his living by his own hands. Let this be
enough on these matters.

6. In the same year as that mentioned above, that is, the year in
which Sigibert died and Childebert his son began to reign, many
miracles were done at the tomb of the blessed Martin[CF] which I
have described in the books I have attempted to compose about these
miracles. And though my speech is unpolished I have still not allowed
the things that I saw with my own eyes or learned from trustworthy
persons to pass unknown. Here I shall relate merely what happens to
the heedless who after a miracle from heaven have sought for earthly
cures, because his power is shown in the punishment of fools just as
much as in the gracious working of cures. Leonastis, archdeacon of
Bourges, lost his sight through cataracts that grew over his eyes.
And when he altogether failed to recover it by going around among
many physicians, he came to the church of St. Martin and remaining
here for two or three months and fasting continuously he prayed to
recover his sight. And when the festival came his eyes brightened
and he began to see. He returned home and summoned a certain Jew and
applied cupping glasses to his shoulders by the help of which he
was to increase his eyesight. But as the blood flowed his blindness
revived again. When this happened he again returned to the holy
temple. And remaining there again a long time he did not succeed in
recovering his sight. Which I think was refused because of his sin,
according to the words of the Lord: “For whosoever hath, to him shall
be given, and he shall have abundance; but whosoever hath not, from
him shall be taken away even that which he hath.” “Behold thou art
made whole; sin no more lest a worse thing befall thee.” For he would
have continued in health if he had not brought in the Jew in addition
to the divine miracle. For such is the warning and reproof of the
apostle, saying: “Be not yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship
have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion hath light with
darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what portion
hath a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement hath a temple
of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Therefore
come ye out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord.”
Therefore let this case teach every Christian that when he has merit
to receive heavenly medicine[CG] he should not seek after earthly
help.

[7. Death of the priest Senoch, one “of the tribe of Theifali.” 8.
Germanus, bishop of Paris, dies. As he is taken to be buried “his
body bears heavily down on the street when the prisoners raise a
cry and when they are released it is easily taken up again.” 9. The
recluse Caluppa dies. 10. The recluse Patroclus dies. He was very
abstemious and “always wore a hair shirt next his body.” “His eyes
never grew dim.”]

11. And since our God always deigns to give glory to his bishops,[CH]
I shall relate what happened to the Jews in Clermont this year.
Although the blessed bishop Avitus often urged them to put aside
the veil of the Mosaic law and interpret the Scriptures in their
spiritual sense, and with pure hearts contemplate in the sacred
writings Christ, son of the living God, promised on the authority
of prophets and kings, there remained in their hearts, I will not
now call it the veil which dimmed the light for Moses’ face, but a
wall. The bishop prayed also that they should be converted to the
Lord and that the veil of the letter should be torn from them, and
one of them asked to be baptized on holy Easter, and being born again
in God by the sacrament of baptism, in his white garments he joined
the white-clad procession with the others. When the people were
going in through the gate of the city one of the Jews, urged to it
by the devil, poured stinking oil on the head of the converted Jew.
And when all the people, horrified at this, wished to stone him, the
bishop would not allow it. But on the blessed day on which the Lord
ascends to heaven in glory after the redemption of man, when the
bishop was walking in procession from the cathedral to the church
singing psalms, a multitude of those who followed rushed upon the
synagogue of the Jews and destroying it from the foundations they
leveled it to the ground. On another day the bishop sent messengers
to them saying: “I do not compel you by force to confess the Son of
God, but nevertheless I preach him and I offer to your hearts the
salt of wisdom. I am the shepherd put in charge of the Lord’s sheep,
and as regards you, the true Shepherd who suffered for us said that
he had other sheep which are not in his sheepfold but which should
be brought in, so that there may be one flock and one shepherd. And
therefore if you are willing to believe as I, be one flock with me as
your guardian; but if not, depart from the place.” Now they continued
a long time in turmoil and doubt and on the third day because of
the prayers of the bishop, as I suppose, they met together and sent
word to him saying; “We believe in Jesus, son of the living God,
promised to us by the words of the prophets, and therefore we ask
that we be purified by baptism and remain no longer in this guilt.”
The bishop was rejoiced at the news and keeping watch through the
night of holy pentecost went out to the baptistery beyond the walls
and there the whole multitude prostrated themselves before him and
begged for baptism. And he wept for joy, and cleansing all with water
he anointed them with ointment and gathered them in the bosom of the
mother church. Candles were lit, lamps burned brightly, the whole
city was whitened with the white throng and the joy was as great as
once Jerusalem saw when the holy spirit descended on the apostles.
The baptized were more than five hundred. But those who refused
baptism left that city and returned to Marseilles.

[12. The abbot Brachio, a Thuringian and formerly a hunter, dies. 13.
Great battle between Chilperic’s duke, Desiderius, and Gunthram’s
patrician, Mummolus. Desiderius is defeated.]

14. After this Merovech, who was kept in custody by his father,
received the tonsure, and changing his garments for those which
it is customary for the clergy to wear he was ordained priest and
sent to the monastery at Mans called Anninsola [Saint-Calais] to be
instructed in the duties of priests. Hearing this Gunthram Boso who
was then living in the church of St. Martin, as we have stated, sent
the subdeacon Rigulf to advise him secretly to take refuge in the
church of St. Martin. And when Merovech was on his way, Galen his
slave went to meet him from the other side. And since his escort was
not a strong one he was rescued by Galen on the way, and covering
his head and putting on secular clothes he took refuge in the temple
of the blessed Martin. We were celebrating mass in the holy church
when he entered, finding the door open. After the mass he asked us to
give him the consecrated bread. Now there was with us at that time
Ragnemodus, bishop of the see of Paris, who had succeeded the holy
Germanus; and when we refused, Merovech began to raise a disturbance
and to say that we did not rightly suspend him from the communion
without the assent of our brethren. When he said this we examined
the case in the light of canon law, and with the consent of the
brother who was present he received the consecrated bread from us.
I was afraid that if I suspended one from communion I would become
a slayer of many. For he threatened to kill some of our people if
he did not receive the communion from us. The country of Tours has
sustained many disasters on this account. In these days Nicetius, my
niece’s husband, went with our deacon to king Chilperic on business
of his own, and he told the king of Merovech’s flight. On seeing them
queen Fredegunda said: “They are spies and have come to learn what
the king is doing, in order to know what to report to Merovech.” And
she at once ordered them to be spoiled and thrust off into exile,
from which they were released in the seventh month. Now Chilperic
sent messengers to us saying: “Cast that apostate out of the church.
If you don’t I will burn that whole country with fire.” And when we
wrote back that it was impossible that what had not happened in the
time of the heretics should now happen in Christian times, he set his
army in motion and sent it toward this country.

In the second year of king Childebert, when Merovech saw that his
father was set in this purpose, he proposed to take with him duke
Gunthram and go to Brunhilda, saying: “Far be it from me that the
church of the master Martin should submit to outrage on my account,
or his country be put into captivity for me.” And going into the
church and keeping watch he offered the things he had with him on
the tomb of the blessed Martin, praying to the saint to help him
and to grant him his favor so that he could take the kingdom. At
that time count Leudast after setting many traps for him out of love
for Fredegunda, at last craftily entrapped his slaves who had gone
out into the country and slew them with the sword, and he desired
to slay Merovech himself if he could find him in a suitable place.
But Merovech followed Gunthram’s advice and, desiring to avenge
himself, he ordered Marileif the chief physician to be seized as he
was returning from the king’s presence, and after beating him most
cruelly he took away the gold and silver and other valuables which he
had with him and left him naked, and would have killed him if he had
not escaped from the hands of those who were beating him and taken
refuge in the church. And later we clothed him and having obtained
his life sent him back to Poitiers. Now Merovech charged many crimes
to his father and stepmother. But although they were partly true it
was not acceptable to God I suppose that they should be made known
through a son. This I learned to be so later on. For one day I was
invited to dine with him and when we were sitting together he begged
urgently that something be read for the instruction of his soul. So I
opened the book of Solomon and took the first verse that came which
contained the following: “The eye of him who looketh at his father
askance, the ravens of the valleys shall pick it out.” Although he
did not understand it, I believed that this verse had been given by
the Lord. Then Gunthram sent a slave to a certain woman known to him
from the time of king Charibert, who had a familiar spirit, in order
that she should relate what was to happen. He asserted besides that
she had foretold to him the time, not only the year but also the
day and hour, at which king Charibert was to die. And she sent back
this answer by the slaves: “King Chilperic will die this year and
king Merovech will exclude his brothers and take the whole kingdom.
And you shall hold the office of duke over all his kingdom for five
years. But in the sixth year you shall win the honor of the bishop’s
office, with the consent of the people, in a city which lies on the
river Loire on its right bank,[CI] and you shall pass from this world
old and full of days.” And when the slaves had come back and reported
this to their master he was at once filled with vanity as if he were
already sitting in the chair of the church of Tours, and he reported
the words to me. But I laughed at his folly and said: “It is from
God that this should be sought; what the devil promises is not to be
believed.” He went off in confusion and I had a hearty laugh at the
man who thought such things credible.[CJ] At length one night, when
the watch was being kept in the church of the holy bishop and I had
lain down and fallen asleep on my bed, I saw an angel flying through
the air. And when he passed the holy church he cried in a loud voice:
“Alas. Alas. God has stricken Chilperic and all his sons and there
shall remain no one of those who came forth from his loins to rule
his kingdom forever.”[CK] He had at this time four sons by different
wives, not to speak of daughters. And when this was fulfilled later
on, then I saw clearly that what the soothsayers promised was false.
Now while these men were staying in the church of St. Martin, queen
Fredegunda who already favored Gunthram Boso secretly for the death
of Theodobert, sent to him saying: “If you can cast Merovech forth
from the church so that he will be killed you shall receive a great
gift from me.” And he thought the assassins were close at hand and
said to Merovech: “Why are we so spiritless and timid as to sit here
and hide sluggishly around the church? Let our horses be brought and
let us take hawks and hunt with dogs and enjoy the hunting[CL] and
the open views.” He was acting cunningly to get Merovech away from
the holy church. Now Gunthram otherwise was a very good man but he
was too ready for perjury, and he never took an oath to any of his
friends but that he broke it forthwith. They went out, as we have
said, from the church and went as far as the house of Jocundiacus
near the city; but Merovech was harmed by no one. And as Gunthram
was at that time wanted for the killing of Theodobert, as we have
said, king Chilperic sent a letter all written out to the tomb of
St. Martin which contained the request that the blessed Martin would
write back to him whether it was permissible to drag Gunthram from
his church or not. And the deacon Baudegisil, who brought the letter,
sent to the holy tomb a clean sheet of paper along with the one he
had brought. And after waiting three days and getting no answer
he returned to Chilperic. And he sent others to exact an oath of
Gunthram not to leave the church without his knowledge. Gunthram
took the oath eagerly and gave an altarcloth as pledge that he would
never go thence without the king’s command. Now Merovech did not
believe the sorcerers but placed three books on the saint’s tomb,
namely, Psalms, Kings and the Gospels, and keeping watch the whole
night he prayed the blessed confessor to reveal to him what was
coming and whether he could be king or not, in order that he might
know by evidence from the Lord. After this he continued three days in
fasting, watching and prayer, and going to the blessed grave a second
time he opened the book of Kings. And the first verse on the page
which he opened was this: “Because you have forsaken the Lord your
God and have gone after other gods and have not done right in his
sight, therefore the Lord your God has betrayed you into the hands of
your enemies.”

And this verse was found in the Psalms: “But thou hast brought evils
upon them because of their deceitfulness; thou hast hurled them down
when they were lifted up. How have they been brought to desolation?
They have suddenly failed and perished because of their iniquities.”
And in the Gospels this was found: “Ye know that after two days the
passover cometh and the Son of man is delivered up to be crucified.”

At these answers he was troubled and wept long at the tomb of the
blessed bishop, and then taking duke Gunthram with him he went off
with five hundred men or more. He left the holy church and while
marching through the territory of Auxerre he was captured by Erpo,
king Gunthram’s duke. And while he was being held by him he escaped
by some chance and entered the church of the holy Germanus. On
hearing this king Gunthram was angry and fined Erpo seven hundred
gold pieces and removed him from office, saying: “You held prisoner
one who my brother says is his enemy. Now if you intended to do this,
you should first have brought him to me; otherwise you should not
have touched him whom you pretended to hold prisoner.”

King Chilperic’s army came as far as Tours and plundered this region
and burned it and laid it waste, and did not spare St. Martin’s
property, but whatever he got his hands on he took without regard for
God or any fear. Merovech remained nearly two months in the church I
have mentioned and then fled and went to queen Brunhilda, but he was
not received by the Austrasians.[CM] And his father set his army in
motion against the people of Champagne, believing that he was hiding
there. He did no injury, but he could not find Merovech.

15. Inasmuch as Clothar and Sigibert had settled the Suevi and other
tribes on their land when Albin had gone to Italy, they who returned
in the time of Sigibert, namely the men who had been with Albin,
rose against them, wishing to thrust them out from that country
and destroy them. But they offered the Saxons a third of the land,
saying: “We can live together without interfering with one another.”
But the Saxons were angry at them because they had themselves held
this land before and they were by no means willing to be pacified.
Then the Suevi made them a second offer of a half and then of
two-thirds, leaving one-third for themselves. And when the Saxons
refused this, they offered all their flocks and herds with the land,
provided only they would refrain from attacking them. But they would
not agree even to this and demanded battle. And before the battle,
thinking that they had the Suevi already as good as slain, they
discussed among themselves how they should divide their wives and
what each should receive after their defeat. But God’s mercy which
does justice turned their thoughts another way. For when they fought
there were 26,000 Saxons of whom 20,000 fell and of the Suevi 6000 of
whom 480 only were laid low; and the remainder won the victory. The
Saxons who were left took oath[CN] that they would cut neither beard
nor hair until they had taken vengeance on their adversaries. But
when they fought again they were defeated with greater loss and so
the war was ended.

[16. Macliavus and Bodic, counts of the Bretons, are succeeded by
Theodoric and Waroc. 17. King Gunthram loses his two sons. Easter is
celebrated by some cities on March 21st, by others on April 18th.
Gunthram adopts his nephew Childebert and they order Chilperic to
restore what he had taken from them.]

[CO]18. After this Chilperic heard that Prætextatus, bishop of Rouen,
was giving presents to the people to his disadvantage, and ordered
him to appear before him. When he was examined he was found to have
property intrusted to him by queen Brunhilda. This was taken away
and he was ordered to be kept in exile until he should be heard
by the bishops. The council met and he was brought before it. The
bishops, who went to Paris, were in the church of the holy apostle
Peter. And the king said to him; “Why did you decide, bishop, to
unite in marriage my enemy Merovech, who ought to be my son, and his
aunt, that is, his uncle’s wife. Did you not know what the canons
have ordained for such a case? And not only is it proven that you
went too far in this matter but you actually gave gifts and urged
him to kill me. You have made a son an enemy of his father, you
have seduced the people with money so that no one of them would
keep faith with me and you wished to give my kingdom over into the
hands of another.” When he said this a multitude of Franks raised an
angry shout and wished to break through the church doors as if to
drag the bishop out and stone him; but the king prevented them. And
when the bishop Prætextatus denied that he had done what the king
charged him with, false witnesses came who showed some articles of
value saying: “These and these you gave on condition that we would
plight faith with Merovech.” Upon this he made answer; “You speak
the truth in saying you have often received gifts from me, but it
was not for the purpose of driving the king from the kingdom. For
when you furnished me with excellent horses and other things what
else could I do but repay you with equal value?” The king returned to
his lodging, and we being gathered together sat in the consistory of
the church of the blessed Peter. And while we were talking together
Ætius, archdeacon of the church of Paris, came suddenly and greeting
us said: “Hear me, bishops of God who are gathered together; at
this time you shall either exalt your name and shine with the grace
of good report or else no one will treat you hereafter as bishops
of God if you do not wisely assert yourselves or if you allow your
brother to perish.” When he said this no one of the bishops made him
any answer. For they feared the fury of the queen at whose instance
this was being done. As they continued thoughtful with finger on
lip, I said: “Most holy bishops, give your attention, I beg, to my
words, and especially you who seem to be on friendly terms with the
king; give him holy and priestly counsel not to burst out in fury at
God’s servant and perish by his anger and lose kingdom and fame.”
When I said this all were silent. And in this silence I added:
“Remember, my lord bishops, the word of the prophet when he says:
‘If the watchman sees the iniquity of a man and does not declare
it, he shall be guilty for a lost soul.’ Therefore do not be silent
but speak and place the king’s sins before his eyes, lest perchance
some evil may befall him and you be guilty for his soul. Do you not
know what happened lately? How Chlodomer seized Sigismund and thrust
him into prison, and Avitus, God’s priest, said to him: ‘Do not lay
violent hands on him and when you go to Burgundy you shall win the
victory.’ But he disregarded what was said to him by the priest and
went and killed him with his wife and sons. And then he marched to
Burgundy and was there defeated by the army and slain.[CP] What
of the emperor Maximus? When he forced the blessed Martin to give
communion to a certain bishop who was a homicide and Martin yielded
to the wicked king in order the more easily to free the condemned
from death, the judgment of the eternal King pursued him and Maximus
was driven from the imperial throne and condemned to the worst
death.” When I said this no one made any answer but all stared in
amazement. Still two flatterers from among them--it is painful to say
it of bishops--carried the report to the king, saying that he had no
greater foe to his purposes than I. At once one of the attendants at
court was sent in all haste to bring me before him. When I came the
king stood beside a bower made of branches and on his right bishop
Bertram stood and on his left Ragnemod--and there was before them
a bench covered with bread and different dishes. On seeing me the
king said: “Bishop, you are bound to give justice freely to all; and
behold I do not obtain justice from you; but, as I see, you consent
to iniquity and in you the proverb is fulfilled that crow does not
tear out the eye of crow.” To this I replied: “If any of us, O king,
desires to leave the path of justice, he can be corrected by you;
but if you leave it, who shall rebuke you? We speak to you; but you
listen only if you wish; and if you refuse to listen who will condemn
you except him who asserts that he is justice?” To this he answered,
being inflamed against me by his flatterers: “With all I have found
justice and with you only I cannot find it. But I know what I shall
do that you may be disgraced before the people and that it may be
evident to all that you are unjust. I will call together the people
of Tours and say to them ‘Cry against Gregory, for he is unjust and
renders justice to no man.’ And when they cry this out I will reply:
‘I who am king cannot find justice with him and shall you who are
less than I find it.’” At this I said: “You do not know that I am
unjust. But my conscience knows, to which the secrets of the heart
are revealed. And if the people cry aloud with false cries when you
attack me, it is nothing, because all know that this comes from you.
And therefore it is not I but rather you that shall be disgraced in
the outcries. But why speak further? You have the law and the canons;
you ought to search them diligently; and then you will know that the
judgment of God overhangs you if you do not observe their commands.”
But he tried to calm me, thinking that I did not understand that he
was acting craftily, and pointing to the broth which was set in front
of him he said: “It was for you I had this broth prepared; there is
nothing else in it but fowl and a few peas.” But I saw his flattery
and said to him: “Our food ought to be to do the will of God and not
to delight in these luxuries, in order by no means to neglect what
he commands. Now do you who find fault with others for injustice
promise first that you will not neglect the law and the canons; and
then we will believe that you follow justice.” Then he stretched out
his right hand and swore by all-powerful God that he would in no way
neglect the teaching of the law and the canons. Then I took bread and
drank wine and departed. But that night when the hymns for the night
had been sung I heard the door of my lodging struck with heavy blows,
and sending a slave I learned that messengers from queen Fredegunda
stood there. They were brought in and I received greetings from the
queen. Then the slaves entreated me not to take a stand opposed to
her. And at the same time they promised two hundred pounds of silver
if I would attack Prætextatus and bring about his ruin. For they
said: “We have already the promise of all the bishops; only don’t you
go against us.” But I answered: “If you give me a thousand pounds of
silver and gold what else can I do except what the Lord instructs
me to do? I promise only one thing, that I will follow the decision
that the rest arrive at in accordance with the canons.” They did not
understand what I meant but thanked me and went away. In the morning
some of the bishops came to me with a similar message; to which I
gave a similar answer.

We met in the morning in St. Peter’s church and the king was present
and said: “The authority of the canons declares that a bishop
detected in theft should be cast from the office of bishop.” When I
asked who was the bishop against whom the charge of theft was made
the king answered: “You saw the articles of value which he stole
from us.” The king had showed us three days before two cases full of
costly articles and ornaments of different sorts which were valued
at more than three thousand _solidi_; moreover a bag heavy with
coined gold, holding about two thousand pieces. The king said this
had been stolen from him by the bishop. And the bishop answered: “I
suppose you remember that when queen Brunhilda left Rouen I went
to you and said that I had her property in keeping, to wit, five
parcels, and that her slaves came to me frequently to take them back
but I was unwilling to give them without your advice. And you said
to me, O king: ‘Rid yourself of these things and let the woman have
her property back, lest enmity rise over this matter between me and
Childebert my nephew.’ I went back to the city and gave one case to
the slaves for they could not carry more. They returned a second time
and asked for the others. I again took counsel with your greatness.
And you gave me directions saying: ‘Get rid of these things, bishop,
get rid of them, for fear the matter may cause a scandal.’ I again
gave them two cases and two more remained with me. But why do you
calumniate me now and accuse me, when this case should not be put
in the class of theft but of safe-keeping.” Then the king said: “If
you had this property deposited in your possession for safe-keeping,
why did you open one of them and cut in pieces a girdle woven of
gold threads and give to men to drive me from the kingdom.” Bishop
Prætextatus answered: “I told you before that I had received their
gifts and as I had nothing at hand to give I therefore took this
and gave it in return for their gifts. I regarded as belonging to
me what belonged to my son Merovech whom I received from the font
of regeneration.” King Chilperic saw that he could not overcome
him by false charges, and being greatly astonished and thrown into
confusion by his conscience, he withdrew from us and called certain
of his flatterers and said: “I confess that I’ve been beaten by the
bishop’s replies and I know that what he says is true. What am I to
do now, that the queen’s will may be done on him?” And he said: “Go
and approach him and speak as if giving your own advice; ‘You know
that king Chilperic is pious and merciful and is quickly moved to
compassion; humble yourself before him and say that you are guilty of
the charges he has made. Then we will all throw ourselves at his feet
and prevail on him to pardon you.’” Bishop Prætextatus was deceived
and promised he would do this. In the morning we met at the usual
place and the king came and said to the bishop: “If you gave gifts
to these men in return for gifts, why did you ask for an oath that
they would keep faith with Merovech?” The bishop replied: “I confess
I did ask their friendship for him; and I would have asked not men
alone but, if it were right to say so, I would have called an angel
from heaven to be his helper; for he was my spiritual son from the
baptismal font, as I have often said.” And when the dispute grew
warmer, bishop Prætextatus threw himself on the ground and said: “I
have sinned against heaven and before thee, most merciful king: I am
a wicked homicide; I wished to kill you and raise your son to the
throne.” When he said this the king threw himself down at the feet of
the bishops and said: “Hear, most holy bishops, the accused confesses
his awful crime.” And when we had raised the king from the ground
with tears, he ordered Prætextatus to leave the church. He went
himself to his lodging, and sent the book of canons to which a new
quaternion had been added containing the canons called apostolic and
having the following: _Let a bishop detected in homicide, adultery
or perjury be cast out from his office_. This was read and while
Prætextatus stood in a daze, bishop Bertram spoke: “Hear, brother
and fellow-bishop; you have not the king’s favor; and therefore you
cannot enjoy our mercy before you win the indulgence of the king.”
After this the king demanded that his robe should be torn from him
and the hundred and eighth psalm which contains the curses against
Iscariot be read over his head and at the least, that the judgment be
entered against him to be excommunicated forever. Which proposals I
resisted according to the king’s promise that nothing be done outside
the canons. Then Prætextatus was taken from our sight and placed in
custody. And attempting to flee in the night he was grievously beaten
and was thrust off into exile in an island of the sea that lies near
the city of Coutances.

After this the report was that Merovech was a second time trying to
take refuge in the church of St. Martin. But Chilperic gave orders
to watch the church and close all entrances. And leaving one door
by which a few of the clergy were to go in for the services, guards
kept all the rest closed. Which caused great inconvenience to the
people. When we were staying in Paris signs appeared in the sky,
namely, twenty rays in the northern part which rose in the east and
sped to the west; and one of them was more extended and overtopped
the rest and when it had risen to a great height it soon passed away,
and likewise the remainder which followed disappeared. I suppose
they announced Merovech’s death. Now when Merovech was lurking in
Champagne near Rheims and did not trust himself to the Austrasians
openly, he was entrapped by the people of Therouanne, who said that
they would abandon his father Chilperic and serve him if he came to
them. And he took his bravest men and went to them swiftly. Then they
revealed the stratagem they had prepared and shut him up at a certain
village and surrounded him with armed men and sent messengers to his
father. And he listened to them and purposed to hasten thither. But
while Merovech was detained in a certain inn he began to fear that
he would pay many penalties to satisfy the vengeance of his enemies,
and called to him Galen his slave and said: “Up to the present we
have had one mind and purpose. I ask you not to allow me to fall into
the hands of my enemies, but to take your sword and rush upon me.”
And Galen did not hesitate but stabbed him with his dagger. The king
came and found him dead. There were some at the time who said that
Merovech’s words, which we have just reported, were an invention of
the queen, and that Merovech had been secretly killed at her command.
Galen was seized and his hands, feet, ears, and the end of his nose
were cut off, and he was subjected to many other tortures and met
a cruel death. Grindio they fastened to a wheel and raised aloft,
and Ciucilo, once count of king Sigibert’s palace, they executed by
beheading. Moreover they cruelly butchered by various forms of death
many others who had come with Merovech. Men said at that time that
bishop Egidius and Gunthram Boso were the leaders in the betrayal,
because Gunthram enjoyed the secret friendship of Fredegunda for the
killing of Theodobert, and Egidius had been her friend for a long
time.

[19. Tiberius Cæsar, his alms to the poor, and the treasures
miraculously discovered by him.]

20. An uproar arose against the bishops Salunius and Sagittarius.
They had been trained by the holy Nicetius,[57] bishop of Lyons,
and had attained the office of deacon; and in his time Salunius was
made bishop of Embrun and Sagittarius of Gap. Having reached the
office of bishop they became their own masters and in a mad way
began to seize property, wound, kill, commit adultery, and various
other crimes, and at one time when Victor, bishop of Saint-Paul
Trois-Châteaux was celebrating his birthday, they sent a band of men
to attack him with swords and arrows. They went and tore his robes,
wounded his servants, and carried off the dishes and everything
used at the dinner, leaving the bishop overwhelmed by abuse. When
king Gunthram learned of it he ordered a synod to meet in Lyons.
The bishops assembled with the patriarch, blessed Nicetius, and
after examining the case found that they were absolutely convicted
of the crimes charged to them, and they ordered that men guilty of
such acts should be removed from the office of bishop. But since
Salunius and Sagittarius knew that the king was still favorable to
them they went to him complaining that they were unjustly removed
and asking for permission to go to the pope of the city of Rome. The
king listened to their prayers and gave them letters and let them
go. They went to John the pope and told that they had been removed
without any good reason. And he sent letters to the king in which
he directed that they should be restored to their places. This the
king did without delay, first rebuking them at length. But, what
is worse, no improvement followed. However they did ask pardon of
bishop Victor and surrendered the men whom they had sent at the time
of the disturbance. But he remembered the Lord’s teaching that evil
should not be repaid one’s enemies for evil and did them no harm
but allowed them to go free. For this he was afterward suspended
from the communion, because after making a public accusation he had
secretly pardoned his enemies without the advice of the brethren to
whom he had made the charge. But by the king’s favor he was again
restored to communion. But these men daily engaged in greater crimes
and, as we have stated before, they armed themselves like laymen,
and killed many with their own hands in the battles which Mummolus
fought with the Lombards. And among their fellow-citizens they were
carried away by animosity and beat a number with clubs and let their
fury carry them as far as the shedding of blood. Because of this the
outcry of the people again reached the king. The king ordered them to
be summoned. On their arrival he refused to let them come into his
presence, thinking that their hearing should be held first and that
if they were found good men they would deserve an audience with the
king. But Sagittarius was transported with rage, taking the matter
hard, and being light and vain and ready with thoughtless speech,
he began to make many loud declarations about the king and to say
that his sons cannot inherit the kingdom because their mother had
been taken to the king’s bed from among the slaves of Magnachar; not
knowing that the families of the wives are now disregarded and they
are called the sons of a king who have been begotten by a king. On
hearing this the king was greatly aroused and took away from them
horses, slaves and whatever they had, and ordered them to be taken
and shut up in distant monasteries to do penance there, leaving not
more than a single clerk to each, and giving terrible warnings to
the judges of the places to guard them with armed men and leave no
opportunity open for any one to visit them. Now the king’s sons[CQ]
were living at this time, and the older of them began to be sick. And
the king’s friends went to him and said: “If the king would deign
to hear favorably the words of his servants they would speak in his
ears.” And he said; “Speak whatever you wish.” And they said: “Beware
lest perhaps these bishops be condemned to exile though innocent, and
the king’s sin be increased somewhat, and because of it the son of
our master perish.” And the king said; “Go with all speed and release
them and beg them to pray for our little ones.” They departed and the
bishops were released and leaving the monasteries they met and kissed
each other because they had not seen each other for a long time, and
returned to their cities and were so penitent that they apparently
never ceased from psalm-singing, fasting, almsgiving, reading the
book of the songs of David through the day and spending the night in
singing hymns and meditating on the readings. But this absolute piety
did not last long and they fell a second time and generally spent the
nights in feasting and drinking, so that when the clergy were singing
the matins in the church these were calling for cups and drinking
wine. There was no mention at all of God, no services were observed.
When morning came they arose from dinner and covered themselves with
soft coverings and buried in drunken sleep they would lie till the
third hour of the day. And there were women with whom they polluted
themselves. And then they would rise and bathe and lie down to eat;
in the evening they arose and later they devoted themselves greedily
to dinner until the dawn, as we have mentioned above. So they did
every day until God’s anger fell upon them, which we will tell of
later.

[21. Winnoc the Breton is made a priest. The miracle of the holy
water from the tomb of St. Martin. 22. Death of Chilperic’s young
son. 23. List of prodigies. 24. Chilperic takes Poitiers from
Childebert. 25. Duke Dracolen captures the deserter Dacco and
takes him to Chilperic. He commits suicide. Dracolen then meets
Gunthram Boso, fights him on horseback and is killed. Violent end
of Gunthram’s father-in-law. 26. Chilperic sends an army including
“the people of Tours” against the Bretons. Later he “orders[CR] fines
to be paid by the poor and the younger clergy of the church because
they had not served in the army” although “there was no custom for
these to perform any state service.” 27. Salunius and Sagittarius the
bishops are degraded.]

28. King Chilperic ordered new and heavy impositions to be made in
all his kingdom. For this reason many left these cities and abandoned
their properties and fled to other kingdoms, thinking it better to
be in exile elsewhere than to be subject to such danger. For it
had been decreed that each landowner should pay a measure of wine
per acre [_aripennis_].[CS] Moreover many other taxes were imposed
both on the remaining lands and on the slaves, which could not be
paid. When the people of Limoges saw that they were weighed down
by such burdens they assembled on the first of March and wished to
kill Marcus the referendary who had been ordered to collect these
dues, and they would have done so, had not bishop Ferreolus freed
him from the threatening danger. The assembled multitude seized the
tax books and burned them. At this the king was greatly disturbed
and sent officials from his court and fined the people huge sums and
frightened them with tortures and put them to death. They say, too,
that at that time abbots and priests were stretched on crosses and
subjected to various tortures, the royal messengers accusing them
falsely of having been accomplices in the burning of the books at the
rising of the people. And henceforth they imposed more grievous taxes.

[29. Fighting between Bretons and Franks goes on. 30. Tiberius
succeeds Justin as emperor. 31. The Bretons pillage the country about
Nantes and Rennes.]

32. At Paris a certain woman fell under reproach, many charging
that she had left her husband and was intimate with another. Then
her husband’s kinsmen went to her father saying: “Either make your
daughter behave properly or she shall surely die, lest her wantonness
lay a disgrace on our family.” “I know,” said the father, “that my
daughter is well-behaved and the word is not true that evil men
speak of her. Still, to keep the reproach from going further, I will
make her innocent by my oath.” And they replied: “If she is without
guilt declare it on oath upon the tomb here of the blessed Denis
the martyr.” “I will do so,” said the father. Then having made the
agreement they met at the church of the holy martyr and the father
raised his hands above the altar and swore that his daughter was not
guilty. On the other hand, others on the part of the husband declared
that he had committed perjury. They entered into a dispute, drew
their swords and rushed on one another, and killed one another before
the very altar. Now they were men advanced in years and leaders with
king Chilperic. Many received sword wounds, the holy church was
spattered with human blood, the doors were pierced with darts and
swords and godless missiles raged as far as the very tomb. When the
struggle had with difficulty been stopped, the church was put under
an interdict until the whole matter should come under the king’s
notice. They hastened to the presence of the prince but were not
received with favor. They were sent back to the bishop of the place
and the order was given that if they were not found guilty of this
crime they might rightly be admitted to communion. Then they atoned
for their evil conduct and were taken back to the communion of the
church by Ragnemod, bishop of Paris. Not many days later the woman on
being summoned to trial hanged herself.

[33. A long list of prodigies.]

34. A very grievous plague followed these prodigies. For while the
kings were quarreling and again preparing for civil war, dysentery
seized upon nearly the whole of the Gauls. The sufferers had a high
fever with vomiting and excessive pain in the kidneys; the head and
neck were heavy. Their expectorations were of a saffron color or at
least green. It was asserted by many that it was a secret poison. The
common people called it internal pimples and this is not incredible,
seeing that when cupping glasses were placed on the shoulders or legs
mattery places formed and broke and the corrupted blood ran out and
many were cured. Moreover herbs that are used to cure poisons were
drunk and helped a good many. This sickness began in the month of
August and seized upon the little ones[CT] and laid them on their
beds. We lost dear sweet children whom we nursed on our knees or
carried in our arms and nourished with attentive care, feeding them
with our own hand. But wiping away our tears we say with the blessed
Job: “The Lord has given; the Lord has taken away; the Lord’s will
has been done. Blessed be his name through the ages.”

In these days king Chilperic was very sick. When he got well his
younger son, who was not yet reborn of water and the Holy Spirit,
fell ill, and when they saw he was in danger they baptized him. He
was doing a little better when his older brother named Clodobert was
attacked by the same disease. Their mother Fredegunda saw they were
in danger of death and she repented too late, and said to the king:
“The divine goodness has long borne with our bad actions; it has
often rebuked us with fevers and other evils but repentance did not
follow and now we are losing our sons. It is the tears of the poor,
the outcries of widows and the sighs of orphans that are destroying
them. We have no hope left now in gathering wealth. We get riches and
we do not know for whom. Our treasures will be left without an owner,
full of violence and curses. Our storehouses are full of wine and our
barns of grain, and our treasuries are full of gold, silver, precious
stones, necklaces, and all the wealth of rulers. But we are losing
what we held more dear. Come, please, let us burn all the wicked tax
lists and let what sufficed for your father king Clothar, suffice
for your treasury.” So the queen spoke, beating her breast with her
fists, and she ordered the books to be brought out that had been
brought from her cities by Marcus, and when she had thrown them in
the fire she said to the king: “Why do you delay; do what you see me
do, so that if we have lost our dear children we may at least escape
eternal punishment.” Then the king repented and burned all the tax
books and when they were burned he sent men to stop future taxes.
After this the younger child wasted away in great pain and died. They
carried him with great grief from Braine to Paris and buried him in
the church of St. Denis. Clodobert they placed on a litter and took
him to St. Medard’s church in Soissons, and threw themselves down at
the holy tomb and made vows for him, but being already breathless and
weak he died at midnight. They buried him in the holy church of the
martyrs Crispin and Crispinian. There was much lamenting among all
the people; for men and women followed this funeral sadly wearing
the mourning clothes that are customary when a husband or wife dies.
After this king Chilperic was generous to cathedrals and churches and
the poor.

35. In these days Austrechild, wife of prince Gunthram, succumbed to
this disease, but before she breathed out her worthless life, seeing
she could not escape, she drew deep sighs and wished to have partners
in her death, intending that at her funeral there should be mourning
for others. It is said that she made a request of the king in
Herodian fashion saying: “I would still have had hopes of life if I
had not fallen into the hands of wicked physicians; for the draughts
they gave me have taken my life away perforce and have caused me
swiftly to lose the light of day. And therefore I beg you let my
death not go unavenged, and I conjure you with an oath to have them
slain by the sword as soon as I depart from the light; so that, just
as I cannot live longer, so they too shall not boast after my death,
and the grief of our friends and of theirs shall be one and the
same.” So speaking she gave up her unhappy soul. And the king after
the customary period of public mourning fulfilled her wicked order,
forced by the oath to his cruel wife. He ordered the two physicians
who had attended her to be slain[CU] with the sword, and the wisdom
of many believes that this was not done without sin.

[36. Nanthinus, count of Angoulême, dies of the plague. He had been a
bitter enemy of the bishops. 37. Death of Martin, bishop of Galicia.
38. The Arian queen of Spain, Gaisuenta, is enraged at her Catholic
daughter-in-law. “She seizes the girl by the hair of her head, dashes
her on the ground, kicks her for a long time and covers her with
blood and orders her to be stripped and ducked in the fish-pond.”
The girl however converts her husband but he is sent into exile. 39.
Fredegunda brings about the death of Clovis, Chilperic’s son. 40.
Elafius, bishop of Châlons, and Eonius, exiled bishop of Vannes, die.
41. Chilperic seizes legates sent by the king of Galicia to king
Gunthram. List of prodigies including a destructive wind of which
Gregory says; “Its space was about seven acres in width but one could
not estimate its length.”]

42. Maurilio, bishop of the city of Cahors, was seriously ill
of gout, but in addition to the pain which the humor caused, he
subjected himself to added tortures. For he often put white-hot iron
against his feet and legs in order to make his pain greater. While
many were candidates for his office he himself preferred Ursicinus
who had once been referendary to queen Vulthrogotha and he begged
that Ursicinus be ordained before his death, and then passed away
from the world. He was a very liberal almsgiver, very learned in the
church writings, so much so that he often repeated from memory the
succession of generations given in the books of the Old Testament
which many find it difficult to remember. He was also just in
judgments, and he defended the poor of his church from the hand of
the wicked according to the judgment of Job: “I delivered the poor
from the hand of the mighty and I helped the needy who had no helper.
The mouth of the widow blessed me, for I was an eye to the blind, a
foot to the lame, and a father to the weak.”

[43. Debate over the Trinity between Gregory and a Spanish legate.]

44. At the same time king Chilperic wrote a little treatise to the
effect that the holy Trinity should not be so called with reference
to distinct persons but should merely have the meaning of God, saying
that it was unseemly that God should be called a person like a man of
flesh; affirming also that the Father is the same as the Son and that
the Holy Spirit also is the same as the Father and the Son. “Such,”
said he, “was the view of the prophets and patriarchs and such is
the teaching the law itself has given.” When he had had this read to
me he said: “I want you and the other teachers of the church to hold
this view.” But I answered him: “Good king, abandon this belief; it
is your duty to follow the doctrine which the other teachers of the
church left to us after the time of the apostles, the teachings of
Hilarius and Eusebius[CV] which you professed at baptism.” Then the
king was angry and said: “It is plain that in this case Hilarius
and Eusebius are my bitter enemies.” And I answered him: “It is
better for you to be careful and not make enemies either of God or
his saints. Now let me tell you that as persons the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit are distinct. It was not the Father who took on
flesh, nor the Holy Spirit, but the Son, so that he who was Son of
God became the son of a virgin also for the redemption of man. It
was not the Father who suffered, nor the Holy Spirit, but the Son,
so that he who had taken on flesh in the world, was himself offered
for the world. And what you say about persons must be understood
not in a material but in a spiritual sense. In these three persons,
then, there is one glory, one eternity, one power.” But he became
excited and said: “I will explain these matters to wiser men than
you and they will agree with me.” I replied: “No wise man will
he be but a fool, who will consent to follow your proposals.” At
this he ground his teeth and said no more. A few days later bishop
Salvius of Albi visited him and he had this treatise read to him,
begging him to accept his views. But upon hearing them Salvius was
so revolted that if he could have laid hands on the paper containing
the writing he would have torn it into bits. And so the king gave
up the project. The king wrote also other books in verse following
Sedulius[CW] as a model. But those poor verses have no relation of
any sort with meter. He also added letters to our alphabet, namely ω
as the Greeks[CX] have it, _æ_, _the_, υυι, which are written by the
following characters: ω θ, _æ_ ψ, _the_ Ζ, υυι Δ. And he wrote to all
the cities of his kingdom that boys should be taught these letters
and that books written in previous times should be erased with pumice
and rewritten.

[45. Agricola, bishop of Chalon-sur-Sâone, dies. “He constructed many
buildings in that city, erecting houses, and building a church which
he supported with columns and adorned with varicolored marbles and
mosaics.”]

46. At that time also Dalmatius bishop of Rodez passed away, a man
distinguished for every kind of holiness, an abstainer from food
and the desires of the flesh, a great almsgiver and kind to all,
steadfast enough in prayer and watching. He built a church, but
frequently tore it down to build it better and left it unfinished.
After his death, as usual there were many candidates for his office.
And the priest Transobad, who at one time had been his archdeacon,
was making a great effort for it, relying on the fact that he had put
his son in care of Gogo who was then tutor to the king.[CY] Now the
bishop had made a will in which he indicated to the king who was to
receive this office after his death, adjuring him with terrible oaths
not to appoint a stranger in that church, nor a greedy man, nor one
entangled by marriage, but that one free from all these drawbacks
should be put in his place, who would spend his days in the praise of
the Lord and nothing else. Now the priest Transobad prepared a feast
for the clergy in the city. And while they were seated one of the
priests began to abuse shamelessly the bishop mentioned above, and he
went so far as to call him a madman and a fool. While he was speaking
the butler came to offer him a cup. He took it, but as he was
raising it to his mouth he began to tremble and the cup dropped from
his hand and he leaned his head on the man next him and gave up the
ghost. He was carried from the feast to the grave and covered with
earth. After this the bishop’s will was read in the presence of king
Childebert and his chief men, and Theodosius who was then archdeacon
in that city was ordained bishop.

47. Now Chilperic heard of all the harm Leudast was doing to the
churches of Tours and to all the people and he sent Ansoald thither.
He came at the festival of St. Martin and, giving us and the people
a choice, raised Eunomius to the office of count. Then Leudast
perceived that he had lost his place and went to Chilperic, saying:
“Most pious king, up to now I have guarded the city of Tours; but
now that I have been removed see how it will be guarded. For let me
tell you that bishop Gregory purposes to surrender it to Sigibert’s
son.” Upon hearing this the king said: “By no means, but you make
this charge only for the reason that you have been removed.” But he
answered: “There is more that the bishop says about you; for he says
that the queen committed adultery with bishop Bertram.” Then the king
was enraged and struck and kicked him and ordered him to be loaded
with chains and thrust into prison.

48. Now as this book should soon be finished I wish to tell something
of his actions; and first it seems best to describe in order his
family, his native place, and his character. There is an island
of Poitou called Gracina in which he was born to a slave (named
Leuchadius) belonging to a vine-dresser of the fisc. Thence he was
sent to service and assigned to the royal kitchen. But as his eyes
were bleared when he was young and the bitter smoke hurt them, he
was removed from the pestle and promoted to the basket, but he only
pretended to be happy among the fermented dough, and soon ran away
and left his service. And when he had been brought back twice or
three times and could not be prevented from running away, he was
punished by having one ear cut off. Then as he was not able by any
power to conceal the mark of disgrace on him, he fled to queen
Marcovefa, whom king Charibert loved greatly and had married in her
sister’s place. She received him gladly and appointed him keeper of
her best horses. Then he was filled with vanity and given over to
pride and began to intrigue for the office of count of the stables.
Getting this, he despised and disregarded all; he was puffed up with
vanity, softened with wantonness, inflamed with greed and he hastened
hither and thither in the service of his patroness. After her death,
being now rich with plunder, he made gifts to king Charibert and
began to hold a place with him. Then the sins of the people increased
and he was sent as count to Tours,[CZ] and here he was more uplifted
by the pride of his high office and here he showed himself to be a
greedy plunderer, a loud-mouthed disputer and a foul adulterer. And
here by sowing discord and bringing false charges he acquired no
small treasure. After Charibert’s death, when the city had fallen
to Sigibert’s share he went over to Chilperic and all that he had
wickedly accumulated was taken by the adherents of the king I have
named. Then king Chilperic took possession of Tours through his son
Theodobert, I having by this time come to Tours, and he was strongly
recommended to me by Theodobert to hold the office of count which he
had held before. He showed himself very humble and submissive to us,
swearing often by the tomb of the holy bishop that he would never go
against reason and that he would be loyal to me in his own causes as
well as in all needs of the church. For he was afraid that, as later
happened, king Sigibert would bring the city again under his rule.
When Sigibert died Chilperic succeeded him and Leudast again became
count. But when Merovech came to Tours he plundered all Leudast’s
property. Now during the two years that Sigibert held Tours, Leudast
lay hid among the Bretons. And when he took the office of count, as
we have said, he was so foolish as to enter the bishop’s house with
breastplate and coat of mail, girt with a quiver and carrying a lance
in his hand, and with a helmet on his head, being secure with no one
because he was an enemy to all. And if he sat at a trial with the
chief men of the clergy and laity and saw any one seeking justice, he
would at once be transported into a rage and would pour out abuse on
the citizens; he would order priests to be dragged away in fetters
and soldiers beaten with clubs, and he showed such cruelty as can
scarcely be described. And when Merovech, who had plundered his
property, went away, Leudast began to accuse me falsely, asserting
that Merovech had followed my advice in taking his property. But
after doing me damage he again repeated his oath and gave a cloth
from the tomb of the blessed Martin as security that he would never
oppose me.

49. But as it is a tedious thing to relate in order his perjuries
and other crimes, let us come to the story of how he wished by vile
and wicked calumnies to oust me from my place, and how the divine
vengeance fell upon him, so that the saying was fulfilled, “Every
supplanter shall be supplanted,” and again; “Whoso diggeth a pit
shall fall therein.” After the many wrongs he did to me and mine,
after many plunderings of the church property, he united to himself
the priest Riculf, as perverse and wicked as himself, and went so
far as to say that I had made a charge against queen Fredegunda,
asserting that if my archdeacon Plato or my friend Galien should be
subjected to torture they would certainly convict me of such words.
It was then that the king was angry, as I have stated above, and
after beating and kicking him ordered him to be loaded with chains
and thrust into prison. Now he said that he had Riculf, a cleric, on
whose authority he said this. But this Riculfus was a sub-deacon,
as unstable as Leudast, who a year before had entered into this
design with Leudast, and had looked for causes of offense in order,
forsooth, to go over to Leudast because I was angry, and he found
them and went to him, and for four months they prepared all their
tricks and laid their traps, and then he came back to me with Leudast
and begged me to pardon and take him back. I did it, I confess, and
publicly received a secret enemy into my household. And when Leudast
went away, Riculf threw himself at my feet and said: “Unless you come
quickly to my help I shall perish. Behold, at Leudast’s urging I have
said what I should not have. Now send me to another kingdom; if you
do not I shall be seized by the king’s men and suffer the punishment
of death.” And I said to him: “If you have said anything out of the
way your words shall be on your own head; for I will not send you
to another kingdom, lest I be held in suspicion by the king.” After
this Leudast became his accuser, saying that he had the words already
mentioned from Riculf, the subdeacon. And he was bound and put under
guard and Leudast was released. And Riculf said that Galien and the
archdeacon Plato were present on the same day when the bishop said
this. But the priest Riculf, who by this time had the promise of
the bishop’s office from Leudast, was so elated that he more than
equaled Simon in his pride. And he who had sworn to me three times
or more on the tomb of St. Martin, on the sixth day of Easter week
made at me so furiously with abuse and spittings that he all but laid
hands on me, confident, of course, in the trap he had prepared. On
the next day, that is, the day before Easter Sunday, Leudast came
to the city of Tours and pretending to have other business, seized
Plato the archdeacon and Galien, and bound them and ordered them led
to the queen, loaded with chains and without their robes. I heard of
this while I sat in the bishop’s house, and in sadness and worry I
went into the oratory and took the book of David’s song, that when
opened a verse might give some consolation. And this is what I found:
“He led them in hope and they did not fear, and the sea covered
their enemies.” Meantime they embarked on the river above the bridge
which was supported by two boats, and the boat which carried Leudast
sank, and if he had not escaped by swimming he would perhaps have
perished with his comrades. And the other boat which was in tow of
this one and carried the prisoners, was kept above water by God’s
help. So the prisoners were taken to the king and were immediately
accused in such terms that their punishment would be death. But
the king thought it over and freed them from chains and kept them
unharmed in free custody. Now at the city of Tours duke Berulf and
count Eunomius concocted a story that king Gunthram wished to take
the city of Tours and “therefore,” said they, “the city ought to be
guarded so that there would be no carelessness.” They craftily set
guards at the gates who pretended they were guarding the city but
were really watching me. They also sent persons to advise me to take
the valuables of the church and flee secretly to Clermont. But I
did not take the advice. Then the king summoned the bishops of his
kingdom and ordered the case carefully gone into. And when the clerk
Riculf was talking secretly as he often did, and was telling many
lies against me and my friends, Modestus, a carpenter, said to him,
“Ill-fated man, who talk so insubordinately against your bishop.
It would be better for you to be silent and to beg pardon from the
bishop and obtain his favor.” At this Riculf began to cry with a
loud voice and say: “Behold the man who orders me to be silent that
I may not make the truth public. Behold the queen’s enemy who does
not permit the charge against her to be looked into.” This was at
once reported to the queen. Modestus was seized, tortured, whipped,
put in chains, and kept under guard. And though he was between two
guards and held by chains to a pillar, the guards fell asleep and at
midnight he prayed to the Lord that his power should deign to visit
a wretched man and that an innocent prisoner should be freed by the
visitation of the bishops Martin and Medard. Then the chains were
broken, the pillar was shattered, the door opened, and he came to the
church of St. Medard where I was keeping watch by night.

The bishops assembled at Braine[DA] and were ordered to meet in a
house. Then the king came, and after greeting all and receiving
their blessing, he took his seat. Then Bertram, bishop of Bordeaux,
against whom and the queen this charge had been brought, explained
the case and questioned me, saying that the charge had been brought
against him and the queen by me. I denied in truth that I had said
these things, saying others might have heard them but I had not
invented them. Now outside the doors there was a great shouting among
the people, who said: “Why are these charges made against a bishop
of God? Why does the king prosecute such charges? The bishop could
not have said such things even about a slave. Alas, Alas! Lord God
help thy servant.” But the king said: “The charge against my wife
is an insult to me. If therefore it is your will that witnesses be
heard against the bishop behold here they are. But if it is your
decision that this should not be done, and the matter be left to the
honor of the bishop, speak. I will gladly hear your command.” All
wondered both at the king’s wisdom and his patience. Then all said:
“An inferior cannot be believed against a bishop,” and the case came
to this, that masses were said at three altars and I cleared myself
of these words by oath. And though it was contrary to the canons,
still it was done for the king’s sake. Moreover I cannot pass over
the fact that queen Riguntha sympathized[DB] with my grief and
fasted with all her household until the slave reported that I had
done all as was arranged. Then the bishops returned to the king and
said: “All that was required of the bishop has been done. What now
remains for you, O king, except to be excommunicated together with
Bertram, the accuser of his brother?” “O no,” said he, “I only told
what I had heard.” When they asked who had told this, he answered
that he had heard it from Leudast. But he had already fled, from
the weakness either of his resolution or of his cause. Then all the
bishops decided that the spreader of scandal, traducer of the queen,
accuser of a bishop, should be kept out of all churches because he
had withdrawn from their judgment. And they sent a letter with their
signatures to the bishops who were not present. And so each returned
to his own place. Leudast heard this and took refuge in the church of
St. Peter in Paris. But when he heard the king’s edict that he should
be received by no one in his kingdom, and especially because his son
whom he had left at home had died, he came to Tours secretly and
carried his valuables to Bourges. And when the king’s men pursued him
he escaped by flight. But his wife was captured and sent into exile
at a village of Tournai. But the clerk Riculf was sentenced to death.
But I managed to secure his life, although I could not free him from
torture. No material thing, no metal, could have endured such blows
as this wretch. For from the third hour he hung suspended from a tree
with his hands tied behind his back; at the ninth he was taken down,
stretched on a wheel, beaten with clubs, rods, and doubled thongs,
and not by one or two, but there were as many floggers as could reach
his miserable limbs. When he was in danger, he disclosed the truth
and made known the secret plot. He said that the charge had been made
against the queen for this reason, that she might be driven from the
kingdom and Clovis might kill his brothers and take the kingdom,
and make Leudast a duke, and that the priest Riculf, who had been
a friend of Clovis from the time of the blessed bishop Eufronius,
might get the bishopric of Tours, while this clerk Riculf would get
the archdeaconate. Returning to Tours by the grace of God we found
the church thrown into confusion by the priest Riculf. Now this
man had been raised from the poor under bishop Eufronius and made
archdeacon. Later he was raised to the priesthood and returned to his
own place. He was always lofty, inflated, and presumptuous. While I
was still with the king this man went shamelessly into the bishop’s
house as if already bishop, and made an inventory of the church
silver and brought the rest of the property under his control. To
the more important clergy he gave presents and distributed vineyards
and meadows; the lesser he beat with clubs and many blows even with
his own hand, saying: “Recognize your master, who has triumphed over
his enemies and by his determination has cleared Tours of the people
of Clermont.”[DC] The wretch did not know that with the exception
of five bishops all the other bishops of Tours are connected with
my family stock. He used often to say to his friends that a wise
man can be deceived only by perjuries. Now upon my return, when he
continued to despise me and did not come to greet me as the other
citizens did, but rather threatened to kill me, by the advice of
the provincials I had him removed to a monastery. And while he was
closely watched there, messengers from bishop Felix who had been a
supporter of the charge against me came; the abbot was deceived by
perjuries and Riculf escaped and went to bishop Felix. He received
him with respect though he should have cursed him. And Leudast
hastened to Bourges and took with him all the treasures which he had
got by spoiling the poor. Not long after, the people of Bourges with
the judge of the place attacked him and carried off all his gold and
silver and what he had brought with him, leaving nothing but what
he had on him, and they would have taken life itself if he had not
fled. Then he regained support and with some men of Tours attacked
his plunderers, and killing one, he recovered some of his property
and returned to the territory of Tours. Hearing this, duke Berulf
sent his men well armed to seize him. He perceived that he would soon
be taken and abandoned his property and fled to the church of St.
Hilary in Poitiers. Duke Berulf sent the captured property to the
king. Then Leudast left the church and attacked the houses of several
and took plunder without concealment. Moreover he was often caught
in adultery on the sacred porch itself. The queen was roused that a
place consecrated to God should be so polluted, and ordered him to be
cast from the holy church. And being cast out, he went a second time
to his friends in Bourges asking to be concealed.

50. Although I should have spoken before of my conversation with
the blessed bishop Salvius, it slipped my mind, and I suppose it is
not wicked if it is written later. When I had said good-by to the
king after the synod I mentioned, and was anxious to return home, I
decided not to go before kissing this man and taking leave of him.
And I found him in the entrance of the house of Braine. And I said
to him that I was about to return home. Then we withdrew a little
and speaking of this and that he said to me: “Do you see upon this
roof what I see?” I replied: “Why, I see the roof-covering which
the king lately gave orders to place there.” But he asked: “Don’t
you see anything else?” And I said: “Nothing else.” For I suspected
that he was making a joke. And I added: “Tell me what more you see.”
But he drew a deep sigh and said; “I see the sword of divine wrath
unsheathed and threatening this house.” The bishop’s words were not
wrong; for twenty days later there died the two sons of the king
whose deaths I have described before.

HERE ENDS THE FIFTH BOOK.

FOOTNOTES:

[55] _Cf._ _ad aratrum reducere_, to ravage thoroughly.

[56] Great-uncle of Gregory on his mother’s side.

[57] Gregory’s great uncle.

HERE BEGIN THE CHAPTERS OF THE SIXTH BOOK

1. Childebert goes over to Chilperic; Mummulus flees.
2. Return of Chilperic’s legates from the East.
3. Childebert’s legates to Chilperic.
4. How Lupus was driven from Childebert’s kingdom.
5. Argument with a Jew.
6. The holy recluse Hospicius, his abstinence and miracles.
7. Passing away of Ferreolus, bishop of Uzès.
8. The recluse Ebarchius of Angoulême.
9. Domnolus, bishop of Mans.
10. St. Martin’s church is broken into.
11. Bishop Theodore and Dinamius.
12. An army marches against Bourges.
13. The killing of Lupus and Ambrosius, citizens of Tours.
14. The portents which appeared.
15. Death of bishop Felix.
16. Pappolenus recovers his wife.
17. Conversion of Jews by king Chilperic.
18. Return of king Chilperic’s legates from Spain.
19. King Chilperic’s men at the river Orge.
20. Death of duke Chrodinus.
21. Signs that appeared.
22. Bishop Cartherius.
23. A son is born to king Chilperic.
24. A second time about the plots against bishop Theodore and
about Gundovald.
25. Signs.
26. Gunthram and Mummolus.
27. King Chilperic enters Paris.
28. Marcus the referendary.
29. The nuns of Poitiers.
30. Death of the emperor Tiberius.
31. The many evil deeds that king Chilperic ordered to be done, or
did himself, in his brother’s cities.
32. Leudast’s death.
33. Locusts, plagues, and prodigies.
34. Death of Chilperic’s son named Theodoric.
35. Death of the prefect Mummulus and the women who were put to
death.
36. Bishop Etherius.
37. Killing of Lupentius, abbot of Javols.
38. Death of bishop Theodosius and his successor.
39. Death of bishop Remedius and his successor.
40. My argument with a heretic.
41. King Chilperic retires to Cambrai with his treasures.
42. Childebert goes to Italy.
43. The kings of Gallicia.
44. Various prodigies.
45. Marriage of Riguntha, Chilperic’s daughter.
46. King Chilperic’s death.

HERE END THE CHAPTERS, THANKS BE TO GOD

HERE BEGINS THE SIXTH BOOK, STARTING WITH THE SIXTH YEAR OF KING
CHILDEBERT

[1. Childebert allies himself with Chilperic instead of with
Gunthram; a synod meets at Lyons.]

2. Meantime king Chilperic’s legates, who had gone three years before
to the emperor Tiberius, returned, but not without severe loss and
danger. For as they did not dare to enter the harbor of Marseilles
on account of the quarrels among the kings, they made for Agde[58]
which is situated in the Gothic kingdom. But before they could reach
the shore the ship was driven by the wind and dashed on the land and
broken to fragments. The legates and their men, seeing they were in
danger, seized planks and with difficulty reached the shore, many
of the men being lost; but most escaped. The inhabitants took the
articles that the waves carried ashore, but they recovered the more
valuable of them and carried them to king Chilperic. The people of
Agde nevertheless kept much. At that time I had gone to the villa
of Nogent to see the king, and there he showed me a great basin
of fifty pounds’ weight which he had made of gold and gems and he
said: “I made this to bring honor and glory to the Frankish people.
And I shall make many more if I live.” He showed me also gold coins
each of a pound’s weight sent by the emperor having on one side the
likeness of the emperor and the inscription in a circle: _Tiberii
Constantini Perpetui Augusti_ and on the other a four-horse chariot
and charioteer with the inscription: _Gloria Romanorum_. He showed me
also many other beautiful things brought by the legates.

[3. The alliance between Chilperic and Childebert is confirmed and
they agree to take Gunthram’s kingdom away from him.]

4. Now Lupus, duke of Champagne, had long been continually harassed
and plundered by his enemies and especially by Ursio and Bertefred.
And at length they made an agreement to kill him and they marched
against him. But queen Brunhilda heard of it, and grieving at the
unjust attacks on her loyal supporter she armed herself like a man
and rushed into the midst of the opposing forces and cried: “Do not,
O warriors, do not do this evil; do not attack the innocent; do not
for one man engage in a battle which will destroy the welfare of the
district.” Ursio answered her: “Leave us, woman; let it suffice for
you to have ruled under your husband; but now your son rules and his
kingdom will be maintained not by your support but by ours. Leave us
or our horses’ hooves will trample you to the earth.” When they had
continued such talk as this a long time the queen’s determination
that they should not fight prevailed. However, on leaving that
locality they burst into Lupus’s houses, seized all his property and
took it home, pretending they were going to place it in the king’s
treasury, and they threatened Lupus and said: “He will never escape
alive from our hands.” Lupus saw he was in danger and, placing his
wife in safety within the walls of the city of Laon, he fled to king
Gunthram, and being welcomed by him he remained in hiding, waiting
till Childebert should come of age.

5. While king Chilperic was still at the villa mentioned above, he
directed his baggage to be moved and made arrangements to go to
Paris. And when I went to see him to say good-by, a certain Jew named
Priscus came in who was on friendly terms with him and helped him
buy costly articles. The king took him by the hair in a gentle way
and said to me: “Come, bishop of God, and lay your hands on him.”
But he struggled and the king said to him: “O obstinate-minded and
ever disbelieving race, which does not recognize the Son of God
promised to it by the voices of its prophets and does not recognize
the mysteries of the church prefigured in its own sacrifices.” To
these words the Jew replied: “God never married nor was blessed with
offspring nor allowed any one to share his power, but he said by the
mouth of Moses: ‘See, see that I am the Lord and except me there is
no God. I shall kill and I shall make alive; I shall wound and I
shall heal.’”[59] … Although I said this and more, the wretched man
felt no remorse and refused to believe. Then when he was silent
and the king saw that he was not conscience stricken because of my
words, he turned to me and asked to receive my blessing that he might
depart. He said: “I will say to you, bishop, what Jacob said to the
angel, for he said to him, ‘I will not let you go until you bless
me.’” So saying he ordered water brought for our hands. After washing
them we prayed, and taking bread I thanked God and took it myself and
offered it to the king, and after a draught of wine I said farewell
and left. And the king mounted his horse and returned to Paris with
his wife and daughter and all his household.

6. There was at this time in the city of Nice a recluse Hospicius who
was very abstemious. He wore iron chains next his body and over these
a hair shirt and ate nothing but plain bread with a few dates. And
during Lent he lived on roots of Egyptian herbs such as the hermits
use, which were brought to him by traders. First he would drink the
soup in which they were cooked and eat the roots next day. The Lord
did not disdain to work great miracles through him. For at one time
the Holy Spirit revealed to him the coming of the Lombards into the
Gauls and he foretold it as follows: “The Lombards,” said he, “will
come into the Gauls and will lay waste seven cities because their
wickedness has grown in the sight of God, since no one understands,
no one seeks God, no one does good to appease the anger of God. For
all the people are unfaithful, given up to perjury, addicted to
thievery, ready to kill, and from them comes no fruit of justice at
all. Tithes are not paid, the poor are not fed, the naked are not
clothed, strangers are not received with hospitality or satisfied
with food. Therefore this affliction has come. And now I say to you:
‘Gather all your substance within the inclosure of the walls that the
Lombards may not take it, and fortify yourselves in the strongest
places.’” At these words all stood gaping and they said good-by and
returned home with great admiration. He also said to the monks: “You,
too, depart from the place and take with you what you have. For
behold, the people I have named draw near.” But when they replied:
“We will not leave you, most holy father,” he said to them: “Don’t
fear for me; for they will offer me insults but they will not harm
me unto death.” The monks went away and that people came and laying
waste all they found, they came to the place where the holy recluse
of God was. And he showed himself to them at the window of the tower.
They went all round the tower but could find no entrance by which
they could come to him.[DD] Then two climbed up and pulled the roof
off, and seeing him bound with chains and clad in a hair shirt they
said: “Here is a malefactor who has killed a man and therefore is
kept bound in these fetters.” They called an interpreter and asked
him what crime he had committed to be so confined in punishment. And
he confessed that he was a homicide and guilty of all crime. Then
one of them drew his sword to strike at his head, but his lifted
right arm stiffened in the very act of striking and he could not draw
it back to him. He let go the sword and let it fall on the ground.
Seeing this, his comrades raised a shout to heaven begging the saint
to declare to them kindly what they were to do. And he made the sign
of salvation and restored the arm to health. The man was converted on
the spot and received the tonsure and is now reckoned a most faithful
monk. And two dukes who listened to him returned safe to their native
place but those who despised his command perished wretchedly in the
province. Many of them were seized with demons and cried: “Why, holy
and blessed one, do you so torture and burn us?” And he laid his hand
on them and cured them. After this there was a man of Angers who in a
severe fever had lost both speech and hearing, and when he got better
of the fever he continued deaf and dumb. Now a deacon was sent from
that province to Rome to obtain relics of the blessed apostles and
other saints who protect that city. And when he came to this infirm
person’s relatives they begged him to take him as a companion on
the journey, believing that if he reached the tombs of the blessed
apostles he would forthwith be cured. They went on their way and
came to the place where the blessed Hospicius lived. After greeting
and kissing him, the deacon told the purpose of his journey and said
he was starting for Rome and asked the holy man to recommend him to
ship-captains who were friends of his. And while he was still staying
there the blessed man felt that power was in him through the spirit
of the Lord. And he said to the deacon: “I beg you to bring to my
sight the infirm person who is the companion of your journey.” The
deacon made no delay but went swiftly to his lodging and found the
infirm person full of fever, and he indicated by signs that there
was a humming in his ears. The deacon seized him and led him to the
saint of God. The holy man took hold of his hair and drew his head
into the window, and taking oil that had been blessed, he took hold
of his tongue with his left hand and poured the oil in his mouth
and on the top of his head, saying: “In the name of my lord Jesus
Christ let your ears be opened and let that power which once drove a
wicked demon from a deaf and dumb man open your lips.” Having said
this, he asked him his name, and he answered in a clear voice: “I am
called so-and-so.” When the deacon saw this he said: “I give thee
endless thanks, Jesus Christ, who deignest to work such miracles by
thy servant. I was seeking Peter, I was seeking Paul and Laurence and
the others who made Rome glorious with their blood; here I have found
them all, I have discovered every one.” As he was saying this with
loud weeping and great admiration the man of God, wholly intent on
avoiding vanity, said: “Be silent, beloved brother, it is not I who
do this, but he who created the universe out of nothing, who took on
man for our sake, and gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf,
speech to the dumb; who bestowed on lepers the skin they had before,
on the dead life, and on all the infirm abundant healing.” Then
the deacon said farewell and departed rejoicing with his comrades.
When they had gone a certain Dominic--this was the man’s name--who
had been blind from birth, came to prove his miraculous power, and
when he had dwelt in the monastery two or three months praying and
fasting, at length the man of God called him to him and said: “Do you
wish to recover your sight?” And he replied: “I wish to know a thing
unknown. For I do not know what the light is. Only one thing I know,
that it is praised by men. But I have not deserved to see from the
beginning of my life until now.” Then he made the holy cross over his
eyes with oil that had been blessed and said: “In the name of Jesus
Christ our redeemer let your eyes be opened.” And at once his eyes
were opened and he wondered and contemplated the great works of God
which he saw in this world. Then a certain woman who, as she herself
asserted, had three demons, was brought to him. And he blessed her
with a sacred touch and made the cross in holy oil on her forehead
and the demons were driven out and she departed cleansed. Moreover he
cured by his blessing a girl who was vexed with an unclean spirit.
And when the day of his death was drawing nigh he summoned the prior
of the monastery and said: “Bring iron tools to open the wall and
send messengers to the bishop of the city to come and bury me. For on
the third day I shall depart from this world and go to the appointed
rest which the Lord has promised me.” Upon this the prior sent
messengers to the bishop of Nice to carry this word. After this one
Crescens went to his window and seeing him bound with chains and full
of worms[DE] he said: “O my master, how can you bear such tortures
so bravely?” And he replied: “He comforts me in whose name I suffer
this. For I tell you that I am now freed from these bonds and am
going to my rest.” When the third day came he laid aside the chains
by which he was bound and prostrated himself in prayer, and after he
had prayed and wept a long time he lay down on a bench and stretched
out his feet and raised his hands to heaven and thanked God and died.
And immediately all the worms that were boring through his holy limbs
disappeared. And bishop Austadius came and most carefully placed the
blessed body in the grave. All these things I learned from the lips
of the very deaf and dumb man who as I related above was healed by
him. He told me many other miracles of his but I have been kept from
describing them by the fact that I have been told that his life has
been written by many persons.

[7. The bishops of Uzès.]

8. Ebarchius died also, a recluse of Angoulême, a man of great
holiness through whom God did many miracles, and leaving out most of
them I will tell briefly of a few. He was a native of Perigueux, but
after his conversion he entered the clergy and went to Angoulême and
built a cell for himself. There he gathered a few monks and prayed
continually, and if any gold or silver was offered to him he would
pay it out for the necessities of the poor or to ransom captives. No
bread was baked in that cell while he lived but was brought in by the
devout when it was needed. He ransomed a great number of people from
the offerings of the devout. He often cured the poison of malignant
pimples by the sign of the cross and by prayer drove demons out from
the bodies that they possessed and with his charming manner often
rather ordered than requested judges to spare the guilty. For he was
so attractive in his address that they could not deny him when he
asked a favor. On one occasion a prisoner who was vehemently accused
by the inhabitants of many crimes, both thefts and homicides, was
to be hanged for theft, and when this was reported to Ebarchius he
sent his monk to entreat the judge to grant life to the guilty man.
But since the throng insulted the judge and cried loudly that if he
were let go it would be good neither for the country nor the judge,
the prisoner could not be let go. Meanwhile he was stretched on the
wheel, beaten with rods and clubs and condemned to the gallows. And
when the monk sadly brought the news to the abbot he said: “Go, wait
at a distance, for, be assured, the Lord will grant us of his own
gift what man has refused. When you see him fall, take him and bring
him at once to the monastery.” The monk went about his bidding and
Ebarchius threw himself down in prayer and wept and poured forth
prayers to God until, the bar and chains being broken, the hanged man
should be placed on the ground. Then the monk took him and brought
him safe and well to the abbot. And he thanked God and ordered the
count summoned and said to him: “You were always used to hear me
kindly, beloved son, and why did you harden yourself to-day and
refuse to let the man go whose life I asked for?” He replied: “I
would willingly heed you, sacred priest, but the people rose and I
could do nothing else for fear of a rebellion.” The recluse answered:
“You did not heed me, but God deigned to heed me, and he restored to
life the one whom you gave to death. Behold,” said he, “he stands
alive before you.” As he said this the man threw himself at the feet
of the count who was astonished that he saw living one whom he left
dead. This I heard from the lips of the count himself. Moreover he
did many other miracles which I have thought it tedious to relate.
After forty-four years as a recluse he contracted a fever and died.
He was taken forth from his cell and buried. And a great assembly of
those he had ransomed, as we have said, followed his funeral.

9. Domnolos, bishop of Mans, began to sicken. In the time of king
Clothar he had been in charge of the monks at the church of St.
Laurence in Paris. But as he had always been faithful to king Clothar
while the older Childebert was still living and often concealed his
messengers when sent to spy, the king was awaiting an opportunity
to make him bishop. When the bishop of Avignon passed away he had
purposed to appoint him there. But the blessed Domnolus heard of this
and came to the church of St. Martin where king Clothar had then
come for prayer, and after spending a whole night in watching, he
sent a hint to the king through the leading men who were there not
to remove him far from the king’s sight like a captive and not to
permit a man of his straightforward character to be worn out among
sophistical senators and philosophizing judges,[DF] saying this was a
place of humiliation for him rather than of honor. To this the king
assented, and when Innocentius bishop of Mans died he appointed him
as bishop of that church. When he had reached this honor he conducted
himself so that he rose to the summit of holiness and restored the
power of walking to a lame man and sight to one who was blind. After
twenty-two years in his episcopate he perceived that he was greatly
worn out with the king’s evil and gout and he selected the abbot
Theodulf for his place. The king assented to his desire but not long
after changed his mind, and the election was given to Batechisil the
king’s major domo.[DG] He received the tonsure, went through the
grades of the clergy in forty days, and when the bishop passed away
he succeeded him.

10. In these days thieves broke into St. Martin’s church. They placed
a railing which was on the tomb of a dead man at a window of the apse
and climbing up by it they broke the glass and entered; and taking a
great quantity of gold and silver and silken cloths they went off,
not fearing to set foot on the holy tomb where we scarcely dare to
touch our lips. But the saint’s power made this foolhardy deed known
by a terrible judgment. For after committing the crime they went to
the city of Bordeaux and a quarrel arose and one killed the other;
and thus their deed was found out and their theft was revealed, and
the broken silver and the cloths were taken from their lodging. When
this was reported to king Chilperic he ordered them to be bound and
brought into his presence. Then I was afraid that men would die
because of him who in his lifetime in the body often prayed for the
lives of the lost, and sent the king a letter of entreaty not to
put these men to death since we to whom prosecution belonged did not
accuse them. And he received my request with kindness and restored
them to life. And the valuable articles which had been scattered he
collected very carefully and ordered them sent back to the holy place.

[11. Dinamius, governor of Provence, and Theodore, bishop of
Marseilles, quarrel. Childebert supports Theodore and Gunthram
Dinamius. 12. Chilperic takes advantage of the quarrel and seizes
Perigueux, Agen, and a number of other cities belonging to Gunthram.]

13. Lupus, a citizen of Tours, having lost wife and children, desired
to enter the clergy but was prevented by his brother Ambrose who was
afraid that he would leave his property to the church of God if he
were joined to it. Ambrose, persuading him to his harm, provided him
with another wife and appointed the day to meet to give the betrothal
gifts. Then they went together to the town of Chinon where they had a
dwelling. But Ambrose’s wife being an adulteress and loving another
with the love of a lewd woman and hating her husband, made a plot
for him. And when these brothers had feasted together and had drunk
wine in the night until they were intoxicated, they lay down on the
same bed. Then the adulterer came in the night when all were sleeping
heavily because of the wine and setting fire to the straw in order to
see what he was doing, he drew his sword and struck Ambrose on the
head so that the sword went in at his eyes and cut the pillow in two
beneath his head. Lupus was aroused by the blow and finding himself
wallowing in blood, he called in a loud voice saying: “Alas, alas!
Help; my brother is killed.” But the adulterer who had committed the
deed and was now going off, heard this and returned to the bed and
attacked Lupus. Although he resisted he was wounded many times, and
overwhelmed and given a mortal stroke and left half dead. But no one
of the household knew of it. In the morning all were amazed at such
a crime. Lupus however was found to be still alive and after telling
the story as it occurred, he died. But the harlot did not take a long
time to mourn. In a few days she joined her adulterer and departed.

14. In king Childebert’s seventh year, which was the twenty-first of
Chilperic and Gunthram, in the month of January there were rains
and heavy thunder and lightning; blossoms appeared on the trees. The
star which I called above the comet,[DH] appeared in such a way that
there was a great blackness all around it and it was placed as it
were in a hole and gleamed in the darkness, sparkling and scattering
rays of light. And a ray of wonderful size extended from it which
appeared like the smoke of a great fire a long way off. It appeared
in the west in the first hour of the night. At Soissons on the day of
holy Easter the heavens were seen to be on fire, and there appeared
to be two fires, one greater and the other less. And after the space
of two hours they united and formed a great flame and vanished. In
the territory of Paris real blood fell from the clouds and dropped
on the garments of many men and so defiled them with gore that they
shuddered at their own clothes and put them away from them. This
prodigy appeared in three places in the territory of that city. In
the territory of Senlis a certain man’s house when he rose in the
morning appeared to have been sprinkled with blood from within. There
was a great plague that year among the people. The sickness took
various forms and was severe with pimples and tumors which brought
death to many. Still many who were careful escaped. We heard that at
Narbonne in that year the bubonic plague was very fatal, so that when
a man was seized by it he had no time to live.

15. Felix, bishop of Nantes, was stricken by this plague and began to
be seriously sick. Then he called the neighboring bishops to him and
begged them to give the influence of their signatures to the choice
which he had made of his nephew Burgundio. Then they sent him to me.
At that time Burgundio was about twenty-five years old. He came and
asked that I would consent to go to Nantes and give him the tonsure
and consecrate him bishop in place of his uncle who was still living.
This I refused to do since I knew it was not in accordance with the
canons. Still I gave him advice saying: “We have it written in the
canons, my son, that no one can rise to the office of bishop unless
he first passes through the grades of the clergy in regular order.
You then, dearly beloved, must return thither and request him who has
made choice of you, to give you the tonsure; and when you reach the
office of priest, be regular in attendance at church; and when God
wills that he pass away, then you will readily attain to the office
of bishop.” He returned and pretended to take my advice, since the
bishop Felix seemed to be recovering from his illness. But after the
fever departed his legs burst out in pimples from the humor. Then he
put on too strong a poultice of cantharides and his legs putrefied
and he died in the thirty-third year of his episcopate and in the
seventieth of his life. And Nonnichius his cousin succeeded him by
the king’s order.

[16. Felix’s niece had been married to Pappolenus but Felix brought
about their separation. Pappolenus now recovered his wife from a
nunnery.]

17. King Chilperic ordered many Jews to be baptized that year and
received a number of them from the sacred font. Some of them however
were purified in body only, not in heart, and lying to God they
returned to their former perfidy so that they could be seen to
observe the Sabbath as well as honor the Lord’s day. But Priscus
could not be influenced in any way to recognize the truth. The king
was angry at him and ordered him to be put into prison, in the idea
that if he did not wish to believe of his own accord he would force
him to hear and believe. But Priscus offered gifts and asked for time
until his son should marry a Hebrew girl at Marseilles; he promised
deceitfully that he would then do what the king required. Meantime a
quarrel arose between him and Phatir, one of the Jewish converts who
was now a godson to the king. And when on the Sabbath Priscus clad
in an orary and carrying nothing of iron in his hand, was retiring
to a secret place to fulfill the law of Moses, suddenly Phatir came
upon him and slew him with the sword together with the companions
who accompanied him. When they were slain Phatir fled with his men
to the church of St. Julian which was on a neighboring street. While
they were there they heard that the king had granted to the master
his life but ordered the men to be dragged like malefactors from
the church and put to death. Then, their master being already gone,
one of them drew his sword and killed his comrades and then left
the church armed with his sword, but the people rushed upon him and
he was cruelly killed. Phatir obtained permission and returned to
Gunthram’s kingdom whence he had come. But soon after he was killed
by Priscus’s kinsmen.

[18. Legates returning from Spain report that king Leuvigild admits
that Christ is the equal of God but denies that the Holy Spirit is
God at all. 19. Gunthram’s men cross the river Orge and do damage in
Chilperic’s territory.]

20. In that year Chrodinus died, a man of magnificent goodness and
piety, a great almsgiver and helper of the poor, a lavish enricher
of churches and supporter of the clergy. For he often started at the
beginning and cleared estates, laying out vineyards, building houses,
making fields. And he would then invite bishops who were poor and
give them a feast and generously distribute among them houses with
fields and men to till them and silver and bedding and utensils and
officers and slaves saying: “Let these properties be given to the
church, that when poor men are supported upon them they may obtain
pardon for me before God.” I have heard many other good things
of this man which it would take too long to tell. He died in his
seventieth year.

[21. List of prodigies.]

22. King Chilperic having seized cities belonging to his brother,
appointed new counts and ordered that all the tribute of the cities
be paid to him. And we know that this was done. In these days two
men were seized by Nunnichius, count of Limoges, who were carrying
letters in the name of Charterius, bishop of Perigueux, which
contained many insults against the king; and among the rest it was
put as if the bishop were complaining that he had gone down from
paradise to hell, because forsooth he had been transferred from
Gunthram’s rule to the dominion of Chilperic. The count just named
sent these letters and these men to the king under strict guard. The
king patiently sent for the bishop to come to his presence to tell
whether the charges against him were true or not. The bishop came
and the king confronted him with the men and the letters. He asked
the bishop if they had been sent by him. He said they had not. The
men then were asked from whom they had received them. They said it
was Frontonius the deacon. The bishop was asked about the deacon. He
replied that he was his greatest enemy and there could be no doubt
that this was his wickedness since he had often set wicked plots
going against him. The deacon was brought at once and questioned by
the king. He testified against the bishop saying: “It was I who
wrote this letter at the bishop’s order.” But the bishop cried out
and said that this man had often devised clever tricks to cast him
out from his office, and the king was moved with pity and commending
his cause to God he let them both go, interceding with the bishop
for the deacon and begging the bishop to pray for him. And thus the
bishop was sent back with honor to the city. But after two months
count Nunnichius who started this scandal died from an apoplectic
stroke and as he was without children his property was granted to
several persons by the king.

[23. On account of the birth of a son king Chilperic releases
prisoners and remits taxes. 24. Gundovald, who claims to be a son
of Clothar, returns to Gaul from Constantinople and is received
by bishop Theodore of Marseilles who is thereupon seized and held
prisoner by king Gunthram. 25. Prodigies. 26. Gunthram Boso is
charged with bringing Gundovald to Gaul; he says that Mummolus is
guilty of this and promises to bring him to king Gunthram.]

26. … Now duke Gunthram took with him the men of Clermont and Le
Velay and went off to Avignon. But by a stratagem of Mummolus rotten
boats were ready for them at the Rhone. They embarked on them without
suspicion and when they came to the middle of the river the boats
filled and sank. Then being in danger, some escaped by swimming and
a number tore planks from the boats and reached the shore. But a
good many who had less presence of mind were drowned in the river.
Duke Gunthram however reached Avignon. Now Mummolus on entering
the city had seen to it that as only a small part was left which
was not guarded by the Rhone, the whole place should be protected
by a channel into which he led water from the river. Here he had
dug holes of great depth and running water concealed the traps he
had made. Then upon the coming of Gunthram Mummolus cried from the
wall: “Since we are men of good faith, let him come to one bank and
I to the other, and let him say what he wants.” When they had come
Gunthram said from the other side--it was this arm of the river that
was between them--“If you please I will cross, because there are some
things to speak of in secret.” Mummolus answered: “Come, don’t be
afraid.” Thereupon he entered the water with one of his friends--he
was wearing a heavy coat of mail--and immediately when they reached
the hole in the river the friend sank under the water and did not
reappear. But while Gunthram was under water and being carried along
by the swift current one of the bystanders stretched out a spear to
his hand and brought him ashore. And then he and Mummolus abused one
another before leaving the place. While Gunthram was besieging this
city with king Gunthram’s army the news was taken to Childebert. He
was angry because Gunthram was doing this without being ordered and
sent Gundulf[DI] whom I have mentioned before to the place. He put an
end to the siege and took Mummolus to Clermont. But after a few days
he returned to Avignon.

27. Chilperic went to Paris the day before Easter was celebrated,
and to avoid the curses contained in the compact between him and
his brothers[DJ] that no one of them should enter Paris without the
consent of the others, the relics of many saints were carried before
him as he entered the city, and he spent Easter amid great mirth,
and gave his son to be baptized, and Ragnemod, bishop of the city,
received him from the holy font. Chilperic directed them to call him
Theodoric.

[28. Marcus the referendary dies, first receiving the tonsure. 29.
The piety of the nuns of Poitiers is described. As the result of a
vision one of them acted as follows:]

When the maiden had had this vision she was contrite in heart and
after a few days she asked the abbess to get ready a cell in which
she could be shut. The abbess got it ready quickly and said: “Here is
the cell. What more do you wish?” The maiden asked to be permitted
to be shut in it. This was granted, and the nuns gathered with loud
psalm-singing and the lamps were lighted and she was conducted to
the place, the blessed Radegunda holding her hand. And so she said
farewell to all and kissed each one and became a recluse. And the
entrance by which she went in was walled up and she is there now
spending her time in prayer and reading.

[30. The emperor Tiberius dies and Mauritius succeeds him.]

31. King Chilperic received legates from his nephew Childebert and
among them the leader was Egidius, bishop of Rheims. On being brought
before the king they presented their letter and said: “Our master
your nephew begs you to keep with especial care the peace you have
made with him since he cannot have peace with your brother, who took
away his share of Marseilles[DK] after his father’s death and retains
fugitives and is not willing to send them back. Therefore your nephew
Childebert wishes to preserve unbroken the friendship which he now
has with you.” Chilperic replied: “My brother has proven guilty in
many particulars. For if my son Childebert would seek the path of
reason, he would know at once that it was by my brother’s connivance
that his father was killed.”[DL] Upon this bishop Egidius said: “If
you would join with your nephew and he with you and take the field,
due vengeance would be speedily visited on him.” When they had sworn
to this agreement and exchanged hostages, they departed. Then relying
on these promises Chilperic set the army of his kingdom in motion and
went to Paris. And on encamping there he brought great expense to the
inhabitants. And duke Berulf went with the people of Tours, Poitiers,
Angers, and Nantes to the boundary of Bourges. And Desiderius and
Bladast with all the army of their province hemmed in the territory
of Bourges on the other side, completely devastating the country
through which they came.[DM] And Chilperic ordered the army which had
come to him to pass through the territory of Paris. And when they
passed through, he passed also and went to the town of Melun, burning
and wasting all. And although his nephew’s army did not come to him,
still his dukes and legates were with him. Then he sent messengers to
the dukes just mentioned and said: “Enter the territory of Bourges
and go right to the city and demand the oath of fidelity in my name.”
But the people of Bourges gathered at the town of Châteaumeillant
to the number of fifteen thousand and there fought duke Desiderius,
and there was great slaughter there so that more than seven thousand
from each army fell. And the dukes went to the city with the people
who were left, plundering and devastating all. And such marauding
was done there as was never heard of in old times, so that no house
nor vineyard nor tree was left, but they cut, burned, and subdued
all. Moreover they carried the sacred utensils from the churches and
burned the churches with fire. But king Gunthram went with an army
against his brother, placing all his hope in the judgment of God.
And one evening he sent his army and destroyed a great part of his
brother’s army. In the morning legates went to and fro and they made
peace, promising one another that each would pay for what he had done
beyond the limit of the law whatever the bishops and leaders of the
people should decide. And so they parted peaceably. And when king
Chilperic could not keep his army from plundering he slew the count
of Rouen with the sword and thus returned to Paris, leaving all the
booty and giving up the captives. And the besiegers of Bourges, on
receiving orders to return home, took with them so much plunder that
all the district they left was believed to be emptied of men and
domestic animals. The army of Desiderius and Bladast went through
the land of Tours and burned, plundered, and slew, as is the custom
with enemies, and they took captives, the most of whom they spoiled
and afterwards let go. There followed upon this disaster a disease
among domestic animals so that scarcely enough remained to make a
start with, and it was strange if any one saw an ox or heifer. While
this went on king Childebert remained with his army in one place.
And one night the army mutinied and the lesser people raised a great
murmur against bishop Egidius and the king’s dukes, and began to cry
aloud and shout in public, saying: “Let those be thrust from the
presence of the king who sell his kingdom, give over his cities to
the dominion of another, and betray his people to the rule of another
prince.” While they continued shouting such things the morning came,
and they seized their armor and hastened to the king’s tent in order
to seize the bishop and leaders and crush them by force and beat and
wound them. On learning of this the bishop fled on horseback and
hastened to his own city. And the people pursued him hurling stones
and shouting abuse. And he was saved by the fact that they had no
horses ready. The bishop outstripped his companions’ horses and
hastened on alone so terrified that when one shoe dropped off he did
not stop to put it on. And so he arrived at his city and shut himself
within the walls of Rheims.

32. A few months earlier Leudast had come to Tours with the king’s
command to take his wife back and dwell there. Moreover he brought
me a letter signed by the bishops directing that he be admitted
to the communion again. But since I saw no letter from the queen,
on whose account especially he had been excommunicated, I put off
admitting him and said: “When I receive the queen’s command then I
will not delay to admit him.” Meantime I sent to her and she wrote
back saying: “I was urged by many and could not help letting him
go. But now I ask you not to be reconciled to him nor give him the
holy bread from your hand until I consider more fully what I ought
to do.” But when I read this letter over I was afraid he would be
killed, and sending for his brother-in-law I made it known to him
and asked that Leudast be careful until the queen should relent. But
he received with suspicion the advice which I gave frankly in God’s
sight, and since he was my enemy he refused to do what I ordered,
and the proverb was fulfilled which I once heard an old man mention:
“Always give good advice to friend and foe because the friend takes
it and the foe despises it.” And so he despised this advice and went
to the king, who was then at Melun with his army, and he entreated
the people to beg the king to see him. So when all made entreaty
the king gave him a hearing. Leudast threw himself at his feet and
begged for pardon, and the king replied to him: “Be on guard yet
for a little while until I see the queen and make arrangement as
to how you are to return into favor with her.” But he was reckless
and foolish and was confident because he had had a hearing before
the king, and when the king returned to Paris he threw himself at
the queen’s feet in the holy church on the Lord’s day and asked for
pardon. But she was furious and cursed the sight of him and drove
him away and said, bursting into tears: “I have no sons living to
avenge the slander against me and I leave it to you, Lord Jesus, to
avenge.” And she threw herself at the king’s feet and added: “Woe is
me that I see my enemy and do not prevail over him.” Then Leudast was
driven from the holy place and the mass was celebrated. The king and
queen returned from the holy church and Leudast went to the square
having no idea what was going to happen to him; he went around the
traders’ houses, examined their costly wares, tested the weight of
the silver articles and looked at various ornaments, saying: “I’ll
buy this and this because I still have much gold and silver.” As he
was saying this the queen’s servants came suddenly and wished to bind
him with chains. But he drew his sword and struck one of them. Then
in a rage they seized their swords and shields and rushed at him. And
one of them dealt a stroke that took hair and skin off a great part
of his head. And as he fled across the city bridge his foot slipped
between two planks of the bridge and his leg was broken and he was
taken. His hands were tied behind his back and he was put in prison.
The king ordered the physicians to attend him in order that when
cured of his wounds he might be executed with prolonged torture. He
was taken to one of the estates of the fisc but his wounds putrefied
and he was dying when the queen ordered him to be laid on the ground
on his back. Then a great bar of iron was placed under his neck and
they struck his throat with another. And so after living an always
perfidious life he died a just death.

[33. List of prodigies. 34. Death of Chilperic’s infant son
Theodoric.]

35. In the meantime the queen was told that the boy who had died had
been taken away by evil arts and enchantments, and that Mummolus
the prefect,[DN] whom the queen had long hated, had a share in the
death of her son Theodoric. And it happened that while Mummolus was
dining at home one from the king’s court complained that a boy whom
he loved had been attacked by dysentery. And the prefect said to him:
“I have an herb at hand a draught of which will soon cure a sufferer
from dysentery no matter how desperate the case.” This was reported
to the queen and she was the more enraged. Meantime she apprehended
some women of Paris and plied them with tortures and strove to force
them by blows to confess what they knew. And they admitted that they
practised magic and testified that they had caused many to die,
adding what I do not allow any one to believe: “We gave your son, O
Queen, in exchange for Mummolus the prefect’s life.”[DO] Then the
queen used severer torture on the women and caused some to be drowned
and delivered others over to fire, and tied others to wheels where
their bones were broken. And then she retired with the king to the
villa of Compiègne and there disclosed to him what she had heard of
the prefect. The king sent his men and ordered him summoned, and
after examining him they loaded him with chains and subjected him
to torture. He was hung to a beam with his hands tied behind his
back and there asked what he knew of the evil arts, but he confessed
nothing of what we have told above. Nevertheless he told how he had
often received from these women ointments and potions to secure for
him the favor of the king and queen. Now when released from torture,
he called a reader and said to him: “Tell my master the king that I
feel no ill effect of the tortures inflicted on me.” Hearing this the
king said: “Is it not true that he practises evil arts if he has not
been harmed by these tortures?” Then he was stretched on the wheel
and beaten with triple thongs until his torturers were wearied out.
Then they put splinters under his finger and toe nails. And when
it had come to this, that the sword hung over him to cut his head
off, the queen obtained his life; but a disgrace not less than death
followed. Everything was taken from him and he was put on a rough
wagon and sent to his birthplace, the city of Bordeaux. But on the
way he had a stroke of apoplexy and was scarcely able to reach his
destination. And not long after he died.

Then the queen took all the boy had owned, both garments and costly
articles, whether of silk or wool, all she could find, and burned
them. They say there were four wagon-loads. She had the things of
gold and silver melted in a furnace that nothing might remain as it
was to recall the sad memory of her son.

[36. Difficulties of Ætherius, bishop of Lisieux, with a dissolute
priest and how he finally triumphed. 37. Abbot Lupentius is falsely
accused, tortured, and murdered by Count Innocent. 38. Count Innocent
becomes bishop of Rodez. 39. Sulpicius becomes bishop of Bourges.
40. Theological argument between Gregory and a Spanish legate. 41.
Chilperic retires to Cambrai. 42. Childebert receives money from the
emperor to drive the Lombards out of Italy but fails to do so. 43.
Events in Spain. 44. List of prodigies.]

45. Meantime the first of September came and a great embassy of Goths
came to king Chilperic.[DP] He had now returned to Paris. He ordered
many households of slaves to be taken from his estates and placed on
the wagons; many too who wept and refused to go he ordered to be put
under guard, in order to send them more easily with his daughter.
They say that many in their grief hanged themselves, fearing they
would be taken from their kinsmen. Son was separated from father,
mother from daughter, and they departed with loud outcries and
curses. There was such a wailing in the city of Paris that it was
compared with the wailing of Egypt. Many of the older men who were
forced to go made their wills and left their property to the
churches, and requested that when the girl had entered the Spains the
wills should be opened at once as if they were already buried.

Meantime legates came to Paris from king Childebert and warned king
Chilperic not to take anything from the cities he held that belonged
to the realm of Childebert’s father, [or present his daughter with
the treasures in any of them] or dare to touch the slaves or horses
or yokes of oxen or anything in them. They say that one of these
legates was secretly killed, but it was not known by whom; still
suspicion turned to the king. King Chilperic promised that he would
touch nothing from these cities, and invited the Frankish nobles and
the rest who had sworn fealty and celebrated his daughter’s marriage.
She was given over to the legates of the Goths and he gave her great
treasures. Moreover her mother presented her with a great quantity of
gold and silver and garments, so that when the king saw it he thought
he had nothing left. The queen noticed he was provoked and she turned
to the Franks and said: “Do not think, men, that I have anything here
from the treasures of previous kings; for all that you see is taken
from my own property, since the most glorious king has given me much
and I have gathered a good deal by my own labor, and I have made
great gains from houses granted to me, both from the revenues and the
tribute. Moreover you have often enriched me with your gifts, and
from these sources comes all that you see before you, for there is
nothing here from the public treasures.” And thus the king’s mind was
deceived.

There was such a multitude of things that it took fifty wagons to
carry the gold and silver and other ornaments. The Franks offered
many gifts,[DQ] some gold, others silver, many horses or garments;
each gave such a gift as he could. Finally the girl said farewell
after tears and kisses and when she was going out of the gate a wagon
axle broke and all said: “Mala hora,” which was taken by some as an
augury. So she went forth from Paris and ordered the tents pitched at
the eighth milestone from the city. And fifty men rose in the night
and took a hundred of the best horses with golden bridles and two
great chains and fled to king Childebert. Moreover along the whole
way when any one could escape, he fled, taking whatever he could lay
hands on. Abundant supplies at the expense of the different cities
were gathered along the way; in this the king ordered that nothing
should be taken from his own treasury but all from the contributions
of the poor. And as the king was suspicious that his brother or
nephew would prepare some ambush against the girl on the way, he
directed that she should be guarded by an army. Great warriors were
with her, duke Bobo, Mummolinus’s son, with his wife as attendant
on the bride, Domigisel and Ansovald and the major-domo Waddo who
had once been count of Saintes, and also about four thousand common
soldiers. The rest of the dukes and chamberlains who started with
her turned back at Poitiers. The others journeyed on as they could.
And on this journey such spoils and booty were taken as can scarcely
be described. For they robbed the huts of the poor, wasted the
vineyards, cutting off the vines and carrying them away grapes and
all, taking domestic animals and whatever they could come upon and
leaving nothing along their road, and the words that were spoken
through Joel the prophet were fulfilled: “That which the locust hath
left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath
left, hath the caterpillar eaten; and that which the caterpillar
hath left, hath the palmerworm eaten.” This is what happened on this
occasion. What was left by frost the storm destroyed, what was left
by the storm the drought destroyed, and what was left by the drought
the host carried away.

46. While they continued on their way with this plunder, Chilperic,
the Nero and Herod of our time, went to his villa of Chelles about
one hundred stades distant from Paris and there hunted. One day,
returning from the hunt in the dusk, when he was dismounting from his
horse and had one hand on a slave’s shoulder a certain one came and
stabbed him with a dagger under the armpit and repeating the blow
pierced his belly. A flood of blood issued at once from his mouth
and the open wounds and put his wicked soul to flight. The narrative
before this shows how iniquitous he was. For he frequently laid great
districts waste and burned them over, and experienced no pain in this
but rather joy, like Nero before him when he recited tragedies as
the palace burned. He often punished men unjustly because of their
wealth. Very few clerics in his time reached the office of bishop.
He was given over to gluttony and his belly was his god. He used to
say that no one was wiser than he. He wrote two books on the model
of Sedulius,[DR] but their feeble little verses can’t stand on their
feet at all, since for lack of understanding he put short syllables
for long ones and long for short. He wrote pamphlets also and hymns
and masses which can in no wise be received. He hated the causes of
the poor. He was always blaspheming the bishops of the Lord, and when
he was in retirement he belittled and ridiculed no one more than the
bishops of the churches. He called this one lightheaded, that one
vain, another lavish, another wanton, another conceited, another
pompous. He hated nothing more than churches. For he often used to
say: “Behold our treasury has remained poor, behold our wealth has
gone to the churches, no one reigns if not the bishops; our office
will perish and be transferred to the bishops of the cities.” Going
on in this way he would always break wills that were made in favor
of churches and he trampled under foot the last directions of his
own father, thinking that there was no one left to require the
execution of his will. As to lust and wantonness nothing can be
found in thought that he did not realize in deed. And he was always
looking for new devices to injure the people and of late years if he
found any one guilty he would order his eyes torn out. And in the
directions he sent to his judges to secure his own advantages he
would add this: “If any one disregards our orders let him be punished
by having his eyes torn out.” He never loved any one sincerely and
was loved by no one, and therefore when he died all his people
deserted him. But Mallulf bishop of Senlis, who had been sitting in
his tent three days and had been unable to see him, came when he
heard he was killed, and washed him and put on better garments, and
spent the night singing hymns, and took him in a boat and buried
him in the church of St. Vincent which is at Paris, leaving queen
Fredegunda in the cathedral.

HERE ENDS IN CHRIST’S NAME THE SIXTH BOOK OF THE HISTORIES. THANKS BE
TO GOD. AMEN.

FOOTNOTES:

[58] West of Marseilles in Septimania.

[59] The argument is continued at length along this line
between the Jew on the one hand and Chilperic and
Gregory on the other.

HERE BEGIN THE CHAPTERS OF THE SEVENTH BOOK

1. Death of the holy bishop Salvius.
2. Fighting between men of Chartres and of Orleans.
3. Killing of Vidast, named also Avus.
4. Fredegunda takes refuge in a church; her treasures that were
taken to Childebert.
5. King Gunthram goes to Paris.
6. The same king takes control of Charibert’s kingdom.
7. Childebert’s legates demand Fredegunda.
8. The king requests the people not to kill him as [they had] his
brothers.
9. Riguntha’s treasures are taken away and she is held prisoner
by Desiderius.
10. Gundovald is made king; about Riguntha, king Chilperic’s
daughter.
11. The signs which appeared.
12. The burning of the country about Tours and St. Martin’s miracle.
13. The burning and plundering of Poitiers.
14. King Childebert’s legates are sent to prince Gunthram.
15. Fredegunda’s wickedness.
16. Bishop Prætextatus’s return.
17. Bishop Promotus.
18. What was said to the king to put him on his guard against being
killed.
19. The queen is ordered to retire to a villa.
20. How she sent a man to assassinate Brunhilda.
21. Eberulf’s flight and how he was watched.
22. His wickedness.
23. A Jew with his attendants is killed.
24. The plundering of Poitiers.
25. The despoiling of Marileif.
26. Gundovald goes the round of his cities.
27. The wrong done to bishop Magnulf.
28. Advance of the army.
29. Killing of Eberulf.
30. Gundovald’s legates.
31. The relics of the holy martyr Sergius.
32. Other legates of Gundovald.
33. Childebert visits his uncle Gunthram.
34. Gundovald retires to Comminges.
35. The church of St. Vincent the martyr at Agen is plundered.
36. The conversation between Gundovald and the soldiers.
37. The attack on the city.
38. The killing of Gundovald.
39. The killing of bishop Sagittarius and Mummolus.
40. Mummolus’s treasures.
41. A giant.
42. A miracle of St. Martin.
43. Desiderius and Waddo.
44. The woman with a spirit of divination.
45. The famine in this year.
46. Death of Christofor.
47. Civil war among the citizens of Tours.

HERE END THE CHAPTERS

HERE BEGINS THE SEVENTH BOOK

1. Though it is my desire to continue the history which the previous
books have left untold, still affection requires me first to tell
somewhat concerning the death of the blessed Salvius, who, as is
well known, died in this year.[60] As he himself was wont to relate
he continued for a long time in the secular garb and with secular
judges devoted himself to worldly cases, but yet he never entangled
himself in the passions in which the mind of the young is usually
involved. And finally when the odor of the divine breath had touched
his inward parts, he left the warfare of the world and sought a
monastery, and being even then devoted to godliness he understood
that it was better to be poor with the fear of God than to pursue
the gains of the perishing world. In this monastery he continued a
long time under the rule established by the fathers. And when he
had reached a more mature strength both of understanding and of
life, the abbot who was over this monastery died and he took up
the task of feeding the flock; and whereas he should have shown
himself more commonly among his brethren for their correction, after
he had attained this honor he was more retiring; and so he sought
for himself a more secluded cell; now in the former, as he himself
told, he had changed the skin of his body more than nine times, from
scourging himself with too great determination. Then after receiving
the office, while he devoted himself to prayer and reading, contented
with this abstinence, he kept considering whether it was better
for him to be hidden among the monks or to take the name of abbot
among the people. Why say more? He said farewell to his brethren
and they to him, and was immured. While thus immured he continued
in all abstinence more than before;[DS] and in his love of charity
he sought when any strangers came to bestow his prayers on them and
administer the grace of the blessed bread[DT] abundantly, which
brought sound health to many who were infirm. And once he lay panting
on his bed worn out by a high fever, and behold his cell was suddenly
brightened by a great light and quivered. And he lifted his hands to
heaven and breathed out his spirit while giving thanks. With mingled
cries of mourning the monks and his mother took the dead man’s body
out [of the cell], washed and clothed it and placed it on a bier
and spent the night in weeping and singing psalms. In the morning
while preparations for the funeral went on the body began to move
on the bier. And behold his cheeks regained color and, as if roused
from a deep sleep, he stirred and opened his eyes and lifted his
hands and said: “Merciful God, why hast Thou allowed me to return to
this gloomy place of life on earth, since Thy mercy in heaven would
be better for me than vile life in this world.” His people were
wonderstruck and asked what such a prodigy could mean, but he made
no answer to their questions. He rose from the bier, feeling no harm
from the painful experience he had suffered, and continued for three
days without the support of food or drink. On the third day he called
the monks and his mother and said: “Listen, dear ones, and understand
that what you look upon in this world is nothing but it is like the
prophet Solomon’s song, ‘All is vanity.’ Happy is he who can live
in the world so as to deserve to see the glory of God in heaven.”
Having said this he began to doubt whether to say more or be silent.
When he said no more he was beset by the entreaties of his brethren
to tell what he had seen, and he went on: “Four days ago when my
cell quivered and you saw me lifeless, I was seized by two angels
and carried up to the high heavens, so that I thought I had under
my feet not only this filthy world but the sun also, and the moon,
the clouds and the stars. Then I was taken through a door brighter
than this light into that dwelling in which all the pavement was
like shining gold and silver, a brightness and spaciousness beyond
description, and such a multitude of both sexes was there that the
length and breadth of the throng could not be seen. A way was made
for me through the press by the angels who guided me, and we came to
a place which I had already seen from a distance; a cloud hung over
it brighter than any light, in which no sun or moon or star could
be seen, but excelling all these it gleamed more brightly than the
light of nature, and a voice came out of the cloud like a voice of
many waters. Then I, a sinner, was humbly greeted by men in priestly
and worldly dress who, my guides told me, were martyrs and confessors
whom we worship here with the greatest reverence. I stood where I was
bidden and a very sweet odor enveloped me so that I was refreshed by
this sweetness and up to the present have wanted no food or drink.
And I heard a voice saying: ‘Let him return to the world since he is
necessary to our churches.’ It was only the voice that was heard, for
it could not be seen who spoke. And I threw myself on the pavement
and said with loud weeping: ‘Alas, Alas, Lord, why didst Thou show
me this if I was to be deprived of it. Behold to-day Thou wilt cast
me out from Thy face to return to the sinful world and never be able
to return here again. I beseech Thee, Lord, not to take Thy mercy
from me but permit me to stay here and not fall thither and perish.’
And the voice which spoke to me said: ‘Go in peace, for I am your
keeper until I bring you back to this place.’ Then I was left alone
by my companions and departed weeping by the gate by which I entered
and returned here.” When he had said this and all present were
wonderstruck, God’s saint began to weep and say: “Woe is me who have
dared to reveal such a mystery. For the pleasant odor which I brought
from the holy place, by which I have been supported the last three
days without eating or drinking, has gone. My tongue too is covered
with grievous sores and swollen so that it seems to fill the whole
of my mouth. And I know that it was not well pleasing to my Lord God
to make these secrets known. But Thou knowest, Lord, that I did this
in simplicity of heart, not in boastfulness. I beg Thee, be kind and
do not abandon me, according to Thy promise.” After this he said no
more and took food and drink. Now as I write this I am afraid that
some reader may not believe it, according to what Sallust[DU] the
historian says: “When you speak of the virtue and fame of good men
each calmly believes what he thinks it easy for himself to do; beyond
that he considers it falsely invented.” For I call all-powerful God
to witness that I learned from his own lips all that I have told.
A long time after, the blessed man was taken from his cell, chosen
bishop, and ordained against his will. And when he was, I think,
in his tenth year as bishop, the plague grew worse in Albi, and the
greatest part of the people had now died and few of the citizens
remained, but the blessed man, like a good shepherd, never consented
to leave the place, but he continually urged those who were left to
devote themselves to prayer and to keep watch continually and to be
engaged always in good works and profitable thought, saying: “Do
this so that if God wishes you to go from this world you can enter
not into judgment but into rest.” And when by God’s revelation, as
I suppose, he recognized the time of his calling, he made himself a
tomb and washed his body and clothed it; and thus always intent upon
heaven he breathed out his blessed spirit. He was a man of great
holiness and not greedy at all; he never wished to possess gold. If
he took it under compulsion he at once paid it out to the poor. In
his time when Mummolus the patrician took many captives from that
city he followed him and ransomed them all. And the Lord gave him
such favor with that people that the very men who took the captives
made him concessions in the price and also gave him gifts. And so he
restored the captives taken from his country to their former liberty.
I have heard many good things about this man, but as I desire to
return to the history I have undertaken I pass them over for the most
part.

2. Now when Chilperic had died and had found the death he had long
been looking for, the men of Orleans united with those of Blois made
an attack on the people of Châteaudun and defeated them, taking them
off their guard; they burned their houses and crops and whatever they
could not carry away conveniently, and they plundered flocks and
herds and carried off all that was not fast. Upon their departure
the men of Châteaudun with the rest of the men of Chartres pursued
them closely and treated them in the same way as they were treated,
leaving nothing in their houses or outside their houses or of their
houses. And while they were still abusing one another and raging,
and the men of Orleans were ready to fight the men of Chartres, the
counts intervened and at a hearing before them peace was made, on
condition that on the day when court was to be held the side which
had flamed out wrongfully against the other should make payment
according to justice. And thus the war was ended.

[3. Vidast is slain in a quarrel with the Saxon Childeric, who
settles for it by a payment to Vidast’s sons. 4. Fredegunda takes
refuge in a church. Childebert gets some of her treasures. 5.
Fredegunda invites Gunthram to take Chilperic’s kingdom and become
guardian to her son. He goes to Paris. Childebert also approaches the
city.]

6. When the people of Paris refused to admit Childebert he sent
legates to king Gunthram, saying: “I know, most righteous father,
that it is not unknown to your goodness how up to the present time
the enemy has defrauded us both so that neither of us could find
justice for what was due him. Therefore I humbly beg you now to keep
the agreement that was made between us after my father’s death.”[DV]
Then king Gunthram said to the legates: “O wretches, always
faithless, you have no truth in you and you do not stick to your
promises; behold, you failed in all your promises to me and entered
into a new compact with king Chilperic to drive me from my kingdom
and divide my cities between you. Here is your compact; here are your
very signatures by which you connived together. With what face do you
now ask me to receive my nephew Childebert whom you wished to make my
enemy by your perversity?” To which the legates said: “If you are so
possessed with anger as not to keep your promises to your nephew, at
least cease taking what is due to him from Charibert’s kingdom.” But
he replied: “Here is the agreement entered into with my brothers that
whoever entered Paris without his brother’s consent should lose his
part, and Polioctus the martyr and Hilarius and Martin the confessors
were to be his judges and punishers. After this my brother Sigibert
entered, who died by the judgment of God and lost his part. So did
Chilperic. Now they lost their parts by these wrongdoings. Therefore
since they have died by the judgment of God in accordance with the
curses in the compact, I will subject all Charibert’s kingdom with
its treasures to my rule by right of law, nor will I grant anything
to any one from it except of my own free will. Away with you then,
you everlasting liars and traitors, and take this word to your king.”

7. They departed, but legates came again from Childebert to the king
I have mentioned, demanding queen Fredegunda, and saying: “Give up
that murderess who strangled my aunt[61] and killed my father and
uncle and also slew my cousins with the sword.” But he answered:
“In the court which we hold we decide everything and consider what
ought to be done.” For he was supporting Fredegunda and used often
to invite her to dinner, promising that he would be her strongest
defender. And one day when they were dining together the queen
rose and said farewell but was detained by the king, who said:
“Eat something more.” But she replied: “Pardon me, pray, my lord,
for according to the custom of women I must rise because of having
conceived.” Upon hearing this he was amazed, knowing that it was the
fourth month since she had borne a son, but he permitted her to rise.
Now the leading men of Chilperic’s kingdom, like Ansoald and the
rest, gathered about his son, who, as we have stated, was four months
old and was named Clothar, and they exacted oaths in the cities that
formerly looked to Chilperic to be faithful to king Gunthram and his
nephew Clothar. And king Gunthram by process of justice restored all
that king Chilperic’s followers had wrongfully taken from various
sources, and he himself gave much to the churches, and he gave effect
to the wills of the dead which had contained bequests to churches and
had been broken by Chilperic, and he was generous to many and gave
much to the poor.

8. But inasmuch as he had no trust in the men among whom he had come,
he guarded himself with armed men, and never went to church or to the
other places he took pleasure in visiting without a strong guard. And
so one Lord’s day, when the deacon had called for silence among the
people for the hearing of the mass, the king rose and addressed the
people: “I adjure you, men and women who are present, to think it
worth while to keep unbroken faith with me, and not to kill me as you
lately did my brothers, and to allow me for three years at least to
help my nephews who have become my adopted sons. For it may perchance
happen if I die while they are little that you will perish at the
same time--may the eternal Deity not allow it--since there will be no
one of our family strong enough to protect you.” When he said this
all the people poured forth prayers to the Lord for the king.

9. While this was going on, Riguntha, king Chilperic’s daughter,
arrived at Toulouse with the treasures described above. And seeing
she was now near the Gothic boundary she began to contrive excuses
for delay, and her people told her also that she ought to remain
there for a time since they were wearied with the journey and their
clothing was rough, their shoes torn, and the harness and carriages
which had been brought on wagons were not yet put together. They
ought first to make all these preparations with care and then set out
on the journey and be received in all elegance by her betrothed, and
not be laughed at by the Goths if they appeared among them in a rough
condition. While they were delaying for these reasons, Chilperic’s
death was reported to duke Desiderius.[DW] And he gathered his
bravest men and entered Toulouse and finding the treasures took them
from the queen’s control and put them in a certain house sealed up
and under the guard of brave men, and he allowed the queen a scanty
living until she should return to the city.

[10. Gundovald is proclaimed king. 11. A list of prodigies pointing
to Gundovald’s death. 12. Tours is forced to become subject to
Gunthram. 13. Poitiers also comes under Gunthram’s control.]

[DY]14. Now when court was held, bishop Egidius, Gunthram Boso,
Sigivald, and many others were sent by king Childebert to king
Gunthram, and they went in to him and the bishop said: “Most
righteous king, we thank the all-powerful God that he has restored
you after many toils to your own land and kingdom.” And the king said
to him: “Yes, it is to the King of kings and Lord of lords who in his
mercy thought it right to accomplish this, that due thanks should be
given. For it is certainly not to you, by whose treacherous counsel
and perjuries my land was burned over a year ago; you never kept good
faith with any man; your crooked dealing appears everywhere;[DX] it
is not a bishop but an enemy of my kingdom that you show yourself
to be.” At these words the bishop, though enraged, was silent. But
one of the legates spoke: “Your nephew Childebert begs you to order
the cities which his father held to be given back to him.” At this
he replied: “I told you before that our compacts give them to me and
therefore I refuse to restore them.” Another of the legates said:
“Your nephew asks you to order the sorceress Fredegunda, through whom
many kings have been killed, to be surrendered to him, so that he can
avenge the death of his father, uncle and cousins.” “She shall not
be given into his power,” said Gunthram, “because she has a son who
is king. Besides I do not believe that what you say against her is
true.” Then Gunthram Boso approached the king as if he were going to
make some request. But since it had been certainly reported that he
had raised Gundovald up as king, Gunthram spoke before him and said:
“You enemy of my country and kingdom, who went a few years ago to the
East for the express purpose of bringing Ballomer”[DZ]--so he used
to call Gundovald--“into my kingdom, you who are always treacherous
and never perform what you promise.” Gunthram Boso replied: “You
are lord and king and sit on a royal throne and no one ventures to
make answer to what you say. Now I say that I am innocent of this
charge. And if there is any one of my rank who secretly makes this
charge against me, let him come now openly and make it. Then, most
righteous king, I will leave it to the judgment of God to decide when
he sees us fighting on a level field.” At this all were silent and
the king added: “All ought to be eager to drive from our territories
an adventurer whose father was a miller; and to tell the truth his
father was in charge of the combs and wove wool.” And although it is
possible for one man to be master of two trades, still one of them
answered in ridicule of the king: “Therefore, as you say, this man
had two fathers at the same time, one a worker in wool, the other a
miller. Fie on you, king, to say such an outlandish thing. For it
is an unheard of thing that one man should have two fathers at the
same time except in a spiritual sense.” Then they laughed without
restraint and another legate said: “We bid you good-by, O king.
Although you have refused to restore your nephew’s cities we know
that the ax is still safe that was driven into your brothers’ heads.
It will soon strike yours.” Thus they went off in a quarrelsome
spirit. Then the king, inflamed at their insults, ordered his men to
throw on their heads as they went rotted horse-dung, chips, hay and
straw covered with filth, and the stinking refuse from the city. And
they were badly fouled and went off amid unmeasured insult and abuse.

15. While queen Fredegunda was living in the church at Paris,
Leonard, formerly an officer of the household, who then came from
Toulouse, went to her and began to tell her of the abuse and insults
offered to her daughter, saying: “At your command I went with queen
Riguntha and I saw her humiliation and how she was plundered of her
treasures and everything. And I escaped by flight and have come to
report to my mistress what has happened.” On hearing this she was
enraged and ordered him despoiled[EA] in the very church and she
took away his garments and the belt which he had as a gift from king
Chilperic and ordered him out of her presence. The cooks and bakers,
too, and whoever she learned of as returning from this journey, she
left beaten, plundered, and maimed. She tried to ruin by wicked
accusations to the king, Nectar, brother of bishop Baudegysil, and
she said he had taken much from the treasury of the dead king.
Moreover she said he had taken from the storehouses sides of meat
and a great deal of wine, and she requested that he should be bound
and thrust into prison darkness. But the king’s patience and his
brother’s help prevented this. She did many foolish things and did
not fear God in whose church she was taking refuge. She had with
her at the time a judge, Audo, who had assisted in many wrongdoings
in the time of the king. For together with Mummolus the prefect
he subjected to the state tax many Franks who in the time of king
Childebert the elder were free born. After the king’s death he was
despoiled by them and stripped, so that he had nothing left except
what he could carry away. For they burned his house and would have
taken his life if he had not fled to the church with the queen.

[16. Prætextatus returns to the bishopric of Rouen.]

17. Promotus had been made bishop in Châteaudun by order of king
Sigibert and had been removed after that king’s death on the ground
that the town was a parish of Chartres--and judgment had been given
against him to the effect that he should perform only the functions
of a priest. He now came to the king and begged to receive again his
ordination as bishop in the town mentioned. But Pappalus, bishop
of Chartres, opposed him and said: “It is my parish,” pointing
especially to the decision of the bishops, and Promotus could obtain
nothing more from the king than permission to take again his own
property which he had within the territory of the town, on which he
lived with his mother who was still living.

[18. King Gunthram fears assassination. 19. Fredegunda is ordered to
retire to her villa at Reuil. 20. She sends a clerk to assassinate
Brunhilda. When he returns without success she has his feet and hands
cut off.]

21. After this when king Gunthram returned to Chalon and endeavored
to inquire into his brother’s death and the queen had put the blame
on the chamberlain Eberulf--for she had invited him to reside with
her after the king’s death but could not prevail upon him to do
so--this enmity accordingly broke out and the queen said that the
king had been killed by him and that he had taken much from the
treasures and so gone off to Tours; and therefore if the king wished
to avenge his brother’s death he might know that Eberulf was the
leader in the matter. Then the king swore to all his nobles that he
would destroy not only Eberulf himself but also all his kinsmen[EB]
to the ninth degree, in order that by their death the wicked custom
of killing kings might be ended. On learning this, Eberulf fled to
the church of St. Martin, whose property he had often seized. Then
upon the pretext of watching him the men of Orleans and Blois came
in turn to keep guard, and at the end of fifteen days returned with
great booty, taking horses, flocks and herds, and whatever they could
carry off. But the men who took away the blessed Martin’s horses got
into a quarrel and pierced one another with lances. Two, who were
taking mules, went to a house near by and asked for a drink. And when
the man said he had none they raised their lances to attack him, but
he drew his sword and thrust them both through and they fell dead;
Saint Martin’s horses were returned. Such evils were done at that
time by the men of Orleans that they cannot be described.

22. While this was going on Eberulf’s property was being granted
to different persons; his gold and silver and other valuables that
he had with him he offered for sale.[EC] What he held in trust was
confiscated. The herds of horses, swine, and pack-animals were taken.
His house within the walls which he had taken from the possession
of the church and which was full of grain, wine, sides of meat,
and many other things, was completely cleaned out and nothing but
the bare walls remained. Because of this he regarded me with great
suspicion although I was running faithfully on his errands, and
he kept promising that if he ever regained the king’s favor he
would take vengeance on me for what he suffered. But God, to whom
the secrets of the heart are revealed, knows that I helped him
disinterestedly as far as I could. And although in former times he
had laid many traps for me in order to get St. Martin’s property,
still there was a reason why I should forget them, namely because
I had taken his son from the holy font. But I believe it was the
greatest drawback to the unlucky man that he showed no respect for
the holy bishop. For he often engaged in violence within the very
portico that is close to the saint’s feet, and was continually
occupied with drunkenness and vanities; and when a priest refused to
give him wine, since he was plainly drunk already, he crushed him
down on a bench and beat him with his fists and with other blows, so
that he seemed to be almost dying; and perhaps he would have died if
the cupping-glasses of the physicians had not helped him. Now because
of his fear of the king he had his lodging in the audience chamber
of the holy church. And when the priest who kept the door keys had
closed the other doors and gone, girls went in with the rest of his
attendants by the door of the audience chamber and looked at the
paintings on the walls and fingered the ornaments of the holy tomb,
which was a wicked crime in the eyes of the religious. And when the
priest learned of this he drove nails in the door and fitted bars
within. And after dinner when he was drunk he noticed this, and as we
were singing in the church on account of the service at nightfall,
he entered in a rage and began to attack me with abuse and curses,
reviling me, among other things, because I wished to keep him away
from the holy bishops’ tomb cover. But I was amazed that such madness
should possess the man and tried to calm him with soothing words.
But as I could not overcome his rage by gentle words I decided to be
silent. And finding that I would say nothing he turned to the priest
and overwhelmed him with abuse. For he assailed both him and me with
vile language and various insults. But when we saw that he was so
to speak possessed by a demon, we went out of the holy church and
ended the disgraceful scene and the service at the same time, being
especially indignant that he had become so abusive before the very
tomb, without respect for the holy bishop.

In these days I saw a vision which I told him in the holy church,
saying: “I thought that I was celebrating mass in this holy church
and when the altar with the offerings was now covered with a silk
cloth, I suddenly saw king Gunthram entering and he said in a loud
voice, ‘Drag out the enemy of my family, tear the murderer away from
God’s sacred altar.’ And when I heard him I turned to you and said:
‘Wretch, take hold of the altar-cloth with which the holy gifts are
covered, lest you be cast out of here.’ And although you laid hold of
it you held it with a loose hand and not manfully. But I stretched
out my hands and opposed my breast against the king’s breast, saying:
‘Do not cast this man out of the holy church lest you incur danger
to your life, lest the holy bishop destroy you by his power. Do not
kill yourself with your own weapon because if you do this you will
lose the present life and the eternal one.’ But when the king opposed
me you let go the cloth and came behind me. And I was very much
annoyed at you. And when you returned to the altar you took hold of
the cloth, but again let go. And while you held it without spirit and
I manfully resisted the king I woke up in terror, not knowing what
the dream meant.” Now when I had told it to him he said: “It is a
true dream that you saw because it strongly agrees with my purpose.”
And I said to him: “And what is your purpose?” He replied: “I have
determined that if the king orders me to be dragged from this place
I will hold to the altar-cloth with one hand and with the other draw
my sword and first kill you and then as many clerks as I can reach.
And after this it would not be a misfortune for me to die, if I first
took vengeance on this saint’s clerks.” I heard this and was amazed,
and wondered why it was that the devil spoke by his mouth. For he
never had any fear of God. For while he was at liberty his horses and
flocks were let go among the crops and vineyards of the poor. And if
they were driven away by the men whose labor they were destroying
these were at once beaten by his men. In this trouble in which he was
he often told how many of the blessed bishop’s possessions he had
taken unjustly. In fact the year before he had urged on a certain
foolish citizen and caused him to summon the bailiffs of the church.
Then, without regard for justice, he had taken property which the
church formerly possessed under pretense of having bought it, giving
the man the gold ornament on his belt. Moreover he acted perversely
in many other things to the end of his life, which we shall tell of
later.

23. In this year Armentarius, a Jew, with one attendant of his own
sect and two Christians, came to Tours to demand payment of the
bonds which Injuriosus, ex-vicar, and Eunomius, ex-count,[ED] had
given to him on account of the tribute. And calling on the men, he
received a promise to pay the sum with interest, and they said to
him besides: “If you will come to our house we will pay what we owe
and honor you with presents also, as is right.” He went and was
received by Injuriosus and placed at dinner, and when the feast
was over and night came, they arose and passed from one place to
another. Then, as they say, the Jews and the two Christians also were
killed by Injuriosus’s men, and thrown into a well which was near
his house. Their kinsmen heard what had been done and came to Tours
and information was given by certain men and they found the well
and took the bodies out, while Injuriosus vigorously denied that he
had been involved in this matter. After this it came to trial, but
as he denied it with vigor, as I have said, and they had no means
of proving him guilty, it was decided that he should take oath that
he was innocent. But they were not satisfied with this and they set
the trial before king Childebert. However neither the money nor the
bonds of the dead Jew were found. Many said at the time that Medard
the tribune was involved in this crime, because he too had borrowed
money from the Jew. However Injuriosus went to the trial before king
Childebert and waited for three days until sunset. But as they did
not come and he was not examined on the case by any one, he returned
home.

[24. The territory of Poitiers is devastated and its people are
forced to declare their allegiance to Gunthram a second time.]

25. Marileif, who had been regarded as the chief physician in king
Chilperic’s household, they attacked most eagerly. And although he
had been well plundered already by duke Gararic he was a second time
stripped bare by these, so that he had no substance left. They
took away his horses, gold, silver, and other valuables alike, and
subjected him to the control of the church. For his father’s service
had been to attend to the mills of the church, and his brothers and
cousins and other relatives were attached to the kitchens and mills
of their masters.

[26. Gundovald goes about among the southern cities exacting the oath
of allegiance. 27. He enters Toulouse and exiles bishop Magnulf. 28.
Gunthram’s army marches south from Poitiers. [EE]29. Eberulf is slain
by Claudius. 30. A legate of Gundovald is captured by Gunthram. 31.
Gundovald obtains a piece of the finger bone of the martyr Sergius,
hearing that an Oriental king had defeated his enemy by the help of
one of Sergius’ finger bones. 32. Two legates of Gundovald are taken
and tortured. 33. Friendship is reëstablished between Gunthram and
Childebert. 34. Gundovald takes refuge in Comminges. 35. March of
Gunthram’s army to Comminges. 36. Gunthram’s men outside the wall
abuse Gundovald and he answers with an account of his life.]

37. The fifteenth day of this siege had dawned when Leudeghisel
began to make ready new engines to destroy the city, wagons carrying
battering rams covered with woven branches, and planks under which
the army was to move forward to tear down the walls. But when they
came near they were so overwhelmed with stones that all who got near
the wall perished. They threw upon them pots of burning pitch and fat
and hurled jars full of stones down on them. And when night ended
the contest the army returned to the camp. Now Gundovald had on his
side Chariulf, a very rich and powerful man, with whose store-rooms
the city was very full, and it was on his substance that they were
chiefly supported. And Bladast saw what was being done and was afraid
that Leudeghisel would win the victory and put them to death, so he
set fire to the bishop’s house, and when the people shut in the city
ran to put the fire out he slipped away and departed. In the morning
the army rose again for battle and they made bundles of rods as if to
fill the deep trench which lay on the east; but here the engine could
do no harm. And Sagittarius the bishop went frequently around the
walls in arms and from the wall hurled stones with his own hand at
the enemy.

38. Finally when those attacking the city saw that they could
accomplish nothing, they sent secret messages to Mummolus saying:
“Recognize your lord and finally give up your perversity. What
madness possesses you to become a follower of an unknown man? For
your wife and your daughters have been captured and your sons have
been already slain. What end are you coming to? What do you expect
except to perish?” He received their message and replied: “Already,
as I see, our kingdom has reached its end and its power fails. One
thing is left; if I learn that I have security of life, I can relieve
you of great trouble.” When the messengers left, bishop Sagittarius
with Mummolus, Chariulf and Waddo hastened to the church and there
they swore to one another that if they should be assured of life
they would give up their friendship for Gundovald and betray him to
the enemy. The messengers returned and promised them security of
life. And Mummolus said: “Let this be done; I will betray him into
your hand and I will recognize my master the king and hasten to his
presence.” Then they promised that if he did this they would receive
him to their friendship, and if they could not secure his pardon
from the king they would place him in a church that he might avoid
the punishment of death. This they promised with an oath and then
departed. And Mummolus went to Gundovald with bishop Sagittarius and
Waddo and said: “You were present and know what oaths of faithfulness
we took to you. But now accept wholesome counsel and go down from
this city and present yourself to your brother as you have often
desired to do. For we have spoken with these men and they have told
us that the king does not wish to lose your support because too
few remain of your family.” But he understood their treachery and
bursting into tears said: “It was at your invitation I came to these
Gauls, and of my treasures comprising a great amount of silver and
gold and various articles of value, some have been kept in Avignon
and some have been taken by Gunthram Boso. And next to God’s help I
placed all my hope in you, and to you intrusted my counsels and by
your help always wished to reign. Now let your settlement be with
God if you have lied to me. For he will judge my cause.” To this
Mummolus replied: “We are not speaking deceitfully to you; and lo!
brave men are standing at the gate awaiting your coming. Now lay
down my gilded belt that you are wearing that you may not seem to
go forth boastingly and gird on your sword and give me mine back.”
He answered: “There is a double meaning in what you say since you
are taking away the things of yours that I have used as a token of
affection.” But Mummolus swore that no harm should be done him.
Accordingly they went out of the gate and he was received by Ollo,
count of Bourges, and by Boso. And Mummolus returned into the city
with his followers and barred the gate very securely. And when
Gundovald saw that he was betrayed into the hands of his enemies he
raised his hands and eyes to heaven and said: “Eternal judge, true
avenger of the innocent, God from whom all justice comes, whom lying
displeases, in whom is no craft or wicked cunning, to Thee I commend
my cause, praying that Thou mayst be a swift avenger upon those
who have betrayed an innocent man into the hands of his enemies.”
Having said this he crossed himself and went off with the men I have
mentioned. And when they had gone some distance from the gate, as the
whole valley around the city is precipitous he was given a push by
Ollo and fell, Ollo calling out: “There is your Ballomer, who says he
is brother and son of a king.” And he threw his lance and wished to
pierce him but it was checked by the links of Gundovald’s coat[EF] of
mail, and did him no injury. Then when he rose and attempted to climb
the mountain Boso threw a stone and struck his head. And he fell and
died. And the whole throng came and thrust their lances into him and
tied his feet with a rope and dragged him through all the camp of the
armies, and they tore out his hair and beard and left him unburied in
the place where he was killed. The next night the leaders secretly
carried off all the treasures they could find in the city, together
with the church utensils. And in the morning they opened the gates
and admitted the army and gave over all the common folk inside to the
edge of the sword, butchering also the bishops of the Lord with their
attendants at the very altars of the churches. And after they had
killed all so that not one remained, they burned the whole city, both
churches and other buildings, and left nothing but bare ground.

39. Now Leudeghisel, on his return to the camp with Mummolus,
Sagittarius, Chariulf and Waddo, sent messengers secretly to the king
to ask what he wished done with them. And he gave orders to put them
to death. But Waddo and Chariulf by that time had left their sons as
hostages and gone off. When the word about their death had come and
Mummolus heard of it, he put on his armor and went to Leudeghisel’s
hut. And Leudeghisel saw him and said to him: “Why do you come thus
as if ready to flee?” And he answered: “The word that was given is
not to be kept, I see; for I know that I am close to death.” But
Leudeghisel replied: “I will go out and settle everything.” He went
out and immediately by his command the house was surrounded in order
that Mummolus might be killed. But he made a long resistance against
his assailants and at last came to the door and as he stepped out
two with lances struck him on each side, and so he fell and died.
On seeing this the bishop was overwhelmed with fear and one of the
bystanders said to him: “Behold with your own eyes, bishop, what is
being done. Cover your head to escape recognition and make for the
woods and hide for a little time, and when their anger passes you can
escape.” He took the advice, but while he was trying to get away with
his head covered, a certain man drew his sword and cut off his head,
hood and all. Then each and all returned home, plundering and killing
along the way. In these days Fredegunda sent Chuppan to Toulouse to
bring her daughter thence as best he could. Now many said that he
was sent in case he found Gundovald alive to entice him with many
promises and bring him to her. But since Chuppan could not do this he
took Rigunda and brought her back from that place amid great scorn
and contempt.

[40. Mummolus’s treasures, amounting to two hundred and fifty-two
talents of silver and a greater value in gold, are taken. 41. A giant
“two or three feet taller than the tallest men” is taken to king
Gunthram. 42. The count of Bourges attempts to fine “St. Martin’s
men” for not taking part in the expedition against Gundovald. 43.
Desiderius, Waddo, and Chariulf escape.]

44. There was at this time a woman who had a spirit of divination and
won great gain for her owners by prophesying, and she won such favor
from them that she was set free and left to her own devices. And if
any one suffered from theft or any wrongdoing she would at once tell
where the thief had gone, to whom he had given the property, or what
he had done with it. She gathered together gold and silver every day
and went forth in rich clothing, so that she was thought among the
people to be something divine. But when this was reported to Ageric,
bishop of Verdun, he sent to arrest her. When she was arrested and
brought to him he perceived, according to that which we read in
the Acts of the Apostles, that there was in her an unclean spirit
of divination. And when he said a formula of exorcism over her and
anointed her forehead with holy oil, the demon cried out and revealed
to the bishop what it was. But since he could not drive it from the
woman she was allowed to go. And the woman saw that she could not
dwell in the place and she went off to queen Fredegunda and remained
hid.

45. In this year a severe famine oppressed almost all of the Gauls.
Many dried and ground into powder grape seeds and oat chaff and fern
roots and mixed a little flour with it and made bread; many cut
straw and did the same. Many who had no flour ate different herbs
which they gathered, and in consequence swelled up and died. Many
too wasted away and died of starvation. At that time the traders
plundered the people greatly, selling scarcely a peck of grain or
half measure of wine for the third of a gold piece. They subjected
the poor to slavery in return for a little food.

[46. Christofer, a trader, is killed by his Saxon slaves, one of
whom is caught and executed. [EG]47. Quarrel between two citizens of
Tours.]

HERE ENDS THE SEVENTH BOOK

FOOTNOTES:

[60] Salvius died Sept. 10, 584. Chilperic’s death which
closes Book VI occurred in 584.

[61] Galsuenta. See p. 90.

HERE BEGIN THE CHAPTERS OF THE EIGHTH BOOK

1. Visit of the king at Orleans.
2. How the bishops were presented to him and how he made ready a
feast.
3. The singers and Mummolus’s silver.
4. Praise of king Childebert.
5. The visions of Chilperic which the king and I saw.
6. Those whom I presented.
7. How bishop Palladius said mass.
8. Prodigies.
9. The oath given in behalf of Chilperic’s son.
10. The bodies of Merovech and Clovis.
11. The doorkeepers and the killing of Boantus.
12. Bishop Theodore and the plague that visited Ratharius.
13. The embassy sent by Gunthram to Childebert.
14. Danger on the river.
15. Conversion of deacon Vulfilaic.
16. What he related of St. Martin’s miracles.
17. The signs which appeared.
18. Childebert sends an army into Italy; the dukes and counts who
are appointed or removed.
19. Killing of the abbot Daulfus.
20. Acts of the synod at Mâcon.
21. The court at Beslingen and the violation of sepulcher.
22. Death of the bishops and of Wandalinus.
23. Floods.
24. The islands of the sea.
25. The island in which blood appeared.
26. The former duke Berulf.
27. Desiderius returns to the king.
28. Hermengild and Ingunda and the Spanish legates secretly sent
to Fredegunda.
29. Fredegunda sends persons to kill Childebert.
30. The army makes an expedition against Septimania.
31. The killing of bishop Prætextatus.
32. Killing of Domnola, Nectarius’s wife.
33. Burning of Paris.
34. Temptations of recluses.
35. Spanish legates.
36. Killing of Magnovald.
37. A son is born to Childebert.
38. The Spaniards burst into the Gauls.
39. Death of the bishops.
40. Pelagius of Tours.
41. The slayers of Prætextatus.
42. Beppolenus is appointed duke.
43. Nicecius is appointed governor of Provence; doings of Antestius.
44. The man who wished to kill king Gunthram.
45. Death of duke Desiderius.
46. Death of king Leuvigild.

HERE END THE CHAPTERS OF THE EIGHTH BOOK. THANKS
BE TO GOD. AMEN.

IN CHRIST’S NAME HERE BEGINS BOOK EIGHT

[EH]1. Now king Gunthram in the twenty-fourth year of his reign
started from Chalon and went to the city of Nevers. For he was going
to Paris by invitation to receive from the holy font of regeneration
Chilperic’s son, whom they were already calling Clothar. And he
left the territory of Nevers and came to the city of Orleans and at
that time appeared much among the citizens.[EI] For on receiving
invitations he went to their homes and partook of the repasts offered
him. He received many gifts from them and bestowed many gifts on
them in a very generous way. And when he came to the city of Orleans
the day was the festival of the blessed Martin, namely the fourth
before the Nones of the fifth month [July 4]. And a huge throng of
people came to meet him with standards and banners, singing praises.
And here the Syrian language, there that of the Latins, and again
that even of the Jews, sounded together strangely in varied praises,
saying: “Long live the king; may his reign over the people last
unnumbered years.” And the Jews who were to be seen taking part in
these praises said: “May all the nations honor you and bend the
knee and be subject to you.” And so it happened that when the king
was seated at dinner after mass he said: “Woe to the Jewish tribe,
wicked, treacherous, and always living by cunning.[EJ] Here’s what
they were after,” said he, “when they cried out their flattering
praises to-day, that all the nations were to honor me as master.
[They wish me] to order their synagogue, long ago torn down by the
Christians, to be built at the public cost; but by the Lord’s command
I will never do it.” O King glorious for wonderful wisdom. He so
understood the craft of the heretics that they entirely failed to
get from him what they were going to propose later. At the dinner
the king said to the bishops who were present: “I beg you to give me
your blessing to-morrow in my house and bring me salvation by your
coming, so that I may be saved when in my humility I receive your
words of blessing.” When he said this all thanked him, and as dinner
was finished we rose.

2. In the morning while the king was visiting the holy places to
offer prayer he came to my lodging. It was the church of Saint Avitus
the abbot, whom I mention in my book of the miracles. I rose gladly,
I admit, to go to meet him, and after giving him my blessing begged
him to accept St. Martin’s holy bread at my lodging. He did not
refuse but courteously came in, drank a cup, invited me to the dinner
and went away in good humor.

At that time Bertram, bishop of Bordeaux, and Palladius of Saintes
were in great disfavor with the king because of their support of
Gundovald of which we have told above. Moreover bishop Palladius had
especially offended the king because he had repeatedly deceived him.
Now they had recently been under examination before the remaining
bishops and the nobles as to why they had supported Gundovald and why
they had foolishly ordained Faustian bishop of Ax at his command.
But bishop Palladius took the blame for the ordination from his
metropolitan Bertram and took it on his own shoulders, saying: “My
metropolitan was suffering greatly from sore eyes and I was plundered
and treated with indignity and dragged to the place against my will.
I could do nothing else than obey one who said he had received
complete control of the Gauls.” When this was told the king he was
greatly irritated so that he could scarcely be prevailed upon to
invite to the dinner these bishops whom he had previously refused
to see. So when Bertram came in the king asked: “Who is he?” For it
had been a long time since he had seen him. And they said: “This is
Bertram bishop of Bordeaux.” And the king said to him: “We thank you
for keeping faith as you have with your own family. For I would have
you know, beloved father, that you are my kinsman on my mother’s side
and you should not have brought a plague from abroad on your own
people.” When Bertram had been told this and more, the king turned
to Palladius and said: “You do not deserve much gratitude either,
bishop Palladius. For you perjured yourself to me three times--a hard
thing to say of a bishop--sending me information full of treachery.
You excused yourself to me by letter and at the same time you were
inviting my brother in other letters.[EK] God will judge my cause
since I have always tried to treat you as fathers of the church
and you have always been treacherous.” And he said to the bishops
Nicasius and Antidius: “Most holy fathers, tell me what you have done
for the advantage of your country or the security of my kingdom.”
They made no reply and the king washed his hands and after receiving
a blessing from the bishops sat at table with a glad countenance and
a cheerful behavior as if he had said nothing about the wrongs done
him.

3. Meantime when the dinner was now half over the king asked me to
request my deacon who had sung the responsory at the mass the day
before, to sing. When he had sung he next asked me to request all
the bishops who, at my instance, had come prepared, to appoint each
a single clerk from his service to sing before the king. And so I
made the request at the king’s command, and they sang, each to the
best of his ability, a psalm before the king. And when the courses
were being changed the king said: “All the silver you see belonged
to that perjurer Mummolus, but now by the help of God’s grace it has
been transferred to my ownership. I have already had fifteen of his
dishes like the larger one you see yonder melted down, and I have
kept only this one and one other of a hundred and seventy pounds.
Why [keep] more than enough for daily use? It is too bad, but I have
no other son than Childebert, and he has enough treasures which his
father left him beside what I had sent to him from the property of
this wretch which was found at Avignon. The rest must be given for
the necessities of the poor and the churches.

4. “There is only one thing that I ask of you, my lord bishops,
namely, to pray God’s mercy for my son Childebert. For he is a man of
sense and ability so that one so cautious and energetic as he could
scarcely be found in many years. And if God would deign to grant him
to these Gauls perhaps there would be hope that by him our race,
greatly weakened though it is, can rise again. And I have confidence
that this will happen through His mercy because the indications at
the boy’s birth were of this sort. For it was the holy day of Easter
and my brother Sigibert was standing in the church and the deacon
was walking in procession with the holy book of the Gospels, and a
messenger came to the king, and the words of the deacon as he read
from the Gospels and of the messenger were the same, saying: ‘To
thee a son has been born.’ And when they both spoke together all
the people cried out: ‘Glory to all-powerful God.’ Moreover he was
baptized on the holy day of Pentecost and was made king also on the
holy day of the Lord’s birth. And so if your prayers attend him, God
willing he will be able to rule.” So the king spoke and all prayed
the Lord in His mercy to keep both kings safe. The king added: “It
is true that his mother Brunhilda threatens my life, but I have no
misgiving on this account. For the Lord who has saved me from the
hands of my enemies will save me from her plots too.”

5. Then he said much against bishop Theodore, protesting that if
he came to the synod he would thrust him off again into exile and
saying: “I know it was for the sake of these people[62] that he
caused my brother Chilperic to be killed. In fact I ought not to be
called a man if I cannot avenge his death this year.” But I made
answer: “And what killed Chilperic, unless it was his own wickedness
and your prayers? For he laid many plots for you contrary to justice
and they brought death to him. And, so to speak, it was just this
that I saw in a dream when I beheld him with tonsured head being
ordained bishop, apparently, and then I saw him placed on a plain
chair hung only with black and carried along with shining lamps and
torches going before him.” When I told this the king said: “And I
saw another vision which foretold his death. He was brought into
my presence loaded with chains by three bishops, of whom one was
Tetricus, the second Agricola, and the third Nicecius of Lyons. And
two of them said: ‘Set him free, we entreat you, give him a beating
and let him go.’ But bishop Tetricus answered harshly, ‘It shall
not be so, but he shall be burned with fire for his crimes.’ And
when they had carried on this discussion for a long time, as if
quarreling, I saw at a distance a caldron set on a fire and boiling
furiously. Then I wept and they seized unhappy Chilperic and broke
his limbs and threw him in the caldron. And he was immediately so
melted and dissolved amid the steam from the water that no trace of
him at all remained.” The king told this story and we wondered at it,
and the feast being finished we rose.

6. Next day the king went hunting. When he returned I brought into
his presence Garachar, count of Bordeaux, and Bladast, who, as I
have told you before, had taken refuge in the church of Saint Martin
because they had been followers of Gundovald. I had previously made
intercession for them but had failed, and so at this later time I
said: “Hear me, powerful king. Behold I have been sent to you on an
embassy by my master. What answer shall I give to him who sent me
when you refuse to give me any answer?” And he said in amazement:
“And who is your master who sent you?” I smiled and answered: “The
blessed Martin.” Then he ordered me to bring the men before him.
And when they entered his presence he reproached them with many
treacheries and perjuries, calling them again and again tricky foxes,
but he restored them to his favor, giving back what he had taken from
them.

7. When the Lord’s day came the king went to church to hear mass.
And the brethren and fellow-bishops who were there yielded to bishop
Palladius the honor of celebrating it. When he began to read the
prophecy the king inquired who he was. And when they told him that it
was the bishop Palladius he was angry at once and said: “Is he now to
preach the sacred word before me who has always been faithless to me
and perjured. I will leave this church immediately and will not hear
my enemy preach.” So saying he started to leave the church. Then the
bishops were troubled by the humiliation of their brother and said to
the king: “We saw him present at the feast you gave and we saw you
receive a blessing at his hand and why does the king despise him now?
If we had known that he was hateful to you we would have resorted to
another to celebrate mass. But now if you permit it let him continue
the ceremony which he has begun; to-morrow if you bring any charge
against him let it be judged in accordance with the holy canons.”
By this time bishop Palladius had retired to the sacristy in great
humiliation. Then the king bade him be recalled and he finished the
ceremony which he had begun. Moreover when Palladius and Bertram were
again summoned to the king’s table they became angry at one another
and reproached one another with many adulteries and fornications and
with a good many perjuries as well. At these matters many laughed,
but a number who were keener of perception lamented that the weeds
of the devil should so flourish among the bishops of the Lord. And so
they left the king’s presence, giving bonds and security to appear at
the synod on the tenth day before the kalends of the ninth month.

[8. List of prodigies. 9. Queen Fredegunda, three bishops and
three hundred nobles swear to Gunthram that the young Clothar is
Chilperic’s son. 10. Gunthram discovers the bodies of Chilperic’s
sons, Merovech and Clovis, and gives them due burial. 11. Gunthram’s
life is in danger. 12. Bishop Theodore of Marseilles is forced to
appear before Gunthram. 13. Gunthram sends an embassy to Childebert.
14. Gregory nearly loses his life in crossing the Rhine but is saved
by relics of St. Martin.]

15. We started on the journey and came to the town of Yvois and
there were met by deacon Vulfilaic and taken to his monastery, where
we received a very kind welcome. This monastery is situated on a
mountain top about eight miles from the town I have mentioned. On
this mountain Vulfilaic built a great church and made it famous for
its relics of the blessed Martin and other saints. While staying
there I began to ask him to tell me something of the blessing of his
conversion and how he had entered the clergy, for he was a Lombard
by race. But he would not speak of these matters since he was quite
determined to avoid vain-glory. But I urged him with terrible oaths,
first promising that I would disclose to no one what he told and I
began to ask him to conceal from me none of the matters of which I
would ask. After resisting a long time he was overcome at length by
my entreaties and protestations and told the following tale: “When I
was a small boy,” said he, “I heard the name of the blessed Martin,
though I did not know yet whether he was martyr or confessor or
what good he had done in the world, or what region had the merit of
receiving his blessed limbs in the tomb; and I was already keeping
vigils in his honor, and if any money came into my hands I would
give alms. As I grew older I was eager to learn and I was able to
write before I knew the order of the written letters [before I could
read]. Then I joined the abbot Aridius and was taught by him and
visited the church of Saint Martin. Returning with him he took a
little of the dust of the holy tomb for a blessing. This he placed
in a little case and hung it on my neck. Coming to his monastery
in the territory of Limoges he took the little case to place it
in his oratory and the dust had increased so much that it not only
filled the whole case but burst out at the joints wherever it could
find an exit. In the light of this miracle my mind was the more on
fire to place all my hope in his power. Then I came to the territory
of Trèves and on the mountain where you are now built with my own
hands the dwelling you see. I found here an image of Diana which
the unbelieving people worshiped as a god. I also built a column on
which I stood in my bare feet with great pain. And when the winter
had come as usual I was so nipped by the icy cold that the power of
the cold often caused my toe-nails to fall off and frozen moisture
hung from my beard like candles. For this country is said to have a
very cold winter.” And when I asked him urgently what food or drink
he had and how he destroyed the images on the mountain, he said:
“My food and drink were a little bread and vegetables and a small
quantity of water. And when a multitude began to flock to me from the
neighboring villages I preached always that Diana was nothing, that
her images and the worship which they thought it well to observe were
nothing; and that the songs which they sang at their cups and wild
debauches were disgraceful; but it was right to offer the sacrifice
of praise to all-powerful God who made heaven and earth. I often
prayed that the Lord would deign to hurl down the image and free
the people from this error. And the Lord’s mercy turned the rustic
mind to listen to my words and to follow the Lord, abandoning their
idols. Then I gathered some of them together so that by their help I
could hurl down the huge image which I could not budge with my own
strength, for I had already broken the rest of the small images,
which was an easier task. When many had gathered at this statue of
Diana ropes were fastened and they began to pull but their toil could
accomplish nothing. Then I hastened to the church and threw myself
on the ground and weeping begged the divine mercy that the power of
God should destroy that which human energy could not overturn. After
praying I went out to the workmen and took hold of the rope, and as
soon as I began to pull at once the image fell to the ground where I
broke it with iron hammers and reduced it to dust. But at this very
hour when I was going to take food my whole body was so covered with
malignant pimples from sole to crown that no space could be found
that a single finger might touch. I went alone into the church and
stripped myself before the holy altar. Now I had there a jar full of
oil which I had brought from Saint Martin’s church. With this I oiled
all my body with my own hands and soon lay down to sleep. I awoke
about midnight and rose to perform the service and found my whole
body cured as if no sore had appeared on me. And I perceived that
these sores were sent not otherwise than by the hate of the enemy.
And inasmuch as he enviously seeks to injure those who seek God, the
bishops, who should have urged me the more to continue wisely the
work I had begun, came and said: ‘This way which you follow is not
the right one, and a base-born man like you cannot be compared with
Simon of Antioch who lived on a column. Moreover the situation of the
place does not allow you to endure the hardship. Come down rather and
dwell with the brethren you have gathered.’ At their words I came
down, since not to obey the bishops is called a crime. And I walked
and ate with them. And one day the bishop summoned me to a village at
a distance and sent workmen with crowbars and hammers and axes and
destroyed the column I was accustomed to stand on. I returned the
next day and found it all gone. I wept bitterly but could not build
again what they had torn down for fear of being called disobedient to
the bishop’s orders. And since then I am content to dwell with the
brothers just as I do now.”

16. And when I asked him to tell somewhat of the miracles which the
blessed Martin worked in that place, he related the following: “The
son of a certain Frank of the highest rank among his people was deaf
and dumb; he was brought by his kinsmen to this church and I had
him sleep on a couch in the holy temple with my deacon and another
attendant. And by day he devoted himself to prayer and at night he
slept in the church as I have said. And when God pitied him the
blessed Martin appeared to me in a vision saying, ‘Send the lamb out
of the church for he is now cured.’ In the morning I was thinking
what this dream meant when the boy came to me and spoke and began
to thank God, and turning to me said: ‘I thank all-powerful God who
has restored to me speech and hearing.’ After this he was cured and
returned home.”…

[17. Peculiar appearances in the heavens from which Gregory expected
that “some plague would be sent upon them from the heavens.” 18.
Childebert’s invasion of Italy and the appointment of various dukes
and counts. 19. The abbot Dagulfus is taken in adultery. 20. A synod
meets at Mâcon. 21. Childebert hears a charge of grave robbery
against Gunthram Boso. 22. Various items of the year 585. 23-25.
Prodigies. 26. Eberulf, former duke of Tours and Poitiers, loses
his property. 27. Desiderius is restored to favor with Gunthram.
28. Relations with the Spanish king. 29. The plot to assassinate
Childebert and its failure. 30. Gunthram sends two armies to attack
Septimania. They plunder his own territories and turn back without
success. 31. Quarrel between Fredegunda and Prætextatus, bishop
of Rouen. 32. Dispute about vineyards between one of Fredegunda’s
officials and Domnola.]

33. Now there was in these days in the city of Paris a woman who said
to the inhabitants: “O flee from the city and know that it must be
burned with fire.” And when she was ridiculed by many for saying this
on the evidence of lots[EL] and because of some idle dream or at the
urging of a mid-day demon, she replied: “It is not as you say, for
I say truly that I saw in a vision a man all illumined coming from
the church of St. Vincent, holding a torch in his hand and setting
fire to the houses of the merchants one after another.” Then the
third night after the woman made this prophecy, at twilight a certain
citizen took a light and went into his store-house and took oil and
other necessary things and went out, leaving the light close by the
cask of oil. This was the house next the gate which is towards the
south. From this light the house caught fire and burned, and from it
others began to catch. Then the fire threatened the prisoners, but
the blessed Germanus appeared to them and broke the posts and chains
by which they were bound and opened the prison door and allowed all
the prisoners to go safe. They went forth and took refuge in the
church of St. Vincent in which is the blessed bishop’s tomb. Now
when the flame was carried hither and thither through the whole city
by the high wind and the fire had the complete mastery, it began
to approach another gate where there was an oratory of the blessed
Martin which had been placed there because he had there cured a case
of leprosy with a kiss. The man who had built it of interwoven
branches, trusting in God and confident of the blessed Martin’s
power, took refuge within its walls with his property saying: “I
believe and have faith that he who has so often mastered fire and at
this place by a kiss made a leper’s skin clean, will keep the fire
from here.” When the fire came near great masses of flame swept along
but when they touched the wall of the oratory they were extinguished
at once. But the people kept calling to the man and woman: “Run if
you wish to save yourselves. For a mass of fire is rushing on you;
see, ashes and coals are falling around you like a heavy rain. Leave
the oratory or you will be burned in the fire.” But they kept on
praying and were never moved by these words. And the woman, who was
armed with the strongest faith in the power of the blessed bishop,
never moved from the window through which the flames sometimes
entered. And so great was the power of the blessed bishop that he
not only saved this oratory together with his follower’s house but
he did not permit the flames to injure the other houses which were
around. There the fire ceased which had broken out on one side of the
bridge. And on the other side it burned all so completely that only
the river stopped it. However, the churches with the houses attached
to them were not burned. It was said that this city had been as it
were consecrated in ancient times[EM] so that not only fire could not
prevail there but snakes and mice could not appear. But lately when
a channel under the bridge had been cleaned and the mud which filled
it had been taken out they found a snake and a mouse of bronze. They
were removed and after that mice without number and snakes appeared,
and fires began to take place.

34. Inasmuch as the prince of darkness has a thousand arts of doing
injury, I will relate what lately happened to recluses vowed to God.
Vennoc, a Breton, who had become a priest as we have told in another
book, was so given up to abstinence that he wore only garments made
of skins and ate wild herbs in the raw state and merely touched the
wine to his lips so that one would think he was kissing it rather
than drinking. But as the devout in their generosity often gave him
vessels of this liquor, sad to say he learned to drink immoderately
and to be so given up to it as to be generally seen drunk. And so
as his drunkenness grew worse and time went on, he was seized by a
demon and so violently harassed that he would seize a knife or any
kind of weapon or stone or club that he could lay hands on and run
after men in an insane rage. And it became necessary to bind him with
chains and imprison him in a cell. After raging under this punishment
for two years he died.

There was also Antholius of Bordeaux. When a boy of twelve years
old, it is said, the servant of a merchant, he asked to be allowed
to become a recluse. His master opposed him a long time, thinking he
would grow lukewarm and that at his age he could not attain to what
he wished, but he was at length overcome by his servant’s entreaties
and permitted him to fulfil his desire. Now there was an old crypt
vaulted and very finely built, and in the corner of it was a little
cell built of squared stones in which there was hardly room for one
man standing. The boy entered this cell and remained in it eight
years or more, satisfied with very little food and drink and devoting
himself to watching and prayer. After this he was seized with a great
fear and began to shout that he was being tortured internally. So it
happened, by the aid, as I suppose, of the devil’s soldiers, that he
tore away the stones that shut him in, dashed the wall to the ground
and cried, wringing his hands, that the saints of God were causing
him frightful torture. And when he had continued in this madness a
long time and often mentioned the name of Saint Martin and said he
caused him more torture than the other saints, he was brought to
Tours. But the evil spirit, because, I suppose, of the virtue and
greatness of the saint, did not tear the man. He remained in Tours
for the space of a year and as he suffered no more he returned, but
later on he suffered from the trouble that he had been free from here.

[35. An embassy from Spain to king Gunthram.]

36. By order of king Childebert Magnovald was killed in his presence,
for reasons not given, in the following manner: the king was staying
in his palace in the city of Metz and was attending a sport in
which an animal was surrounded by a pack of dogs and worried, when
Magnovald was summoned. He came and not knowing what was to happen
he began to look at the animal and laugh heartily with the rest. But
a man who had received his orders seeing him intent on the spectacle
raised his axe and dashed it against his head. He fell and died
and was thrown out by the window and buried by his own people. His
property was taken at once, as much as was found, and carried to the
public treasury. Certain persons said that it was because he had
beaten his wife to death after his brother died and had married his
brother’s wife, that he was killed.

[37. Birth of a son to Childebert. 38. Spanish expedition into Gaul.
39. Death of several bishops.]

40. There was in the city of Tours a certain Pelagius who was
practiced in every villainy and was not afraid of any judge, because
he had under his control the keepers of the horses belonging to the
fisc. Because of this he never ceased either on land or on the rivers
to thieve, dispossess, plunder, murder, and commit every sort of
crime. I often sent for him and both by threats and by gentle words
tried to make him desist from his wickedness. But it was hatred
rather than any reward of justice I got from him, according to
Solomon’s proverb: Reprove not a fool lest he hate thee.

The wretch so hated me that he often plundered and beat and left
half-dead the men of the holy church, and was always looking for
pretexts to harm the cathedral or the church of Saint Martin. And
so it happened that once when our men were coming and bringing
sea-urchins in vessels, he beat them and trampled on them and took
the vessels. When I learned of this I excommunicated him, not to
avenge my wrong but to correct him more easily of this insanity.
But he chose twelve men and came to clear himself of this crime by
perjury. Though I was unwilling to receive any oath I was compelled
by him and my fellow-citizens, and so I sent the rest away and
received his oath only, and ordered that he be taken back into
communion. It was then the first month. When the fifth month[63]
came when the meadows are usually cut, he entered a meadow adjoining
his own that belonged to the monks. But as soon as he put sickle to
it he was seized with fever and died on the third day. He had had a
tomb made for him in Saint Martin’s church in the village of Candes,
but when it was uncovered his people found it broken to bits. He
was afterwards buried in the portico of the church. The vessels for
which he had perjured himself were brought by his storekeeper after
his death. Here the power of the blessed Mary is evident, in whose
church the wretch had taken a false oath.

[41. Fredegunda is accused of the killing of Prætextatus. 42.
Beppolenus leaves Fredegunda and is made a duke by Gunthram. 43.
Palladius, bishop of Saintes, is forced to appear before Gunthram.
44. Fredegunda attempts to have Gunthram assassinated. 45. Death of
Duke Desiderius. 46. Richared succeeds Leuvigild of Spain.]

HERE ENDS THE EIGHTH BOOK.

FOOTNOTES:

[62] Gundovald and his followers.

[63] July.

HERE BEGIN THE CHAPTERS OF THE NINTH BOOK

1. Richared and his legates.
2. The blessed Radegunda’s death.
3. The man who came to king Gunthram with a knife.
4. Another son is born to Childebert.
5. Prodigies.
6. They who lead astray and soothsayers.
7. Removal from office of duke Ennodius; the Gascons.
8. The appearance at court of Gunthram Boso.
9. Rauching’s death.
10. Gunthram Boso’s death.
11. Meeting of the kings.
12. Death of Ursio and of Bertefred.
13. Baddo who had been kept prisoner when on an embassy and long
after was set free; dysentery.
14. Reconciliation between bishop Egidius and duke Lupus.
15. Richared’s conversion.
16. His embassy to our kings.
17. A hard year.
18. The Bretons and the death of bishop Namatius.
19. Killing of Sichar a citizen of Tours.
20. I am sent to king Gunthram on an embassy to maintain the peace.
21. The charities and goodness of the king.
22. The plague at Marseilles.
23. Death of bishop Ageric and his successor.
24. Episcopate of Fronimius.
25. Childebert’s army goes into Italy.
26. Death of queen Ingoberga.
27. Amalo’s death.
28. The beautiful things which queen Brunhilda sent.
29. The Lombards ask peace of king Childebert.
30. Assessors at Poitiers and Tours.
31. King Gunthram sends an army to Septimania.
32. Enmity between Childebert and Gunthram.
33. The nun Ingytrude goes to Childebert to make charges against
her daughter.
34. Quarrels between Fredegunda and her daughter.
35. Killing of Waddo.
36. King Childebert sends Theodobert his son to Soissons.
37. Bishop Droctigisil.
38. What some wished to do to queen Brunhilda.
39. The scandal which arose in the convent of Poitiers through
Chrodechild and Basina.
40. The first beginning of the scandal.
41. The fight in St. Hilarius’s church.
42. Copy of the letter which the holy Radegunda sent to the bishops.
43. The priest Theuther comes to end this scandal.
44. The weather.

HERE THE CHAPTERS END

IN CHRIST’S NAME HERE BEGINS BOOK NINE IN THE TWELFTH YEAR OF KING
CHILDEBERT

[1. Richared, the new king of Spain, sends legates to Gunthram and
Childebert; they are not received by Gunthram. 2. Death of Radegunda.]

3. Meantime the festival of Saint Marcellus came, which is celebrated
in the seventh month in the city of Chalon, and king Gunthram was
present. And when the ceremony was over and he had approached the
holy altar for the communion, a certain man came as if to say
something. And as he hastened to the king a knife fell from his hand;
he was seized at once and they found another knife unsheathed in his
hand. He was immediately led from the holy church and put in fetters
and subjected to torture, and he confessed that he had been sent to
kill the king, saying, “This was the purpose of the man who sent me.”
Since the king knew that the hatred of many men was united on him and
he feared that he would be stabbed, he had given orders to his men
to guard him well and no opportunity could be found to get at him
with swords unless he was attacked in the church, where he was known
to stand without care or fear. Now the men who had been named were
seized and many were executed, but he let this man go alive, though
severely beaten, because he thought it a crime that a man should be
led out of church and beheaded.

[4. A second son, Theodoric, is born to Childebert. 5. Prodigies.
Among others a village with cottages and men disappeared suddenly.]

6. There was in that year in the city of Tours a man named Desiderius
who claimed to be great and said he could do many miracles. He
boasted too that messengers were kept busy going to and fro between
him and the apostles Peter and Paul. And as I was not at home, the
common folk thronged to him bringing the blind and lame but he
did not attempt to cure them by holiness but to fool them with the
delusion of necromancy.[EN] For he ordered paralytics and other
cripples to be vigorously stretched as if he were going to cure
by taking pains those whose limbs he could not straighten by the
blessing of the divine virtue. And so his attendants would lay hold
of a man’s hands and others his feet, and pull in opposite directions
so that one would think their sinews would be broken, and when they
were not cured they would be sent off half-dead. And the result was
that many died under this torture. And the wretch was so presumptuous
that he said he was blessed Martin the younger and put himself
on a par with the apostles. And it is no wonder that he compared
himself with the apostles when that author of wickedness from whom
such things proceed is going to assert toward the end of the world
that he is Christ. Now it was known from the following fact that he
was versed in the wicked art of necromancy as we have said above,
because, as they say who observed him, when any one said any evil of
him far away and secretly he would rebuke them publicly and say: “You
said so and so about me and it was not right to say such things of a
holy man like me.” Now how else could he have learned of it except
that demons were his messengers? He wore a hood and a goat’s-hair
shirt and in public he was abstemious in eating and drinking, but in
secret when he had come to his lodgings he would stuff his mouth so
that his servant could not carry food to him as fast as he asked for
it. But his trickery was exposed and stopped by our people and he was
cast out from the territory of the city. We did not know then where
he went, but he said he was a citizen of Bordeaux. Now seven years
before there had been another great impostor who deceived many by his
tricks. He wore a sleeveless shirt and over it a robe of fine stuff
and carried a cross from which hung little bottles which contained
as he said holy oil. He said that he came from the Spains and was
bringing relics of the blessed martyrs Vincent the deacon and Felix.
He arrived at Tours at the church of Saint Martin in the evening when
we were sitting at dinner, and sent an order saying: “Let them come
to see the holy relics.” As the hour was late I replied: “Let the
blessed relics rest on the altar and we will go to see them in the
morning.” But he arose at the first break of day and without waiting
for me came with his cross and appeared in my cell. I was amazed and
wondered at his hardihood and asked what this meant. He answered in a
proud and haughty voice: “You should have given me a better welcome;
I’ll carry this to the ears of king Chilperic; he will avenge this
contemptuous treatment of me.” He paid no more attention to me but
went into the oratory[EO] and said a verse, then a second and a
third, began the prayer and finished it, all by himself, then took up
his cross again and went off. He had a rude style of speech and was
free with disgusting and obscene terms and not a sensible word came
from him. He went on to Paris. In those days the public prayers were
being held that are usually held before the holy day of the Lord’s
ascension. And as bishop Ragnemod was walking in procession with his
people and making the round of the holy places, this person came with
his cross and appearing among the people with his unusual clothing,
he gathered the prostitutes and women of the lower class and formed
a band of his own and made an attempt to walk in procession to the
holy places with his multitude. The bishop saw this and sent his
archdeacon to say: “If you have relics of the saints to show, place
them for a little in the church and celebrate the holydays with us,
and when the rites are finished you shall go on your way.” But he
paid little attention to what the archdeacon said but began to abuse
and revile the bishop. The bishop saw that he was an impostor and
ordered him shut up in a cell. And examining all he had, he found a
great bag full of roots of different herbs and also there were moles’
teeth, the bones of mice, the claws and fat of bears. He knew that
these were the means of sorcery and ordered them all thrown into the
river; he took his cross away and ordered him to be driven from the
territory of Paris. But he made himself a second cross and began to
do what he had done before, but was captured and put in chains by the
archdeacon and kept in custody. In these days I had come to Paris
and had my lodging at the church of the blessed martyr Julian. The
following night the wretch broke out of prison and hastened to Saint
Julian’s church just mentioned, wearing the chains with which he was
bound, and fell on the pavement where I had been accustomed to stand
and, overwhelmed with drowsiness and wine, he fell asleep. Unaware
of this I rose at midnight to return thanks to God and found him
sleeping. And such a stench came from him that that stench surpassed
the stenches of all sewers and privies. I was unable to go into the
church because of the stench. And one of the clergy came holding
his nose and tried to wake him but could not; for the wretch was so
intoxicated. Then four of the clergy came and lifted him and threw
him into one corner of the church, and they brought water and washed
the pavement and scattered sweet-smelling herbs on it and so I went
in to offer the regular prayers. But he could not be wakened even
when we sang the psalms until with the coming of day the sun’s torch
climbed higher. Then I surrendered him to the bishop with a request
for his pardon. When the bishops assembled at Paris I told this at
dinner and bade him be brought to receive correction. And when he
stood by, Amelius, bishop of Tarbes, looked at him and recognized
him as his slave who had run away. He secured his pardon and so took
him back to his native place. There are many who practise these
impostures and continually lead the common people into error. It is
of these I think that the Lord says in the Gospel that in the latest
times false Christs and false prophets shall arise who shall do signs
and wonders and lead the very elect into error. Let this suffice for
this subject; let us rather return to our task.

[7. Ennodius, duke of Tours and Poitiers, is removed from office. The
Gascons make an inroad on Frankish territory, and also the Goths. 8.
Childebert desires to punish Gunthram Boso for the insults he had
offered to Brunhilda during Childebert’s minority. 9. Rauchingus,
Ursio, and Bertefred, enemies of Brunhilda, plot Childebert’s death.
Rauchingus is trapped and brutally killed. Ursio and Bertefred take
refuge in a stronghold.]

10. While this was going on king Gunthram sent a second time to his
nephew Childebert saying: “Let there be no delay; come, that I may
see you. For it is surely necessary for your own life as well as for
the public welfare that we see one another.” Hearing this he took
his mother, sister, and wife and hastened to meet his uncle. Bishop
Magneric of the city of Trèves was present also, and Gunthram Boso
came, whom bishop Ageric of Verdun had received in custody. But the
bishop who had pledged his faith for him was not present, because
the agreement was that he should appear before the king without any
defender so that if the king decided that he must die he was not
to be begged off by the bishop; and if the king granted him life he
would go free. Now the kings met and he was judged guilty on various
grounds and was ordered to be put to death. When he learned it he
flew to Magneric’s lodging and shutting the doors and sending the
clerks and attendants away he said: “Most blessed bishop, I know
that you have great honor with the kings. And now I flee to you to
be rescued. Behold, the executioners are at the door, whence you
may plainly know that if you do not save me I shall kill you and
go outside and die. Let me tell you plainly that either one death
overtakes us or an equal life shall protect us. O holy bishop, I know
that you share with the king the place of father to his son[64] and
I am sure that whatever you ask you will obtain from him; he will
not be able to deny your holiness anything you demand. Therefore
either obtain my pardon or we shall die together.” He said this with
his sword unsheathed. The bishop was alarmed at what he heard and
said: “And how can I do it if I am kept here by you. Let me go to beg
the king’s mercy and perhaps he will pity you.” But he replied: “By
no means, but send abbots and men you trust to carry the message I
propose.” However, these matters were not reported as they were to
the king, but they said that he was being protected by the bishop.
And so the king was angry and said: “If the bishop refuses to come
out let him die together with that doer of wickedness.” The bishop
when he was told this sent messengers to the king. And when they had
told their story king Gunthram said: “Set fire to the house and if
the bishop cannot come out let them be burned together.” The clerks
on hearing this burst open the door by force and got the bishop out.
Then when the wretch saw that he was hemmed in by great flames on
every side he approached the door with his sword. But as soon as he
left the threshold and set foot outside at once one of the people
threw a lance and struck his forehead. He was confused by this stroke
and lost his head and tried to throw his sword but he was wounded
by the bystanders with such a multitude of lances[EP] that with the
heads sticking in his body and the shafts supporting him he was
unable to fall to the earth. A few who were with him were killed
and exposed on the field at the same time. And permission to bury
them was obtained from the princes only with difficulty. This man
was faithless, headlong in avarice, greedy for other men’s property
beyond limit, swearing to all and fulfilling his promises to none.
His wife and sons were sent into exile and his property confiscated.
A great quantity of gold and silver and of valuables of different
sorts was found in his stores. Moreover what he had concealed
underground from a consciousness of wrongdoing did not remain hidden.
He often made use of soothsayers and lots, desiring to learn the
future from them, but was always deceived.

[11. Gunthram and Childebert settle their differences amicably.
12. Ursio and Bertefred are dislodged from their stronghold and
slain. 13. Baddo is allowed to go free. Dysentery is severe in Metz.
Wiliulf’s wife marries a third time. 14. Bishop Egidius of Rheims
makes his peace with Childebert.]

[EQ]15. Now at that time in Spain king Richared was influenced by
the divine mercy and summoned the bishops of his religion and said
to them: “Why are quarrels continually going on between you and the
bishops who call themselves Catholic, and when they do many miracles
by their faith why can you do nothing of the sort? Therefore I beg
you let us meet with them and examine the beliefs of both sides and
find out what is true; and then either let them take our plan and
believe what you say or else you recognize their truth and believe
what they preach.” This was done and the bishops of both sides
gathered and the heretics expounded the doctrines that I have often
described them as advocating. Likewise the bishops of our religion
made the replies by which, as I have pointed out in the previous
books, the heretics have been often defeated. And above all the king
said that no miraculous cure of the infirm had been done by the
bishops of the heretics, and when he recalled to mind how in his
father’s time the bishop who boasted that he could restore sight to
the blind by his faith which was not the true one had touched a blind
man and [thus] condemned him to perpetual blindness and had come
off in confusion--I have told this story more fully in the book of
_The Miracles_--he summoned God’s bishops to him separately. And by
questioning them he learned that it was one God that was worshiped
with distinction of three persons, namely, the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, and the Son was not inferior to the Father nor the Holy Ghost,
nor the Holy Ghost inferior to the Father nor the Son, but they were
equal and alike all-powerful, and in this Trinity they confessed the
true God. Then Richared perceived the truth and ending the argument
he placed himself under the Catholic law, and receiving the sign
of the blessed cross together with baptism he believed in Jesus
Christ son of God, equal to the Father and the Holy Ghost, reigning
for ages of ages. Amen. Then he sent messengers to the province of
Narbonne to tell what he had done and bring the people to a like
belief. The bishop of the Arian sect there at the time was Athalocus
who caused such trouble to God’s churches by his vain doctrines and
false interpretations of the Scriptures that he was believed to be
the very Arius who, as the historian Eusebius relates,[ER] lost his
entrails in a privy. But when he did not allow the people of his sect
to believe these things and only a few flattered him by agreeing
with him he was transported with spite and went to his cell and laid
his head on the bed and breathed out his worthless soul. And thus
the heretics in the province confessed the inseparable Trinity and
departed from error.

[16. King Richared sends an embassy to Gunthram and Childebert. It
is not received by Gunthram. 17. An unusually cold spring. 18. The
Bretons ravage the territory of Nantes.]

19. The feud among the citizens of Tours which, as we have stated
above, was ended, burst out again with renewed fury. After slaying
Chramsind’s kinsmen Sichar had become very friendly with him, and
they loved one another so dearly that they often ate together and
slept together in one bed. Once Chramsind made ready a dinner towards
night and invited Sichar. He came and they sat down together to
dinner. And Sichar became drunk with wine and made many boasts to
Chramsind, and he is reported to have said at last: “Dearest brother,
you owe me great gratitude for killing your kinsmen since you got
payment for them and you have much gold and silver in your house,
and if that payment had not given you a start you would now be naked
and in need.” But Chramsind heard Sichar’s word with a bitter heart
and said within himself: “Unless I avenge my kinsmen’s death I ought
to lose the name of man and be called a weak woman.” And at once
he extinguished the lights and plunged his dagger into Sichar’s
head. Sichar made a little cry and immediately fell and died. The
attendants who had come with him rushed away. Chramsind stripped
the garments from his lifeless body and hung it on a picket[ES] of
the fence and mounted his horse and went to the king. He entered the
church and threw himself at the king’s feet and said: “I beg for my
life, O glorious king, because I have killed men who slew my kinsmen
secretly and plundered all their property.” But when the case was
gone into in detail queen Brunhilda was displeased that Sichar, who
was under her protection, had been killed in such a way, and she
became angry at Chramsind. When he saw that she was against him he
went to Bouges, a village in the territory of Bourges where his
kinsmen lived, because it was in Gunthram’s kingdom. And Tranquilla,
Sichar’s wife, left her sons and her husband’s property in Tours
and Poitiers and went to her kinsmen at Pont-sur-Seine and there
married again. Sichar was twenty years old when he died. He was in
his lifetime a fickle, drunken, murderous person, who offered insults
to many when he was drunk. Later Chramsind returned to the king and
it was decided that he must prove that Sichar had killed his kinsmen.
This he did. But since queen Brunhilda had placed Sichar under her
protection, as we have said, she ordered Chramsind’s property to
be confiscated. But later it was returned by the court official
Flavian.[ET] In addition he went to Agen and got a letter from
Flavian directing that no one should touch him. Flavian had received
his property from the queen.

20. In that year, which was also the thirteenth of king Childebert,
I went to visit him at the city of Metz, and received orders to go
on an embassy to king Gunthram. I found him at Chalon and said: “O
famous king, your glorious nephew Childebert sends you many greetings
and offers endless thanks to your goodness because he is continually
reminded by you to do the things that please God and are acceptable
to you and of advantage to the people. As regards the matters of
which you spoke together he promises to fulfil everything and engages
not to break any of the agreements which are made in writing between
you.” And the king said to this: “I do not offer him like thanks,
because his promises to me are being broken. My part of Senlis is
not surrendered;[EU] the men whom I wished to go for my good, since
they are my enemies, they have not let go. And in what sense do
you mean that my sweet nephew does not wish to break any of his
written agreements?” To this I answered: “He wishes to do nothing
contrary to those agreements but promises to fulfil them all, so
that if you wish to send [men] to divide Senlis there need be no
delay; for you shall receive your own at once. And as to the men you
mention let their names be given in writing and all that is promised
shall be fulfilled.” We spoke of these matters and the king ordered
the agreement itself to be read over again in the presence of the
bystanders.

Copy of the Agreement.

When the most excellent lords, kings Gunthram and Childebert, and
the most glorious lady queen Brunhilda met lovingly in Christ’s name
at Andelot to arrange with full counsel whatever might in any way
cause a quarrel among them, it was affectionately settled, resolved
upon and agreed between them by the mediation of the bishops and
chief men and the help of God, that as long as all powerful God
wished them to live in the present world they ought to keep faith and
affection pure and undefiled for each other. In the same way since
lord Gunthram in accordance with the agreement which he had entered
into with lord Sigibert of good memory, claimed that the whole
share which Sigibert had received from Charibert’s kingdom belonged
entirely to him and [since] the party of lord Childebert wished
to claim from all what his father had possessed, it is definitely
and deliberately agreed between them that the third of the city of
Paris with its territory and people which had gone to lord Sigibert
from Charibert’s kingdom by written agreement, with the castles of
Châteaudun and Vendôme and whatever the said king received of the
district of Étampes and the territory of Chartres in that direction,
with their lands and people, were to remain perpetually under the
authority and rule of lord Gunthram, with that which he held before
from Charibert’s kingdom while lord Sigibert was alive. In like
manner king Childebert asserts his right from the present to Meaux
and to two-thirds of Senlis, Tours, Poitiers, Avranches, Aire, Saint
Lizier, Bayonne, and Albi with their territories. The condition being
observed that he of these kings whom the Lord wills to survive shall
have a perpetual right to the whole kingdom of him who goes from the
light of the present world without children, and by God’s aid shall
leave it to his descendants. It is especially agreed upon to be in
every way inviolably observed that whatever the lord king Gunthram
has given or by God’s favor shall give to his daughter Clodechild in
goods and men, both cities, lands, and revenues, shall remain under
her ownership and control. And if she wishes of her own free will
to dispose of lands belonging to the fisc or valuable articles or
money, or to bestow them on any one, let it be kept with a good title
forever and not be taken from any one at any time, and let her be
under the protection and defense of lord Childebert, since she ought
to possess in all honor and security everything that he finds her in
possession of at her father’s death. Likewise the lord king Gunthram
promises that if in the uncertainty of human life lord Childebert
should happen to pass from the light while he is living,--may the
divine goodness not allow it and Gunthram does not wish to see it--he
will receive under his protection and guardianship like a good father
Childebert’s sons Theodobert and Theodoric and any others that God
wishes to give him, so that they shall possess their father’s kingdom
in all security; and he will receive under his protection with a
spiritual love lord Childebert’s mother, queen Brunhilda, and her
daughter Clodosind, sister of king Childebert, while she is in the
country of the Franks, and his queen Faileuba like a good sister and
daughters, and they shall possess all their property in all honor and
dignity with peace and security, namely, cities, lands, revenues,
and all rights, and every kind of property, both what they actually
possess at the present time and what they are able justly to acquire
in the future by Christ’s aid, and if they wish to dispose of any of
the lands of the fisc or articles or money of their own free will, or
to present them to any one, let it be kept with a good title forever,
and let their will in this respect not be disregarded by any one at
any time. And as to the cities, namely, Bordeaux, Limoges, Cahors,
Lescar, and Cieutat, which it is well known that Galsuntha, lady
Brunhilda’s sister, acquired as dowry or _morganegyba_, that is,
morning gift, when she came into Francia, and which lady Brunhilda
is known to have acquired by the decision of the glorious lord king
Gunthram and of the Franks when Chilperic and king Sigibert were
still alive, it is agreed that the lady Brunhilda shall have as her
property from to-day the city of Cahors with its lands and all its
people, but the other cities named lord Gunthram shall hold while
he lives, on condition that after his death they shall pass by God’s
favor with every security under the control of the lady Brunhilda
and her heirs, but while lord Gunthram lives they shall not at any
time or on any pretext be claimed by lady Brunhilda or her son king
Childebert or his sons. In the same way it is agreed that lord
Childebert shall hold Senlis in entirety, and as far as the third
therein due to lord Gunthram is concerned he shall be compensated
by the third belonging to lord Childebert which is in Ressons.[EV]
Likewise it is agreed that according to the agreements entered into
between lord Gunthram and lord Sigibert of blessed memory, the
_leudes_ who originally took oath to lord Gunthram after the death
of lord Clothar, if afterwards they are proved to have gone to the
other side, shall be removed from the places where they are dwelling,
and in the same manner those who after the death of king Clothar
are found guilty of having first sworn allegiance to lord Sigibert
and then have passed to the other side shall be removed likewise.
Also whatever the kings mentioned have given to churches or to their
followers, or in future by God’s favor wish to give in accordance
with justice, shall be held securely. And whatever is due to any
one of their men in either kingdom according to law and justice, he
shall not suffer any prejudice, but shall be permitted to take and
hold what is due him; and if anything is taken from anyone without
fault on his part in an interregnum, a hearing shall be held and it
shall be restored. And as regards that which each owned through the
generosity of previous kings down to the death of lord king Clothar
of glorious memory, let him keep it in security. And whatever has
been taken since that from persons who are faithful let them receive
it back at once. And since a pure and untainted friendship has been
formed in God’s name between the kings mentioned, it is agreed that
passage shall at no time be denied in either kingdom to the men of
either king who wish to travel on public or private business. It is
likewise agreed that neither shall entice away the others _leudes_
or receive them when they come. And if perhaps one thinks that
because of some act he has to flee to the other part, let him be
excused in regard to the nature of the fault and sent back. It has
been decided also to add this to the agreement, that if either party
shall at any time transgress the present statute under some clever
interpretation, he shall lose all the benefits both prospective and
present, and it shall turn to the advantage of him who faithfully
observes all that is written above, and he shall be freed in all
details from the obligation of his oath. All these matters having
been definitely agreed upon, the parties swear by the name of
all-powerful God and the inseparable Trinity and all that is divine
and the awful day of judgment that they will faithfully observe all
that is written above without any fraud or deceit. This compact was
made four days before the Kalends of December in the twenty-sixth
year of the reign of the lord king Gunthram and in the twelfth year
of lord Childebert.

When the agreement was read over the king said: “May I be struck
by the judgment of God if I transgress in any one of the matters
contained here.” And he turned to the legate Felix who had come
with us and said: “Tell me, Felix, have you established a close
friendship between my sister Brunhilda and Fredegunda the enemy of
God and man?” When he replied “no” I said: “Let the king be sure
that the friendship is being kept up between them as it was started
many years ago. For you may be certain that the hatred that was once
established between them is alive yet, it has not withered up. I
wish you, most glorious king, would have less friendship for her.
For as we often learn, you receive her embassies with greater state
than ours.” He answered: “Let me tell you, bishop of God, that I
receive her embassies in such a way as not to lose the affection of
my nephew king Childebert. For I cannot be friendly with one who has
often sent to take my life.” Upon this Felix said: “I suppose it has
come to your greatness that Richared has sent an embassy to your
nephew to ask for your niece Clodosinda, your brother’s daughter,
in marriage. But he was unwilling to make any promise without your
advice.”[EW] The king said: “It is not well for my niece to go to a
place where her sister was killed. I am not at all pleased that the
death of my niece[EX] Ingunda is not avenged.” Felix replied: “They
are very anxious to set themselves right either by oath or on any
other terms you suggest; but only give your consent for Clotosinda
to be betrothed to him as he requests.” The king said: “If my nephew
keeps the agreements that he bound himself to in the compact I will
do his will in this matter.” We promised that he would fulfil all
and Felix added: “He begs your goodness to give him help[EY] against
the Lombards so that they may be driven from Italy and the part which
his father claimed when alive may return to him, and the other part
be restored by your and his aid to the dominion of the emperor.” The
king replied: “I cannot send my army to Italy and expose the soldiers
to death uselessly. For a very severe plague is now wasting Italy.”
And I said: “You have told your nephew to have all the bishops of his
kingdom meet together since there are many things to be decided. But
it was the opinion of your glorious nephew that each metropolitan
according to the custom of the canons should meet with his
provincials, and then what went wrong in each district would be set
right by order of the bishops. For what reason is there that so great
a number should assemble? The faith of the church is not attacked by
any danger; no new heresy is appearing. What need will there be for
so many bishops to meet together?” And he said: “There is much to
be looked into that has gone wrong, both acts of incest and matters
which are in discussion between us. But the most important case of
all is that of God, since you must investigate why bishop Prætextatus
was slain by the sword in his church. Moreover there ought to be
an examination of those who are accused of wantonness so that if
found guilty they can be corrected by the bishops’ sentence, or if
they prove innocent that the falsity of the charge can be publicly
recognized.” Then he gave orders for the synod to be adjourned to the
Kalends of the fourth month.[65] After this conversation we went to
church; it was the day of the anniversary of the Lord’s resurrection.
After mass he invited us to a dinner which was as abundant in dishes
as rich in cheer. For the king talked always of God, building
churches and helping the poor, and then he made pious jokes and to
please us he went on to say this: “I hope my nephew will keep his
promises; for all I have is his. Still, if he is disturbed because I
receive my nephew Clothar’s legates, I’m not so mad, am I, but that
I can mediate between them and keep the trouble from going further?
I know it is better to cut it short than to carry it too far. If I
decide that Clothar is my nephew I will give him two or three cities
in some part, so that he shall not seem to be disinherited, and what
I leave to Childebert will not then disquiet him.” After this talk
he bade us go on our way, treating us affectionately and loading us
with gifts, and telling us always to give king Childebert good advice
to live by.

21. The king himself, as we have often said, was great in almsgiving
and unwearied in watches and fasting. It was told at the time that
Marseilles was suffering greatly from the bubonic plague and that
the disease had spread swiftly as far as the village in the country
of Lyons called Octavus. But the king like a good bishop was for
providing remedies by which the wounds of the sinful people could
be cured,[EZ] and ordered all to assemble at the church and engage
devoutly in prayer. He directed that nothing else than barley bread
and clean water should be taken in the way of food and that all
without intermission should keep watch. And this was done and for
three days he gave alms with more than usual generosity and he showed
such fear for all the people that he was now believed to be not
merely a king but a bishop of God,[FA] placing all his hope in God’s
mercy, and in the purity of his faith turning all his thoughts to
him by whom he believed that these thoughts could be given effect.
It was then commonly told among the faithful that a woman whose son
was suffering from a four-day fever and was lying in bed very ill,
approached the king’s back in the throng of people and secretly broke
off the fringe of the royal garment and put it in water and gave to
her son to drink, and at once the fever died down and he was cured.
I do not regard this as doubtful since I have myself heard persons
possessed by demons in their furies call on his name and admit their
ill deeds, recognizing his power.

22. Since we have told above that the city of Marseilles was sick
with a deadly plague it seems suitable to give more details of what
the city suffered. In these days bishop Theodore had gone to the
king to speak to him against the patrician Nicetius. But when he
got no hearing from king Childebert on this matter he made ready to
return home. Meantime a ship from Spain put in at the port with its
usual wares and unhappily brought the seed of this disease. And many
citizens bought various merchandise from her, and one household in
which were eight souls was quickly left vacant, its inmates all dying
of this plague. But the fire of the plague did not at once spread
through all the houses, but after a definite time like a fire in
standing grain it swept the whole city with the flame of disease.
However the bishop went to the city and shut himself within the walls
of St. Victor’s church with the few who then remained with him, and
there devoted himself to prayer and watching while the people of
the city perished, praying for God’s mercy that the deaths might at
length cease and the people be allowed to rest in peace. The plague
passed away in two months, and when the people, now reassured, had
returned to the city the disease came on again and they who returned
perished. Later on the city was many times attacked by this death.

[23. Ageric, bishop of Verdun, dies of chagrin because Gunthram Boso,
whose safety he had pledged, had been killed, and because Bertefred
had been killed in his oratory. 24. Phronius the new bishop of Vence.
25. Childebert makes war on the Lombards and suffers a defeat “the
like of which in former times is not recalled.” 26. Gregory assists
queen Ingoberga in making her will.]

27. Duke Amalo sent his wife to another estate to attend to his
interests, and fell in love with a certain free-born girl. And when
it was night and Amalo was drunk with wine he sent his men to seize
the girl and bring her to his bed. She resisted and they brought
her by force to his house, slapping her, and she was stained by a
torrent of blood that ran from her nose. And even the bed of the duke
mentioned above was made bloody by the stream. And he beat her, too,
striking with his fists and cuffing her and beating her otherwise,
and took her in his arms, but he was immediately overwhelmed with
drowsiness and went to sleep. And she reached her hand over the man’s
head and found his sword and drew it, and like Judith Holofernes
struck the duke’s head a powerful blow. He cried out and his slaves
came quickly. But when they wished to kill her he called out saying:
“I beg you do not do it, for it was I who did wrong in attempting to
violate her chastity. Let her not perish for striving to keep her
honor.” Saying this he died. And while the household was assembled
weeping over him the girl escaped from the house by God’s help and
went in the night to the city of Chalon about thirty-five miles away;
and there she entered the church of Saint Marcellus and threw herself
at the king’s feet and told all she had endured. Then the king was
merciful and not only gave her her life but commanded that an order
be given that she should be placed under his protection and should
not suffer harm from any kinsman of the dead man. Moreover we know
that by God’s help the girl’s chastity was not in any way violated by
her savage ravisher.

[28. Brunhilda’s messenger to the Spanish king is detained by
Gunthram. 29. Childebert sends an army against the Lombards.]

[FB]30. King Childebert at the invitation of Bishop Maroveus sent
assessors to Poitiers, namely, Florientian, the queen’s majordomo,
and Romulf, count of the palace, to make new tax lists in order that
the people might pay the taxes they had paid in his father’s time.
For many of them were dead and the weight of the tribute came on
widows and orphans and the weak. And they made an orderly examination
and released the poor and sick and subjected to the public tax those
who should justly pay. And so they came to Tours. But when they
wished to impose the payment of taxes on the people, saying they had
the book in their hands, showing how they had paid in the time of
previous kings, I answered saying: “It is well known that the city
of Tours was assessed in the time of king Clothar and those books
were taken to the presence of the king, but the king was stricken
with fear of the holy bishop Martin and they were burned. After king
Clothar’s death this people swore allegiance to king Charibert and he
likewise swore that he would not impose new laws or customs on the
people but would thereafter maintain them in the status in which they
lived in his father’s reign, and he promised that he would not impose
any new ordinance which would tend to despoil them. And count Gaiso
in the same time began to exact tribute, following a capitulary which
we have said was written at a more ancient time. But being stopped
by bishop Euphronius he went with the little he had collected to the
king’s presence and pointed to the capitulary in which the tributes
were contained. But the king uttered a groan and fearing the power
of Saint Martin he had it burned, and sent back the gold coins that
had been collected to the church of Saint Martin, asserting that
no one of the people of Tours should pay tribute. After his death
king Sigibert ruled this city and did not lay upon it the weight of
any tribute. Moreover in the fourteen years of his reign from his
father’s death up to now Childebert has demanded nothing, and this
city has not groaned with the burden of tribute. It is now for your
decision whether to assess tribute or not; but be careful lest you do
some harm if you plan to go against his oath.” When I had said this
they answered: “Behold, we have the book in our hands in which a tax
was imposed on this people.” But I said: “This book was not brought
from the king’s treasury and it has had no authority for many years.
It is no wonder, considering the enmities among these citizens, if it
has been kept in some one’s house. God will give judgment on those
who have brought out this book after so long a time to despoil our
citizens.” And while this was going on the son of Audinus, who had
brought out the book, was seized with a fever on the very day and
died three days after. We then sent messengers to the king asking him
to send his commands on this matter. And they at once sent a letter
ordering that out of respect for Saint Martin the people of Tours
should not be assessed. Upon receipt of the letter the men who had
come for this purpose returned home.

[31. An expedition of king Gunthram against Septimania is defeated.
32. Misunderstanding between Childebert and Gunthram. 33. Quarrel
between Ingytrude, head of the convent within St. Martin’s walls, and
her daughter.]

34. Rigunda, daughter of Chilperic, often made malicious charges
against her mother and said that she was mistress and that her
mother ought to serve her,[FC] and often attacked her with abuse and
sometimes struck and slapped her, and her mother said to her: “Why do
you annoy me, daughter? Come, take your father’s things that I have
and do as you please with them.” And she went into the store-room
and opened a chest quite full of necklaces and costly jewels. For
a long time she took them out one by one and handed them to her
daughter but finally said: “I am tired; you put in your hand and
take what you find.” And she thrust in her arm and was taking things
from the chest when her mother seized the lid and slammed it down on
her head. And she was holding it down firmly and the lower board was
pressing against her daughter’s throat so that her eyes were actually
ready to pop out when one of the maids who was within called loudly:
“Run, I beg you, run; my mistress is being choked to death by her
mother.” And those who were awaiting their coming outside rushed
into the little room and saved the girl from threatening death and
led her out. After that their enmity was more bitter and there were
continual quarrels and fighting between them, above all because of
the adulteries Rigunda was guilty of.

35. Beretrude,[FG] when dying, appointed her daughter heir, leaving
certain property to the nunneries she had founded and to the
cathedrals and churches of the holy confessors. But Waddo,[FH] whom
we mentioned in a former book, complained that his horses had been
taken by her son-in-law, and he proposed to go to an estate of hers
which she had left to her daughter and which was within the territory
of Poitiers, saying: “He came from another kingdom and took my horses
and I will take his estate.” Meantime he sent orders to the bailiff
that he was coming and to make everything ready for his use. The
bailiff on hearing this gathered all the household and got ready to
fight, saying: “Unless I’m killed Waddo shall not enter my master’s
house.” Waddo’s wife heard that warlike preparations were being
made against her husband, and she said to him: “Do not go there,
dear husband; for you will be killed if you go and my children and
I will be miserable.” And she laid hold of him and wished to detain
him, and her son also said: “If you go, we will be killed together
and you will leave my mother a widow and my brothers orphans.” But
these words altogether failed to hold him back and he was enflamed
with madness at his son, and calling him cowardly and soft he threw
his ax and almost crushed his skull. But the son dashed it partly
aside and escaped the stroke. Then they mounted their horses and went
off, sending word again to the bailiff to sweep the house and spread
covers on the benches. But he paid little attention to the order and
stood with his throngs of men and women before his master’s door, as
we have said, awaiting Waddo’s coming. He came and at once entered
the house and said: “Why are these benches not spread with covers and
the house swept?” And he raised his hand with his dagger in it and
struck the man’s head and he fell and died. Upon seeing this the dead
man’s son hurled his lance from in front against Waddo and pierced
the middle of his belly with the blow, and the spear-head came out
of his back and he fell to the ground, and the multitude which had
gathered drew near and began to stone him. Then certain of those who
had come with him rushed up amid the showers of stones and covered
him with a cloak and the people were calmed, and his son, uttering
mournful cries, got him upon his horse and took him back home still
living. But he died soon amid the laments of his wife and sons. And
so his life was unhappily ended and his son went to the king and
obtained his property.

[36. Childebert sends his son Theodobert to represent him in
Soissons. 37. Bishop Droctigisil goes insane from excessive drinking
or because evil arts had been practiced on him. 38. A plot against
Brunhilda and Childebert’s wife. 39-43. The story in detail of the
secession of forty nuns[FI] from the convent at Poitiers, with
documents involved in the case. 44. The weather.]

HERE ENDS THE NINTH BOOK.

FOOTNOTES:

[64] Godfather.

[65] June.

IN CHRIST’S NAME HERE BEGIN THE CHAPTERS OF THE TENTH BOOK

1. Pope Gregory of Rome.
2. Return of the legate Grippo from the emperor Maurice.
3. King Childebert’s army goes into Italy.
4. The emperor Maurice sends the slayers of the legates to the
Gauls.
5. Chuppa attacks the territory of Tours.
6. The prisoners in Clermont.
7. In the same city king Childebert remits the tribute of the
clergy.
8. Eulalius and Tetradia who had been his wife.
9. King Gunthram’s army which marched into Brittany.
10. Killing of Chundo his chamberlain.
11. Sickness of the younger Clothar.
12. Berthegunda’s wickedness.
13. Argument on the resurrection.
14. Death of the deacon Theodulf.
15. Scandal at the convent at Poitiers.
16. The judgment on Chrodield and Basina.
17. Their excommunication.
18. Assassins sent to king Childebert.
19. Removal of Egidius bishop of Rheims.
20. The nuns mentioned above are pardoned at this synod.
21. Killing of Waddo’s sons.
22. Killing of the Saxon Childeric.
23. Prodigies and the uncertainty about Easter.
24. The destruction of Antioch.
25. Death of the man who said he was Christ.
26. Death of bishops Ragnimod and Sulpicius.
27. The men whom Fredegunda ordered to be put to death.
28. Baptism of her son Clothar.
29. The conversion, miracles, and death of the blessed Aridius
abbot of Limoges.
30. The year.
31. List of the bishops of Tours.

HERE END THE CHAPTERS OF THE TENTH BOOK

IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST HERE BEGINS THE TENTH BOOK

1. In the fifteenth year of king Childebert our deacon returned from
Rome with relics of the saints and related that in the ninth month of
the previous year the river Tiber so flooded the city of Rome that
ancient temples were destroyed and the store-houses of the church
were overturned and several thousand measures of wheat in them were
lost. A multitude of snakes, among them a great serpent like a big
log, passed down into the sea by the channel of this river, but
these creatures were smothered among the rough and salty waves of
the sea and cast up on the shore. Immediately after came the plague
which they call _inguinaria_.[66] It came in the middle of the
eleventh month and according to what is read in the prophet Ezekiel:
“Begin at my sanctuary,” it first of all smote the pope Pelagius
and soon killed him. Upon his death a great mortality among the
people followed from this disease. But since the church of God could
not be without a head all the people chose Gregory the deacon.[FJ]
He belonged to one of the first senatorial families and from his
youth was devoted to God and with his own means had established six
monasteries in Sicily and a seventh within the Roman walls; and
giving to these such an amount of land as would suffice to furnish
their daily food, he sold the rest and all the furniture of his house
and distributed the money among the poor; and he who had been used to
appear in the city arrayed in silken robes and glittering jewels was
now clad in cheap garments, and he devoted himself to the service of
the Lord’s altar and was assigned as seventh levite to aid the pope.
And such was his abstinence in food, his sleeplessness in prayer,
his determination in fasting that his stomach was weakened and he
could scarcely stand upright. He was so versed in grammar, dialectic,
and rhetoric that he was believed second to none in the city. He
strove earnestly to avoid this high office for fear that a certain
pride at attaining the honor might sweep him back into the worldly
vanities he had rejected. And so he sent a letter to the emperor
Mauricius whose son he had taken from the holy font, adjuring him and
entreating him with many prayers never to grant his consent to the
people to raise him to this place of honor. But Germanus, prefect of
Rome, forestalled the messenger and had him arrested and the letter
destroyed, and himself sent to the emperor the choice which the
people had made. And the emperor on account of his friendship[FK]
with the deacon thanked God that he had found a place of honor and
sent his command to appoint him.…

[Because of the plague Gregory makes an address to the people of Rome
to meet it by prayer.]

When he spoke these words bands of clergy gathered and he bade them
sing psalms for three days and pray for God’s mercy. Every three
hours choirs of singers came to the church crying through the streets
of the city “Kyrie eleison.” Our deacon who was there said that in
the space of one hour while the people uttered cries of supplication
to the Lord eighty fell to the ground and died. But the bishop did
not cease to urge the people not to cease from prayer. It was from
Gregory while he was still deacon that our deacon received the relics
of the saints as we have said.[FL]

And when Gregory was making ready to go to a hiding place he was
seized and brought by force to the church of the blessed apostle
Peter and there he was consecrated to the duties of bishop and made
pope of the city. Our deacon did not leave until Gregory returned
from the port to become bishop, and he saw his ordination with his
own eyes.

2. Grippo returned from the emperor Maurice and reported that in the
preceding year he and his companions had taken ship and landed at
an African port and gone on to Carthage the Great.[FM] While they
were remaining there, awaiting the orders of the prefect who was
in the city as to how they were to reach the emperor’s presence,
one of the men belonging to Evantius, who had gone out with him,
snatched an article of value from a trader’s hand and took it to
their lodging. The owner of the article followed him and demanded
his property back. But the man put him off and the quarrel grew
greater from day to day, and one day the trader met the man on the
street and took hold of his clothes and held fast saying: “I’ll
never let you go until you return to my possession what you took
by violence.” But the other after trying to shake him off did not
hesitate to snatch his sword and kill the fellow, and he at once
returned to the lodging but did not disclose to his comrades what
had happened. Now as I have said the legates were Bodigisel, son of
Mummolinus of Soissons, and Evantius, son of Dinamius of Arles, and
this Grippo, a Frank, and they had arisen from dinner and retired
to rest and sleep. But when the act of their man was reported to
the ruler of the city he gathered soldiers and all the people put
on their armor and he sent them to their lodging. But the legates
were amazed on being wakened to see what was going on, having had
no expectation of it. Then the leader cried out saying: “Lay your
arms aside and come out to us, that we may peaceably learn how the
homicide happened.” On hearing this they were alarmed as they did
not yet know what had happened, and they asked for a pledge so that
they could go out safely without arms. The men swore that they could
but their hastiness did not allow them to keep their oath. But soon
after Bodigisil went out they killed him with the sword and likewise
Evantius. And when they lay before the door of the lodging Grippo
seized his armor and went out to them with the men he had with him,
saying: “We do not know what has happened and behold here are the
comrades of my journey who were sent to the emperor lying slain by
the sword. God will avenge our wrong and will atone for their death
by your destruction, since you butcher us in this way when we do
not harm you but come in peace. There shall not be peace any longer
between our kings and your emperor. It was for peace we came and to
bring aid to your state. To-day I call God to witness that it is your
crime that has caused the promised peace to be kept no longer between
the princes.” When Grippo had spoken these words and more to the
same effect, this Carthaginian troop dispersed and each returned to
his home. The prefect went to Grippo and attempted to calm him as to
these occurrences and arranged for his going to the presence of the
emperor. He went and told the business on which he had been sent and
described the fate of his comrades. At this the emperor was greatly
annoyed and promised to avenge their death in accordance with the
judgment king Childebert should give. Then Grippo received gifts from
the emperor and returned without being molested.

3. These matters were related by Grippo to king Childebert, who at
once commanded his army to march into Italy and sent twenty dukes
to conquer the Lombards. I have not thought it necessary to set
their names down here in order. But duke Audovald with Wintrio set
the people of Champagne on the march and when he came to the city
of Metz which is on the way he plundered, slew, and mistreated the
inhabitants in such a manner that it might have been thought that
he was leading an army against his own country. Moreover the other
dukes did the same with their phalanxes and ravaged their own country
and the people who remained behind, before they won any victory over
the enemy. When they reached the Italian boundary Audovald with six
dukes invaded the right side and reached the city of Milan, and
there they pitched their camp at a distance on the plain. And duke
Olo went rashly to Bellinzona, a stronghold of this city, situated
on the plains called _Canini_, and was wounded with a dart under the
nipple and fell and died. Moreover when they went out to plunder in
order to get food, they were slain by the Lombards who rushed upon
them everywhere. There was a lake in the territory of Milan called
_Ceresium_[67] out of which a small but deep stream flowed. Upon the
shore of this lake they heard that the Lombards were encamped. They
came to it, but before they could cross the stream we have mentioned
one of the Lombards standing on the shore, armed with a coat of mail
and helmet and carrying a lance in his hand, shouted against the army
of the Franks, saying, “To-day it shall appear to whom the Divinity
will grant a victory.” It may be understood that the Lombards had
arranged this as a sign. Then a few crossed and fought this Lombard
and slew him. And behold the whole army of the Lombards took to
flight. Our men crossed the river but found none of them, seeing only
the camp arrangements, where they had their fires and pitched their
tents. And when they could capture none of them they returned to
their own camp and there the emperor’s legates came to them bringing
the news that an army was at hand to help them, and saying, “After
three days we will come with it, and this shall be a sign for you:
when you see the houses of this village which is on the mountain burn
with fire and the smoke rising up to heaven, be assured that we are
close at hand with the army which we promised.” However they waited
according to agreement six days and saw none of them come.

And Chedinus with thirteen dukes entered Italy on the left and
took five strongholds and exacted oaths of fealty. But dysentery
affected his army severely--because the air was new to his men and
disagreed with them--and many died of it. But when the wind rose and
it rained and the air began to freshen a little it brought health in
place of sickness. Why more? For about three months they wandered
through Italy without accomplishing anything or being able to take
vengeance on their enemies, since they were shut up in strongholds,
or to capture the king and take vengeance on him, since he was shut
up within the walls of Pavia, and then the army sickened as we have
said because of the unhealthfulness of the air and grew weak from
hunger and prepared to return home after exacting oaths of fidelity
and subjecting to the king’s rule the people of the country which
his father had held before and from which they took captives and
other booty. And returning thus they were so starved that they sold
their armor and clothing to buy food before they came to their native
place.…

4. Maurice caused the Carthaginians who had killed king Childebert’s
legates the previous year, to be bound and loaded with chains and
sent them to Childebert’s presence, twelve in number, under these
conditions, that if he wished to put them to death he should have
permission: or if he would allow them to be ransomed he should
receive three hundred gold pieces for each and be content; and thus
he was to choose whichever he wished, that the disagreement might be
more readily forgotten and no further cause of enmity arise between
them. But king Childebert refused to accept the bound men and said:
“It is uncertain in my mind whether these men you bring are the
homicides or others, perhaps slaves of somebody or other, whereas
our men who were killed in your country were free born.” Grippo in
particular, who had been legate at the time with the men who were
killed, was present and said: “The prefect of the city with two or
three thousand men whom he had gathered made an attack on us and
killed my comrades; and I would have perished with them if I hadn’t
been able to make a brave defence. I can go to the place and identify
the men. It is these that your emperor ought to punish if, as you
say, he proposes to keep peace with our master.” And so the king
decided to send to the emperor for the guilty men and he bade these
depart.

5. In these days Chuppa, who had once been king Chilperic’s
constable, made an inroad into the territory of Tours and desired
to take flocks and other property as if he were taking booty. But
the inhabitants had warning and a multitude gathered and began to
pursue him. He lost his plunder and two of his men were killed: he
escaped with nothing and two other men were captured; they were sent
in fetters to king Childebert. He ordered them to be thrown into
prison and examined as to who it was by whose aid Chuppa escaped from
being captured by his pursuers. They answered that it was through a
stratagem of the vicar[FN] Animodus, who had the power of a judge in
that district. At once the king sent a letter and ordered the count
of the city to send him in chains to the king’s presence; and if
he should attempt resistance he was to crush him by force and even
kill him, if he wished to gain the king’s favor. But Animodus made
no resistance but gave sureties and went as he was told, and finding
Flavian the court-official he pleaded together with his companion and
was not found guilty; they were acquitted and ordered to return home.
However he first gave presents to the court-official. Chuppa a second
time roused some of his people and purposed to carry off the daughter
of Badigysel, former bishop of Mans, to marry her. He made a night
attack with a band of his companions on the village of Mareil to
fulfil his purpose, but Magnatrude, the mother of the girl and head
of the household, had warning of him and his treachery; she went out
against him with her slaves and repelled him by force, killing many
of his men; and he did not come off without disgrace.

[6. Miraculous deliverance of prisoners in a jail in Auvergne.]

[FO]7. In the same city king Childebert most piously remitted all
the tribute of the churches as well as of the monasteries and of the
clergy who were attached to a church and of whoever were engaged
in cultivating the church land. For the collectors of the tribute
had suffered great losses, since in the course of long time and
succeeding generations the estates had been divided into small
parts and the tribute could be collected only with difficulty, and
Childebert by inspiration of God directed that the trouble should be
remedied and the amount which was due to the fisc from these should
not be exacted from the collectors, and that arrearage should not
deprive any tiller of church land of his benefice.

[FP]8. Where the territories of Auvergne, Gévaudan, and Rouergue
meet, a synod of bishops was held to hear the case against Tetradia,
widow of Desiderius, from whom count Eulalius claimed the property
which she had taken with her when she fled from him. I think that I
ought to relate this case in full detail and how she left Eulalius
and fled to Desiderius. Eulalius, as a young man will, had behaved
in several matters in a senseless fashion, and so it came about
that he was often reproached by his mother and began to hate when
he should have loved her. Now she used frequently to devote herself
to prayer in the oratory of her house and to spend the watches of
the night in prayer and tears while her servants slept, and at last
she was found strangled in the hair shirt in which she prayed.
And though no one knew who had done this nevertheless her son was
charged with the murder. When Cautinus, bishop of Clermont, heard
of this, he excommunicated him. But when the citizens gathered with
the bishop at the festival of the blessed martyr Julian, Eulalius
threw himself at the feet of the bishop complaining that he had
been excommunicated without a hearing. Then the bishop permitted
him to attend the service of the mass with the others. But when the
time for communion came and Eulalius went forward to the altar the
bishop said: “Common talk among the people declares that you are a
murderer. Now I do not know whether you have done this crime or not:
therefore I leave it to the judgment of God and the blessed martyr
Julian. You then, if you are fit to do so, as you say, approach and
take a share of the Eucharist and put it in your mouth. For God
will know your conscience.” Eulalius received the Eucharist and had
communion and departed. He had a wife, Tetradia by name, noble on her
mother’s side, of low rank by her father. And in his house he took
the maidservants for concubines and began to neglect his wife, and
when he returned from these harlots he would often beat her severely.
Moreover because of his many ill-deeds he contracted a number of
debts and often used his wife’s jewels and gold for these. Finally
when his wife was in this hard situation since she had lost all the
honor she had in her husband’s house, and he was gone to the king,
Virus,--this was the man’s name--her husband’s nephew, fell in love
with her and wished to marry her since he had lost his wife. Virus
however was afraid of his uncle’s enmity and sent the woman to duke
Desiderius with the intention of marrying her later on. And she took
with her all her husband’s substance both in gold and silver and
garments and all she could take, together with her older son, but
she left the younger son at home. Eulalius returned from his journey
and learned what had happened. And when his grief was lessened and
he had taken a little rest he rushed upon his nephew Virus and
killed him in a narrow valley of Auvergne. And Desiderius who had
lately lost his wife heard that Virus had been killed and married
Tetradia. But Eulalius took a girl by force from the convent at Lyons
and married her. But his concubines impelled by envy, as some say,
made her insane by evil arts. A long time after Eulalius secretly
attacked and killed Emerius, cousin of this girl. In like manner he
killed Socratius, brother of his half-sister whom his father had
had by a concubine. He committed also many other crimes, too many
to tell. John, his son, who had gone off with his mother ran away
from Desiderius’s house and went to Auvergne. And Innocent being now
a candidate for the bishopric of Rodez, Eulalius sent a message to
him that he could recover by Innocent’s aid the property that was
rightfully his in the territory of this city. Innocent replied: “If
I receive one of your sons to make a cleric of and to keep to help
me, I will do what you ask.” Eulalius sent the boy named John and
received his property back. And Innocent received the boy and shaved
the hair of his head and put him in the care of the archdeacon of his
church. And he became so abstemious that he ate barley instead of
wheat, drank water instead of wine, used an ass instead of a horse,
and wore the meanest garments. And so the bishops and leading men
met, as we have said, at the confines of the cities mentioned, and
Tetradia was represented by Agyn and Eulalius appeared to speak
against her. When Eulalius asked for the things she had taken from
his home when she went to Desiderius, Tetradia was ordered to repay
what she took fourfold, and the children that she had by Desiderius
were declared illegitimate; they also directed that if she paid
Eulalius what she was ordered to pay him, she would have the liberty
of going to Auvergne and of enjoying without disturbance the property
which had come to her from her father. This was done.

[9. Gunthram sends an expedition against the Bretons which proves a
failure.]

[FR]10. In the fifteenth year[FQ] of king Childebert which is the
twenty-ninth of Gunthram, while king Gunthram was hunting in the
Vosges forest he found traces of the killing of a buffalo. And when
he harshly demanded of the keeper of the forest who had dared to
do this in the king’s forest, the keeper named Chundo the king’s
chamberlain. Upon this he ordered Chundo to be arrested and taken
to Chalon loaded with chains. And when the two were confronted with
each other in the king’s presence and Chundo said that he had never
presumed to do what he was charged with, the king ordered a trial
by battle. Then the chamberlain offered his nephew to engage in the
fight in his place and both appeared on the field; the youth hurled
his lance at the keeper of the forest and pierced his foot; and he
presently fell on his back. The youth then drew the sword which hung
from his belt but while he sought to cut his fallen adversary’s
throat he himself received a dagger thrust in the belly. Both fell
dead. Seeing this Chundo started to run to Saint Marcellus’s church.
But the king shouted to seize him before he touched the sacred
threshold and he was caught and tied to a stake and stoned. After
this the king was very penitent at having shown himself so headlong
in anger as to kill hastily for a trifling guilt a man who was
faithful and useful to him.

[11. King Clothar is dangerously ill. 12. Ingytrude, abbess of a
convent attached to St. Martin’s church, dies, directing that her
disobedient daughter should not even be allowed to pray at her tomb.
13. One of Gregory’s priests is “infected with the malignant poison
of the Sadducean heresy.”[68] He is overcome in argument by Gregory.
14. Story of the drunken priest Theodulf who falls off the wall of
Angers and is killed.]

15. The scandal which by the help of the devil had arisen in the
monastery at Poitiers was growing worse every day and Chrodield[69]
was sitting all prepared for strife, having gathered to herself, as I
have said above, murderers, sorcerers, adulterers, run-away slaves and
men guilty of all other crimes. And so she gave orders to them to
break into the monastery at night and drag the abbess from it. But the
latter heard the uproar coming and asked to be carried to the chest
containing the relics of the holy cross[70]--for she was painfully
troubled with gout--thinking that she would be kept safe by their aid.
Accordingly[71] when the men had entered and lit the candles and were
hurrying with weapons ready here and there through the monastery
looking for her, they went into the oratory and found her lying on the
ground before the chest of the holy cross. Thereupon one who was
fiercer than the rest, having come on purpose to commit this crime,
namely, to cleave the abbess in two with the sword, was given a knife
stab by another, the divine providence aiding in this, I suppose. The
blood gushed out and he fell to the ground without fulfilling the vow
he had foolishly made. Meantime Justina,[72] the prioress, and the
other sisters had taken the cloth of the altar which was before the
Lord’s cross and covered the abbess with it, putting the lights out at
the same time. But the men came with drawn swords and spears and tore
the nuns’ clothes and almost crushed their hands and seized the
prioress instead of the abbess, since it was dark, and pulled her
robes off and tore her hair down and dragged her out and carried her
off to place her under guard at St. Hilary’s Church; but, as the dawn
was coming on, they perceived when near the church that it was not the
abbess, and presently they told the woman to return to the monastery.
They returned, too, and seized the abbess and dragged her away and
confined her near St. Hilary’s Church in a place where Basina[73]
lodged, setting guards at the door so that no one should give aid to
the captive. At the next twilight they entered the monastery and when
they found no candles to light they took a cask from the storehouse
which had been pitched and left to dry and set fire to it, and there
was a great light while it burned, and they made plunder of all the
furniture of the monastery, leaving only what they were unable to
carry off. This happened seven days before Easter. And as the bishop
was distressed at all this and could not calm this strife of the
devil, he sent to Chrodield, saying: “Let the abbess go, so that she
shall not be kept in prison during these days; otherwise I will not
celebrate the Lord’s Easter festival nor shall any catechumen receive
baptism in this city unless you order the abbess to be set free from
the confinement in which she is held. And if you refuse to let her go,
I will call the citizens together and rescue her.” When he said this,
Chrodield appointed assassins, saying: “If any one tries to carry her
off by violence, give her a thrust with the sword at once.” Now
Flavian came in those days; he had lately been appointed _domesticus_,
and by his aid the abbess entered St. Hilary’s Church and was free.
Meantime murders were being committed at the holy Radegunda’s[74]
tomb, and certain persons were hacked to death in a disturbance before
the very chest that contained the relics of the holy cross. And since
this madness increased daily because of Chrodield’s pride, and
continual murders and other deeds of violence, such as I have
mentioned above, were being done by her faction, and she had become so
swollen up with boastfulness that she looked down with lofty contempt
upon her own cousin Basina, the latter began to repent and say: “I
have done wrong in supporting haughty Chrodield. Behold I am an object
of contempt to her and am made to appear a rebel against my abbess.”
She changed her course and humbled herself before the abbess and asked
for peace with her; and they were equally of one thought and purpose.
Then when the outrages broke out again, the men who were with the
abbess, while resisting an attack which Chrodield’s followers[75] had
made, wounded one of Basina’s men who fell dead. But the abbess’ men
took refuge behind the abbess in the church of the confessor, and on
this account Basina left the abbess and departed. But the men fled a
second time, and the abbess and Basina entered again into friendly
relations as before. Afterward many feuds arose between these
factions;[76] and who could ever set forth in words such wounds, such
killings, and such wrong-doings, where scarcely a day passed without a
murder, or an hour without a quarrel, or a moment without tears. King
Childebert heard of this, and sent an embassy to king Gunthram to
propose that bishops of both kingdoms should meet and punish these
actions in accordance with the canons. And king Childebert ordered my
humble self[77] to sit on this case, together with Eberegisel of
Cologne and Maroveus himself, bishop of Poitiers; and king Gunthram
sent Gundigisil of Bordeaux with his provincials, since he was the
metropolitan of this city. But I began to object, saying: “I will not
go to this place unless the rebellion which has arisen because of
Chrodield, is forcibly put down by the judge.”[78] For this reason a
command was sent to Macco, who was then count, in which he was ordered
to put the rebellion down by force if they should resist. Chrodield
heard of this and ordered her assassins to stand armed before the door
of the oratory, thinking they would fight against the judge, and if he
wished to use force, they would resist with equal force. So it was
necessary for this count to go there with armed men and to beat some
with clubs and pierce others with spears, and when they resisted
fiercely he had to attack and overwhelm them with the sword. When
Chrodield saw this, she took the Lord’s cross, the miraculous power of
which she had before despised, and came out to meet them saying: “Do
no violence to me, I beg of you, for I am a queen, daughter of one
king and cousin of another; don’t do it, lest a time may come for me
to take vengeance on you.” But the throng paid little heed to what she
said but rushed, as I have said, upon those who were resisting and
bound them and dragged them from the monastery and tied them to stakes
and beat them fiercely and cut off the hair of some, the hands of
others, and in a good many cases the ears and nose, and the rebellion
was crushed and there was peace. Then the bishops who were present sat
on the tribunal of the church, and Chrodield appeared and gave vent to
much abuse of the abbess and many charges, asserting that she had a
man in the monastery who wore woman’s clothes and was treated as a
woman although he had been very clearly shown to be a man, and that he
was in constant attendance on the abbess herself, and she pointed her
finger at him and said: “There he is himself.” And when this man had
taken the stand before all in woman’s clothes, as I have stated, he
said that he was impotent and therefore had put these clothes on; but
he did not know the abbess except by name and he asserted that he had
never seen her or spoken with her, as he lived more than forty miles
from the city of Poitiers. Then as she had not proved the abbess
guilty of this crime, she added: “What holiness is there in this
abbess who makes men eunuchs and orders them to live with her as if
she were an empress.” The abbess, being questioned, replied that she
knew nothing of this matter. Meantime when Chrodield had given the
name of the man who was a eunuch, Reoval, the chief physician,
appeared and said: “This man when he was a child was diseased in the
thigh and was so ill that his life was despaired of; his mother went
to the holy Radegunda to request that he should have some attention.
But she called me and bade me give what assistance I could. Then I
castrated him in the way I had once seen physicians do in
Constantinople, and restored the boy in good health to his sorrowing
mother; I am sure the abbess knows nothing of this matter.” Now when
Chrodield had failed to prove the abbess guilty on this charge also,
she began fiercely to make others. But I have decided that it is
better to insert the charges and the rebuttals of each in my narrative
just as they are contained in the decision which was given as regards
these same persons.

16. _Copy of the Decision._ To the most glorious kings the bishops
who are present[79] [send greetings]. By God’s favor religion
properly discloses her causes to the pious and orthodox kings who are
given to the people and to whom the country is granted, knowing well
that through the mediation of the holy spirit she is made a partner
in the decree of the rulers and is supported by it. And whereas in
accordance with the command of your majesties we are assembled at
Poitiers on account of the situation in the monastery of Radegunda
of holy memory, in order to take cognizance at first hand of the
disputes between the abbess of the said monastery and the nuns who
left the flock for no sound reason; we summoned the parties and
interrogated Chrodield and Basina as to why they had so boldly
departed contrary to the rule, breaking the doors of the monastery,
and why the united congregation had at this time been broken in two.
In answer they asserted that they could not endure any longer the
risk of starvation, nakedness, and above all of beating; and they
added also that several men had bathed in their bath contrary to
decency, and that the abbess played games, and that worldly persons
dined with her, and that a betrothal had actually taken place in the
monastery; that she had impiously made a dress for her niece out of
a silk altar cloth, and that she had frivolously taken the golden
leaves which were on the border of the altar cloth and sinfully
hung them about her niece’s neck; and she had made a fillet with
gold ornaments for her niece without any need for it, and that she
had a masquerade[80] in the monastery. We asked the abbess what she
had to answer to this, and she said that as to the complaint about
starvation, they had never endured too great privation considering
the poverty of the time. And as to clothes, she said that if one
were to examine their boxes, [he would find] they had more than was
necessary. And as to the charge about the bath, she related that the
bath had been built in the time of Lent and that on account of the
disagreeable smell of the limestone, in order that the newness of the
building might not do harm to the bathers, lady Radegunda had given
orders for the servants of the monastery to use it as a common thing
until all harmful odor had disappeared. It had been in common use
by the servants through Lent and until Pentecost. To this Chrodield
answered: “And later on in the same way many men bathed at different
times.” The abbess replied that she did not approve of what they
reported but she did not know whether it was true; moreover she found
fault with them for not informing the abbess if they had seen it. As
to the games she played, she answered that she had played when lady
Radegunda was alive and it was not regarded as a sin, and she said
that neither in the rule nor the canons was there any reference in
writing to their prohibition. However at the order of the bishops she
promised that she would bow her head and do whatever penance should
be demanded. As to the dinners, she said she had introduced no new
custom but had merely offered the blest bread to orthodox Christians
as had been done under lady Radegunda, and it could not be proved
against her that she had ever dined with them. As to the betrothal,
she said that she had received the earnest money[81] in behalf of her
niece, an orphan girl, in the presence of the bishop, the clergy and
the leading men, and if this was a sin, she would ask for pardon in
the presence of all; however not even on that occasion had she made
a feast in the monastery. In answer to the charge about the altar
cloth, she brought forward a nun of noble family who had given her as
a gift a silk robe she had received from her relatives, and she had
cut off a part of this to do what she wished with it, and from the
rest, which was sufficient, she had made a suitable cloth to adorn
the altar, and she used the scraps left over from the altar cloth to
trim her niece’s tunic with purple; and she said she gave this to her
niece when she was serving in the monastery. All this was confirmed
by Didimia who had given the robe. As to the leaves of gold and the
fillet adorned with gold, she offered Macco your servant, who is
here, as a witness, since it was by his hand that she received twenty
pieces of gold from the betrothed of the said girl her niece, from
which she had purchased these articles openly, and the property of
the monastery was not involved in it at all.

Chrodield and Basina were asked whether perchance they imputed
adultery to the abbess, which God forbid, or whether they could
say she had committed a murder or a sorcery or a capital crime for
which she should be punished. They replied they had nothing to say
to this; they only asserted that she had acted contrary to the rule
in the matters they had mentioned. Finally they said that nuns whom
we believed to be innocent were with child because of these faults,
namely, that the doors were broken open and the wretched women were
at liberty to do what they would for many months without discipline
from their abbess.

When we had discussed these charges in order and had found no
wrong-doing for which to degrade the abbess, we gave her a fatherly
admonition for the pardonable faults she had committed, and urged
her not to incur any reproof later. Then we inquired into the case
of the opposing party who had committed greater crimes, that is to
say, who, when within the monastery, had despised the warning of
their bishop not to go forth in despite of their bishop and had left
him in the monastery under the greatest contempt and had broken the
bars and doors and foolishly departed, involving other nuns in their
sin. Moreover when the archbishop Gundigisil with his provincials
had received notice of this case and come to Poitiers by order of
the king and had summoned them to a hearing at the monastery, they
disregarded his summons, and when the bishops went to them at the
church of St. Hilary the Confessor where they were staying, going
to them as is seemly for anxious pastors to do; while they were
receiving the admonition of the bishops a disturbance arose, and
they attacked the bishops and their attendants with clubs, and even
shed the blood of deacons within the church. Then when the venerable
priest Teuthar by command of the princes came to judge this case, and
the time for rendering the judgment had been fixed, they did not wait
for it but attacked the monastery like rebels, setting fire to casks
in the court-yard and breaking the doors with crow-bars and axes, and
setting fire, and beating and wounding nuns in the very oratories
within the walls, and plundering the monastery, and stripping
the clothes off the abbess and tearing her hair and dragging her
violently through the streets in derision and thrusting her into a
place where, although not in fetters, she was not free. And when the
festival of Easter came, which is always honored, the bishop offered
a ransom for the prisoner so that she could aid in baptism, but his
entreaty could not secure this for any consideration,--Chrodield
answered that she had neither known of such a crime nor ordered it,
adding further that it was at a sign from her that the abbess was not
killed by her people, from which we may be confident in inferring
that they were becoming more cruel--and they had killed a slave of
their own monastery who was fleeing to the blessed Radegunda’s tomb,
and instead of improving had gone deeper into crime; and later they
entered the monastery and took possession of it; and at the order
of the kings to produce the rebels in public they refused to obey,
and rather took up arms against the king’s command and wickedly rose
with arrows and lances against the count and the people. Then lately
when they appeared for a public hearing they took the holy and most
sacred cross secretly and wrongfully, which they were later forced
to restore to the church.

Having taken cognizance of so many capital crimes and of a wickedness
that was not restrained but continually increased, we told them that
they should beg the abbess for pardon for their sin and restore what
they had wrongfully taken. But they were unwilling to do this but
talked rather of killing her, a design they admitted in public. Then
we opened and read the canons, and it seemed most just that until
they made a suitable repentance they should be excommunicated and
the abbess should continue permanently in her place. This is what we
suggest should be done in accordance with your command, as far as
the interests of the church are concerned, having read the canons
and having made no distinction of persons. For the rest, as to the
property of the monastery and the deeds given by the kings your
kinsmen which have been stolen, and which they say they have but
disregard our orders and fail to return, it belongs to your piety,
your power and royal authority to compel them to be returned to their
place, in order that your reward and that of the previous kings may
continue for ever. Do not permit them to return or think of returning
again to the place which they so impiously and sacrilegiously
destroyed, lest worse may come. With the aid of the Lord let all be
wholly restored and returned to God under the catholic kings; let
religion lose nothing; let the decision of the fathers and the canons
be maintained and be of profit to us for worship and bring you gain.
May Christ the Lord support and guide you, may He bestow on you a
long reign and the blessed life.

17. After this when the decision was made known and they were
excommunicated and the abbess restored to the monastery, they went
to king Childebert, adding crime to crime, naming forsooth certain
persons to the king who not only lived in adultery with the abbess
but also sent messengers daily to his enemy Fredegunda. On hearing
this the king sent men to bring them in chains. But when they were
examined and no wrongdoing was found, they were let go.

[18. Attempt on the life of Childebert. 19. Bishop Egidius is removed
from office. 20. Basina and Chrodield are pardoned. 21. Waddo’s sons
are punished. 22. Death of Childeric.]

23. In this year there was such a light shed over the earth in the
night that one would think it mid-day; moreover balls of fire were
frequently noticed at night speeding across the sky and lighting the
world. There was doubt about Easter for the reason that Victor wrote
in his cycle that Easter came on the fifteenth day of the moon. But
to prevent Christians from celebrating this festival at the same time
of the moon as the Jews, he added: “But the Latins [place it] on the
twenty-second of the moon.” For this reason many in Gaul celebrated
on the fifteenth of the moon but we celebrated on the twenty-second.
We made careful inquiry but the springs in Spain which are filled by
a divine power were filled at our Easter.

There was a great earthquake on the eighteenth day before the
Kalends[82] of the fifth month, being the fourth day [of the week],
early in the morning when dawn was coming. The sun was eclipsed in
the middle of the eighth month and its light was so diminished that
it scarcely gave as much light as the horns of the moon on the fifth
day. There were heavy rains, loud thunders in the autumn and the
streams were very full. The bubonic plague cruelly destroyed the
people of Viviers and Avignon.

[24. An Armenian bishop visits Tours and tells the story of the
destruction of Antioch.]

25. Now in the Gauls the disease I have mentioned attacked the
province of Marseilles, and a great famine oppressed Angers, Nantes,
and Mans. These are the beginning of sorrows according to what the
Lord says in the Gospel: “There shall be pestilence and famines and
earthquakes in different places and false Christs and false prophets
shall arise and give signs and prodigies in the heavens so as to put
the elect astray:” as is true at the present time. For a certain man
of Bourges, as he himself told later, went into the deep woods to
cut logs which he needed for a certain work and a swarm of flies[FS]
surrounded him, as a result of which he was considered crazy for two
years; whence it may be believed that they were a wickedness sent by
the devil. Then he passed through the neighboring cities and went to
the province of Arles and there wore skins and prayed like one of the
devout, and to make a fool of him the enemy gave him the power of
divination. After this he rose from his place and left the province
mentioned in order to become more expert in wickedness, and entered
the territory of Gévaudan, conducting himself as a great man and
not afraid to say that he was Christ. He took with him a woman who
passed as his sister to whom he gave the name of Mary. A multitude
of people flocked to him bringing the sick, whom he touched and
restored to health. They who came to him brought him also gold and
silver and garments. These he distributed among the poor to deceive
them the more easily, and throwing himself on the ground and praying
with the woman I have mentioned and rising, he would give orders to
the bystanders to worship him in turn. He foretold the future and
announced that disease would come to some, to others losses and to
others health. But all this he did by some arts and trickeries of the
devil. A great multitude of people was led astray by him, not only
the common folk but bishops of the church. More than three thousand
people followed him. Meantime he began to spoil and plunder those
whom he met on the road; the booty, however, he gave to those who had
nothing. He threatened with death bishops and citizens,[FT] because
they disdained to worship him. He entered La Velay and went to the
place called Puy and halted with all his host at the churches near
there, marshalling his line of battle to make war on Aurilius who was
then bishop, and sending messengers forward, naked men who danced
and played and announced his coming. The bishop was amazed at this
and sent strong men to ask what his doings meant. One of these, the
leader, bent down as if to embrace his knees and check his passage
and [the impostor] ordered him to be seized and spoiled. But the
other at once drew his sword and cut him into bits and that Christ
who ought rather to be named anti-Christ fell dead; and all who were
with him dispersed. Mary was tortured and revealed all his impostures
and deceits. But the men whom he had excited to a belief in him by
the trickery of the devil never returned to their sound senses, but
they always said that this man was Christ in a sense and that Mary
had a share in his divine nature. Moreover through all the Gauls
many appeared who attracted poor women to themselves by trickery and
influenced them to rave and declare their leaders holy, and they made
a great show before the people. I have seen some of them and have
rebuked them and endeavored to recall them from error.

[FU][26. A Syrian trader, Eusebius, becomes bishop of Paris.]

27. Among the Franks of Tournai a great feud arose because the son
of one often angrily rebuked the son of another who had married his
sister, for leaving his wife and visiting a prostitute. And when
reform on the part of the guilty man did not follow, the anger of
the youth became so great that he rushed upon his brother-in-law and
killed him and his men, and was himself killed by his opponents,
and there was only one left from both parties who lacked a slayer.
Upon this the kinsmen on both sides raged at one another, but were
frequently urged by queen Fredegunda to give up their enmity and
become friends lest their persistence in the quarrel might cause
a greater disturbance. But when she failed to reconcile them with
gentle words she tamed them on both sides with the ax. For she
invited many to a feast and caused these three to sit on the same
bench, and when the dinner had been prolonged until night covered the
earth, the table was taken away according to the custom of the Franks
and they sat on the bench in their places. Much wine had been drunk
and they were so overcome by it that the slaves were intoxicated
and were lying asleep in the corners of the house, each where he
fell. Then by the woman’s order three men with axes stood behind
these three and while they were talking together the hands of the
men flashed in a single blow,[FV] so to speak, and they were struck
down and the banquet ended. Their names were Charivald, Leodovald,
and Valden. When this was told to their kinsmen they began to watch
Fredegunda closely and sent messengers to king Childebert to seize
her and put her to death. The people of Champagne were angry because
of this matter, but while Childebert was interposing delay she was
saved by the help of her people and hastened to another place.

[28. Baptism of Clothar. 29. Miracles of the abbot Aridius. 30. The
plague. 31. The bishops of Tours from the beginning to Gregory.]

The nineteenth was I, unworthy Gregory, who found the church of
Tours,[FW] in which the blessed Martin and the other bishops of
the Lord were consecrated in the pontifical office, shattered and
ruined by fire. I rebuilt it larger and higher, and dedicated it in
the seventeenth year after being ordained; and in it as I learned
from the old priests the relics of the blessed Maurice and his
companions had been placed by the ancients. I found the very box
in the treasury of the church of St. Martin, and in it the relics,
greatly decayed, which had been brought because of their miraculous
power. And while vigils were being kept in their honor I wished to
visit them again by the light of a torch. And I was examining them
intently when the keeper of the church said to me: “Here is a stone
with a cover, but I don’t know what it has in it and I haven’t been
able to learn from my predecessors who have had charge here. Let me
bring it and you look carefully to see what it contains.” I took
it and opened it of course,[FX]--and found a silver box containing
relics of the witnesses of the blessed legion as well as of many
saints both martyrs and confessors. We also found other stones hollow
like this one, containing relics of the holy apostles and the rest
of the martyrs. I wondered at this bounty divinely given and after
giving thanks, keeping vigil, and saying mass, I placed them in the
cathedral. I placed the relics of the holy martyrs Cosmas and Damian
in St. Martin’s cell close to the cathedral. I found the walls of the
holy church consumed by fire and ordered skilful workmen to repaint
and adorn them with their former splendor. I had a baptistery built
close by the church, where I placed the relics of the holy martyrs
John and Sergius, and in what had been the baptistery I placed
the relics of the martyr Benignus. And in many localities in the
territory of Tours I dedicated churches and oratories and glorified
them with relics of the saints, but I think it tiresome to speak of
them in order.

I wrote ten books of Histories, seven of Miracles, one on the Lives
of the Fathers; a commentary in one book on Psalms; one book also
on the Services of the Church.[FY] And though I have written these
books in a style somewhat rude, I nevertheless conjure you all, God’s
bishops who are destined to rule the lowly church of Tours after
me, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the judgment day,
feared by the guilty, if you will not be condemned with the devil and
depart in confusion from the judgment, never cause these books to be
destroyed or rewritten, selecting some passages and omitting others,
but let them all continue in your time complete and undiminished
as they were left by us. And bishop of God, whoever you may be, if
our Martianus[FZ] has trained you in the seven disciplines, that is,
if he has taught you by means of grammar to read, by dialectic to
apprehend the arguments in disputes, by rhetoric to recognize the
different meters, by geometry to comprehend the measurement of the
earth and of lines, by astrology to contemplate the paths of the
heavenly bodies, by arithmetic to understand the parts of numbers,
by harmony to fit the modulated voice to the sweet accents of the
verse; if in all this you are practiced so that my style will seem
rude, even so I beg of you do not efface what I have written. But if
anything in these books pleases you I do not forbid your writing it
in verse provided my work is left safe.

I am finishing this work in the twenty-first year after my ordination.

Although in what I have just written of the bishops of Tours I
have told their years, still this calculation does not agree with
the [total] number of years, because I have not been able to learn
accurately the length of time between the different ordinations. Now
the grand total of years of the world is as follows:

From the beginning to the flood 2242 years

From the flood to the crossing of the Red Sea by the
children of Israel 1404 years

From the crossing of this sea to the resurrection of the
Lord 1538 years

From the resurrection of the Lord to the death of St.
Martin 412 years

From the death of St. Martin to the year mentioned
above, namely, the twenty-first year after my ordination,
which is also the fifth of Gregory, pope of
Rome, the thirty-first of king Gunthram, and the
nineteenth of Childebert the second 197 years

The grand total of which is 5792 years

HERE ENDS IN CHRIST’S NAME THE TENTH BOOK OF THE
HISTORIES.

FOOTNOTES:

[66] Affecting the groin (_inguen_). The bubonic plague.

[67] Lugano.

[68] Denying the resurrection of the body.

[69] Daughter of king Charibert. She had seceded from the
monastery with a large following of nuns and was at
this time at St. Hilary’s church in Poitiers.

[70] The monastery was called the monastery of the Holy
Cross.

[71] _Cf._ Bonnet, p. 306.

[72] Gregory’s niece.

[73] One of Chrodield’s faction, daughter of king Chilperic.

[74] Daughter of Berthar, a Thuringian king, and the wife
of Clothar I.

[75] _Chrodieldis scola._

[76] _Scolas._

[77] _Mediocritatis nostræ personam._

[78] The count is meant.

[79] Reading _Adfuerunt_ for _adferunt_.

[80] _Barbaturias._ _Cf._ Du Cange, _barbatoria_.

[81] _Arrhae_, _cf._ p. 97.

[82] June 14.

SELECTIONS FROM THE EIGHT BOOKS OF MIRACLES[83]

ATTITUDE TOWARD SECULAR LEARNING

(Preface, _Book in Honor of the Martyrs_)

The priest Jerome, next to the apostle Paul the best teacher of the
church, tells us that he was brought before the judgment-seat of the
eternal Judge and subjected to torture and severely punished because
he was in the habit of reading Cicero’s clevernesses and Vergil’s
lies, and that he said in the presence of the holy angels and the
very Ruler of all that he would never thereafter read these, but
would occupy himself in future only with such [writings] as would be
judged worthy of God and suited to the edification of the church.
Moreover the apostle Paul says: “Let us follow after things which
make for peace and things whereby we may edify one another.” And
elsewhere: “Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth; but such
as is good for edifying, that it may give grace to them that hear.”
Therefore we too ought to follow after, to write, and to speak the
things that edify the church of God, and by holy instruction bring
weak minds to a knowledge of the perfect faith. And we ought not to
relate lying tales nor to pursue the wisdom of philosophers that is
hateful to God, lest by God’s judgment we fall under sentence of
eternal death.[84]…

OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD’S DAY

(_Ibid._, ch. 15)

In the territory of this city [Tours] at Lingeais, a woman who
lived there moistened flour on the Lord’s day and shaped a loaf,
and drawing the coals aside she covered it over with hot ashes to
bake. When she did this her right hand was miraculously set on fire
and began to burn. She screamed and wept and hastened to the village
church in which relics of the blessed John are kept. And she prayed
and made a vow that on this day sacred to the divine name she would
do no work, but only pray. The next night she made a candle as tall
as herself. Then she spent the whole night in prayer, holding the
candle in her hand all the time, and the flame went out and she
returned home safe and sound.

RELICS HANDED DOWN IN GREGORY’S FAMILY

(_Ibid._, ch. 83)

I shall now describe what was brought to pass through the relics
which my father carried with him in former times. When Theodobert[85]
gave orders that sons of men in Auvergne should be taken as hostages,
my father, at that time lately married, wished to be protected by
relics of the saints, and he asked a certain bishop kindly to give
him some, thinking he would be kept safe by such protection when
absent on his distant journey. Then he enclosed the holy ashes in a
gold case the shape of a pea-pod and placed them around his neck;
but the man did not know the blessed names. He was accustomed to
relate that he was saved by them from many dangers; for he bore
witness that by their miraculous power he had often escaped attacks
of highwaymen and dangers on rivers and the furies of civil war and
thrusts of the sword. And I shall not fail to tell what I saw of
these with my own eyes. After my father’s death my mother always wore
these precious things on her person. Now the grain harvest had come
and great grain stacks were gathered at the threshing places. And in
those days when the threshing was going on, a cold spell came on,
and seeing that Limagne[86] has no forests, being all covered with
crops, the threshers made themselves fires of straw, since there
was nothing else to make a fire of. Meantime all went away to eat.
And behold, the fire gradually increased and began to spread slowly
straw by straw. Then the piles suddenly caught, with the south wind
blowing; it was a great conflagration and there began a shouting of
men and shrieking of women and crying of children.[87] Now this was
happening on our own land. My mother, who wore these relics hanging
on her neck, learned this, and sprang from the table and lifted up
the holy relics against the masses of flame, and all the fire went
out in a moment so that scarcely a spark of fire could be found among
the burnt piles of straw and it did no harm to the grain which it had
just caught.

Many years later I received these relics from my mother; and when we
were going from Burgundy to Auvergne, a great storm came upon us and
the sky flashed with many lightnings and roared with heavy crashes
of thunder. Then I drew the blessed relics from my bosom and raised
my hand against the cloud; it immediately divided into two parts and
passed on the right and left and did no harm to us or any one else
thereafter. But being a young man of an ardent temperament I began
to be puffed up with vain glory and to think silently that this
had been granted not so much to the merits of the saints as to me
personally, and I openly boasted to my comrades on the journey that
I had merited by my blamelessness what God had bestowed. At once my
horse suddenly shied beneath me and dashed me to the ground; and I
was so severely shaken up by the fall that I could hardly get up. I
perceived that this had come of vanity, and it was enough to put me
on guard thenceforth against being moved by the spur of vain glory.
For whenever it happened after that that I had the merit to behold
any of the miracles of the saints, I loudly proclaimed that they were
wrought by God’s gift through faith in the saints.

COMPARATIVE “MERIT” OF GREGORY AND HIS MOTHER

(_Ibid._ ch. 85)

… On this matter I recall what I heard told in my youth. It was the
day of the suffering of the great martyr Polycarp, and his festival
was being observed at Riom, a village of Auvergne. The reading of the
martyrdom had been finished and the other readings which the priestly
canon requires, and the time came for offering the sacrifice. The
deacon, having received the tower[88] in which the mystery of the
Lord’s body was contained, started with it to the door, and when he
entered the church to place it on the altar, it slipped from his hand
and floated along in the air and thus came to the altar, and the
deacon was never able to lay hands on it; and I believe this happened
for no other reason than that he was defiled in his conscience. For
it was often told that he had committed adultery. It was granted
only to one priest and three women, of whom my mother was one, to
see this; the rest did not see it. I was present, I confess, at this
festival at the time, but I had not the merit to see this miracle.

A FLY MIGHT BE A DEMON

(_Ibid._ ch. 103)

Pannichius, a priest of Poitou, when sitting at dinner with some
friends he had invited, asked for a drink. When it was served, a very
troublesome fly kept flying about the cup and trying to soil it. The
priest waved it off with his hand a number of times, but it would go
off a little and then try to get back, and he perceived that it was a
crafty device of the enemy. He changed the cup to his left hand and
made a cross with his right; then he divided the liquor in the cup
into four parts and lifted it up high and poured it on the ground.
For it was very plain that it was a device of the enemy.[89]

MIRACLES IN GREGORY’S FAMILY

(_Book on the Miracles of St. Julian_, Ch. 23, 24)

At that time my father’s brother Gallus was bishop of Auvergne, and
I do not think I should fail to tell how he was aided in his youth
by a miracle of the saint. Now I have often described the ruin
king Theodoric brought upon Auvergne, when none of their property
was left to either old or young except the bare land which the
barbarians were unable to carry off.[90] In those days, then, my
uncle of glorious memory who afterwards, as I have told, governed the
church of Auvergne in the high office of bishop, was a ward; and his
property was so plundered by the soldiers that there was nothing at
all left that was available; and he himself used often to go on foot
with only one attendant to the village of Brioude.[91] It happened
once when he was trudging along on this journey, that he took his
shoes off on account of the heat, and as he walked in his bare feet
he stepped on a sharp thorn. This by chance had been cut, but was
still lying on the ground and was concealed point upward in the green
grass. It entered his foot and went clear through and then broke off
and could not be drawn out. The blood ran in streams and as he could
not walk he begged the blessed martyr’s aid and after the pain had
grown a little less he went on his way limping. But the third night
the wound began to gather and there was great pain. Then he turned
to the source from which he had already obtained help and threw
himself down before the glorious tomb; when the watch was finished
he returned to bed and was overcome by sleep while awaiting the
miraculous help of the martyr. On arising later he felt no pain and
examining his foot he could not see the thorn which had entered it;
and he perceived it had been drawn from his foot. He looked carefully
for it and found it in his bed and saw with wonder how it had come
out. When bishop he used to exhibit the place, where a great hollow
was still to be seen, and to testify that this had been a miracle of
the blessed martyr.

A long time after, when the festival of the blessed martyr came,
my father with all his household made haste to attend the joyful
celebration. As we were on the way, my older brother Peter was seized
by a fever and became so ill that he could not move about or take
food. We journeyed on in great grief and it was doubtful whether he
would recover or die. In this state of distress we at length arrived;
we entered the church and worshipped at the holy martyr’s tomb. The
sick boy cast himself down on the pavement, praying for a cure by
the glorious martyr. Finishing his prayer he returned to his lodging
and the fever went down a little. When night came we hastened to keep
watch and he asked to be carried along, and lying before the tomb he
begged the martyr’s favor all night long. When the watch was over he
asked them to gather dust from the blessed tomb and give it to him in
a drink, and hang it about his neck. This was done, and the heat of
the fever went down so that on the very same day he took food without
suffering and walked about wherever his fancy took him.

GREGORY’S MODESTY[92]

(Preface, _The Four Books on the Miracles of St. Martin_)

The miracles which the Lord our God deigned to work through the
blessed Martin, his bishop, when living in the body, He still deigns
to confirm daily in order to strengthen the faith of believers.
He who worked miracles through him when he was in the world, now
honors his tomb with miracles, and He who at that time sent him to
save the perishing heathen, [now] bestows through him blessings on
the Christians. Therefore let no one have doubt about the miracles
worked in former time when he sees the bounty of the present wonders
bestowed, when he looks upon the lame being raised up, the blind
receiving sight, demons being driven out and every other kind of
disease being cured through his healing power. As for me I will
establish belief in the book written about his life by earlier
writers, by relating for posterity at God’s command his present-day
miracles as far as I can recall them. This I would not presume to
do if I had not been warned twice or thrice in a vision. I call
all-powerful God to witness that I once saw in a dream at mid-day
many who were crippled and overwhelmed by various diseases being
cured in St. Martin’s church, and I saw this in the presence of my
mother who said to me: “Why are you so sluggish about writing of
these things that you see?” I replied: “You know well enough that I
am unskilled in letters, and that, simple and untrained as I am, I
would not dare to describe such wonderful miracles. I wish Severus
or Paulinus were alive or that Fortunatus at the least were here to
describe them. I have no skill for such a task and I should be blamed
if I undertook it.” But she said: “Don’t you know that now-a-days on
account of the people’s ignorance one who speaks as you can is more
clearly understood? Therefore do not hesitate or delay, for you will
be guilty if you pass this over in silence.” So I wished to follow
her advice and was doubly tortured with grief and fear; grief that
miracles as great as were done under our predecessors should not be
recorded; fear of undertaking so noble a task, ignorant as I am.
However, led on by the hope of divine mercy, I am going to attempt
the task thus urged upon me. For, as I suppose, He who produced water
in the desert from a dry rock and cooled the thirsty people, is able
to set these matters forth in my words; and it will be surely proved
that he has again opened the ass’s mouth if he deigns to open my lips
and make known these miracles through an untaught person like me. But
why should I fear my ignorance when the Lord our God and Redeemer
chose not orators, but fishermen, not philosophers, but countrymen,
to destroy the vanity of worldly wisdom. I have confidence, then,
thanks to your prayers, that even if my rude speech cannot adorn the
page, the great bishop will give it fame by his glorious miracles.

REMARKABLE EXERCISE OF “VIRTUE” BY ST. MARTIN

(_Ibid._, Book I, Ch. 20)

Since I have told two or three times how miracles were performed
and dangers averted by the mere invocation of the glorious name,
I shall now describe how the blessed bishop was called upon and
brought help to one who was falling headlong to death![93] Ammonius,
an officer of the holy church, arose from dinner somewhat under
the influence of wine, and, the enemy giving him a push, he fell
headlong over a lofty cliff that bordered the road. There was there
a drop of about two hundred feet. While he was whirling about as he
fell headlong and was flying down without wings he kept crying for
aid from St. Martin at every instant of his fall. Then he felt as
if he were tossed from a saddle by some one and he landed among the
trees that were in the valley. And thus coming down slowly limb by
limb he reached the ground without danger of death. However that the
plotter’s undertaking might not seem to have been completely in vain,
he suffered a slight injury in one foot. But he went to the glorious
master’s church and prayed and was relieved of all pain.

MIRACLES WORKED ON GREGORY

(_Ibid._, Book I, ch. 32, 33)

Having related the miracles performed for others, I shall tell what
the miraculous power of this protector has done for my unworthy self.
In the hundred and sixtieth year after that holy and praiseworthy
man, the blessed bishop Martin, was taken up to heaven, when the
holy bishop Eufronius was governing the church of Tours in his
seventh year, and in the second year of the glorious king Sigibert,
I became ill with malignant pimples and fever, and being unable to
eat or drink I was reduced to such a state that I lost all hope of
the present life and thought of nothing but of the details of my
burial. For death was constantly raging at me, eager to separate my
soul from my body. Then when I was almost dead I called on the name
of the blessed champion Martin and made some improvement, and began
slowly and painfully to prepare for my journey; for I had made my
mind up that I ought to visit his venerable tomb. And my desire was
so great that I did not even wish to live if I was to be delayed in
going.[94] Although I had scarcely escaped from a dangerous fever, I
began to be on fire again with the fever of desire. And so, although
not yet strong, I hastened to go with my people. After two or three
stages, on entering the forest, I fell ill of the fever again, and
was in such a serious condition that they all said I was dying.
Then my friends came to me and saw I was very weak, and said: “Let
us return home and if God wishes to call you, you will die in your
own home; and if you recover, you will make the journey you have
vowed more easily. For it is better to return home than to die in
the wilderness.” On hearing this I wept bitterly and bewailed my
ill-luck, and said: “I adjure you by all-powerful God and the day of
judgment which all fear who have to make answer there, that you agree
to my request. Don’t give up the journey we have begun, and if I have
merit to see the holy Martin’s church, I shall thank God; but if not,
carry my dead body there and bury it, because I am determined not to
return home, if I have not the merit to appear at his tomb.” Then we
all wept together and went on, and, guarded by the glorious master,
we arrived at his church.… The third night after arriving at the holy
church we planned to keep watch and did so. In the morning when the
bell for matins rang, we returned to our lodging and going to bed we
slept until nearly the second hour. Then I woke up and found that all
weakness and pain were gone and I had recovered my former health,
and I gladly called my usual attendant to wait on me.… And I shall
not forget to say that after forty days that one was the first on
which I took pleasure in drinking wine, since because of my illness I
detested it until then.

(_Ibid._, Book II, Ch. 1)

In the second month after my ordination, when I was at a country
place, I suffered from dysentery and high fever and began to be so
ill that I altogether despaired of living. Everything that I could
eat was always vomited before it had been digested and I loathed
food, and when my stomach had no more strength as a result of no food
the fever was the only thing that gave me strength; I could in no
way take anything substantial and strengthening. I had severe pain,
too, that darted all through my stomach and went down into my bowels,
exhausting me by its pain no less than the fever had done. And when I
was in such a condition that no hope of life was left and everything
was being made ready for my death and the physician’s medicine could
do nothing for one whom death had laid claim to, I was in despair and
called the chief physician Armentarius and said to him: “You have
used every trick of your profession, you have tried the power of all
your remedies, but secular means are of no avail to the perishing.
There is only one thing left for me to do. I will show you a great
remedy:[95] let them bring dust from the holy master’s tomb and make
a potion for me from it. And if this does not cure me, every means
of escape is lost.” Then the deacon was sent to the tomb of the holy
bishop just mentioned and he brought the sacred dust and put it in
water and gave me a drink of it. When I had drunk, soon all pain was
gone and I received health from the tomb. And the benefit was so
immediate that although this happened in the third hour, I became
quite well and went to dinner that very day at the sixth hour.[96]

(_Ibid._, Book III, Preface and Ch. 1)

… Whenever headache comes on or a throbbing in the temples or a
dulness of hearing or a dimness of sight or a pain attacks some other
part, I am cured at once when I have touched the affected part on the
tomb or the curtain hanging before it, and I wonder within myself
that at the very touch the pain is immediately gone.

* * * * *

I shall place first in this book a miracle that I experienced
recently. We were sitting at dinner after a fast and eating, when a
fish was served. The sign of the cross of the Lord was made over it,
but as we ate, a bone from this very fish stuck in my throat most
painfully. It caused me great distress, for the point was fastened
in my throat and its length blocked the passage. It prevented my
speaking and kept the saliva which comes frequently from the palate,
from passing. On the third day, when I could get rid of it neither
by coughing or hawking, I resorted to my usual resource. I went to
the tomb and prostrated myself on the pavement and wept abundantly
and groaned and begged the confessor’s aid. Then I rose and touched
the full length of my throat and all my head with the curtain. I was
immediately cured and before leaving the holy threshold I was rid of
all uneasiness. What became of the unlucky bone I do not know. I did
not cough it up nor feel it go down into my stomach. One thing only
I know, that I so quickly perceived that I was cured that I thought
that some one had put in his hand and pulled out the bone that hurt
my throat.

A PHANTOM ATTACKS A WOMAN

(_Ibid._, Book III, Ch. 37)

At this time when a certain woman remained alone at the loom when
the others had gone, a most frightful phantom appeared as she sat,
and laid hold of the woman and began to drag her off. She screamed
and wept since she saw there was no one to help, but still tried to
make a courageous resistance. After two or three hours the other
women returned and found her lying on the ground half dead and
unable to speak. Still she made signs with her hand, but they did
not understand and she continued speechless. The phantom which had
appeared to her attacked so many persons in that house that they left
it and went elsewhere. In two or three months’ time the woman came to
the church and had the merit to recover her speech. And so she told
with her own lips what she had endured.

PROCEDURE IN CASE OF A MIRACLE

(_Ibid._, Book III, ch. 45)

The facts that I relate ought not to seem to any one unworthy of
belief, because the names of individuals are not mentioned in the
account. The cause of it is this: when they are restored to health
by the saint of God, they leave immediately, and they sometimes go
so secretly that, so to speak, they are noticed by no one. And when
the report has spread that a miracle has been done by the blessed
bishop, I summon those who have charge of the church and inquire into
what has happened; but I do not always learn the names from them. I
generally tell by name of those I have been able to see or examine
personally.

MINOR MIRACLES WORKED ON GREGORY

(_Ibid._, Book IV, Ch. 2)

At one time my tongue became uncomfortably swelled up, so that when
I wished to speak it usually made me stutter, which was somewhat
unseemly. I went to the saint’s tomb and drew my awkward tongue along
the wooden lattice. The swelling went down at once and I became well.
It was a serious swelling and filled the cavity where the palate is.
Then three days later my lip began to have a painful beating in it.
I went again to the tomb to get help and when I had touched my lip to
the hanging curtain the pulsation stopped at once. And I suppose this
came from an over abundance of blood; still trusting to the saint’s
power I did not try to lessen the [amount of] blood and this matter
caused me no further trouble.

GREGORY’S UNCLE, ST. GALL

(_The Lives of the Fathers_, Ch. 6)

St. Gall was a servant of God from his youth up, loving the Lord with
his whole heart, and he loved what he knew to be beloved by God.
His father was named Georgius and his mother Leocadia, a descendant
of Vectius Epagatus who, as the history of Eusebius relates, was a
martyr at Lyons. They belonged among the leading senators so that
no family could be found in the Gauls better born or nobler. And
although Gall’s father wished to ask for a certain senator’s daughter
for him, he took a single attendant and went to the monastery at
Cournon, six miles from Clermont, and besought the abbot to consent
to give him the tonsure. The abbot noticed the good sense and fine
bearing of the youth and inquired his name, his family and native
place. He replied that he was called Gall and was a citizen of
Auvergne, a son of the senator Georgius. When the abbot learned that
he belonged to one of the first families, he said: “My son, what you
wish is good, but you must first bring it to your father’s attention
and if he gives his consent, I will do what you ask.” Then the abbot
sent messengers in regard to this matter to his father, asking
what he wished to be done with the youth. The father was a little
disappointed, but said: “He is my oldest son and I therefore wished
him to marry, but if the Lord deigns to receive him into His service,
let His will rather than mine be done.” And he added: “Consent to the
child’s request which he made by God’s inspiration.”

2. The abbot on receiving this message made him a clerk. He was
very chaste and as if already old he had no wicked desires: he
refrained from a young man’s mirth; he had a voice wonderfully
sweet and melodious; he devoted himself constantly to reading; he
took pleasure in fasting and was very abstemious. When the blessed
bishop Quintian came to this monastery and heard him sing, he did not
allow him to stay there any longer, but took him to the city and,
like the heavenly father, fed him on the sweetness of the spirit. On
his father’s death, when his voice was improving day by day and he
was a great favorite among the people, they reported this to king
Theodoric, who at once sent for him and showed him such affection
that he loved him more than his own son; he was loved by the queen
with a similar love, not only for his beautiful voice, but also for
his chastity. At that time king Theodoric had taken many clerks from
Auvergne whom he ordered to serve God in the church at Trèves; but
he never allowed the blessed Gall to be separated from him. So it
came that when the king went to Cologne, he went with him. There was
there a heathen temple full of various articles of worship where the
neighboring barbarians used to make offerings and stuff themselves
with food and drink until they vomited; there also they worshipped
images as god, and carved limbs in wood, each one the limb in which
he had suffered pain. When the holy Gall heard of this, he hastened
to the place with only one clerk when none of the benighted pagans
was present, and set it on fire. And they saw the smoke of the fire
rolling up to the sky and searched for the one who had set it, and
found him and pursued him sword in hand. He fled and took refuge in
the king’s court. But when the king had learned from the pagans’
threats what had been done, he pacified them with agreeable words
and so calmed their furious rage. The blessed man would often weep
in telling this story, and say: “Unhappy me that I did not stand my
ground and let my life be ended in this affair.”[97] He was deacon at
the time.…

3. Later when the blessed bishop Quintian passed from this world by
God’s command, the holy Gall was living in Clermont, and the people
of the city assembled at the house of the priest Inpetratus, Gall’s
uncle on his mother’s side, lamenting at the bishop’s death and
asking who should be appointed in his place. After long debate they
returned each to his own house. On their departure the holy Gall
called one of the clerks and said, the holy spirit rushing into him:
“What are these people muttering about? Why are they running to and
fro? What are they debating? They are wasting their time,” said he.
“I am going to be bishop; the Lord will deign to bestow this honor on
me. Now when you hear that I am returning from the king’s presence,
take my predecessor’s horse with the saddle on him and come and bring
him to me. If you refuse to obey me, take care you are not sorry for
it later.” As he said this, he was lying on his bed. The clerk was
angry at him and abused him and struck him on the side, breaking
the bed at the same time, and went off in a rage. On his departure
the priest Inpetratus said to the blessed Gall: “My son, hear my
advice: don’t waste a minute, but go to the king and tell him what
has happened here, and if the Lord inspires him to bestow this holy
office on you, I shall give thanks to God; otherwise you can at least
recommend yourself to the man who is appointed.” He went and reported
to the king what had happened.…

And the clerks of Clermont, with the choice of the foolish, went to
the king with many gifts. Even then that seed of iniquity had begun
to germinate, that bishoprics were sold by kings and bought by the
clerks. Then they heard from the king that they were going to have
St. Gall as bishop. He was ordained priest and the king gave orders
to invite the citizens to a feast at the expense of the treasury and
to make merry over the promotion of Gall the future bishop. This
was done. He was in the habit of telling that he had given no more
for the office of bishop than a third of a gold piece which he had
given to the cook who prepared the feast. Then the king appointed
two bishops to accompany him to Clermont. And the clerk, Viventius
by name, who had struck him on the side when he was in bed, hastened
to meet the bishop according to his command, but not without great
shame, and he presented himself and the horse which Gall had ordered.
When they had gone into the bath together, Gall gently reproached him
for the pain in his side which he had incurred from the contemptuous
violence of the clerk, and he caused him great shame, not in a spirit
of anger, however, but only delighting in a pious joke. After that he
was received into the city with much singing and was ordained bishop
in his own church.

FOOTNOTES:

[83] The following brief selections serve to illustrate
Gregory’s personality and point of view.

[84] Gregory then goes on to show that the miracles of
the saints replace for him the wonders and feats of
antique mythology.

[85] Theodobert I, 534-548.

[86] One of the most fertile spots in France. _Cf._
Lavisse, _Histoire de France_, I, pp. 296-301.

[87] “Insequitur clamor virorum strepitusque mulierum,
ululatus infantum,”--a reminiscence of Vergil,
_Aen._ I, 87, “Insequitur clamorque virum stridorque
rudentum.”

[88] The vessel used for the purpose indicated here, the
“monstrance,” was in the shape of a tower. _Cf._
DuCange, _art. Turris_.

[89] The identification of flies with demons occurs also
on page 237. For a similar case of disinclination to
let a fly settle on a wine cup see Frazer, _The Golden
Bough_, 8, 291.

[90] Cf. p. 58. This punishment of Auvergne took place in
532, 6 years before Gregory’s birth.

[91] The site of St. Julian’s church. Brioude is situated
about 40 miles up the valley of the Allier from
Clermont.

[92] Gregory’s confessions of inability to write in a
polished style, though probably hypocritical, are
nevertheless in accordance with fact.

[93] Gregory’s interest in this miracle is one of
technique. As a rule material “touch” of the source
of “virtue” was regarded as a necessity, but “mere
invocation” was sometimes effective. The cure that
is related is an extreme form of the latter. See
_Introd._ xx, xxi.

[94] See Bonnet, p. 272, _Note 3_.

[95] _Tyriaca_ for _theriaca_, (_a_) antidote against the
bite of serpents, (_b_) remedy in general.

[96] Noon.

[97] Gall would in that case have been a martyr with all
a martyr’s advantages. He does not regret running
away as an act of prudence, but as an injudicious act
spiritually speaking. Cf. Marignan, _Le culte des
saints sous les Mérovingiens_ (Paris, 1899), ch. 1.

NOTES

[A] P. =1=, l. 21 f. Gregory’s vague idea of a symmetrical
chronological development of history leading up to a great
termination, namely, “the approaching end of the world,” finds
expression in a number of passages; cf. pp. 5, 6, 7, 105, 208, 244.
It is a peculiar fact that the chronological tastes of the Christian
historiographers and theologians were largely due to their interest
in the future, which was as definitely marked out as the past by the
Providence of God.

[B] P. =5=, l. 1 f. Here as well as in his “first preface” (p. 1)
Gregory gives his point of view as definitely as any historian has
ever done. The reader has merely to bear it in mind in order to
interpret the narrative. Gregory’s impulse to write the _History of
the Franks_ came not from an interest in the Frankish state, but
from an interest in the orthodox church, of which he regarded the
Franks as the champions. It is for this reason that he is far more
definite in expressing his adherence to the creed than his allegiance
to the Frankish kings. It is this attitude, too, that explains his
impatience with civil war (p. 105). Cf. _Introd._, p. xxi and pp. 53,
54.

[C] P. =6=, l. 36 f. Gregory’s references to his sources are
relatively clear in Book I and can be traced through the succeeding
chapters. The main source is naturally Jerome’s translation of
Eusebius’ chronicle supplemented by Orosius’ _History Against the
Pagans_. He also uses Rufinus’ translation and continuation of
Eusebius’ _Ecclesiastical History_. On these sources see other
volumes of the _Records of Civilization_.

[D] P. =9=, l. 1. The stade was 606 ft. 9 in. in length. It took
about 8⅔ stades to make an English mile.

[E] P. =9=, l. 2. =Agripennis= (_arapennis_, _arpent_), properly a
measure of surface. Here it is used of length, just as American
farmers use the term, _acre_, as a measure both of surface and of
length, meaning in the latter case the side of a square acre--about
70 yards. That this is the usage here may be proved by a simple
arithmetical operation.

[F] P. =10=, l. 12 f. For other exhibitions of extreme credulity, see
pp. 68, 171. It should be remembered that in these cases the point is
that Gregory is applying his theory of life to a concrete situation
in such a way that the contrast between the modern attitude and that
of the dark ages is brought out strongly. His view of the material
world was not one that laid any stress upon natural cause and effect,
but rather upon supernatural cause and natural effect. It is in
Gregory’s favor that he hears of more remarkable miracles than he
sees.

[G] P. =11.= Chapters 11-26 and 18-29 have been summarized. They
contain nothing of importance and their inclusion in full would be
solely at the expense of the reader’s patience.

[H] P. =12=, l. 11. 251 A.D.

[I] P. =12=, l. 16 f. Dionysius had the advantage, not apparent
until long after his lifetime, of being sent to Paris. His cult rose
with the city and he became the patron saint of France, his worship
centering in the abbey of St. Denis, founded within half a century of
Gregory’s death. In the ninth century St. Denis was boldly identified
with Dionysius the Areopagite and with the mystical theological
writings mistakenly attributed to the latter. This identification
affected the development of French theological thinking for eight
centuries. See Molinier, _Sources de l’Histoire de France_, Nos. 65,
816.

[J] P. =14=, l. 1. The reference is to the temple built in honor of
Mercurius Dumias (Mercury of the Dôme) on Puy-de-Dôme, the dominating
peak among the mountains about Gregory’s native place. He had no
doubt frequently visited it. For the term _Vasso Galatae_, see
_Art._, _Vassocaletis_ in _Alt-Celtischer Sprachschatz_, edited by A.
Hohler.

[K] P. =15=, l. 3. Cf. note to p. 6.

[L] P. =16=, l. 4. St. Martin died in 397. His fame in later ages is
largely due to the life written about 400 by his disciple Sulpicius
Severus. This work had a large circulation in Gaul and became a model
for saints’ lives. It is full of miracles and Gregory’s _Miracles
of St. Martin_ is merely a continuation of it. The best edition of
Severus’ works is by Hahn, Vienna, 1866.

[M] P. =16=, l. 38. For a similar case of “taboo of the threshold,”
see p. 200. The custom of taking a corpse out by some other opening
than the ordinary door is widely spread among primitive peoples. Cf.
_Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics_, edited by J. Hastings, _Art._,
_Death_.

[N] P. =21=, l. 28. Cf. _Notes_ on p. 6, l. 36 and p. 16, l. 4.
Sulpicius Severus wrote also an epitome of sacred history from the
creation of the world down to 400 A.D. The best edition is _La
Chronique de Sulpice Sévère_, by A. Lavertrujon, Paris, 1896.

[O] P. =21=, c. 1. The source of the story of Bricius is unknown.
A _Brictio_, described as a man of bad character, is mentioned by
Sulpicius Severus (_Dialogi_, 3) and by Venantius Fortunatus.

[P] P. =24=, l. 4. The Vandals invaded Gaul in 406 and moved on to
Spain in 409 and across to Africa in 427 or 428.

[Q] P. =24=, l. 7 f. The conception of war at this time was largely
that the side with the strongest supernatural backing would win. As
the supernatural forces on each side could be tested easily by a
battle of champions, it was natural that this should be resorted to
occasionally, at least in legend. Cf. _Introd._, p. xxiv. See also p.
230.

[R] P. =26=, l. 1. To Gregory’s mind the burning of the city of Metz
was of interest mainly because it brought out this conclusion. See
also l. 37 below.

[S] P. =27=, c. 9. The historians, Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus and
Sulpicius Alexander, are known only by the quotations given here. The
elaborate method of citing authorities found in this chapter does
not occur anywhere else in the _History of the Franks_.

[T] P. =31=, l. 23. =In consolaribus legimus.= Nothing further is
known of this source. If the following sentences are also drawn from
it, it is plain that its writer speaks as one living to the north of
the Loire before the conquest of that country by the Franks. Monod,
_Sources de l’histoire mérovingienne_, p. 85.

[U] P. =33=, c. 14-16. For Merovingian church architecture see
Enlart, _Archéologie française_, vol. 1, ch. 2. No trace of the
churches mentioned by Gregory survives.

[V] P. =36=, c. 22. Sidonius Apollinaris (d. 480), the leading
literary man of his time in Gaul, was bishop of Clermont the last
ten years of his life. Gregory’s work on the masses written by him
is lost. Although Gregory was born more than fifty years after
Sidonius’ death, he speaks in this intimate way of the former bishop
of the place of his birth. On Sidonius see Dill, _Society in the Last
Century of the Roman Empire_, c. iv. Sidonius’ _Letters_ have just
been translated by R. M. Dalton, Oxford, 1915.

[W] P. =36=, c. 27 f. For an acute analysis of the literary and oral
origins of Gregory’s account of Clovis, see Kurth, _Les sources de
l’histoire de Clovis_ (Revue des quest. hist., 1888).

[X] P. =37=, l. 33. =Campus Martius.= The March-field, later changed
to the May-field, _campus Madius_, the annual assembly of the Franks.

[Y] P. =41=, l. 8. =Sigamber=, one of the Sigambri, a German tribe
forming a section of the Frankish people.

[Z] P. =41=, l. 16. From the number Gregory reports as having been
baptized, possibly an exaggeration in itself, we can see that Clovis’
army was relatively small.

[AA] P. =44=, l. 8. The _Lex Gundobada_, still in existence (Mon.
Germ. Hist., Legum, Sect. I, Legum Nationum Germ. tomi II, pars
1), is a codification of Burgundian custom. Gundobad also issued
a code for his Roman subjects. The object of his legislation
was largely to secure a better understanding between Romans and
Burgundians. Cf. Lavisse, _Histoire de France_, II, p. 88 f. For
bibliographical references see R. Schroeder, _Lehrbuch der deutschen
Rechtsgeschichte_ (1902), p. 241.

[AB] P. =45=, l. 4. See Introduction, pp. xviii and xxii.

[AC] P. =46=, l. 35 f. The battle of Vouillé was fought in 507. The
people of Auvergne, led by Apollinaris, son of Sidonius Apollinaris
(p. 36), fought on the side of the Visigoths.

[AD] P. =47=, l. 29. =Et ab ea die tanquam consul aut Augustus est
vocitatus.= The opinion is held that it was an honorary consulship
to which Clovis was appointed. Cf. Pfister, in _Cambridge Mediaeval
History_, vol. II, p. 115.

[AE] P. =49=, l. 29 f. Cf. p. 50, l. 17 f. According to the
description of Clovis he was entirely emancipated from the clan
morality which was so powerful among the Franks of his time.

[AF] P. =53=, l. 36. The case of Gundobad is hardly to the point,
since he enjoyed a long and prosperous reign and left his kingdom to
his son Sigismund. See also note on p. 44.

[AG] P. =54=, l. 6 f. For a map showing this division see Longnon’s
_Atlas_. Theodoric had his capital at Rheims and held Auvergne,
Clodomer held Tours and Poitiers and made Orleans his capital.
Childebert had Paris, and Clothar, Soissons, for his capital. Note
that all divided equally, Theodoric the son of a concubine (p. 38)
with the rest.

[AH] P. =54=, l. 22. Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths
(475-526).

[AI] P. =55=, l. 13 f. See p. 38.

[AJ] P. =56=, l. 21. _Cf._ p. 54. Hermenfred had “forgotten” to
reward Theodoric. The atrocities of the Thuringians are mentioned
only here.

[AK] P. =57=, l. 3. =Ecce verbum directum habemus.= Cf. p. 84, l. 8,
_Verbum enim directum non habemus_. The _verbum directum_ was not
justification to public opinion but to the supernatural powers. Cf.
p. 45, 4 f. and _Introd._ pp. xxiv-xxv.

[AL] P. =59=, l. 2. Vitry in Champagne.

[AM] P. =60=, c. 15. This story is from Gregory’s family tradition.
The bishop of Langres was Gregory’s great-grandfather and Attalus was
a relative. Trèves was in Theodoric’s territory (Longnon, p. 368),
so that Attalus must have been a hostage from Childebert. However,
Longnon (p. 209) gives reasons for the opinion that Langres also
belonged to Theodoric. In that case Attalus must have belonged to
some other city and must have gone to Gregory merely for protection.
For a contrary opinion see Bonnell, _Die Anfänge des Karolingischen
Hauses_, p. 204, Note 2.

[AN] P. =60=, l. 11. Note the use of the term barbarian (_barbarus_)
for Frank. See also p. 94, c. 35.

[AO] P. =62=, l. 8. Arndt remarks that the Meuse should certainly
have been named in this passage rather than the Moselle. The latter,
however, is the reading of all the Mss.

[AP] P. =64=, l. 9. The Frankish kings were “long-haired” (_reges
crinitos_) (p. 31). The alternative offered to queen Clotilda was to
countenance the degradation of her grandchildren from royal rank or
“to see them dead.”

[AQ] P. =66=, l. 7. The relation of godfather to godson was regarded
as of great importance. See _e.g._ p. 179, l. 10.

[AR] P. =66=, l. 13. Arles was probably taken by Theodobert about 534
and remained only a short time in his hands. Longnon, p. 434.

[AS] P. =67=, l. 33. For the “fast of the Ninevites,” see Jonah 3, 5.

[AT] P. =70=, c. 34. Professor J. W. Thompson (_Commerce of France in
the Ninth Century_, Journal of Political Economy, November, 1915, pp.
876-7) regards this merchant group as probably going back to a Roman
mercantile corporation. He is in error however in supposing that the
merchants lent money to the king on the occasion Gregory refers to.

[AU] P. =70=, c. 36. The Franks objected to being taxed not only
because they were originally tax-free, but because the payment of
taxes degraded them by placing them on a level with the conquered
Gallo-Romans. This explains the bitterness of the enmity to
Parthenius (_cf._ p. 177), who may be judged from other references
to him as a man intellectually at least much superior to the
environment he found in Theodobert’s kingdom. See S. Hellman’s
revision of Giesebrecht’s translation of the _History of the Franks_,
vol. 3, p. 169.

[AV] P. =75=, c. 2. Elsewhere (p. 220) we learn that Clothar
recognized the right not only of the clergy but of the people of
Tours to go tax-free. The story told in this chapter would indicate
that the bishop of Tours was the natural leader of the bishops of
Clothar’s kingdom. Cf. _Introd._, p. x.

[AW] P. =76=, l. 30-31. The meaning is that the native rulers
remained, there being a difference only in title.

[AX] P. =77=, c. 6. The principle that the king’s consent was
necessary to the choice of a bishop was just being established at
this time. The bishops seeing in this case what they thought a good
opportunity, wished to disregard it, but Cato would not consent to
the scheme, believing that the king’s consent was demanded by the
canons. Gregory appears to have sympathized strongly with the effort
of the bishops. The selection of Cautinus in the way described was
even more irregular than the proposed consecration of Cato.

[AY] P. =78=, l. 31. Theodovald reigned 548-555.

[AZ] P. =82=, l. 8. Cautinus was illiterate. Cf. _Introd._, p. xiii.

[BA] P. =82=, c. 13. Chramnus’ stay at Clermont must have come soon
after king Theodovald’s death (555). At this time Gregory would be
seventeen or eighteen years old.

[BB] P. =82=, l. 11 f. Brioude was about 40 miles from Clermont up
the valley of the Allier. In it was St. Julian’s church.

[BC] P. =82=, l. 30. Note the use of the term _rex_ as applied to
Chramnus, who was merely an heir of king Clothar. So _regina_ is
applied to a king’s daughter (p. 138, l. 35).

[BD] P. =83=, l. 16. Sallust, _Catilina_, c. 3. Note this apt
citation.

[BE] P. =83=, l. 23. It was the custom for the Frankish king on his
accession to make a circuit of his kingdom and receive the allegiance
of his people. Cf. pp. 174, 220.

[BF] P. =84=, l. 37. =Prima haec est et magna generatio.= Gregory’s
mother’s family. _Introd._, pp. xi-xii.

[BG] P. =85=, l. 27 f. For St. Martin’s church see pp. 33-34, and for
the cathedral church, p. 247.

[BH] P. =86=, l. 33. “Alas!” is a weak translation of the
ejaculation, _Wa!_

[BI] P. =87=, l. 7. “In the kingdom of Burgundy we find the title
_patricius_ as that of an official who governed the part of Provence
which was attached to Burgundy and also appears to have held the
chief military command in that kingdom,” Pfister in _Cambridge
Medieval History_, II, p. 137.

[BJ] P. =91=, l. 10. =Gaganus= (Khan), not a proper name.

[BK] P. =93=, l. 34. Cf. Gregory’s own experience to illustrate this,
_Introd._, pp. xi-xii, xx.

[BL] P. =95=, c. 40. This chapter, summarized because outside of
the main interest of the narrative, has been examined as a test of
Gregory’s information as to the Eastern empire. The information is
found valuable though not exact. A. Carrière in _Annuaire de l’école
pratique des hautes études_, 1898.

[BM] P. =95=, c. 41. The Lombards entered Italy from the northeast
in 568. Their first invasion of Gaul from Italy and the defeat of
the patrician Amatus took place in 569. The most complete account of
these events is given by Paul the Deacon, _Historia Langobardorum_,
Lib. II, edition by Bethmann und Waitz (Mon. Germ. Hist.), 1878.

[BN] P. =96=, l. 31. The Saxons had accompanied the Lombards in their
original invasion of Italy. They were now proposing to return to
their former homes by another route.

[BO] P. =98=, l. 6. =Ex hoc quasi honoratus habitus.= “Being regarded
in consequence of this as in a sense _honoratus_.” _Honoratus_ here
seems to be used in a general meaning rather than in the technical
one of a man who holds or has held high office. Cf. Du Cange, _Art.,
Honorati_.

[BP] P. =98=, l. 14. Verg. _Aen._ III, 56, 57.

[BQ] P. =98=, l. 17. =Judex loci.= The _vicarius_ or subordinate of
the Count.

[BR] P. =99=, l. 29. This omen pointed to Sigibert’s death.

[BS] P. =100=, l. 20 f. The idea of conveying property by will
was foreign to the Franks and was not received into their law,
which regarded the family rather than the individual. On the other
hand conveying property by will was a regular practice among the
Gallo-Roman population. The church was often made a legatee, a
practice due in part to the desire to have its interest involved in
the carrying out of the will. Therefore in the conflicts that arose
in regard to succession to property the interests of the church and
of the state were naturally opposed.

[BT] P. =105=, l. 35. Orosius, V, 8.

[BU] P. =106=, l. 13. After Clothar’s death in 561 Charibert I became
master of Tours. When he died in 567 Tours was allotted to Sigibert,
who had however to drive Clovis, son of Chilperic, away before he
took possession. In 573 Chilperic again took possession but was
obliged to retire. Sigibert then held the city until his death in
575, after which Chilperic took it and held it to 584, when it passed
into the hands of Gunthram and after three years, by the treaty of
Andelot, into those of Childebert II.

[BV] P. =106=, l. 15. Merovech’s mother was Audovera (p. 90).

[BW] P. =108=, l. 9. Theodobert, son of Chilperic and Audovera.
Gregory tells us nothing of the manner of his death. Cf. pp. 90,
114-118.

[BX] P. =108=, l. 21. The nails were probably large spikes. Iron was
scarce and the people of Mans could make use of it in many ways,
especially for making knives. It may be remembered in this connection
how the barbarians tore out the clamps which the Roman masons used
to hold the stones together, as in the case of the _Porta Nigra_ at
Trèves.

[BY] P. =108=, l. 31. St. Martin’s church was “550 paces” from the
city of Tours (p. 36). Each of these “paces” is 4 ft. 10.248 in. and
the whole distance slightly over half a mile.

[BZ] P. =108=, l. 25. =Regio morbo=, jaundice.

[CA] P. =109=, l. 3 f. Felix was bishop of Nantes from 549 to 583.
He was the builder of a large church and undertook embankment
improvements on the Loire in Nantes. His relations with Gregory
appear to have been usually bad. Cf. pp. 76, 154-5. For poems
addressed to Felix by Fortunatus see _Carmina_, III, 4-10; V, 7
(edition by Leo in Mon. Germ. Hist.).

[CB] P. =109=, l. 11. Tetricus died in 572. It was in 573 that
Gregory became bishop of Tours.

[CC] P. =109=, l. 21. =Creditor=, business agent.

[CD] P. =109=, l. 21. It is of interest that Gregory’s own brother
was accused of the practice of “evil arts” (_maleficiis_). Cf.
_Introd._, p. xix.

[CE] P. =110=, l. 6. Probably Alais. This bishopric probably became
part of that of Nîmes. Longnon, pp. 538-543.

[CF] P. =111=, l. 38. =Libri IV de Virtutibus S. Martini.= See
_Introd._, pp. xvi and pp. 254-260.

[CG] P. =112=, l. 32 f. This tale indicates one kind of limitation
under which the profession of medicine labored at this time. Another
is revealed in the tales of healing undertaken in connection with
“evil arts” (pp. 205-8, 236-8). In the light of these passages the
fate of the physician Marileif (pp. 115, 181-2) is the natural one.
See also p. 131 and _Introd._, pp. xxii-xxiii.

[CH] P. =113=, l. 3. A characteristic opinion. See _Introd._, pp.
xvii-xviii.

[CI] P. =116=, l. 15. “On its right bank” (_in dextera eius parte_).
Tours was wholly on the left bank of the Loire.

[CJ] P. =116=, l. 22. Cf. _Introd._, p. xix.

[CK] P. =116=, l. 28. Note the terms of the prophecy and the
statement that it was fulfilled. Chilperic was, however, succeeded
by his son Clothar, who outlived Gregory. The doubts expressed as to
Clothar’s legitimacy may have been inspired by this prophecy. See S.
Hellman, in _Hist. Zeit._ vol. 107, p. 27 f.

[CL] P. =117=, l. 1 f. For another glimpse of Frankish hunting see p.
235.

[CM] P. =118=, l. 18. This is the earliest occurrence of the word
_Austrasii_. Longnon, p. 193.

[CN] P. =119=, l. 4. A more or less general custom among the early
Germans, described by Tacitus, _Germania_, 31.

[CO] P. =119=, c. 15. Chilperic’s enmity to Praetextatus, bishop
of Rouen, arose from the latter’s favor for Merovech, Chilperic’s
rebellious son. It was at Rouen that Merovech married Brunhilda. The
legal side of the trial is hard to follow, the main interest lying in
Gregory’s spirited resistance to Chilperic. How Chilperic would have
described it might be another story.

[CP] P. =120=, l. 29 f. From Sulpicius Severus’ life of St. Martin.
See note on p. 16, l. 4.

[CQ] P. =127=, l. 4 f. The boys were to die in fulfilment of the
prophecy on p. 116. See also p. 141.

[CR] P. =128=, l. 2. =Chilpericus … bannos jussit exigi.= _Bannus_
here means the fine for failure to obey the king’s _ban_ (order)
requiring the service of all inhabitants. Brunner, _Deutsche
Rechtsgeschichte_, vol. II, 1, p. 34.

[CS] P. =128=, l. 11. The term translated “acre” (_arapennis_) is in
reality only five-sixteenths of an acre. This part of Chilperic’s
decree must refer only to vineyard land.

[CT] P. =129=, l. 33 f. The reference may be to children of Gregory’s
niece who lived at Tours. Cf. p. 115.

[CU] P. =131=, l. 16. Gregory’s comment has provoked discussion. It
should be borne in mind that to Gregory the keeping of an oath was
an essential, that his attitude toward practitioners of medicine was
hostile, and that Gunthram was a favorite.

[CV] P. =132=, l. 24. Hilarius of Poitiers and Eusebius of Vercellae
(_Liber in Gloria Confessorum_, 2, 3), two champions of orthodoxy.

[CW] P. =133=, l. 8. Sedulius (first half of the fifth century), a
Christian poet who composed a metrical account of Biblical history.

[CX] P. =133=, l. 12. This passage may be taken for evidence that
Gregory did not know the Greek alphabet.

[CY] P. =133=, l. 28. The mayor of the palace was regularly tutor
(_nutricius_) of a king under age. Pfister in _Cambridge Medieval
History_, vol. II, p. 136.

[CZ] P. =135=, l. 8. See note on p. 106.

[DA] P. =138=, l. 11. The church of St. Medard at Soissons. Braine is
a short distance away.

[DB] P. =138=, l. 35. Perhaps Riguntha, daughter of Chilperic and
Fredegunda, sympathized with Gregory out of enmity for her mother.
Cf. p. 221.

[DC] P. =140=, l. 6. We hear of this local jealousy between Clermont
and Tours also at p. 137; another more serious inter-city feud is
described on p. 172.

[DD] P. =148=, l. 4. The recluse Hospicius had had himself immured in
a tower. He had a window in it, but the only way to gain access to
him was to take off the roof. For other recluses see pp. 151, 158,
199.

[DE] P. =150=, l. 11 f. The interpretation of this passage is that
the worms were demons or sent by demons to plague the holy man.

[DF] P. =152=, l. 11. =Inter senatores sophisticos ac judices
philosophicos.= This passage illustrates the difference in culture at
this time between Paris and southern Gaul.

[DG] P. =152=, l. 22. The earliest mention of the office. In
Gregory’s time the _major domo_ was of domestic rather than of
political importance. Brunner, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_ (1892),
vol. II, p. 104.

[DH] P. =154=, l. 2. For another observation of a comet, see p. 92.

[DI] P. =158=, l. 8. Gundulf is a great-uncle of Gregory on his
mother’s side. _Hist. Franc._ VI, 11. It is worth while remarking
that he has a barbarian name. Gregory had found it convenient to
discard his own name for one more closely associated with the
episcopal office, and Gundulf on his side may have had a similar
motive.

[DJ] P. =158=, c. 27. This agreement is referred to on p. 173 also.
It was made by Chilperic, Gunthrum, and Sigibert in dividing the
kingdom of Charibert in 567. Longnon, pp. 348-353.

[DK] P. =159=, l. 1. In the division of Frankish territory following
Clothar’s death, the territory of Marseilles was divided between
Gunthram and Sigibert. When Sigibert died, Gunthram took the whole.
Childebert II is here claiming his father’s share.

[DL] P. =159=, l. 7. Gregory attributes the assassination of Sigibert
to Fredegunda (p. 100).

[DM] P. =159=, l. 17. Bourges belonged to Gunthram; Tours, Poitiers,
Angers, Nantes, to Chilperic.

[DN] P. =162=, l. 15. The Mummolus mentioned here is a different
person from Mummolus the patrician. See _Index_.

[DO] P. =162=, l. 26. Gregory’s attitude toward the story in
general is not skeptical; but he regarded the diabolical powers as
always deceitful. Cf. p. 116: “What the devil promises is not to be
believed.”

[DP] P. =163=, l. 29. To take Riguntha as bride of the king of Spain.

[DQ] P. =164=, l. 29. This should be regarded as a tax rather than as
a free-will offering. Brunner, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, vol. II,
p. 70.

[DR] P. =166=, l. 3. See note on p. 133.

[DS] P. =169=, l. 30. =Nimia excesus abstinentia.= The translation
of these words is difficult. _Excesus_ may be taken as _excisus_
(_ex_, _caedere_). _Caedere_ is frequently used in Gregory’s writings
in the sense of _flog_. The compound however does not appear to be
found elsewhere in Gregory, and Bonnet, p. 422, note 1, suggests for
_excesus_, _exesus_ (devoured, consumed), which however does not give
a plausible meaning.

[DT] P. =170=, l. 1. =Eoglogias= (_eulogiae_). Blessed or consecrated
bread, not the eucharist. Bingham, _Christian Antiquities_, vol. V,
186 f.

[DU] P. =171=, l. 32. Sallust, _Catilina_, c. 3.

[DV] P. =173=, l. 12 f. See pp. 119, 145.

[DW] P. =175=, l. 13. Duke Desiderius had been in the service of
Chilperic; he now joined the pretender Gundovald.

[DX] P. =175=, l. 30. The occasion is described on pp. 158-160.

[DY] P. =175=, c. 14. This chapter furnishes a good example of the
way in which their “sacred character” protected legates. The outward
symbol of this “character” was a “consecrated wand.” _Hist. Franc._
VII, 32.

[DZ] P. =176=, l. 11. Du Cange defines _Ballomer_ as _falsus dominus,
pseudo-princeps_. It is regarded as a word of Frankish origin with
termination in _-mer_, like _Clodomer_.

[EA] P. =177=, l. 9 f. The meaning of this probably is that Leonard
was stripped of the insignia of office which he had retained.
Brunner, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, vol. II, p. 81, Note.

[EB] P. =178=, l. 18. Gunthram appears here more as the avenger of
his kinsman according to the old custom than as king with a new order
of justice at his hand. Cf. Brunner, vol. I, p. 325 (edition of 1906).

[EC] P. =178=, l. 35. The reference is probably to the estates
granted (_commendatum_) to him by the king.

[ED] P. =181=, l. 9. The vicar (also _tribunus_, _judex loci_) was
an officer subordinate to the count. Injuriosus had been obliged to
borrow money, having either failed to collect the taxes in full or
spent the money otherwise.

[EE] P. =182=, c. 29. The interest of this chapter lies in the
vivid manner in which the fear of St. Martin is depicted as a
present reality to the people of the time. A Frank named Claudius
was commissioned by king Gunthram to destroy Eberulf, a political
refugee, without violating St. Martin’s sanctuary. “As he travelled
along [to Tours] Claudius, according to the custom of the barbarians,
began to watch the signs and say they were unfavorable to him, and
at the same time to ask many persons if the power of the blessed
Martin was shown at the present time on those who broke faith; he
particularly wanted to know whether St. Martin’s vengeance followed
immediately in case any one attacked persons who put their faith
in him.” On arriving at Tours Claudius ingratiated himself with
Eberulf and promised him help, and when the latter “saw that Claudius
made such promises on oath in the very church and at its entrance
and in every part of the court-yard [_atrium_], the ill-fated man
believed the perjurer.” The next day a feast was held in the church
and Claudius secured Eberulf’s confidence to such a degree that the
latter relaxed his guard. “He sent his men one after another to get
strong wine, Italian wine, of course, and Syrian wine.” This took
place in the courtyard of the church. Claudius was now in a dilemma.
“He was purposing to kill Eberulf in the courtyard, but he was afraid
of the power of the holy bishop.” However, the chance was too good
to be lost. Eberulf was slain by Claudius and his men, but Eberulf’s
followers immediately appeared and there was a fierce battle in and
about the monastery in the courtyard. “The poor, both those who
received the regular doles, and others” took part. “Those who were
‘possessed’ and the beggars hurried from here and there with stones
and clubs to avenge the insult done to the church.” Claudius and
his men were all slain. Thus “the vengeance of God had immediately
overtaken the men who had polluted the holy courtyard with human
blood. Moreover, Eberulf’s wickedness is perceived to be not slight
when the blessed bishop (Martin) allowed him to meet such a fate.”
The whole incident was regarded by Gregory, who was absent at the
time “at a country place about thirty miles from the city,” as a
vindication of St. Martin.

[EF] P. =184=, l. 21. For an account of the arms and armor of the
period see L. Beck, _Geschichte des Eisens_, vol. I, pp. 703-728
(1884).

[EG] P. =186=, c. 47. This feud, the sequel of which is given in Book
IX, c. 19, is of some interest in the study of the criminal law of
the period, but is told by Gregory in a somewhat tangled way, so that
it seems best to summarize the main points in a note. A company who
were celebrating Christmas were invited by a priest “to go to his
house, to drink.” Evidently they had been drinking too much already,
for one of them, Austrighysel, drew his sword and killed the priest’s
slave who brought the message. Thereupon the feud began. Another
of the company, Sichar, “who was on terms of friendship with the
priest,” attacked Austrighysel at the church door, but the latter was
forewarned and his party, killing Sichar’s servants, made off with
his gold and silver and other property, Sichar himself escaping in
the confusion. The case came before a court of citizens (_in judicio
civium_) which gave judgment against Austrighysel, who was to pay
the fine for homicide and for taking property without warrant. But
Sichar, in the true spirit of a feudist, did not wait for this
judgment. Learning where the property was kept, he took an armed
band, murdered all in the house where the treasure was, and even
carried off the flocks and herds. “On hearing this,” says Gregory,
“we were greatly vexed and in conjunction with the judge we sent
messengers to them to come to our presence and make a reasonable
settlement and depart in peace, that the quarrel might not breed
greater trouble.” Gregory even offered to advance the church’s money
to pay the fine of the guilty one, if the latter had not money
himself. But Chramsind, the representative of the family Sichar had
murdered in the last incident, refused to accept settlement, and
hearing later a false report that Sichar had been killed by one of
his own slaves, he took up the feud anew, “summoned his kinsmen and
friends,” plundered Sichar’s house, and killed all the slaves on his
estate. The settlement of this tangled feud is extremely interesting,
since it shows how the courts of the period were straining every
effort to overcome the time-honored custom of the blood feud. “Then
the two parties were summoned before the judge in the city and
pleaded their causes, and the verdict was found by the judges that
he [Chramsind] who had been unwilling to accept a money payment
before and had burned the houses, should lose half of the award which
[otherwise] would have been adjudged to him,--this was done contrary
to the law if only peace could be restored--but Sichar was to pay
the other half of the fine. Then the church gave money to the amount
of the verdict; Sichar paid his fine and received a receipt for it,
each party swearing to the other that at no time should one party go
muttering things against the other. And thus the strife ended.” It
did not end, however, as the nineteenth chapter of the ninth book
shows.

[EH] P. =189=, c. 1-7. For a discussion of Gregory’s attitude
toward Gunthram see S. Hellmann, _Studien zur mittelalterlichen
Geschichtschreibung_, Hist. Zeit., vol. 107, p. 23 f.

[EI] P. =189=, l. 6. Gunthram was frequently threatened with
assassination. See pp. 174, 176, 178, 205. On this occasion he seems
to have felt more confidence.

[EJ] P. =189=, l. 20. The Syrians were the distributors of eastern
Mediterranean commodities in Gaul. The name seems to have been
applied to a number of eastern peoples. In this connection it may be
recalled that a Syrian, Eusebius, was bishop of Paris, and another,
Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury.

[EK] P. =191=, l. 1. Gunthram had held Saintes from 567 to 576, when
it was taken from him by Chilperic’s son Clovis.

[EL] P. =197=, l. 20. =Daemonii meridiani instinctu.= Cf. _Interea
accedentibus hariolis et dicentibus eum meridiani daemonii
incursionem pati_ (_De Virtut. S. Martin._ IV, 36). A sudden seizure
in the heat of the day would be diagnosed as possession by a mid-day
demon.

[EM] P. =198=, l. 22 f. See Frazer, _Golden Bough_, vol. 8, p. 280,
for an explanation of this matter. An image of a noxious creature was
supposed to rid a locality of it.

[EN] P. =206=, l. 2. =Errore nigromantici ingenii.= The spelling of
_nigromantici_ reveals a popular etymology (_niger_), “the black
art.” Cf. Bonnet, p. 218.

[EO] P. =207=, l. 7. The “imposter” had to conduct a service
containing responses all by himself.

[EP] P. =209=, l. 34. The meaning of this is that in his pain and
excitement Gunthram Boso thought he had a lance in his hand instead
of a sword.

[EQ] P. =210=, c. 15. This assembly of the Arian bishops of Spain
took place in 587.

[ER] P. =211=, l. 12. The reference is to the Latin version (and
continuation) of Eusebius’ history by Rufinus. Book X, c. 14.

[ES] P. =212=, l. 2. According to the Salic law the fine which the
killing of a free man entailed was more than doubled if the corpse
was concealed.

[ET] P. =212=, l. 21. The purpose of the letter was to certify that
Chramsind was not an outlaw and could not be attacked with impunity
by Sichar’s kinsmen.

[EU] P. =212=, l. 36. In the agreement there are two separate
statements about Senlis, the first (p. 213, l. 34), that “Childebert
asserts his right from the present day to two-thirds of Senlis,”
the second (p. 215, l. 6), that “it is agreed that Childebert shall
hold Senlis in entirety, and as far as the third therein due to lord
Gunthram is concerned, he shall be compensated by the third belonging
to lord Childebert which is in Ressons.”

[EV] P. =215=, l. 9. Ressons-sur-le-Matz, not far from Senlis. Cf.
Longnon, p. 416.

[EW] P. =216=, l. 30. It was as the head of the Merovingian clan that
Gunthram’s consent was required.

[EX] P. =216=, l. 32. Ingunda had married Reccared’s elder brother
who rebelled against his father and was finally executed. Ingunda
died shortly after on her way to Constantinople.

[EY] P. =217=, l. 1. Childebert had already made two expeditions
against the Lombards. Cf. pp. 163, 197.

[EZ] P. =218=, l. 10. The agreement was made Nov. 8, 588 at Andelot.

[FA] P. =218=, l. 16. Gregory’s idea of a good king is that he
approximates to a bishop. Cf. _Introd._, p. xvii.

[FB] P. =220=, c. 30. This chapter contains the history of taxation
in Tours in Gregory’s day. The exemption enjoyed by Tours must have
brought it some rich inhabitants. On the other hand the fact that
political refugees fled to St. Martin’s church for protection was
sometimes a disadvantage. Cf. p. 117.

[FC] P. =221=, l. 25. =Genetricemque suam servitio redeberit.= The
translation of this passage is difficult. Bonnet, p. 668, _note_,
suggests _redhiberet_ for _redeberit_, in which case the meaning
would be that Rigunda would make Fredegunda a slave again, as she had
been before marrying Chilperic.

[FG] P. =222=, l. 6. Wife of duke Launebod, who built the church of
St. Saturninus at Toulouse.

[FH] P. =222=, l. 8. For Waddo see pp. 165, 182-185. He had been
count of Saintes, and it was probably from the territory of Saintes
that he made this expedition.

[FI] P. =223=, l. 11. The story of the forty nuns is told with
burdensome detail. The sequel of the story with the review of the
case by the bishops (Book X, Chaps. 15-17) is translated.

[FJ] P. =227=, l. 16. Pope Gregory the Great, 590-604. This chapter
gives the only contemporary information about him not given in his
own writings.

[FK] P. =228=, l. 10. Pope Gregory had lived in Constantinople from
579 to 585.

[FL] P. =228=, l. 23 f. It was a custom for the bishop to resist
election, in appearance at least.

[FM] P. =228=, l. 31. Carthage was so called to distinguish it from
Carthage in Spain (Cartagena).

[FN] P. =232=, l. 18. The _vicarius_ was an officer subordinate to
the count.

[FO] P. =232=, c. 7. The reference seems to be wholly to back taxes
due from the church.

[FP] P. =233=, c. 8. This is a tale from Gregory’s home town. He
must have known personally some at least of the persons mentioned.
The time of the incidents may be inferred from these facts: Bishop
Cautinus died in 571; duke Desiderius died about 587, and Gregory is
writing between 590 and 592.

[FQ] P. =235=, l. 11. 590 A.D.

[FR] P. =235=, c. 10. In this case the trial by combat yielded no
verdict. Brunner, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, vol. II, p. 440
(edition of 1892).

[FS] P. =244=, l. 32. The “swarm of flies” was the medium through
which this man became “possessed.” In _De Virtut. S. Martin_, I, c.
53, a cloud of dust has the same effect. Cf. also _De Virtut. S.
Martin_, III, c. 16, 20.

[FT] P. =245=, l. 19. =Episcopis ac civibus.= The meaning of the last
word may be “people of the _civitas_ (city),” _i.e._ “townsfolk.”

[FU] P. =246=, l. 3. See _Note_ on p. 189, l. 20.

[FV] P. =246=, l. 23 f. A similar case of summary punishment is found
on p. 199. Cf. also pp. 38, 48-50, 176.

[FW] P. =246=, l. 36. The cathedral church in the city. Below (p.
247, l. 21 f.) the reference is to St. Martin’s church.

[FX] P. =247=, l. 13. The reference is to a legend dating back to
the time of the emperor Maximian (285-310) and centering about St.
Maurice (cf. p. 54). The legion, consisting wholly of Christians
from the East, was commanded to take part in the persecution of
the Christians. On its refusal its members were executed to a man.
The question of the authenticity of the legend has given rise to a
long controversy. See _Art._, _Theban Legion_, _New Schaff-Herzog
Religious Encyclopedia_.

[FY] P. =247=, l. 32 f. Appeals of this sort are common in the
literature of the age. Compare the following: “I adjure thee, who
shalt transcribe this book, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by his
glorious appearing, when he comes to judge the living and the dead,
that thou compare what thou has transcribed, and be careful to set it
right according to this copy from which thou hast transcribed; also
that thou in like manner copy down this adjuration, and insert it in
the transcript.” Irenaeus, _De Ogdoade_ (_Ante-Nicene Fathers_, vol.
I, p. 568).

[FZ] P. =248=, l. 2. Martianus Capella wrote, about 450, a work on
the seven liberal arts much used in medieval schools. Cf. _Introd._,
p. xiii.

GENEALOGY OF MEROVINGIAN KINGS

(Mentioned in the History of the Franks)

FAMILIES OF CLOTHAR AND OF CHILPERIC

Clothar I, d. 561
m. 1) Guntheuca, Clodomer’s widow
2) Chunsina
3) Ingunda
4) Aregunda, Ingunda’s sister
5) Radegunda, daughter of Thuringian king Berthar;
became a nun at Poitiers about 550
6) A concubine
7) Vuldetrada, Theodovald’s widow (p. 79)
|
+----+-----+-----+-----+------+-------+------+-----+
| | | | | | | | |
2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6
Chrammus | Childeric | Gunthram | Clotsinda | Gundovald
d. 560 | d. 561 | d. 592 | m. Lombard | (not
| | | king | recognized)
| | | |
| | | |
3 3 3 4
Gunthar Charibert I Sigibert Chilperic
d. before 561 d. 567/8 m. Brunhilda m. 1) Audovera
d. 575 2) Gaisuenta
3) Fredegunda
d. 584
|
+------+---+----+----+-----+---+----+-----+-----+
| | | | | | | | | |
1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Theodobert | Clovis | Riguntha | Samson | Theodoric |
d. 575 | d. 580 | | d. 577 | d. 584 |
| | | | |
| | | | |
1 1 3 3 3
Merovech Basina Clodobert Dagobert Clothar II
d. 577 nun at d. 580 d. 580 d. 629
Poitiers

(The numbers indicate the mothers, as given in the list.)

GREGORY’S FAMILY

BIBLIOGRAPHY[98]

EDITIONS

ARNDT, W., et BR. KRUSCH, _Gregorii Turonensis Opera_. 1885. In
Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Displaces all previous editions.

OMONT, H., et G. COLLON, _Grégoire de Tours, Histoire des Francs,
Texte de manuscrits de Corbie et de Bruxelles_. New edition by
René Poupardin.[99] Paris, 1913. In _Collection de textes pour
servir à l’étude et l’enseignement de l’histoire_.

TRANSLATIONS

BORDIER, H. _Histoire ecclésiastique des Francs par saint Grégoire,
évêque de Tours_, Paris, 1859-61.

GIESEBRECHT, W. _Zehn Bücher fränkischer Geschichte vom Bischof
Gregorius von Tours._ Berlin, 1851. New edition, in 3 vols.
revised by S. Hellmann, 1913 (Geschichtschreiber der deutschen
Vorzeit). Only the last volume of the new edition has been
available.

GUADET, J., et TARANNE, N. R. _Histoire ecclésiastique des Francs
par Georges Florent Grégoire, évêque de Tours._ Paris, 1836.

GUIZOT, M. _Histoire des Francs par Grégoire de Tours._ Paris, 1823.

GENERAL

AMPÈRE, J. J. _Histoire littéraire de la France avant Charlemagne._
Paris, 1870.

BONNET, MAX. _Le Latin de Grégoire de Tours._ Paris, 1890. A work
indispensable to the reader of the Latin text.

CARRIÈRE, A. _Sur un chapitre de Grégoire de Tours relatif à
l’histoire d’Orient_ (Annuaire de l’école pratique des hautes
études), 1898.

DECLAREUIL, O. _Les épreuves judiciaires dans le droit franc du
Vᵉ au VIIIᵉ siècle._ Paris, 1899.

FAHLBECK, P. _La Royauté et le droit royal Francs (486-614).
Traduit par J. H. Kramer._ Lund, 1883.

GALY, C. _La famille à l’époque mérovingienne._ Paris, 1901.

HELLMANN, S. _Studien zur mittelalterlichen Geschichtschreibung._
I. _Gregor von Tours._ Hist. Zeitschrift. 1911.

HUGUEMIN, M. A. _Histoire du royaume Mérovingien d’Austrasie._
Paris, 1862.

JUNGHAUS, W. _Histoire critique des règnes de Childebert et de
Chlodovech; traduite par G. Monod._ Paris, 1879.

KRUSCH, B. _Zur Chronologie der merovingischen Könige_ (Forschungen
zur deutschen Geschichte), 1882.

KURTH, G. _Clovis._ Tours, 1891.

---- _De la nationalité des comtes francs_ (Mélanges Paul Fabre).
Paris, 1903.

---- _Histoire poétique des Mérovingiens._ Paris, 1893.

---- _Les ducs et les comtes d’Auvergne au VIᵉ siècle_ (Bull. de
l’Acad. roy. de Belgique), 1899.

---- _Les ducs et les comtes de Touraine au VIᵉ siècle_ (Bull. de
l’Acad. roy. de Belgique), 1906.

---- _Les sources de l’histoire de Clovis_ (Revue des quest. hist.),
1888.

---- _Sainte Clotilde._ Paris, 1897.

---- _Saint Grégoire de Tours et les études classiques au VIᵉ
siècle_ (Revue des quest. hist.), 1878.

LESNE, E. _La propriété ecclésiastique en France aux époques
romaine et mérovingienne._ Paris, 1910.

LOEBELL, J. W. _Gregor von Tours und seine Zeit._ Leipsic, 1869.

LONGNON, A. _Géographie de la Gaule au VIᵉ siècle._ Paris, 1878.
Indispensable to the reader of Gregory’s works. It is largely
a geographical commentary on the _History of the Franks_.

MARIGNAN, A. _Études sur la civilisation française._ Tome I. _La
société mérovingienne._ Tome II. _Le culte des saints sous les
Mérovingiens._

MONOD, G. _Les aventures de Sichaire_ (Revue Historique), 1886.

---- _Sources de l’histoire mérovingienne._ Paris, 1872.

PROU, M. _Examen de quelques passages de Grégoire de Tours relatifs
à l’application de la peine de mort_ (Études d’histoire du moyen
âge dediées à G. Monod). Paris, 1896.

---- _La Gaule mérovingienne._ Paris, 1897.

TARDIF, J. _Études sur les institutions politiques et administratives
de la France. Époque mérovingienne._ Paris, 1881.

THIERRY, AUG. _Récits des temps mérovingiens._ Paris, 1840.

URBAT, R. _Beitrage zu einer Darstellung der romanischen Elemente
im Latin der Historia Francorum des Gregor v. Tours._ Königsberg,
1890.

VAUCELLE, E. R. _La collégiale de saint Martin de Tours (397-1328)_.
Paris, 1908.

WEIMANN, K. _Die sittliche Begriffe in Gregor von Tours “Historia
Francorum.”_ Duisburg, 1900.

FOOTNOTES:

[98] Not exhaustive.

[99] A full list of editions and translations may be found in this
edition, pp. xxiv-xxx. The most famous of the early editions
is that by Th. Ruinart, Paris, 1699.

[Illustration: FRANKISH
DOMINIONS
A.D. 511-561
(Map)
Cambridge University Press W. & A.K. Johnston Lᵗᵈ
Reproduced by permission from _Cambridge Medieval History_, Vol. II.]

INDEX[100]

=Ætius=, 26.

=Alamanni=, Alemanni, 13, 30, 35, 39-40, 47.

=Alani=, 27, 30.

=Alaric=, 36, 44-47, 53.

=Albin=, king of the Lombards, 76, 95.

=Amalaric=, 47, 54, 58, 68.

=Anastasius=, 80.

=Andarchius=, 97-99.

=Andelot=, 213.

=Apollinaris= Sidonius, 36, 47, 80.

=Arcadius=, 64.

=Aregunda=, 75.

=Aregyselus=, 59.

=Arians=, 5, 24, 25, 41, 45, 53, 89, 131, 156, 210.

=Aridius=, 42.

=Arles=, 66, 89, 91, 237, 244.

=Attalus=, 60-63.

=Attila=, 26.

=Audovald=, Duke, 230.

=Austrasians=, 118.

=Austrechild=, xxii, 87, 130.

=Auvergne=, ix, xi, xiii, 44, 58, 63, 67, 85, 94, 232, 233-235, 250,
252.

=Avignon=, 42, 97, 152, 157, 158, 183, 191, 244.

=Avitus= the abbot, 55, 120, 190.

=Babylonia=, 8, 9.

=Basina=, 33.

=Basina=, daughter of Chilperic, 236-243.

=Belsuarius=, 69.

=Bertram=, bishop of Bordeaux, 121-124, 134-138, 190, 193, 194.

=Berulf=, Duke, 137, 159, 197.

=Bordeaux=, 47, 152, 163, 206, 214.

=Bourges=, 13, 35, 92, 139, 140, 159, 160, 163, 184, 185, 211, 244.

=Bretons=, 35, 76, 85, 86, 128, 211.

=Bricius=, 21-23.

=Brunhilda=, 89, 90, 99, 106, 115, 119, 122, 146, 178, 192, 208, 212,
213, 214.

=Buccelenus=, 69, 79.

=Burgundians=, 30, 31, 38, 44, 47, 55, 95-96.

=Cæsarea=, 6.

=Cæsaria=, 83.

=Cambrai=, 31, 49.

=Candes=, 15.

=Carthage=, 228-230.

=Cato=, the priest, 77-79, 84, 90, 92.

=Cautinus=, bishop of Clermont, 77-84, 90, 92, 233.

=Cellula= Sancti Maxentii, 46.

=Celsus=, the patrician, 87.

=Châlons= [sur-Saône], 131, 133, 189, 205, 212, 219, 235.

=Chararic=, 49.

=Charibert=, King, 75, 85, 87, 88, 116, 134, 135, 213, 220.

=Charigisil=, xxiii.

=Charigysel=, chamberlain of Sigibert, 100.

=Chedinus=, Duke, 231.

=Childebert=, son of Clovis, 54, 58, 60, 63-67, 69, 85, 99, 152.

=Childebert II=, son of Sigibert, 106, 122, 134, 145, 153, 158-160,
164, 173, 175, 191, 194, 197, 205, 208-220, 221, 238, 243.

=Childeric=, 31, 33, 35, 36.

=Chilperic=, King, xvi, xxv, 75, 87-166, 173, 174, 192.

=Chlogio=, 31.

=Chlotsinda=, 75, 95.

=Chonoober=, count of the Bretons, 85, 86.

=Chramnus=, 75, 79, 82, 83, 85, 86.

=Chrocus=, 13.

=Chrodield=, 236-243.

=Chrodinus=, 156.

=Chundo=, 235.

=Chuppa=, 232.

=Clermont=, ix, 12, 13, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 44, 47, 54, 66, 77-79,
82, 92, 97-98, 113, 158, 260.

=Cloderic=, 47.

=Clodomer=, 39, 54, 55, 56, 63-65, 69, 120.

=Clothar=, 54-58, 63-67, 69, 75, 79-88, 118, 130, 151-152, 157, 215,
220.

=Clothar=, son of Chilperic, 174, 189, 194, 217, 235, 246.

=Clotilda=, 38-41, 50, 55, 56, 63-65, 75, 80.

=Clovis=, xiv, xxii, xxiv, 31, 33, 36-50, 53, 54, 71, 76, 105.

=Clovis=, son of Chilperic, 90, 139, 194.

=Cologne=, 29, 48, 261.

=Cush=, 8.

=Deoteria=, 66-67.

=Desideratus=, bishop of Verdun, 67.

=Desiderius=, Duke, 114, 159, 160, 175, 185, 197, 201, 205-206, 233.

=Dijon=, 42, 44, 65, 85, 92, 110.

=Ebarchius= the recluse, 150-151.

=Eberulf=, 178-181, 182, 197.

=Egidius=, bishop of Rheims, 158-160, 175, 210, 243.

=Enoch=, 7.

=Erpo=, Duke, 118.

=Eufronius=, 84, 88, 139.

=Eulalius=, 233-235.

=Eusebius=, 6, 15, 21, 211.

=Eusebius= [of Vercellæ], 132.

=Farro=, 49.

=Fasti= Consulares, 31.

=Felix=, bishop of Nantes, 76, 109, 140, 154-155.

=Firmin=, 82.

=Flavian=, _domesticus_, 212, 232, 237.

=Franks=, 26-32, 56, 66, 84 _et passim_.

=Fredegunda=, 90, 100, 115, 116, 122, 130, 131, 161-163, 173-178,
186, 194, 197, 201, 216, 245.

=Gaganus= (Khan), 91.

=Galen=, 114, 125.

=Gallus=, xi, 77, 78, 82, 252-254, 260-262.

=Galsuenda=, 90, 214.

=Germanus=, bishop of Paris, 100, 112.

=Godomar=, 55-56.

=Gogo=, 133.

=Goths=, 26, 31, 35, 36, 37, 44, 46, 47, 66, 68, 89, 163-165.

=Gregory= of Tours, Education, xii.
Family, x, 109-111, 250-256, 260-262.
Life, ix.
Religion, xix.
Style, xiii, 1, 5, 254.
Superstition, xi, 10 _et passim_.
Works, xv, 119-124, 132, 134, 141, 194, 212-218, 247, 254.

=Gregory=, bishop of Langres, xi, 60, 63, 65, 84.

=Gregory=, the Great, 227.

=Grippo=, legate to the emperor, 228-232.

=Gundobad=, 38, 41, 42, 43, 44, 53.

=Gundovald=, 157, 175, 176, 182-184, 190.

=Gunthram=, King, 75, 85, 87, 89, 91, 109, 125, 145, 153, 156, 159,
173, 174, 175, 178, 180, 181, 182, 185, 189, 194, 205, 208-218,
220, 221, 238.

=Gunthram= Boso, 108, 114-118, 125, 127, 131, 157, 158, 175, 176,
183, 184, 197, 208-210, 219.

=Hermenfred=, 54, 56-58.

=Hilarius=, St., 15, 46, 53, 132, 173.

=Hospicius= the recluse, 147-150.

=Huns=, 25, 26, 87, 90.

=Ingoberga=, 87.

=Ingunda=, 75, 76.

=Injuriosus=, bishop of Tours, 75, 76.

=Jerome=, 6, 15, 21, 249.

=Jews=, 82, 113, 155, 181, 189.

=John=, the Pope, 126.

=Justina=, 236.

=Juvencus=, 15.

=Latium=, 66.

=Leo=, 60-63.

=Leocadius=, 13.

=Leonastus=, 112.

=Leudast=, 115, 134-140, 160-162.

=Leudeghisel=, 182-185.

=Limoges=, 128, 214.

=Loire=, 17.

=Lombards=, 76, 95-97, 217, 219, 220, 230.

=Lupus=, Duke, 145.

=Lyons=, 44, 55, 92, 94, 110, 145, 218.

=Macliavus=, 76, 119.

=Magnovald=, 199-200.

=Mans=, 108, 151, 244.

=Marcus= the referendary, 128, 130, 158.

=Marileif=, 115, 181, 182.

=Marseilles=, 41, 98, 109, 114, 145, 159, 218, 244.

=Martianus= [Capella], 248.

=Martin=, St., x, xii, xvi, xvii, xx, 14, 15-17, 21, 33-34, 67, 75,
85, 86, 111, 112, 115, 120, 152, 173, 178, 189, 193, 220, 221,
254, 256.

=Maxentius=, 46.

=Merovech=, 31.

=Merovech=, son of Chilperic, 90, 106, 114-118, 119, 123, 124, 125,
135, 194.

=Metz=, 25, 26, 78, 210, 212, 230.

=Milan=, 230.

=Mummolus= the patrician, 95-97, 114, 126, 157-158, 162-163, 172,
177, 183-185, 191.

=Munderic=, 58, 59, 60.

=Narses=, 69, 79.

=Nicæa=, 6.

=Nicetius=, bishop of Lyons, xi, 110, 125, 192.

=Nicetius=, husband of Gregory’s niece, 115.

=Nile=, 9.

=Noah=, 8.

=Orleans=, 26, 35, 55, 56, 87, 172, 178, 189.

=Orosius=, 6, 8, 15, 21, 31, 105.

=Palladius=, Count, 94.

=Palladius=, bishop of Saintes, 190, 193-194, 201.

=Paris=, 47, 63, 75, 85, 87, 88, 99, 119, 152, 154, 158, 160, 163,
166, 189, 207, 208, 213, 245.

=Parthenius=, 70, 71.

=Pavia=, 231.

=Pelagius=, 200.

=Peter=, Gregory’s brother, 109-110.

=Poitiers=, 45, 46, 85, 97, 106, 108, 115, 127, 140, 158, 159, 165,
175, 181, 182, 208, 213, 220, 223, 236-243.

=Prætextatus=, bishop of Rouen, 119-124, 177, 197, 217.

=Priscus=, a Jew, 146-147, 155.

=Quintian=, 44.

=Radegunda=, 57, 158, 205, 237, 239, 240, 242.

=Ragnachar=, 36, 49.

=Ragnemod=, bishop of Paris, 114, 121, 158.

=Rauching=, 106-108, 208.

=Red Sea=, 9, 10.

=Remi=, 40, 41.

=Renatus= Frigeridus, 27, 30.

=Rheims=, 85, 87, 124.

=Richared=, king of Spain, 201, 205, 210, 216.

=Riculf=, 114, 136-140.

=Riculf= the sub-deacon, 136-140.

=Riguntha=, 163-165, 175, 177, 185, 221, 222.

=Roccelenus=, 108.

=Romans=, 35.

=Rouen=, 99, 106, 160.

=Sagittarius=, 96, 125-127, 128, 182-185.

=Saintes=, 88, 165.

=Sallust=, 83.

=Salunius=, 96, 125-127, 128.

=Salvius=, bishop of Alvi, 133, 140, 141, 169-172.

=Saturninus=, 12.

=Saxons=, 35, 79, 83-84, 96, 97, 118, 186.

=Sedulius=, 133, 166.

=Senlis=, 154, 166, 212, 213, 215.

=Severus=, Sulpicius, 21.

=Siagrius=, 35, 36, 49.

=Sichar=, 211-212.

=Sigibert= the lame, 47, 48.

=Sigibert=, King, 75, 87, 89, 90, 94, 97-100, 109, 118, 173, 191,
213, 215, 220, 256.

=Sigivald=, 66.

=Silvester=, kinsman of Gregory, 110.

=Soissons=, 37, 86, 87, 100, 106, 130, 154, 223.

=Stephen=, St., 25.

=Suevi=, 24, 118.

=Sulpicius= Alexander, 27.

=Sygismund=, 54-56, 120.

=Tangiers=, 25.

=Tauredunum=, 91.

=Tetradia=, 233-235.

=Tetricus=, bishop of Langres, 109-111, 192.

=Theodoald=, Theodovald, 71, 77, 78, 83.

=Theodobert=, King, 54, 57, 58, 60, 66, 67, 69, 70, 71, 250.

=Theodobert=, son of Chilperic, 116, 135.

=Theodomer=, 31.

=Theodore=, bishop of Marseilles, 153, 157, 192, 194, 218.

=Theodoric=, son of Clovis, 38, 47, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 66, 70,
254, 261.

=Theodoric= the Great, 54, 68.

=Theodosian= Law, 97.

=Thrasamund=, 24.

=Thuringia=, 31, 33, 38, 54, 56-57, 79.

=Tolbiac=, 58.

=Toulouse=, 44, 47, 177, 182.

=Tournai=, 99, 100, 139, 246.

=Tours=, x, 16, 22, 23, 33, 44, 45, 47, 50, 63, 75-79, 84, 85, 86,
88, 97, 106, 108, 115, 118, 121, 128, 134-140, 153, 159, 160,
175, 181, 186, 199, 205, 206, 208, 211, 213, 220, 231, 246,
268.

=Trèves=, 29, 31, 60, 70, 261.

=Trinity=, 53, 68, 132.

=Ursus=, 98.

=Vandals=, 24, 25, 30.

=Vannes=, 76.

=Vase= of Soissons, 37.

=Vaso= Galatæ, 14.

=Vectius= Epagatus, 13, 260.

=Verdun=, 67, 70, 186.

=Victor=, 7, 236, 244.

=Vienne=, 29, 42, 43, 56.

=Virgil=, 97, 249.

=Visigard=, 66, 67.

=Vouillé=, 46, 50.

=Vulfilaic=, xxii, 194-196.

=Waddo=, major-domo, 165, 183-185, 222, 223, 243.

=Wilichar=, 85.

=Zoroaster=, 8.

=Zülpich=, 47.

FOOTNOTES:

[100] Not exhaustive.

Records of Civilization

SOURCES AND STUDIES

EDITED BY JAMES T. SHOTWELL

(Numbers marked with an asterisk have already appeared; the others
are in preparation.)

THE HISTORY OF HISTORY; DOCUMENTS AND COMMENTARY. By JAMES
T. SHOTWELL, Ph.D., Professor of History in Columbia
University.

*HELLENIC CIVILIZATION. By G. W. BOTSFORD, Ph.D., Professor of
History in Columbia University, and E. G. SIHLER, Ph.D.,
Professor of the Latin Language and Literature in New York
University. 8vo, cloth, pp. xiii + 719. Price, $3.75 _net_.

THE RECORDS OF THE JEWS; OLD TESTAMENT LITERATURE. By JULIUS A.
BEWER, Ph.D., Professor of Old Testament Exegesis in Union
Theological Seminary.

1. Historical and Legal Books.
2. Prophetic Books.
3. Poetic and Didactic Books.

THE EARLY RECORDS OF CHRISTIANITY. By HAROLD H. TRYON, M.A.,
B.D., Instructor in New Testament and Church History in
Union Theological Seminary.

1. The Gospels.
2. The Primitive Church and the Pauline Mission.
3. The Developing Organization.
4. Christian Prophecy.
5. Early Apologies.

RELIGIONS OF THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD. By HAROLD H. TRYON, M.A.,
B.D.

1. The Mysteries.
2. The Cult of the Emperors.

PERSIAN AND HINDU DOCUMENTS. By A. V. W. JACKSON, Ph.D.,
Professor of Indo-Iranian Languages in Columbia University,
and E. W. HOPKINS, Ph.D., Professor of Sanskrit in Yale
University.

CHRONICLERS AND CHRONOLOGY. By JAMES T. SHOTWELL.

1. The Chronicle of Eusebius.

THE CHRISTIAN EPIC.

1. OROSIUS: History, against the Pagans. By CHARLES J. OGDEN, Ph.D.

MEDIEVAL HISTORIANS.

*1. GREGORY OF TOURS: History of the Franks. By ERNEST BREHAUT,
Ph.D. 8vo, cloth, pp. xxv + 284.
2. OTTO OF FREISING.

THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES.

1. The Sources of Irish History in the Middle Ages. By JAMES F.
KENNEY.

EARLY MEDIEVAL LAW.

1. Salic Law.
2. Penitentials.
3. The Anglo-Saxon Laws.
4. The Laws of Charlemagne. By MAUDE A. HUTTMANN, Ph.D.,
Instructor in History in Barnard College.

*THE “BOOK OF THE POPES” (_Liber Pontificalis_). By LOUISE R.
LOOMIS, Ph.D. 8vo, cloth, pp. xxii + 169.

THE PETRINE THEORY AND THE MEDIEVAL PAPACY. By JAMES T.
SHOTWELL.

THE PAPACY IN MODERN SOCIETY. By CARLTON H. HAYES, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor of History in Columbia University.

THE SACRAMENTAL SYSTEM. By JAMES T. SHOTWELL.

1. The “Book of Sentences” of Peter Lombard, Part IV.

MEDIEVAL THOUGHT AND CULTURE. An Anthology from Gerbert,
Abelard, Roger Bacon, and the Scholastics. By LYNN
THORNDIKE, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History in Western
Reserve University.

HUMANISM AND CRITICAL SCHOLARSHIP.

1. Laurentius Valla on the Donation of Constantine. By CHRISTOPHER
B. COLEMAN, Ph.D., Professor of History in Butler College.

MODERN PHYSICAL SCIENCE; SOURCES AND COMMENTARY. By FREDERICK
BARRY, Ph.D., Instructor in Chemistry in Columbia
University.

THE RISE OF RATIONALISM IN ENGLAND.

SOCIAL HISTORY OF MODERN ENGLAND. By JAMES T. SHOTWELL.

1. Sources for the Industrial Revolution.
2. Guide to the Sources for the Social History of England,
1750-1850.

THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE. By WILLIAM R. SHEPHERD, Ph.D.,
Professor of History in Columbia University.

REPRISALS IN THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. By ELLERY C.
STOWELL, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of International Law in
Columbia University.

Transcriber’s Note:

Words, particularly proper nouns, may have multiple spelling
variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These were left
unchanged, as were obsolete and alternative spellings. Two misspelled
words were corrected, noted below.

Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like
this_. Those in bold are surrounded by equal signs, =like this=.
Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and were moved to the end of
the chapter. Endnotes are treated as footnotes; alphabetical anchors
and links were added. Final stops missing at the end of sentences and
abbreviations were added.

Changes:

“Apollonaris” to “Apollinaris” … Sidonius Apollinaris …
“convert” to “convent” … from the convent at Poitiers,…

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