History of the Franks
Gregory Bishop of Tours
Number of quotes: 11
Book ID: 110 Page: x/xi
Section: 2E1,3A1,4B,2A3
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.{1}....
[Footnote 1] 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, 2I, p. 16.
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.
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.
Quote ID: 2640
Time Periods: 7
Book ID: 110 Page: 34
Section: 2E1
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,....
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.
Quote ID: 2645
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 110 Page: 37
Section: 2C
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{1}asks.”....
[Footnote 1] papa. The word was used in the early Middle Ages in unrestricted, informal sense, and applied widely to bishops. Cf. Du Cange, Glossarium.
Quote ID: 2646
Time Periods: 567
Book ID: 110 Page: 39/40
Section: 3D
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.
Quote ID: 2647
Time Periods: 56
Book ID: 110 Page: 45
Section: 3D2
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.
Quote ID: 2648
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 110 Page: 47
Section: 3D2
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. Leaving Tours he went to Paris and there he established the seat of his kingdom.
Quote ID: 2649
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 110 Page: 49/50
Section: 3D2
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 the tonsure; he gave orders to ordain Chararic priest and his son deacon.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.
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.
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.
Quote ID: 2650
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 110 Page: xxv
Section: 3D
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.....
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.
....
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.”{3} Chilperic was thus the forerunner of the secular state in France.
Quote ID: 2644
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 110 Page: xxii
Section: 3A2A,3D2,4B
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.{1}....
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.
Quote ID: 2641
Time Periods: 67
Book ID: 110 Page: xxiv
Section: 3A2A,3D2
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,”{2} he was not speaking in a hypocritical or arrogant manner but in real accordance with the religious sentiment of the time.
Quote ID: 2643
Time Periods: 67
Book ID: 110 Page: xxiii
Section: 2E4
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.
Quote ID: 2642
Time Periods: 67
End of quotes