Book Two

Powerful king Clovis [Aimon II.i. ] had four sons with queen Clotild: Theuderic, Chlodomer, Childebert, and Lothar. All four were kings, and they divided the kingdom into four parts. Theuderic made Metz his royal seat, Chlodomer Orleans, Lothar Soissons, and Childebert Paris, as his father had done. Since France had several kings in different "seats," and in different parts of the kingdom, we shall number among the kings of France only those who located their "seats" in Paris. With the kingdom divided into four parts, for a short time there were no wars. But the Danes, a people unable to live peacefully, arrived by sea, in the territory of king Theuderic, which they harried and partially laid waste. The king sent an army, led by Theudebert, one of his sons, against them. They joined battle, fought, and defeated the Danes, driving them from the country, capturing and imprisoning some of them [Readers of Beowulf may be interested to notice that Hygelac, mentioned by Gregory of Tours, and LHF, disappears from Aimon, and therefore from Primat]. When Theudebert had finished this exploit, he returned to his father.

Meanwhile, queen Clotild sent for her other three sons, king Chlodomer, king Childebert, and king Lothar, and spoke to them in this way: "The all powerful God, creator and ruler of the world, wishes that you may inherit the kingdom of your father; therefore, lovely sons, if I have deserved anything of you, I beg you to avenge the death of my father and my mother. I must take pleasure in the fact that I have born and raised those who might relieve my grief, but I must grieve for the death of their ancestors, who would have brought great honor to them had they lived. Now you should not despise and dishonor the cause of my complaint, for you have been deprived of the aid of such great friends, whom treason and envy have taken from you before you were born. Keep in mind what you may hope for from those who have done this to you; do you think that they will spare the grandchildren, who did not spare their own brothers? They killed them for a small part of the kingdom; do you think that they will be more considerate of you? If you are dead, they will have great hope to get your kingdom. Certainly, if you do not take vengeance for what they have done, they will kill you. If you are not moved by the fact that they killed your ancestors, at least have pity for the grief I felt at seeing my father killed, my mother drowned in a river, and my sister condemned to exile." When the queen had thus urged them to avenge the death of her father, they were deeply moved by their mother's grief; they assembled their army, and entered Burgundy with a great force to lay waste and destroy the land. King Gundobad, who had slain the mother and father of queen Clotild, was killed. He left two sons to inherit his kingdom; one was named Sigismund, and the other Godomar.

At this point, Sigismund had the church of Saint-Maurice d'Agaune built, at great expense, showing the great devotion he had to the martyr by enriching the place nobly with land and possessions. He had a convent for clerks built to serve Our Lord, since he was a man of good will, and a noble founder of churches. The cause of his great devotion to Saint Maurice was that he had had his own son killed, at the instigation of his wife, who, hated her stepchild. He was profoundly aware of the seriousness of the sin he had committed, and repented from his heart. Devoutly he prayed that the martyrs would intercede on his behalf with Our Lord and obtain pardon and pity for him. Then he prayed to Our Lord that if he did nothing against His will, he might be punished in this world for his sins, and that God would not wait until the day of judgement to take vengeance. Our Lord heard his prayer, for at this time the French entered his land. When he heard the news, he assembled his army, and went against them in battle. At the beginning of the battle, the French fought bitterly, as was their custom; the Burgundians were defeated, and turned their backs to flee. King Sigismund, seeing his men defeated, fled in the direction of the abbey of Saint Maurice of Chablis, in the hope that the martyr might protect him. King Chlodomer pursued and captured him, imprisoning him in the city of Orleans. At that time, Saint Avitus was the abbot of a monastery very near the city; he begged king Chlodomer not to kill a man of such nobility and great goodness. He did not wish to hear his prayer, but had him killed, along with his children, and thrown in a well. They were removed from the pit and carried to Saint Maurice de Gaune, where they were given honorable burial. They were undoubtedly saved, for the sick who come there and make offerings to God for the saint's soul are often cured of their infirmity.

King Chlodomer, who had him killed, did not take pleasure in his death very long, for, in the next year, he again entered Burgundy with a great army, to lay waste the land. King Godomar came to face him in battle, eager to avenge his brother's death; both sides fought well, but, in the end, the Burgundians were unable to stand up to the force of the French, and they abandoned themselves to flight. King Chlodomer, who was well armed, courageous, and eager for victory, pursued them more vigorously than he should have; he went deep into the ranks of his enemies, as far as his horse carried him. When they saw him all alone in their midst, and far from his own men, they threw darts and javelins from afar, for the pride of his bearing and countenance, and his reputation for courage frightened his enemies so much, that no one would approach near enough to strike him; seeing himself shut in among his enemies, with no aid or comfort on any side, he took his life in his own hands, turned towards his enemies, armed himself, and prepared to fight. When he considered retreating towards his own people or plunging in against his enemies, his sense of pride conquered all fear, and he decided that he would not turn back. He spurred on his horse, and struck the foremost of his adversaries, killing the first man he met. Soon he was surrounded, struck in the sides by spears and swords, and they killed him. He was a courageous and honorable knight, but not too sensible. He avenged his mother's wrongs as well as he could. When the French knew that their lord was dead, they did not flee, as other nations might have, but pursued the Burgundians, and killed a great part of them. When they had laid waste the country, they returned to France. King Lothar took into his care queen Guntheuc, his brother's widow, and queen Clotild took her grandchildren, Theudovald, Gunthar, and Chlodovald. She brought them up with the love and affection of a mother bringing up her own children.

II

An incidence (526 AD). In that time, the apostle John went to Constantinople [Aimon takes this from Liber Pontificalis, Duchesne I, 275-76]. He was a holy man, who received the task of governing the Holy Church after the death of the apostle Hormisdas. King Theodoric of Italy, of whom we have spoken several times, sent him to speak to the emperor Justinian. Justinian, a true cultivator of the faith of the Roman church, who punished heretics, had taken curacies away from priests who had been corrupted by this heresy, and had given them to those who guarded the true faith of the church of Rome, on the advice and counsel of the holy apostle John. For this reason king Theodoric, who had been corrupted by this vice, had sent him there, proclaiming, through John, that if the emperor did not give the churches over to the Arians, he would kill the people of Italy. The holy man, who was sick and enfeebled, set out on the sea, and arrived at Constantinople. The emperor and all the clergy came to meet him, and greeted him honorably, joyful at receiving the sovereign shepherd of the entire Holy Church. When he told the emperor the reason for his trip, and had received what he asked for, he crowned him as the vicar of Saint Peter. He took leave of the emperor, and returned to the city of Ravenna (526 AD). King Theodoric put him and those who had been with him, in prison, when he heard that the emperor had received them so honorably. He held him there so long, making him suffer from hunger and thirst and other discomforts so much that the holy man, like a true martyr, gave up his spirit to God. The noble men who had been with him were also martyred; some were burned, others tortured in various ways; among those killed were Simmachus and Boethius. Boethius was the great clerk who translated the splendid philosophy of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers into Latin, and was a good and true Christian, as is evident in the books in which he writes of consubstantiality and of the Holy Trinity. The art of dialectic, of arithmetic, of geometry, and of music, which he translated, show his great learning very clearly. Not long after this, king Theodoric received payment for this crime; 98 days after he had martyred the holy men, he died a sudden death [Aimon now borrows from Gregory the Great, Dialogues, IV.xxx]. A holy hermit, living on an island in the sea, called Lippari [an island north of Sicily], saw his soul at the point that it left his body, placed and stationed, as it seemed to him, between Symmachus and saint John the apostle, the men he had martyred, as you have heard; he saw that the soul of Theodoric was destroyed, and plunged into the forge of Vulcan, a place near the island where the hermit lived. It gets its name from the fact that the sea at that spot is as hot as water boiling in a cauldron. In such a way, Theodoric ended his life, though he had, at the beginning, been so splendid, giving every year to the Romans aid and comfort amounting to 6000 measures of wheat. At the end of his life he dissipated whatever he had done before, changing his virtues into vices. He had married Audofleda, the sister of Clovis the king of France; his sisters and their daughters had married princes of neighboring territories. All the nations and people that bordered on Italy were related to him. From this incident all princes should take example, and guard against angering Our Lord and his ministers, for whoever rashly provokes them, awaits the vengeance of Our Lord in life, or after death [this last sentence is Primat's own note].

III

An incident. In that time Justinus, who governed the empire of Constantinople, died [Aimon II.v, from Fredegar II.62]. After him, Justinian took over, in a manner we shall describe to you. Justinian had been in his time guardian of the archives and treasury of the emperor, and another man, whose named was Belisarius, had been master of the stables. These two had much to do with each other; for their great love of each other, they swore and promised that neither would ever have greater prestige than the other; whoever would become the greater noble would make his companion equal to him in riches and in honor. One day it happened that they were walking together in the street where prostitutes were stationed. They saw two young women born in the land of Amazonia, who had been taken and made captives. They were sisters, named Anthonia and Anthonina. Justinian took Anthonia and the other Antonina. One day it happened that around noon, Justinian was asleep under a tree, with Anthonia next to him. His head was inclined as he slept on the robe of his lover; an eagle came flying from above, trying very hard to protect itself from the heat of the sun. The girl, who was very wise, understood straightway what it signified; she awakened her lover, and spoke to him in this way: "Lovely, sweet friend, I beg you, when you become emperor, do not despise me and judge me unworthy of your bed and of your embraces." He replied that he could not become emperor. She replied that it would happen, and that she was certain of it; then she again begged that he grant her request. The young man agreed, and they exchanged rings in sign and in testimony of their agreement; then they separated. Belisarius made the same pledge of marriage to Anthonina, for he knew that he would be a greater noble if his companion Justinian became emperor.

Shortly afterwards, the emperor Justinus prepared a great armed expedition against the king of Persia; but while making preparations he caught an illness from which he died. The senate, and the entire army, not wishing to be without a leader, especially for such a task, elected Justinian by common accord. As soon as he was emperor, he took his army and marched against his enemies. There was a great battle; at the end they pursued the Persians and captured the king of Persia. When he had taken him, he sat him down next to him in the imperial see, and commanded him to give up all of the provinces that he had taken from the Romans. He replied that he give a name, and the emperor replied to him: "Daras." By this word he had founded a city in the very spot, whose name was Daras. Finally the king of Persia gave him all the land he had taken from the Roman Empire, although he did it unwillingly. In this way the emperor permitted him to return to Persia. The emperor returned in great glory to Constantinople; Anthonia, who had been his lover, as we have said, did not forget what she had to do. She took five gold coins, came to the palace, and gave two of them to the gate-keeper, and three to those who guarded the emperor's curtain, that they might allow her to plead her cause. When she came before the emperor, she began her argument in this way:

"As Scripture says: the honor of the king loves judgement, and scripture also testifies that the king who sits in judgement disperses all wrongdoing by his look; good emperor, understand these writings, for they apply to you. I have bravely undertaken to come here to move my cause. A young man in this city pledged that he would marry me; he took my ring, and I took his, as testimony to this. Therefore I have come to you to grant judgment and sentence in this case." The emperor replied: "If faith is kept," he said, "it will not be in vain." When the emperor had said this, she took out the ring that he had given her, saying: "Just emperor, see whose ring this is." He recognized very well that it was the ring he had given her, and he commanded that she be led into his chambers, dressed with imperial garments, and ever after be called Augusta. In response to this act, the senators and all the people were so outraged, that they began to cry out that it was a great shame that the emperor had made an empress of a deranged female slave from a foreign country. Caesar was so angry at such words that he had some of the senators killed; the other senators, and all the people were then so frightened that they no longer dared to speak of this.

IV

Belisarius took as his wife Anthonina, the sister of the empress, then the emperor sent him to Africa, making him patrician and defender of the country. He loved him with such great love that he seated him at his own table, and had him served with the same food he himself ate. He was much concerned to honor and to advance him. But envy, which has no concern with poverty, but with those whom she sees grow in honor and in wealth, whom she calumniates and slanders when she sees them enjoy good fortune, was very unhappy to see Belisarius grow prosperous. Therefore some treacherous men went to the emperor and told him that Belisarius intended to kill him and seize the empire. The emperor too easily believed what the traitors swore to him, and before finding out the truth, he sent him against the Vandals. These Vandals were a powerful, courageous, warlike people, who had several times vanquished the Roman forces, beating and humiliating the noblest, most renowned princes of Rome.

When Belisarius received this command, he went home sad and tearful. His wife Anthonina saw that his face was pale, without color, and damp with tears; she asked the cause of his sadness, and begged that he would tell her his secret trouble, so that she might know if she could help. He replied that it had to do with fighting, not with knitting and that he had greater need of advice from men than from women. Then Anthonina replied to him: "My faith in Jesus Christ is so strong, that I shall give you manly advice, if you tell me your true problem. For the apostle says that the faithless man will be saved by a woman of true belief " (ICor7.14). Anthonina was a good Christian of the Roman faith, but Belisarius was wrapped in the Arian heresy. Then he began to think a little, considering that sometimes one found sensible advice in the heart of a woman; although they are naturally weaker than men, it does not follow that they do not sometimes understand profound matters. So he told her that the emperor had commanded him to get ready to fight the Vandals, who were so courageous and strong that no one was able to best them. Anthonina answered him then quickly and cheerfully, like a woman who had just put aside all feminine fear and taken on the vigor of a man: "No one, she said, "as Scripture witnesses, puts hope in Our Lord without receiving aid and comfort from him; for this reason, my lord, I beg and advise you to abandon the error and blasphemy of heresy, and believe in him who is three and one, the sole God. Make a vow to the God of heaven, and I promise you that you will return a greater and more glorious conqueror than you were before." For the emperor Justinian, through Belisarius, had broken the self-esteem of many a proud nation. When he had promised to follow her advice, she said in response: "See to it that the beauty of your vow remains constant during the stress of battle. Don't we have 12,000 servants whom we maintain at our own expense? Don't you have 18,000 knights whom you have acquired, and who are yours by the dignity of your office and your authority?" "Yes," said Belisarius. "Then take," she said, "12,000 knights and 4000 servants, ride by land, and enter Africa swiftly; I will take 6000 knights and 8000 servants, and travel by sea to the island [Viard sees here a faulty reading of Aimon's navali evectione fines petam Libyae]. When it is time to assemble against our enemies, you will light great beacon fires; when we in our boats see this sign, we will do the same thing, as a sign to you. Then you will attack our enemies, and we shall do the same."

Belisarius agreed with this plan, and they quickly carried out their task as planned: The Vandals, aware that Belisarius and his people were coming by land, prepared to fight him; they left their wives and children in dwellings on the shore. They fought long and hard. As they were fighting so bitterly that neither side showed any sign of yielding to the other, an emissary came to the Vandals, announcing that their women and children had all been killed. Disembarking from their ships, Anthonina and her people had attacked them in their tents, putting to the sword everyone they found, women and children. When they heard this news, the Vandals immediately left the battlefield to return to their tents. Those who had come out of the ships and had seized the Vandal's tents and killed their occupants now drew themselves up in front of the tents and easily defeated the Vandals, who returned in scattered groups, some here, some there, like people with no leader and no direction. Thus they were all killed and defeated. The king, whose name was Childemes (Gelimer), escaped by fleeing, and only twelve Vandals with him. He set himself up in a fortified castle, which Belisarius besieged. When he saw himself beset, with no way out except into the hands of his enemies, he called Belisarius and told him that he would voluntarily surrender on the condition that he not be led before the emperor in irons and in fetters. Belisarius promised him that he would not be put in fetters and iron chains. When he surrendered, he was placed in a silver chain, and led back to Constantinople. Brought before the emperor, he was whipped, spit upon, and treated shamefully. Outraged at such treatment, he asked the emperor to give him the horse which he had before being captured, and then to let him fight alone against 12 of those who had treated him so badly; then the king would see his worthlessness, and their prowess. The emperor granted his request, arming 12 young men against him alone, and bringing them all together. The king of the Vandals pretended to run off, so that the others would pursue him; while fleeing, he threw darts behind his back, killing them all in this way, one after the other. The emperor, who valued very highly the king's prowess and courage, forgave him his wrath, and made him a patrician and defender of a country that bordered on the Persians; he waged and won many a battle there, and finally died in that region.

V

It is time to return to the order of our material, since we have interlaced, for certain reasons, incidents which do not exactly belong to this [history. Primat returns here to Aimon III.viii, and LHF XXIII especially; also Gregory III.x]. When king Chlodomer, the elder of the three brothers was killed, as you have heard, the other two brothers, Lothar and Childebert, assembled their armies and entered Burgundy to avenge the death of their brother. They drove king Godinair out, and took possession of the kingdom of Burgundy and put it under their authority. They had a brother named Theodoric, a bastard, whom powerful king Clovis had begotten upon a concubine. In this battle he refused to aid his brothers, because he had married the daughter of king Sigifraut (sic), who was the niece of king Godinaire.

When powerful king Clovis had killed king Alaric, as you have heard, he did not conquer his entire kingdom, but a country at the gate of Spain was taken and held by Amalric, one of Alaric's sons, after his father's death. Amalric, who remained in this section, sent by emissary a pledge of faith and alliance to king Lothar and to king Childebert, then asked them to send him their sister, because he wished to ally himself to them by marriage. The brothers willingly agreed, and sent their sister to him with the great honor befitting a woman born of such high lineage. When the woman had lived with him a while, he, who was cruel and perverse both by nature and by lineage, began to abuse her; he did not love and honor her as a queen nor as a high-born woman, and he spoke to her as though she were a chambermaid or a slave he had bought for money. And because he was corrupted and soiled by the Arian heresy, as his father had been, he despised her because she kept the holy faith of the church of Rome. When she went to the church of the good Christians, he delivered much verbal abuse. Sometimes it happened that he threw mud and trash in her face, or he had it thrown in her path as she walked to church, and stirred up the stink and the corruption of trash to trouble and to prevent the pure devotion of her prayer. But when the good woman had suffered so much that she could bear no more, she sent a tearful letter with one of her loyal servants to her brothers; this was the tenor of the letter: "Dear, sweet brothers, have pity and mercy on me, and deign to receive the cause of my need and of my sadness." King Childebert was in the city of Clermont in Auvergne which he had taken from his brother, when the emissary came to him. He was very skilled in conducting a war; as soon as he had gotten his army ready, he moved, without waiting for the aid of his brother. He entered Spain swiftly, and his brother-in-law Amalric, aware of his arrival, arrived from another direction, prepared to fight by sea and on land. By agreement of both parties, the battle was drawn up in a field, where they drew up their battle lines and fought long and hard. But at the end king Childebert, who had more men, put his enemies to flight; the Goths, who very terribly afraid of the lances and arms of the French, were not able to endure the shock of battle with them very long. They fled in several directions, some to refuge in the cities and in hidden places in the woods, others to the boats along the shore. The French cut off those fleeing towards the sea, and turned them back by force. In the midst of this defeat, Amalric fled, to protect his life, into a church, which was not Arian. Seeing him, a Frenchman spurred his horse after him, and, when he reached him, struck him with a lance so powerfully that the king fell dead. When king Childebert knew that Amalric was dead, he pursued his enemies until they were completely defeated, and then went on to the city of Toledo. The citizens, very frightened by his victory, gave the city up to him as soon as they were under siege; he took all the treasure and jewels which he found in the city. When he had rescued his sister, he returned to France, but on their return, she was brought to bed with an illness from which she died. King Childebert, who was very unhappy because of this, had her body prepared and put in a casket. At Paris, he had her placed next to her father, the great king Clovis, in the church of Saint Genevieve. Among the treasures brought by the king from Spain were found many rich vessels belonging to the ceremonies of the altar. There were 60 very rich and very precious golden chalices, 15 metal plaques, and 20 volumes of the New Testament. Some said that these had been the jewels of king Solomon, for they were of fine gold and adorned with very rich precious jewels, mounted and engraved. Unmoved by greed, the king would not keep them for himself, but he parceled them out among several churches, like a generous man.

VI

Thus the king took the city of Toledo, as you have heard, but as he conquered one country after another, he lost that which he thought had been his own. For when he brought his army to Spain, his brother, king Theodoric, retook the city of Clermont, which the king had taken from him. He killed or drove out all those whom he found in the garrison, then commanded that Munderic be killed, and everything he held be added to the royal fief. Munderic boasted that he was of Childebert's lineage, and that his kingdom ought by right to fall to him after the king's death. He did great harm to king Theodoric, for he went through the cities of Auvergne, assembling a great multitude of foot soldiers and peasants of the region, and equipped a very strong castle named Victri. The king besieged the castle, but when he saw that it was so strong and well equipped that he could not take it without a long siege, and without great harm to his forces, he called one of his men, whose name was Aregisel, and said to him: "Go call Monderic, and give him your word for security, that he will be off guard; advise him to come out of the castle in such a way that he may be killed." He obeyed the treacherous command of the king, went to Monderic, and deceived him with his word so well that he came out of the fortress. When Aregisel gave the sign to his people to kill him, he cried out in this way: "What are you doing? Why do you look at this man as though you had never seen him before?" After this word, they ran upon him; when he perceived the treachery that Aregisel had committed, he said to him: "Aregisel, because you have falsified your pledge to me, and have treacherously deceived me, no mortal eye will ever look upon you living from this time forth." Saying this, he approached him, drove the lance which he held between Aregisel's shoulders with such great force that it went completely through him, so that the iron point of the lance struck the earth. After the remarkable blow that he had made, he called out to those who were with him, and struck out against his enemies, nor did he cease killing and destroying as long as he was able to last. Archadius, who had delivered the city of Clermont to king [Theodoric Clermont was delivered to Childebert, according to Aimon, II.viii] fled to Bourges, which then belonged to king Childebert. His mother and his wife were sent into exile in the city of Cahors.

While these things were going on, king Childeric [Clovis, according to Aimon, and Gregory of Tours III.vii.] made peace with his brother, king Theodoric, and they assembled their armies and rode into the land of Thuringia, which is now called Lorraine. Hermanfrid, who had killed his own two brothers at the urging of his wife, was the king of the country. His heart was overweening, full of vain glory, because his wife Amalaberg was the daughter of king Theodoric of Italy, of whom we have spoken, and daughter of the sister of the great king Clovis. The queen was also very proud of her royal lineage. King Hermanfrid had a brother, named Berthar, whom she hated with a mortal hatred, as it appears, for she charged him with envying his lord his kingdom. She worked on the king so, that she fooled him into killing his brother in the prison in which he was at that time. She demanded that another of his brothers, whose name was Baderic, also be killed, so that he might not avenge his brother's death. By such malice the evil woman rid the country of two brothers-in-law whom she hated, under pretence of jealously guarding her husband's life and well-being. The wretch certainly was blind, thinking that she hated them because they had thought of killing him, while he himself gave no thought to the seriousness of the sin he committed by having his brothers and his companions of the realm killed, for no good reason. Certainly the mind of an evil person is so vile, that it is soon perverted by evil suggestions. When king Theuderic entered Thuringia, as we indicated earlier, king Hermanfrid opposed with with a large body of knights, and an innumerable body of troops. The Thuringians tried a trick, to harm their enemies, which turned out to be of little value; they dug a deep ditch which they covered with green grass, so that their enemies and their horses might fall into it when they came forward. But when the French perceived the trick, they were very disdainful; rushing upon their enemies, they brought them in a very short time to utter defeat. The Thuringians abandoned themselves to flight, when they could no longer endure the onslaught; the French pursued them to a river, which is called in their language .us on Unstrutt; .us off there they again drew up their forces and fought, compelling their enemies in every way to defend the passage, to prevent them from crossing the river. But the French, who were accustomed to winning, joined ranks tightly, and struck their enemies' bodies and shields with such power, that they compelled them to jump into the water, which was no surprise, since they were battling along the shore. So many Thuringians were killed, and the river so full of their bodies, that the French crossed over the bodies as though they were passing over a bridge to the other bank of the river. King Hermanfrid escaped with a few of his men, making his way into a fortress of a nearby city. King Theuderic commanded him to come to speak with him at a castle which is called Zulpich, giving him his pledge that he need fear no harm from him. One day it happened that, as they were walking and talking on top of the walls of the fortress, king Theuderic suddenly pushed him [Gregory is not as categorical in his accusation; Aimon and LHF form the basis here for Primat]. He fell in such a way that his head was completely smashed. Then the king commanded that his children be strangled. When these things had been done, the French took and held all the cities and castles of Thuringia, and drove the people back to the country from which they had come, for the French had held the entire region before these people came into the country. Saint Jerome mentions these people in his life of Saint Hilarion, describing them as strong and brave in spite of their small numbers. They live on the border of Saxony and Alemannia, which is now called old France.

VII

King Theuderic, who remained in Lorraine after conquering it, as you have heard, hated with a mortal hatred his brother Lothar, as is clear from what he did, for he built and prepared treacherous ambushes by means of which he might kill him. One day he summoned him to come to speak to him. First, he had a curtain stretched across a part of his palace, hiding armed knights behind it; then he commanded them to kill king Lothar as soon as he came before him. Unsuspecting, Lothar arrived, entered the palace, and saw the feet of armed men under the curtain. When he saw this, he was afraid, and left. He then had his own men armed, and ordered them to go before him. King Theuderic now perceived that his brother had detected the trick, to prevent any further discoveries, he called his brother, and treacherously pretended to be courteous to him. He gave him a beautiful silver salver, and thanked him very much for the aid and comfort he had given him against his enemies. for he had been at his side in the battle against king Hermanfrid.

VIII

After these events, king Lothar went back to Metz, the seat of his kingdom, bringing back with him his men, who did not know what had happened. King Theuderic, who regretted giving the gift to his brother, complained to his people that he had unaccountably lost his silver vessel. He called his son, Theudebert, and told him to go to his uncle at Metz, to bring back the salver that he had taken away. He did what his father ordered; he went to his uncle and brought it back without delay. After this, king Lothar went from his country to take care of things that have nothing to do with this history. When he returned, he brought with him Radegund, the daughter of king Berthar. This woman was then leading a holy life, brilliantly virtuous, in the city of Poitiers.

King Theuderic and king Lothar, brothers of the same father and mother, were of like natures, but were separated by discord and hate. They contrived many armed expeditions against each other, but then made peace with each other, and battles and wars between them and their armies were suspended. It was not long before the peace was broken by the perversity of some evil men, who enjoyed watching things go to pieces often. Therefore it happened that high-born hostages, given by each side to the other to guarantee the peace, were sold into slavery, among whom was the noble child Attalus, who was sold to a barbarian in the city of Treves. Attalus was the nephew of saint Gregory, the bishop of Langres, who was very upset about him. He sent his emissaries to Treves to speak to the man who held his nephew in slavery; this man was one of the noblest and richest men in the city. When they spoke to him about buying the child back, he replied in this way: "This child, who is of such noble birth, will never escape from me, not if I had ten pounds of gold for his ransom." They returned to their lord and told him the man's reply. Then, one of the cooks who prepared his food, came forward ; his name was Leo, and he said to the bishop: " Sir, let me go, and I will cook something that will free the child, with the help of God." The bishop willingly agreed. When Leo came to Treves, he went to a man of the country and told him to sell him to the noble with the child as his own slave, and he might keep for himself the price as a reward for this favor. The man willingly agreed, since it was to his advantage, for the price of this sale was 12 besants. The man who bought Leo asked him what was his trade, and he answered: "I am so good a cook, that no one is better than I." Then he commanded him to prepare a dinner that all of his friends, who would be eating with him on Sunday, would consider a miracle. Leo, who was very eager to perform the task well, made a dinner of rabbits so good that all those who tasted it said that they had never, even at the king's table, eaten such fine food, and so well prepared. For this accomplishment his master grew so fond of him that he made him master of his cellar and his home; and Leo served him as well and as diligently as he could. One year later, it happened that Leo went hunting in the woods where Attalus, the bishop's nephew, was guarding his master's horses. They turned their backs on one another, so that no one could see that they were speaking to each other, and Leo said to the child: "Attalus, it is now time to think about returning to our country. This evening when you return with the horses, take care not to fall asleep, so that you will be able to hear me call you." That evening it happened that Leo was accompanying his master's son-in-law to his home; he said: "Tell me, boy, if you have yet decided on what night you will return to your own country." And Leo replied, as though joking, although he was speaking the truth, that he was going that very night, if God would help him. The other replied: "Then I want my servants to keep watch more carefully than usual, so that you can't carry off anything from my home." A little after the first sleep, Leo went to the child and asked him if he had a sword. He said no. Then Leo went to the head of his master's bed and took his sword and buckler. The man in charge, who heard him clearly, asked what was going on: "I am," he said, "trying to wake Attalus to lead the horses to the pasture; he is so deep asleep that it seems to me he must have been drunk last night." The man in charge did not answer, thinking that this was as it should be, and Leo went to the child. When they had taken some necessary provisions, they mounted two horses, and rode three days and three nights without drinking or eating. They traveled until they came to a river named the Meuse. There they were temporarily held up and lost their horses; nevertheless, with considerable difficulty, they managed to get across. When they had crossed the river, they found a tree laden with fruit; they gathered some, and ate while riding. One night, as they were traveling, they heard the sound of horses running behind them. Then Leo said to the child: "Let's get down on the ground, so that we can't be seen." They hid behind the trunk of a tree which was near them, but first they drew their swords to defend themselves if necessary. Those who were riding after them stopped there to rest their horses. One of them said to another: "Let's hurry, for these thieves are escaping; certainly if I am able to find them, I shall hang one by the throat, and I'll kill the other with my sword." The speakers were the very masters they had escaped. Then they spurred their horses, and moved on. Leo and the child got back on the road, and traveled quickly enough to get to Rheims that same night. There a priest named Paulellus received them, and kept them in his home for two days, helping them to recover. Then they went to Langres, to bishop Gregory, who was overjoyed at their arrival. He gave land to Leo, his good servant, and freed him and his wife and children, as a reward for his good service.

IX

The good woman queen Clotild now lived in Paris, rearing her grandchildren, the sons of king Chlodomer, with love and affection. Childebert, who was king of Paris, was angry and envious when he saw that she held them so dear, because he thought that the love and affection that his mother should have expressed towards him were instead going into her love for them. Because of this jealousy he called upon his brother Lothar, the king of Metz; they consulted on how they might get at the children, to kill them. Evil men quickly find a way and an occasion to carry out their wickedness, and they sent to their mother, asking her to send their nephews, because they wanted to see them, and they wanted to see if they were old enough yet to take control of their lands, which they wished to deliver to them. She was overjoyed, because it seemed that her sons loved her grandchildren, and would help them. The children were given to the emissaries who had been sent by the kings. When they had left, and been brought to their uncles, other emissaries from her sons returned to the queen, bringing a sword and scissors. When she saw this, she asked what it meant. One of the emissaries, whose name was [Veridaires, a mistranslation of Aimon's veridarius, "courier" ] said to her: "Lady, your sons ask you to decide, and make a choice between two things: either your grandchildren will become clerics and be shorn with the scissors, or they will be killed with this sword; one of these two actions must be taken." When the queen heard this, she groaned and sighed, and then replied: "Ah! Pity is dead. It would be good for me to die with my children. Now the time has come that we need help to find a remedy against this evil. This is a new kind of torment, when uncles desire the death of their simple, innocent nephews. Certainly my grief is great, since I have given birth to homicidal sons, who murder their relatives, their own flesh. If they have killed other kin who have deserved it, to avenge their mother's grief, of those I do not speak, but of those whom they have no reason to hate and to despise; they wish to kill them to get their inheritance, and their father's kingdom. The children will die, bring profit to my sons, and grief to me. Alas, grieving woman that I am, what kind of progeny have I produced? Why did I offer my breasts to those who take from me the love that I have for my grandchildren? Ah, my children, I am the cause of your perdition. I urged your father to risk his life, leaving you orphaned. I have been a bad and wretched mother; now I would like to be a better grandmother. Seeing the end of my life approaching, I wanted to provide for my nephews, but now they want to kill those whom they should protect against all men, those for whom they should naturally feel pity and compassion. Sovereign God, do not place their souls among the damned, let them not be tormented with the pains of hell, but let them live in everlasting life." When the queen had finished her lament for her grandchildren, her voice broke while speaking, because she felt in her heart such great compassion and grief. When she had recovered, and renewed her spirit, she said: "Since it is now the case that I must choose one of two things offered me, whatever happens, I do not want them to become clerics." The good woman made this choice because she did not think for a moment that they would kill them, but she hoped that pity and nature would deter them from doing such a treacherous, criminal act. Although she knew how brutal Lothar could be, she could not believe that he would persist in his criminal acts to the point that he would murder his nephews. Things turned out otherwise, for the treacherous Lothar took the eldest of the children, threw him to the ground, stuck a knife in his ribs, and took his life and his kingdom from him. When the younger brother saw that his brother had been killed, he was terrified, and no wonder; in tears, he ran to king Childebert, clasped his legs, and pitifully cried out for help, begging him to calm his uncle's wrath toward him. Childebert was moved by pity, or pretended that he was, and he told his brother to calm the wrath of his heart by thinking of the bonds of kinship, letting the law of nature conquer the stirrings of wrath, and if he did this, he promised whatever reward he wished in exchange for this boon. King Lothar replied to him: "You, who proposed this act, why do you pretend to have pity for him? Cast him from you, or you will die in his place." Childebert, who feared his brother's brutality, was unable and unwilling to go against his brother's will; he cast off the child who was clinging to him. Lothar immediately stabbed him, killing him exactly as he had killed the other. Clodovald, the third child, who had seen his two brothers killed, was much more interested in saving his life than in claiming his kingdom; he escaped from danger with the aid of a good man [Where Aimon says prompta fidissimorum sibi famulorum ope usus, Primat reduces the cast], who had pity for him, and he later became a priest and a man of holy life and holy behavior. When he died, he was buried in the region of Paris, in a city named Nogent. The miracles which Our Lord later performed in his name are a sign that he is in eternal life. When the traitors had killed their nephews, that was not enough for them; they killed the tutors in the same way that they had killed the children, then he and his men mounted their horses [puis monta entre lui et sa gent, is, as Viard points out, a mistranslation of Aimon's ascenso equo ab eo recessit loco una cum suis] and left Paris. The holy queen Clotild tearfully took the bodies of her grandchildren, had them prepared and embalmed, then buried them next to their grandfather, the great king Clovis, in the church of Saint Peter, which is now called Saint Genevieve.

X

After these things were done, king Theodric arranged the marriage of his son Theodobert to Wisegard, the daughter of Wacon, the king of Lombardy. But since we have mentioned the Lombards here, we shall briefly relate here the origin of that nation, and take up some other things which have been recorded above. These people, who are called the Lombards, were first called Guime [In Aimon, Winnili]. They came from an island in Alemannia which is called Scadinave [Scandinavia in Aimon] in their language. They had two leaders, one of whom was named Ibor, and the other Maion [io in Aimon]. Looking for space in which to live, they entered Scoringua. But when they saw that this land was not fertile, and they could not defend it adequately, they went on to another, which is called Mauringua. There they appointed, from among their own people, a king named Agelmont, to rule over them. He was the son of Maion, one of the two princes who had previously ruled over them. King Agalmont ruled 30 years; after him, Lamis reigned, after Lamis Lehuz, after Lehuz Hildehoc, after Hildehoc Gudehoc received the kingdom. But after the battle that took place between Oadoacer and Feletheus, of which we spoke above, the Lombards left the land of Golland, and entered another, which was called Rugiland in their language, which means, in French, country of the Rugians, for the syllable land means "country" in French. When Gudehoc, their king, died, one of his sons, named Kaffo, ruled after him; after him Tato ruled. In the time of this king they abandoned the land of Rugiland, and came to live in a large, broad field, which is called, in the barbarian language, Fleth. While they were living there, Rudolph, the king of a people called Herulians, made an alliance with Tato, the king of the Lombards. The alliance lasted only a short time, because king Rudolph found out that the daughter of king Tato had had one of his brothers cruelly murdered. In response, Rudolph went into battle against him, but he and his people were defeated, and he was killed in the battle. In this battle, a miraculous event happened to his people, for they were so bewitched that they thought that the wheat growing in the fields were rivers, and when they raised their arms to swim, their enemies killed them very easily. Wasco, who was his nephew, the son of his brother, killed Tato, and seized his kingdom, becoming the eighth king of the Lombards. The daughter of king Wascon married Theodobert, the son of king Theodoric, as you have heard; but he left her soon after the death of his father, and took another, named Deuteria, born of Roman lineage.

After the death of the great king Clovis, the Goths invaded several countries that they had lost in his time; for this reason, king Theuderic sent Theudebert his son against them, to recover what they had taken from him. When he had led his army as far as a city called Beziers, he sent emissaries to the citizens of a castle named Cabriers, ordering them to give the castle up, and to open the gates. Lady Deuteria, whom we mentioned above, a wise woman, and of noble Roman lineage, who had come, together with her husband, to this castle, to guard against the enemies, told him that he might enter in safety, and he would be received in peace. When he approached the castle, she came out to meet him. He was struck with love when he saw how very beautiful she was. He took her, and abandoned Wisegard, the daughter of king Wascon of Lombardy, whom he had married.

XI

At this time, king Theuderic killed Sigivald, who was his relative, then secretly sent a message to Theudebert, telling him to kill Sigivald's son, who was with him in his army [imon II.xiv]. But when Theudebert received his father's orders, he did not want to carry them out, because he was the boy's godfather, and had held him at the baptismal font. When he had shown to the boy the letters that Theuderic had sent ordering his death, he told him to flee, and not to return until the king's death. He left for an unknown country, from which no news of him came. Then emissaries came to Theodobert, announcing that he father was seriously ill; when he heard this news, he left everything, including Deutheria, at the castle in Auvergne, and returned to France as quickly as possible. King Theodoric died of his illness, leaving this world after reigning 30 years. After his death, his son Theudebert took the kingdom; he was nothing like his father, for he was wise, restrained, and mild towards all of his people. God had given him still greater gifts, for he was just and a man of his word. King Childebert and king Lothar, his uncles, attempted to take his kingdom from him, and drive him from his land, but he handled them so gracefully and diplomatically that he received his kingdom in an orderly and peaceful fashion. Then he sent for Deuteria, whom he had left in the aforementioned castle, and he married her. King Childebert, who was always thinking of evil, understood very clearly that he would not be able to defeat king Theudebert or conquer him by force; he knew very well that it would be a more profitable thing for him to make a friendly alliance, than to try something that he could not bring off. Therefore he sent a message, asking him to come to him. When he arrived, Childebert made a great show of happiness, bestowing many ornaments and jewels upon him. When Givald [son of Sigivald, according to Aimon] heard that his godfather Theudobert was ruling in the place of his father, he returned to him. The king was very happy, and kissed him as his godson; he gave him his entire inheritance, and all the land that his father had held, together with the third part of all the possessions and appurtenances that he had received from his father. Deuteria, whom the king had just married, had a daughter by her first husband; she was fully grown, and her mother feared that her lord, king Theudobert would desire her. Because of this fear, she put her in a cart drawn by bulls that had not been tamed, and she was then tossed into the Meuse, on Deuteria's orders, at a village named Verdun. When king Theudebert, who was very civilized and well-mannered, knew what she had done, he left her, and took back Wisigard, to whom he had previously been engaged.

XII

In this place it is right for us to take up other events that fit the material of which we have just spoken. You have heard how Justinian, the emperor of Constantinople, hated Belisarius, and, on the advice of traitors, exiled him, and how he recovered favor by the battle he waged against the Vandals. Even though the emperor, before being chosen to govern the empire, had loved him more than any other man, he then hated him very much, and clearly without cause, since Belisarius always behaved well and loyally towards him. After he had beaten the Vandals, captured their king, and led him in chains before the emperor, he loved him so and had such confidence in him, that he became the emperor's principal advisor. The traitors were so unhappy about this that they plotted against him, fearing that his increasing power would be used to their detriment. Accordingly, they went to the emperor one day, pretended to be very solicitous about his honor and well-being, and spoke to him in this way: "Sir, in keeping with the oaths that we have taken, and especially because of the love that we feel for you, we advise you to avoid taking Belisarius' advice, and to be on your guard against him, because he awaits only the time and the place to kill you, and had we not prevented this from happening by clever dissimulation, he would have killed you already, seized the entire empire, and deprived it of its rightful lord." With such words [

Viard, p. 141, n. 1 points out that this speech seems to be original with Primat] and with such false representations, the treacherous servants and the greatest men of the palace spoke, and the emperor slowly grew to hate Belisarius in his heart, and he began to be suspicious of the great power and authority that he had in the palace. He commanded Belisarius to come before him, and ordered him to have nothing more to do with governing the empire. Belisarius returned to his home after he had been deprived of his office, intending to live henceforth without anxiety and without public responsibility. He never left his home without twelve (Aimon says 12,000) well-armed men from his own company leading the way, ready and well-equipped to defend him if need be. But, because it is is difficult to live prosperously without incurring envy, it was not enough for his enemies to have done what they had done, but their hate and envy grew daily. Some proposed and wished to kill him in his home. The traitors thought of an even greater crime; when they saw that they could not get the emperor to do everything they wished and thought, they thought that they would deprive him of his imperial dignity. Thus, when the emperor was on his way to the city theater one day to enjoy himself watching the games, those who wished to carry out the disloyalty they had conceived, having the time and the place to do it, attacked him in a hidden place, vilely snatched his crown from his head, and stripped him of the imperial purple; then they took another man, named Florian, led him to the theater, and there crowned him emperor, seating him on the imperial throne (532 AD). The theater is a public place where all the people assemble for the games. Justinian, who was thus deposed, quickly sent a well-spoken emissary to Belisarius, with words like these: "Belisarius, lovely, dear friend, I beg you to forget the shameful things that I have done to you, without cause, but keep in mind our ancient friendship, and the good things I have done for you, and help me if you can." Belisarius replied to him: "Had he permitted me to remain in power, in the position in which I had been, I would have helped him. Now he begs me in vain, because I have no power, having been deprived of the rights I should have. Nevertheless, I wish to obey Our Lord's commandement, which says that one should not render ill for ill. I shall prepare myself, and help him as best I can." Having said this, he took all his servants, and whatever he had of his retainers, armed them all in secret, and went to the theater where the faithless emperor was. When he was very close, he looked at the crowd of his enemies around the throne of Florien, their new emperor, turned towards his own men, and said to them: "Oh my good friends and my dear retainers, whom I have always found good and loyal, see here the day and the hour that I have always wanted, when we are able to take vengeance on our mortal enemies. See there the tyrant surrounded by the crowd of traitors who are in league with him, and who treacherously made him emperor. No one need fear that they who share the same evil will not die the same death. Therefore take the spear of justice in your right hands, and do what you see me doing." When he had thus urged his men to do well, he entered the theater and came before the emperor. Pretending for a moment to kneel before him, he took his sword and struck him so that his head flew off. His knights and his people now drew their swords and struck the traitors, striking left and right with such force that those who previously had been allied with their emperor thought more of fleeing than of defending themselves. Belisarius took the crown and the head of Florian, then came to Justinian and said to him: " Those who were envious of your well-being and of mine tried to sow hatred and discord between us, as a result of which you took my honor and position from me; when you had been stripped and deprived of my support, they were able to bring upon you the disgrace which they have now done. I did not set my heart on vengeance for the harm that you did to me, without cause, at their urging, but I have given you back the crown and the empire that they took from you. And because I kept in mind our old friendship, and the good things that you have done for me, I have rewarded you accordingly." Having said this, he put the crown on his head. After Justinian had been reestablished on the throne, he again made Belisarius patrician and seneschal of the entire empire; a short time later, he sent him to Italy against the Goths, who were doing great harm to the Romans.

XIII

At that time, the glorious confessor saint Benedict was alive [Aimon II.xvi. ] He lived 40 miles from Rome, in a place called Soublac. From there he came to Mount Cassino, where he lived in a dignified and holy manner, resplendent with many great virtues, as saint Gregory recounts [book 2 of Dialogues, PL LXVI, col. 125ff].

At that same time (536 AD), saint Agapitus, the apostle of Rome, went to Constantinople, to the emperor Justinian, who had fallen into heresy. The holy man led him back to the true faith of the church of Rome, condemning Anthimus, the patriarch of Constantinople, who had fallen into this heresy. The holy man did not return then to Rome, but died in the city of Constantinople. After him, Silverius held the holy see, whom Theodatus [Primat has Theodoses here, where Aimon has Theodatus, and, in some mss., Theodorus], the king of the Goths, appointed by force, without the knowledge, and without the assent of the emperor. He was so corrupted by money, that he ordered all those who did not consent to him to be put to the sword. But God very quickly took vengeance, for Silverius lived only two months after he did this. After him, another man, called Vitiges, was crowned. At this point, Belisarius came to Sicily; there he heard that the Goths had made a new king, so he quickly rode through Campania to Naples. He laid siege to the city, for the citizens would not open the gates; finally, he took it by force, and put to the sword all the Goths whom he found within it. Then he fought and defeated king Vitiges. Then he came to Rome, garrisoned the city, and left. Vitiges then gathered his forces after Belisarius' departure, and laid siege to Rome. The Romans held out so tenaciously, that no one could get in or out of the city. The Romans and all the people suffered so greatly from hunger, that they contracted many diseases. Belisarius, who had not remained, fought many a battle against his enemies, and won many a victory, driving them finally as far as the city of Ravenna.

A cleric named Vigilius, deacon and keeper of the archives of the Church, saw that the excommunication by saint Agapitus, the apostle of Rome, of the patriarch Anthimus, did not please the emperor and empress. He thought he could gain favor with them by encouraging what he thought would please them. Therefore he came to the empress, and said that she should tell the apostle Silverius, when he had received this message, to recall Anthimus the patriarch, and that he should be put back in his see. When saint Silverius had read the message, he began to groan loudly, and to sigh. He wrote this reply to the empress: "August Lady, even if I gain your ill-will, and even if this should happen to bring about the end of my earthly life, I shall not, may it please God, recall this man, who is corrupt and damned in heresy." The empress, who was very angry with this response, sent Vigilius, the cleric, who had pursued this task, to Belisarius, who was then in that region, and told him to contrive an occasion by means of which he might send into exile the apostle Silverius, putting Vigilius, who carried this message, in his place. The empress had done this because Vigilius had promised to recall Anthimus. When Belisarius received the letters, he was not happy with his orders, and he said: "I shall never go against the will of princes, but I shall carry out their commands against the wishes of my heart, but those who pursue this crime will not escape the vengeance of the judge who sees all things." False witnesses were then introduced against Saint Silverius, and they said that he wanted to deliver the city and prince Belisarius to the Goths, who were the enemies of the empire. Belisarius commanded him to go to Constantinople and present himself to the empress. He did as he was ordered. When he arrived at the palace, the empress questioned him in words like these: "Tell me, Silverius, how have we harmed you, that you wish to deliver us into the hands of our enemies?" As she spoke to him, a deacon named John took the mantle from his neck, and clothed him in the habit of a monk; then he was ordered into exile in the island of Ponza, and Vigilus, who had brought this about, became the Pope. Belisarius assembled his troops and fought against king Vitigus. in this battle, the king suffered a great defeat, in which most of his men were killed, and he himself taken and brought to Constantinople.

XIV

King Childebert, who had established the seat of his kingdom at Paris, commanded his nephew, king Theudebert, to prepare his army to help him against his brother, king Lothar [Aimon II.xviii; LHF XXV; Gregory III.xxviii. Primat followed LHF, Viard argues, reasoning from error involving combros]. Theudebert obeyed, and they joined their forces and made great preparations to harm king Lothar. An emissary came to their mother, the good queen Clotild, who was living in Paris, and told her that her sons were preparing great armies with great numbers of people, to destroy each other. The mother, understanding that her children were plotting such a crime in their hearts against each other, wishing to destroy themselves and their people, grieved deeply in her heart, as a mother would. She quickly went to Tours, to prostrate herself in prayer before before the body of lordly Saint Martin, sighing and pouring forth tears. She prayed to God and to the body of the saint in words like these: "Oh God, Jesus Christ, who joins together the discordant course of the elements in sacred conjunction, knit together in the bond of peace, according to natural law, the two brothers now torn asunder by the evil of discord. Sir, I beg you that I be spared the pain of having born and brought up children of such great brutality that they may not spare one another, nor recognize the bonds of kinship and friendship. They have killed their uncles, strangled their nephews [a contradiction of the earlier passage, where a knife was the instrument of murder], and, although they have committed many crimes, I never thought that their rage would lead them to forget their fraternal bond and love. Oh lord, powerful father, judge and author of nature, I beg you to establish peace and love between these blood brothers, and frighten with your power, all those who disturb peace and harmony." Our Lord heard the holy woman's prayer, and suddenly, in the part of the sky that was brightest and clearest, it began to thunder. King Lothar, who saw that he had not assembled enough forces to match those assembled by the two kings, became frightened, and fled to Orlenois, to a city named Combrons [mistranslating, along with Aimon, LHF's combros, "a pile of trees cut down"] until his brothers might be less angry with him, and until his army might grow and be strengthened by the people who were supposed to arrive, as well as by other aid that he was waiting for, from day to day. But the greatest hope he had was in the power of Our Lord. Then Our Lord clearly showed that he had listened to the prayers of their mother, for exactly where the two kings and their armies were positioned, a sudden clap of thunder sounded, which made such a frightening noise that the entire army was terrified. Then it began to rain profusely, while lightning and storms fell so densely and profusely, and the wind blew so strongly, that it scattered the tents and horses in different directions. The knights were unprotected against the rain, and against the blows of the storm, except for the shields with which they covered themselves. They all lay on the ground in great fear and in great devotion, praying to Our Lord to spare them, and not to take vengeance upon them for the sins they had committed. It was a greater miracle that in the part of the field in which Lothar's army was positioned, there was no wind, not a drop of water fell, and there was no sign of lightning or thunder. The two kings, who had come there to carry all before them, sent their emissary to king Lothar to ask for peace and permanent harmony. King Lothar willingly granted this to them; then the armies parted in friendship and in peace, and each went back to his own country. In this way the children were saved and protected, together with their people, from death, as a result of their mother's prayer, nor did Our Lord permit them to accomplish their criminal intentions. As a result, everyone who loved peace and harmony between the two brothers was happy.

At that time a vision came to Saint Germanus in his sleep. It seemed to him that an old man was offering him the keys to the city of Paris. He asked the old man what this meant, and he replied that he would know what it meant later. Then it happened that the bishop of Paris, whose name was Eusebius, died, as he was going to a meeting about church affairs with king Childebert. The meaning of the vision became clear in the election that followed, for saint Germanus was elected to the office of bishop.

XV

King Childebert, who had previously been in Spain for I don't know how many years, and had captured the city of Toledo, called upon his brother Lothar for help, for between the two of them they had previously established peace and friendship. He came to him, leading a large and powerful army, and together they rode as far as Saragossa, which means, "Caesar-Augustus." In this city, saint Vincent was martyred. The kings besieged the city, because the citizens would not open the gates. The assault was great and dangerous; those within put up an excellent defense. Finally, when the Spaniards saw the great siege surrounding the city, and they recognized the force and pride of the French, they wished to fight no longer, but placed all their hope in the mercy of Our Lord. They took the cross and the blessed water, and made a procession around the city walls, singing responses and litanies. The kings, when they first saw this, thought that the Spaniards were performing some kind of sorcery or witchcraft. They took one of the Spanish peasants and asked him what was the religion and the belief of the people inside the city, and why they were circling the city. The peasant replied that they were Christian, and that they were praying to Our Lord for help. "Go," said the kings, "to the bishop inside the city, and tell him to come, with a guarantee of safety, to speak with us." The good man went to the bishop and delivered the message. When the peasant came back before the kings, king Childebert spoke to him, saying: "Because you are Christian and believe in him who is the true God, we have decided that we shall spare you, if you will do what we ask." Then he turned his speech to the bishop and said to him: "Oh bishop, you who are prelate for this city, if you are willing to give us the relics of the good martyr saint Vincent, whose holy way of living shone in this city, and who was crowned with martyrdom, as Saint Germanus, the bishop of Paris, our city, has told us often, and as other reliable witnesses have testified, we shall remove the siege from your city, and let you live in peace." Unhesitatingly, the bishop brought them the stole and the vest of saint Vincent; the kings took it very devoutly, and raised the siege, as they had promised. After laying waste and pillaging the area they returned to France. King Childebert had an abbey founded outside the walls of Paris, under the disposition and direction of saint Germanus, in honor of the blessed martyr saint Vincent, which is now called Saint Germain de Prez. In this church he deposited the neck ornament and the vest of the glorious martyr, and a great part of the treasures that he had brought from Toledo, like chalices of gold, texts of the New Testament, and a beautifully crafted crucifix.

When Amalric, the brother-in-law of the two kings, was killed, as we have said, Theuda received the kingdom of Spain, as much as had been held by Amalric; when Theuda was killed, Theudegisel was king after him. One night, while Theudegisel was having an unusually good time eating dinner, his own people, who had plotted his death, extinguished the candles, and killed him sitting at dinner. After him, Agila was king (550-554), and he was also killed. The Goths had a criminal habit of killing their king if he displeased them even a bit.

While the two kings were still in Spain, king Theudebert, their nephew, son of king Theuderic their brother, entered Italy with a large army. He captured and made subject to tribute all the area from the Alps to the land along the shore. Then he returned to France, leaving behind in the country one of his princes, whose name was Bucelin, together with the majority of his army, to conquer lands he had not himself yet conquered, and especially to submit the kingdom of Sicily to his authority. Bucelin crossed the sea which divides the kingdom of Sicily from Apulia and Calabria, and succeeded in conquering a large part of the land. He captured and pillaged the cities and castles, sending to king Theudebert the spoils they had won from the different nations whom he had compelled to submit and pay tribute.

At that time, Belisarius, of whom we have spoken many times, went to Africa, on the orders of the emperor, against Wiltharic, the king of the Vandals, who were in revolt against the empire. Belisarius managed to capture him, by a trick I know nothing about, because the history says nothing about how he did it, and he had him killed. He compelled the Vandals who survived the killing to submit, as before, to the empire. When he learned that Bucelin and the French were in Italy, he made great haste to get to Rome [Narses, not Belisarius actually was involved in the expedition against Bucelin]. When he entered the city, he was received with great honor by the men and the women. At the altar of Saint Peter he offered, through the apostle Vigilius, a golden cross, weighing 100 pounds, adorned with rich, precious jewels. On the cross he had had inscribed the victories he had won over his enemies, then he returned to fight the French. He did not take them seriously when he saw how few of them there were. He was fooled by the small number, not realizing their great strength. He attacked them vigorously, and they responded with equal vigor. But a wise man, no matter how sure of himself he is, must never make light of his enemies; he should fear them. And because he held them in such low esteem, he took with him only a few of his own men. The Romans fought to protect their lives and their country, the French to gain glory and praise. And because they expected that their victory would be more glorious if they were able to beat the Romans, who had conquered the entire world, they swore at the beginning of the battle that they would die exactly where they stood in the field, rather than retreat a step. They fought long and hard, in various parts of the field, and the battled lasted a long time before anyone seemed to weaken. At the end, when the Romans saw that their lives were in danger, and they saw that their enemies were fighting so bitterly and so strongly, they began, little by little, to retreat from the battlefield, leaving Belisarius almost alone among his enemies. He defended himself nobly, as long as he could, but the French surrounded him on all sides, and the noble, loyal, powerful prince, who had won so many victories, and had captured and killed so many kings, was captured and killed. He was overcome and beaten, and lost his life and the glory of his name, by a small group of men, and by a captain, not of an emperor or a king, but of a French prince [Belisarius actually died in Constantinople, and not in Italy, in March of 566. Viard suggests a confusion here with Bucelin, who was killed in 554; see RHG II, p. 207, note c].

XVI

In the time of this prince, emissaries went from the city of Le Mans to Monte Cassino in Apulia; they were sent to saint Benedict, who had come there from his [hermitage. Aimon II. xxii. ] They asked and implored that he send to western regions some of his monks who were sufficiently devout in thought and behavior to initiate and teach those who might want to submit to the discipline and holy rule that he had put together and promulgated. The holy man, who was very pleased with this request, told saint Maur, his pupil and his disciple, whom he loved very much, to go to France to do what the emissaries were asking for. When he left, he declared that he would die, and told him that the time was near that he would leave this life. He indicated that he clearly wanted the precious relics of his body to be brought to the country to which he was sending his disciple, to whom he was joined in great love and affection. Saint Maur obeyed his father's command. When he was close to the city of Auxerre, he stopped at a monastery where saint Romains lived. Saint Romains [Acta sanct, jan I, pp. 1044-45] is the one who brought up saint Benedict, and first gave him the garment of religion. When saint Maur arrived, exactly on the Tuesday of the grievous week in which Jesus Christ's Last Supper is celebrated, the holy man was very glad to see him. After they had spoken together about many things, and he had eased his guest of the weariness brought on by his exertions, saint Maur announced to him the day on which the blessed father would pass on to everlasting joy. That very night, the eve of the vigil of Easter Day, on the 12th of the calends of April, it happened that saint Maur was carried away in spirit. He saw a path that led from the cell of saint Benedict up to the sky; the entire path was miraculously illuminated, and shone with the clarity of innumerable lamps. He was covered and adorned with silk, and he heard an angel tell him that the spirit of saint Benedict would mount to the heavens by this path. When saint Maur recovered, he began weeping copiously, partly for the joy that the vision had brought him, and partly for the pity that he felt for his father's death. He told the vision to saint Romain, so that he might share his joy. Our Lord's glory is made manifest in his saints, for he performs miracles for those who please him. He prepared the way to come to him for this noble father more than for other saints. For all of his life he had ordered and arranged the steps and degrees of virtues in his heart, in this valley of tears, that is, in this mortal life, and he showed the ladder of Jacob, by means of which the angels had been seen climbing and descending in holy conversations, to those who wished to follow the example he had set by his life and behavior. But because we speak with respect for the other saints, I do not call him a martyr, but an apostle; for his holy death, he was resplendent with divine brilliance, and dressed in marriage robes. However, one should not believe that the golden silk which adorns the path that leads to the kingdom that is without corruption was made and sewn by mortal hand. It is not surprising that the apostle of Our Lord, who had taught and preached on earth the new law of sacred religion, had such great glory at his death, since he shone so brightly with so many miracles while still dressed and wrapped in the corruption of the flesh. And had saint Gregory, who describes his life and miracles for us, not been a witness of unquestionable veracity, some people, perhaps, might not have believed his deeds. And although I pass over the miracles that he did while a child in the hermitage, and I pass over what a wise man said of him, that saint Martin, who was world-famous, never performed as many miracles as he, I shall not pass over the three kinds of miracles with which he shone, which had never, before his time, been heard of. The first was that he untied a peasant tied with very strong chains, merely by looking at him; the second was that he saw the entire world in a moment in a ray of sunlight; the third was that at his death, the path to the sky was made ready, adorned with burning lamps and with robes. We who have in our presence such a noble father and great patron, should be very careful and diligent to do well. No one should fear that he will not help us, nor that he will not untie the spiritual chains of our sins, with which our souls are tied, just as he untied the peasant bound with physical chains. The glorious saint Gregory, whose life and whose teaching shone in the holy church like fine gold, described for us the life and the miracles of the glorious confessor and apostle, saint Benedict.

XVII

In that time, saint Gregory, not the apostle, but someone else, was bishop of Langres [Aimon II.24]. And because we have mentioned him, it is right that we describe a castle where he often stayed, which is called Dijon. This castle rests on a plain, and was founded by an emperor named Aurelius, according to the old records. This castle is surrounded by square, chiselled stone walls, 15 feet thick and 50 feet high. The castle is also encircled by thirty-three towers, which enclose the walls, and are placed carefully, and correctly proportioned. The castle has four gates, which look out at the four parts of the sky, one towards the east, another towards the south, the third towards the west, and the fourth towards the north. The land around it is fertile and productive; on the south side, runs a river named the Ouche, abundant with all kinds of fish; on the northeast side, runs another river, which enters one of the gates of the castle and goes out another with such force that it turns the mills very easily. It is remarkable that a castle of such nobility does not carry the title of a city [in Gregory the distinction is between a town and a bishopric].

At this time queen Clothild became sick with an illness which led to her death. Old and full of days, she died in the city of Tours (c. 545). King Lothar and king Childebert had her body carried to Paris in a great procession, accompanied by many churchmen. They buried her in the church of Saint Peter at the side of her lord, the great king Clovis. In that same church lies the body of saint Genevieve.

Then saint Germanus, bishop of Paris, went into the territory of king Theudebert, to Chalon, on church business. The great man was so gracious and full of the Holy Spirit that the king granted his request before he had finished his petition. Prophetically, he told the king of his approaching death, and a few days later the king caught a fever on his arrival at Rheims. He passed from this world in the 13th year of his reign, as though the word of the holy man had come from the mouth of an angel. Before passing away, he gave to the citizens of Verdun 8000 sous, their yearly payment to him, to restore the city at the request of saint Desiderius, bishop of the city. This king was very considerate and kind in his word and responses to everyone. He loved saint Maur very much, permitting him to found an abbey in a part of his kingdom. This monastery is in Poitou, and is called Glanfeuil; he very generously granted to it considerable land and rents. After him, one of his sons, named Theudebald, reigned. He was generous to God and to his service; he loved the prelates and ministers of the church, but he was cruel to his people.

At this time, a miraculous sign appeared; a star entered the sky so swiftly that it struck the moon.

In this year a kind of tree called the elder bore grapes, and the flowers of the trees, which ordinarily bear elderberries, bore grapes.

In this year there was such a great frost that people could walk on the rivers; the birds were so weak with hunger and cold that they could be taken without effort from their nests, in one's hands.

King Theudebald married Walderada, the daughter of king Waco of Lombardy; she was the sister of Wisgard, his stepmother. He governed his kingdom eight years (d. 555), then he died. He left his wealth and his kingdom to his uncle, king Lothar, for the history speaks of no heir engendered by him. Those who read this history should not think that all the kings we have named were kings of France, but only those who had their seat of government in Paris, for they were all brothers and nephews descended of the same lineage, although their kingdoms were in other parts of France, as has been described above.

King Lothar had, by different wives, seven sons and a daughter, whose names were: Gunthar, Childeric, Charibert, Guntram, Sigibert, Chilperic, and Chramn, and the daughter was named Clothsind. By Aregund, the sister of Ingund, he engendered Chilperic, by another woman, named Chunsina, he had Chramn.

At this time the French hated Parthenius very much; he was very powerful in the palace during Theudebert's reign. The reason why he was so bitterly hated was that he levied heavy taxes and other exactions from the people when he was in power. He understood very well that he would not be able to remain alive among them, if he remained any longer (now that Theudebert was dead). Therefore he begged two bishops to accompany him as safe conduct to the city of Treves, and to pacify the people by their words and sermons. One night, while these bishops were escorting Parthenius, he began to cry out loudly in his sleep: "Harou! Harou! Help me, you who are around me!" Those who lay near him awoke, and asked what was wrong with him, and why he was shouting so. He replied that he had seen in his sleep Ausanius, who used to be one of his friends, and Papianilla, his own wife, whom he had killed in a fit of jealous suspicion, and they were calling to him, as though compelled, and they said: "Come before God to plead for us, because you killed us without cause." The bishops who were escorting Parthenius came to Treves, and found the people agitated and angry with him. They struggled to appease their anger, and did all they could to make them pardon Parthenius' malevolence towards them. But when they saw that their efforts were of no avail, they led him to a church, and put him in a box, covering him with fabrics and church vestments. The angry people of the city came, and searched everywhere they thought they could find him. As they were about to leave, bursting with rage at not being able to find him, one of the crowd began to shout: "Here is a box in which we have not searched for our enemy." At this, they all returned. When the box was opened, they found him inside. Viciously he was pulled and dragged out, tied to a column, and stoned until his head was completely broken. Thus ended the life of Parthenius, who had always been a wretch, full of the worst vices. He was a glutton, who, after having eaten, took aloes and other spices to empty his stomach quickly, to be able to eat again more quickly. He had another vile habit; he farted in public, openly and shamelessly.

XVIII

King Lothar had ordained that all churches give him a third part of their revenues. But this law was broken by the bishops who would not assent [The placement of the period is significant, since in Gregory the story involves St. Injuriosus as the leader of clerical resistance by no means universal].

The king prepared his army to fight against the Saxons, who had entered his country several times, and had done severe damage to the land. He fought against them at a river called the Weser; he defeated them, and then moved against the Thuringians, who are now called the Lorrains. Because they had fought against him, supporting his enemies, he laid waste their lands, and ravaged everything in his path. The Saxons, who had been defeated in the battle mentioned above, again prepared a force to renew the battle. The king returned with a great army ready to receive them. But because they saw the king's strength, and especially because they had been severely humiliated in the previous defeat, they asked the king for pity and pardon, promising that they would in the future amend their behavior towards him. Then they offered to give him half of all they owned, excepting their women and children, and they offered fine hostages as security for this agreement. The French spurned this offer, refusing it outright, telling them that they would never survive unless through battle. When the Saxons saw that they had to fight, they gathered their courage and laid aside despair. They fought so hard that they killed many French, so that only a few remained with the king, and those who had not been killed remained with him more to join the escape than to bring him help.

The king had a son named Chramn, whom we mentioned above. He was good-looking and tall, of unstable temperament, without equal for malice and treachery, courageous and always ready to fight. His father had granted him his power when he came of age and had sent him to Aquitaine to watch over the province. A man who could not control his emotions, he behaved not like the son of a king, but like a tyrant, for he was full of such great cruelty that he destroyed the land he was supposed to protect. The king, when he heard complaints about what Chramn was doing, sent an emissary to order him to return, because he wished to chastise him, and to check his pride and his madness. He did not want to return to his father, but instead went to Paris, to his uncle Childebert, having no intention of ever returning to his father. He tried every trick to break up relations between his relatives and his father, king Lothar, particularly working on king Childebert, his uncle, whom he had already persuaded to hate his brother, and to desire his death. Together Chramn and Childebert conspired against Lothar; Chramn swore on all the saints that he would be the mortal enemy, all the days of his life, of his father. They would have carried out the insane crime they had conceived in their hearts, had they been able to. But God prevented them, for king Childebert died first. After Chramn had made the alliance with his uncle, he returned to Aquitaine to carry out the malice he had begun, and to take and hold the land. King Lothar, who was very angry with what his son had done, could not go after him, because he was busy with raising an army against the Saxons; but he sent to Aquitaine an army, and two of his sons, Guntram and Charibert, who rode there swiftly, as far as Limousin. There they camped on a mountain called Black Mountain, and told their brother to give up the land that he had taken. He replied that he would do it willingly. But when they saw that he maliciously delayed, they approached nearer, and drew up their forces for battle. On his side, Chramn prepared to do the same thing; they would have committed this crime, had wind and storm not kept them apart. Meanwhile Chramn, full of malice, convinced his brothers, by sending men into their camp, that their father had been killed in fighting the Saxons. Thinking this to be true, they made preparations and left for Burgundy as quickly as possible. When he saw that they had left, Chramn rode after them, capturing the city of Chalon, and reaching the castle of Dijon. Some of the clerics in the town were very eager to know what the future would bring; they placed two books on the altar of the church, one was the gospels, and the other the letters of St. Paul. After praying to Our Lord, they opened the gospels and the first verse they found was this: Qui non audit verba mea assimilabitur viro stulto qui edificavit domum suam super arenam, etc... That is, "Who does not hear my words, who am the father, is like the stupid man who builds a house upon sand etc..." Then they opened the book of the epistles of Saint Paul; there the first verse they found was this: Cum dixerint pax et securitas, tunc repentinus veniet eis interitus. In French, this would be: "When they shall have said peace and security, then sudden death will come upon them." They understood that these passages applied specifically to Chramn. King Childebert, who believed that his brother king Lothar had been killed in battle against the Saxons, made an armed attack on Champagne la Renciene; he took booty, and burned and laid waste the country.

The enterprises and plans of Chramn were completely destroyed by the death of king Childebert, for a deadly illness took him off. He died old and full of days, having reigned 49 years. He was buried in the church of Saint Vincent, which he had founded, together with saint Germanus, the bishop of Paris. His kingdom and wealth became the property of king Lothar, his brother, for he had no bodily heir. At this time, the church had not yet been dedicated as Saint Vincent [the rest of this paragraph is printed as a footnote by Bouquet (p. 61), since it comes from another manuscript of Aimon than the one used as the basis for his edition]. King Lothar had it dedicated by saint Germanus in the presence of Ultrogotha the queen, who had been the wife of king Childebert; also present at this holy dedication were Chrotberga and Chrotsinda, Lothar's cousins, and many noble men. On that day, the king gave a large amount of land and income to the church, confirming the gifts with his royal seal.

XIX

(560) When Chramn saw that he had lost the aid and comfort of his uncle, king Childebert, who had died, he fled to little Britanny, to Conaber, who was king of that land, intending to enlist his aid to prepare an expedition against his father. King Conaber had married a very noble woman, whose name was Chalda [an error by Primat in translating Aimon; this woman was Chramn's wife], the daughter of Willecarius, the duke of Aquitaine. This duke was very frightened by king Lothar's words, because he had supported Chramn against him, and was consequently attacked by Lothar; he fled for safety to the monastery of St. Martin of Tours, just as another duke, whose name was Austrapius, had already done. Those who had been sent there by the king to take him thought they would draw him out of the monastery, but they were unable. Then they set fire to the monastery, and burned the church, with duke Guillercaire inside. The king, who wanted to make up for the damage he had done to Saint Martin, restored the church to a wealthier and more noble condition than before, and had it covered with tin very richly.

The king, who had grown very angry with his son, did not want to disguise the damage he had done, but summoned his army, and prepared his forces from all parts, then went to Britanny. Chramn, who had paid the Bretons and whatever other men he could find who would fight for him for pay, returned to fight him, bringing, to help him, Conaber the king of Britanny, and all his people. When the two armies had come to the field of battle, each tested and examined the hearts of his men. Chramn saw clearly that the Bretons whom he had hired for wages would keep their faith and their loyalty to him, according to the agreements they had made, and king Lothar, who would not pardon his son's evil intentions, saw that his men were capable and ready for battle. Then they determined to settle the affair by arms and battle. But the king, who was suspicious of the fickleness of fortune, made this prayer to God, sad and tearful that they were coming to battle: "God, Jesus Christ, who himself knows the hearts of men, I beg you to receive my prayers, and judge my cause rightly. I am certain that you, who see all things, know the crimes of my son Chramn, how he has forgotten all natural piety, and how he raised arms as a mortal enemy against the life of his father, and that what he could not do secretly and treacherously, he tried to accomplish openly and by arms; in his desire to take the life of an old man, he has no fear of destroying a great many people. And certainly I have given him strong hope of ruling after me, since I gave him, of my own free will, Aquitaine to rule. But he did not wish to wait until my life was over, but chose to win the kingdom by parricide, spilling the blood of his father. Dear God, look down from heaven, and judge rightly, according to the judgement you once made against Absalom, when he revolted against his father David. I am, it seems to me, the second David, if my faith be firm. He believed that the Redeemer of the world would come, and I believe that He has come, and that he will come at the day of judgement, to judge the entire world." Our Lord heard Lothar's prayer, for, when the battle was joined, and had lasted a long time, he conquered his enemies, and pursued them to their boats, which they had prepared and outfitted at the river bank; in case fortune went against them, and they were defeated, they could come to the boats for protection. In the course of the chase, most of the Bretons were killed. Chramn was caught, just as he was trying to lead his wife and daughters away from being captured. He was quickly led before his father, stretched on a bench, and tied tightly in a part of a little house (hut). The king had Chramn's wife and daughters placed with him, then set fire to the house. Thus Chramn, his wife and his daughters, and the house, all burned together. Such vengeance did the father take on the son who tried to kill him; he was punished without pity by his father's decision, because he himself was empty of all pity; I don't know whom he would have spared, if he wouldn't spare his own father.

In this year, two great swarms of grasshoppers moved through Auvergne and Limousin, and then came together in a great plain; there they fought a great battle, and so many died, that they lay piled in the fields like a small mountain.

In the time when Lothar held the kingdom of France, Aldoin governed the kingdom of Lombardy; a short time later he led the Lombards into Pannonia, which is now called Slavonia.

At this point Totilus was king of the Goths who lived in Italy after the death of king Vitigus. Totilus went to visit saint Benedict. The holy man rebuked him strongly for his brutality. Totilus promptly improved greatly, keeping in check the criminal brutality of his heart, corrected by the holy man's teaching. Benedict then said, in the spirit of prophecy, that he would cross the sea, enter the city of Rome, reign for nine years, and the tenth year would be the end of his life.

. XX

Pope Vigilius, who followed saint Silverius in the office, in the manner that we have described above, received letters from Antonia, the empress of Constantinople, whose purport was this: "Come to us, and carry out the promise that you made to us at the humble request of our father Anthimus, and recall him to the office of the patriarch, as he should be." When Pope Vigilius received these words, he wrote back: "Honored lady. I cannot do what you ask. I spoke at that time badly and foolishly; I shall never consent to recall to the office of patriarch a man broken and damned by heresy." When the empress had received this response, she sent to Rome the scribe Anthimus, and many armed knights, ordering them to take Pope Vigilius by force, which was against the laws and common rules of the empire, and to make him come by sea to Constantinople, into her presence, with no church offering protection for him, except the church of the apostles. When Anthimus arrived at Rome, he found Pope Vigilius singing mass in the monastery of Saint Cecelia, whose holiday was being celebrated that very day, the tenth calends of December (22 November, 545). When the good man had finished singing, and had distributed alms to the poor, Anthimus seized him, and quickly had him put in a boat, to bring him to Constantinople, in accordance with the empress' orders. The people of Rome accompanied him to the ship, and then asked for his blessing. Then, very quickly, the mariners raised sail and left the port. The Romans were very unhappy at this departure, and, in their hatred for Anthimus, they threw rocks and spears and whatever they could get a hold of, and they insulted him, saying to him: "May hunger and disease follow you all the days of your life. You have done evil to the Romans; may you find evil wherever you go." Some of the Roman clerics who loved him very much went with him, and were ordained in holy orders by him in Sicily, where he was brought to a city called Syracuse [Catania in Aimon and Liber Pontificalis]. Then he left the church in their hands, and made them return to Rome. The emperor and the clergy received him honorably, and he remained in the city for two years. Then the emperor asked him to recall Anthimus to the community of the holy church, as he had promised, and he showed him the hand by means of which he had guaranteed this promise. Eventually their conversation reached the point that the Pope said: "I thought that I had come to the fine leader of the imperial community, to the emperor and his honorable lady, but I find them more brutal than Diocletian and his wife Eleutheria ever were. But since Our Lord has seen fit to deliver me into your hands, as punishment for my sins, I shall suffer whatever torment you inflict upon me. I see clearly that God rewards me justly, but I have deserved even worse punishment for my sins. Vengeance has swiftly followed the sinful deed I did when Pope Silverius was ousted and sent into exile by me. I know very well that I may not escape the eyes of him who sees all; he takes vengeance for the machination I contrived against the holy man." Hearing these words, one of the ministers of the palace raised his hand and struck him in the face, saying: "Murderer, do you not know to whom you are speaking? Do you think that we have forgotten that you struck our notary, when you were clerk of the palace, with a mortal blow? And Hastarum, the son of a widow, to whom you married your niece, whom you had beaten to death with sticks; and the apostle Silverius, who was exiled by your efforts and advice." When Pope Vigilius heard this, he was afraid, and placed all of his hope in Our Lord; he fled into the church of Saint Euphemius, and clung to one of the columns of the altar. Men sent by the emperor tied a rope to his neck and dragged him from the church. Shamefully he was led and whipped through the city. In the evening he was put in prison, on short rations, and he was given each day only bread and water. Finally, the emperor had him released from prison, and gave leave to him and his clerics to return to Rome, at the request of Narses, one of the eunuchs at court. When the Pope reached Apulia, he fell ill in a city named Syracuse, from the travail he had undergone. There he died of a gallstone (7 June 555). His attendant ministers carried his body to Rome, where he was buried in Saint Marcel via Salaria. After him, another man, named Pelagius, became Pope.

XXI

(551) Totilus, the king of the Goths, went to Sicily. He took the land and laid it waste, then he returned to Rome and laid siege to it. The besieged Romans suffered so from hunger that they wanted to eat their children. They were so wearied and battered by battles and continual assaults, that they were unable to defend the city; Totilus and his people were well aware of their distress, broke the walls on the side facing Ostia, and entered the city. He intended to spare more citizens than he killed, therefore he had horns and trumpets blown all night when he entered the city, wishing to frighten the Romans by the sound of the trumpets into hiding in the churches and other places, to avoid being killed. He stayed with them a short period of time; they found in him more pity and paternal love than the brutality and criminality of a tyrant. His pity and his good disposition were the result of having been trained by saint Benedict, who had upbraided and chastized him for the cruel things he had done.

Some of the Roman senators, who were accustomed to worldly glory and praise, and then became the captive remnant of a deserted city, went to the emperor of Constantinople, humbly begging him to help them against the Goths, to whom they were in subjection and servitude. Caesar was very troubled by this news, and by the troubles which had unfortunately occurred in the Esperial kingdom (That is, in the kingdom of Italy, which was named after a star which is close to that region, or because of a king who reigned in that country, who was named Hesperus). He commanded Narses to go to that region to deliver the Romans from the subjection in which they found themselves. Narses was a eunuch, that is, a chaste man, with no desire for a woman; he was one of the chamberlains of the palace, a man of great prowess, proven in many a danger and in many a battle. The emperor made him patrician and defender of all of Sicily and of all of Italy. He prepared quickly, because he did not have much time remaining. He took a large group of knights and good people, traversed the sea between Greece and Sicily, and came to Lombardy. When he had formed an alliance with the Lombards, and had received help from them, he fought Totila and his people. In this battle, the Goths were defeated, and Totila killed, in accordance with the speech of saint Benedict, who had previously said that this would happen. In this way, the Romans were delivered from the servitude into which they had fallen.

Narses fought against Bucelin; we spoke of Bucelin earlier, and how the king of France, Theudebert, had left him in Italy, together with two other dukes, to conquer the country; one was named Leuthere, and the other Amingus. These men killed the very valiant Belisarius, who had been sent by the emperor to defend the country. They robbed the lands they conquered, sending the spoils of their enemies to king Theudebert. At the time Narses entered the country, they were spending the winter in Campania. Bucelin was sick with an illness called dysentery. Narses prepared his people to fight, and Bucelin on his side did the same. In this battle, Bucelin was killed. After this battle, his friend Amingus allied himself with a count of the Goths, whose name was Widin. The two of them prepared to fight against Narses, but both were defeated. Widin was captured and brought to Constantinople, Amingus was killed by Narses' sword. Leuther, the third duke of the French, died between Verona and Tridentum, as he was returning to France, carrying the spoils that he had taken from the conquered country.

After the victories that Narses won, he fought against Siswald, the king of the Gepids, who derived his ancestry from the line of Hercules that Odoacer had brought into the country when he entered Lombardy. Narses granted him many benefices at first, because Siswald had joined him, and allied himself to him faithfully. But finally he became prideful and rebellious, and increased his authority over Lombardy as much as he could. Narses, who was unwilling to tolerate such behavior, captured him in battle, and hanged him from a high tree. At first, Narses had been the imperial keeper of documents and records, then he became seneschal of the palace. He was a very agreeable man, faithful and pious, a great giver of alms, diligent and attentive in building and repairing churches, devout in prayer. He conquered his enemies more by the devout prayers that he made to God than by the use of arms.

XXII

Alboin, the son of Aldoin, at this time was the king of a people called the Gepids; he fought against Turimond the son of another king [Aimon II. xxv]. In the middle of a furious combat between the two parties, Alboin struck Turimond in the head so hard with his sword that he fell dead. When his people saw that their leader, who had been of such great prowess that he himself performed the greatest deeds in battle, was dead, they all fled. Alboin returned, pleased and happy with his victory, to his father. A short time later, his father died, and Alboin became king.

Then it happened that the bishop of Clermont in Auvergne became involved with a case that did not belong to him. There was a priest of aristocratic lineage in the city, whose name was Anastasius. The bishop often urged him, sometimes with prayers and promises, at other times with threats, to give him his property and inheritance, which he held by a charter signed and sealed by the glorious queen Clothild. Because Anastasius did not wish to assent to this, the bishop had him seized, and delivered him to his servants, who were ordered to starve him, so that hunger might drive him to grant the bishop's request. He remained firm and constant, however, and neither hunger nor thirst could compel him to sign away his property, or to leave those who came after him without their heritage. In the monastery of Saint Cassius, there was a crypt, in which there was a large marble sarcophagus, in which a noble had been placed. The bishop ordered the priest to be placed in it with the dead man. In accordance with the command, he was put in, and covered with a lid, so that he could not get out. Then he placed a servant in the crypt as a guard, to prevent him from escaping by some trick. The priest prayed devoutly to Our Lord to deliver him from such a painful prison. Those who were supposed to guard him drank so much that they fell into a very deep sleep. When he saw that they were asleep, he raised his arms, which had not been tied, for the tomb was big and deep, and moved the lid aside; then he lifted his head out and pushed with his arms and legs so hard that he easily got out, for he had been very much bothered by the stink of the corpse which was inside, as he later understood. This event occurred early in the evening; he went very quickly to the door of the crypt, but he found it shut. Looking through the cracks of the door, he saw, by chance, a man going by, carrying a small knife around his neck. He called to him quietly, saying that those who were asleep would not wake up, and he begged him to open the door with his knife. The man did what he was asked, and when the priest got out, he begged him not to reveal what had happened to anyone. He went home as quickly as he could, and then went quickly to France. He complained to king Lothar about the troubles inflicted upon him by the bishop, and he told him what his problem was. The king and the barons who were with him considered this behavior criminal, and said that neither Herod nor Nero had ever been so brutal. The king had the bishop summoned to him; when he came before the king, and was questioned about the case, he replied that the foul treatment had not been done at his order; but the priest convinced the king by reliable witnesses, and made him recognize the truth. So the bishop left in shame and confusion, and the priest held onto his heritage peacefully.

At this time, saint Medard, bishop of Vermand [He was the bishop of Noyon], full of virtue and good works, passed from this world to the joy of paradise. King Lothar had the relics of his body placed with great honor in a sepulcher in the city of Soissons [Soissons is a detail given by Gregory of Tours (IV.21), not by Aimon].

Lothar decided to go to Tours, to ask for the prayers and aid of saint Martin; he remained there a long time, praying humbly and devoutly. He begged the confessor and all the saints of paradise to pray to Our Lord to forgive his sins. He gave large and noble gifts to the church, as a man of such noble lineage should. He gave alms freely, and was generous to the churches of the saints and to the abbeys, giving them significant amounts of land and income. When he had finished his pilgrimage, he returned to France.

One day he happened to be hunting in the forest [Gregory and Aimon give the name, Coetiam, but Primat does not] for pleasure, as is the custom among the French, who take greater pleasure in it than any other people. He exerted himself beyond his capacities, for his heart was more eager and vigorous than his body; he was old, and worn out by the pains and toils that he had incurred in his life as a warrior. From the exertions and difficulties that he had on this chase, he caught a very high fever. At the point that he was tormented with conflicting feelings of cold and hot, as he turned back and forth in his bed, sighing deeply, like one in great distress for the sins of his conscience, he began to shout in this way: "Alas, alas, how great and how marvelous is the power of that heavenly king who can so humble and lay low the most powerful kings of the earth! In his immortality he far exceeds the greatest prince of the earth. Greater and more powerful he is, and yet he is merciful, for, unlike many mortal princes, he does not delight in taking vengeance upon those who deserve it, but, in his great pity, repentance and the penitence of sinners are more precious to him. One should therefore desire with all one's heart the gift and grace of his pity, of which no one, no matter how great a sinner, need despair." As he spoke these words, profoundly repentant and contrite, he gave up the ghost, leaving his body to the earth, and his kingdom to his sons (561 A.D.). For 51 years he had reigned powerfully and nobly, and, until the end of his life, his power continually grew and multiplied. He had four legitimately sired heirs: the first was named Charibert, the second Guntram, the third Chilperic, and the fourth Sigibert. Lothar was carried to Soisson, and honorably buried in the sepulchre of the abbey of Saint Medard, as he had planned. It was more than 30 miles from where he died to where he was carried. His four sons were present, and carried him honorably the whole way, in a great procession of clerks and ecclesiastics, who commended his soul to Our Lord, and fulfilled their duties.

XXIII

After the death of king Lothar [Aimon III. i] the kingdom was divided among the four brothers; but Chilperic, who was more intelligent, and more evil than the others, who would never be satisfied merely with the part that was rightly his, went to Paris as quickly as he could, and seized all of his father's treasures that were in the city. He summoned the most powerful men of France, and obtained their good will to the extent possible. He drew to him those he thought the greediest by gifts and promises, and in this way put himself in possession of the kingdom. But the other brothers, who were not in accord with this division, got together and entered the city so quickly that he could not prepare against their coming. They drove him from the city, then told him that, if he would agree that the entire kingdom left by their father be divided among the four of them in four equal parts, they would recall him to the city. In this way he was recalled, for he agreed to the proposal. Then they divided the kingdom into four. Charibert, who was the eldest, received the kingdom of Paris, which had belonged to his uncle Childebert. Guntram held the kingdom of Orleans, which had belonged to his uncle Chlodomer; Sigibert received the kingdom of Metz, of which his uncle Theodoric had been king; Childebert received that of Soissons, which he father Lothar had held. Thus the kingdom was divided into four parts, just as their father and their uncles had divided it after the death of Clovis.

But, because we have mentioned at this point the city of Metz, which Sigibert had as his share, we should interrupt our matter to give some information that we have found about that city in old writings. Once it happened that the Vandals, Suavians, and Alains, whom some call the Huns, left their own countries to destroy and lay waste France. They had a king, whose name was Rocus [Crocus in Aimon], who asked his mother, before leaving his own country, what he should bring back to acquire great renown. She replied: "Lovely son, if you want to be world-famous, destroy and tear down the edifices that have ever been built by the greatest and most powerful princes; lay waste the greatest and most noble cities, put the people to the sword, for you will not be able to build better habitations than those that have already been built, nor increase the glory of your name, neither in battle, nor in any other manner." He followed his mother's advice as best he could, believing her words as though they were those of a divine oracle. He passed the bridge of a city named Mainz, which is on the Rhine. He destroyed and laid waste this city first, then he came to the city of Metz, for whose sake we began this story. The night before the tyrant arrived, the walls of the city trembled, by the will of God, so that he and his people were able to enter without resistance. It is not clear whether Our Lord did this to punish the citizens for their sins and evil actions, or to destroy the tyrant, in vengeance for the cruelties and murders that he committed, for he took thorough vengeance on everyone he could find. When he had done what he wanted with the city, he hurried to the city of Treves, but the citizens, who had been warned, came out of the city, to prepare to fight him on the sand below the city. When Rocus saw that he would not be able to overcome them, he went directly to another city, named Arles. On the way, a knight named Mario captured him, but I don't know how he did it, because the history does not say. When the tyrant Rocus was captured, he was shamefully led through all the cities he had destroyed; then he was tortured to death, as he deserved.

XXIV

(566) Charibert, who was king of Paris, married a woman named [Ingoberg. Aimon III.ii. ] She had two attendants, one of whom was named Marcovefa, and the other Merofidis. The king was so struck with love for them that he entirely abandoned his wife for them. For this he was reproved and chastized by saint Germanus, who at that time was still bishop of Paris. The king would not improve his behavior at the urging of the holy man. Our Lord became angry about this, and the two women and a son one of them had had with the king were suddenly struck dead, which made the king very unhappy. He himself did not live very much longer. Very soon after, he died in Poitou, in the city of Blaye, where he was buried in the church of saint Romain [Viard points out that he actually died in Paris].

Saint Germanus saw clearly that the end of his life was approaching gradually, and he saw clearly that the church had been weakened and troubled by the removal of Pope Silverius and by the death of Vigilius, who had taken the office after him. He very much feared that the improper behavior of the bishops of Paris who came after him would harm the church of the Holy Cross and the abbey of Saint Vincent, which king Childebert had founded; he was particularly worried about a provision that king Lothar had made in one of their charters, which reads, Abbatem loci istius constituimus,etc. Therefore the holy man wanted to make a statute giving them the choice, for the holy thought saw clearly that the church of Rome would consent very quickly to confirm the right to choose freely on the part of the aforementioned churches. Afterwards things turned out as the holy man had foreseen, for saint Gregory confirmed their right in his decrees.

Guntram, who was the king of Orleans, had four sons, by different concubines, that is, by women to whom he was not married. We do not want to name them, because they were not legal wives; they died soon after they gave birth. King Guntram was a man of sovereign goodness; he loved peace and harmony, and protected correct action and faithfulness. Only one vice darkened the glory of his name: he was excessively given to lechery and adultery, supporting women who were not his legal wives, and turning from those to whom he was legally married.

One day he went hunting in the woods [Aimon is borrowing here from Paul Diac III.34]. When the chase began, some of his people went off in one direction, and others in another, as often happens on a chase. The king went off separately with a few of his closest men. He lay down under a tree to sleep for a while, resting on a garment of one of his men. During the time that he slept, a small animal, like a lizard, came out of his mouth. It began to move back and forth, searching along the banks of a little stream that ran nearby, trying very hard to cross it if it could find some way. When the man who was with the king saw this, he took his bare sword and used it to bridge the stream. The little animal jumped on it and quickly ran across it to the other side. It entered the earth through a hole under the foot of a mountain. After it had remained in it for the about three hours, it returned over the sword and entered the mouth of the king, who was still sleeping. The king woke up a little later, and said to his companion that he had seen a marvelous thing while he was asleep. "I saw a great river," he said, "and a bridge of iron above it; it seemed to me that I passed over it to the other side, and went into a cave that was at the foot of a mountain. There I found more wealth than anyone could capture, and the treasures of the ancient fathers who rest there." The king then got up, went back home, and heard that another had seen this same vision. Because their versions were similar, he had the place thoroughly excavated. There he found an astonishingly large amount of gold and silver, from which he had a wonderfully large and beautiful chausible made as a reliquary, which he intended to send to the tomb of Our Lord in Jerusalem. But the difficulty and danger of the journey, and the fear of the Sarrazins who inhabited the land prevented carrying out the vow and promise that he had made. Because he did not want to keep what had been promised to God, he had it carried to a church near Chalon in Burgundy, which he had founded in honor of saint Marcel. The jewel, which was of such beauty and value that its equal could not be found in the kingdom of France, was placed over the holy body.

XXV

Sigibert, the king of Metz, was well aware that his brothers were despised and reviled everywhere for the sin of lechery, particularly because they did not keep the faith and loyalty of marriage with their wives [Aimon III.iv; Gregory IV.xxvii; Fredegar III.lvii]. Therefore he sent one of his emissaries, whose name was Gogo, to Atahild, the king of Spain (he had driven the armies of the emperor of Constantinople out of Spain), asking him to send to him one of his daughters, whose name was Brunehaut [Aimon gives her name as 'Bruna,' introducing the notion that her name was changed to Brunhild. Gregory gives no such detail; that Primat gives her a polysyllabic name first, of course, makes the change of name, in his text, absurd] because he wished to marry her. He did this willingly and happily; she was given to the emissary with many jewels and much wealth. When king Sigibert had received the lady, he had her baptized and initiated in the faith of Rome, because she had been corrupted by the Arian heresy in which she had been born and raised. He had her given name changed, calling her Brunhild, and then he married her in a fine ceremony. When she saw that she had been acclaimed queen and mistress of the kingdom, she provoked the king by her words to hate Gogo, who had brought her from Spain. He was count and master at that time of the palace, and had been elected in a manner that we shall describe for you. While the king was still a child, the princes of the kingdom had elected another whose name was Chrodin; he was a fine man, full of the fear of God, descended of the noblest blood of France. He refused this honor, and, to discharge himself of the obligation, he came to the king and said to him: "Sir, I am related by blood to all the most powerful men of the kingdom; I could not bear or endure their pleas and their battles, for they would be more aggressive and quicker to harm their neighbors because they are all my kin, and therefore would not fear my words or my judgments, since it would seem to them that I must give in to them because of our blood-relationship. But if you think it right that one punish one's kin according to the strictest justice, many examples argue against such a position. Torquatus had his own son decapitated for ignoring his orders. Romulus, who founded Rome, had his brother Remus killed for breaking the ban which he had had promulgated. Brutus killed his two sons in the same way, to preserve his country's freedom, and although pity is of greater worth than brutality, why should one show pity to those who are evil, who, the better they are treated, the worse they behave? They swell with pride when treated graciously, and do even worse afterwards. May I never be damned eternally by the sovereign judge for obtaining their transitory grace." When Chrodin had thus spoken to the king and to the barons, they elected him to the highest office, because they understood how faithful a man he was. Early the next morning he got up early, taking with him some of the major aristocrats of the palace. He came to Gogo's house, put his arms around his neck [Aimon's misunderstanding of Fredegar, substituting brachium for bracile)] and gave him the sign of the power which was to be his; then he said to him: "Our Lord, king Sigibert, and all the princes of the kingdom have elected me and expect me to be count and master of the palace, but I have refused the gift. Make benevolent use of the privilege which I voluntarily relinquish." Now everyone, following his example, proclaimed Gogo mayor of the palace. Gogo performed his office nobly and well, until the day that he brought Brundhild back from Spain. The day he brought her back he was dead; it would have been better for him to have fled into exile, than to have brought back this woman, who was more vicious than any savage beast. For as soon as she was proclaimed queen, and had established affectionate intimacy with her lord, she so alienated his understanding that he ordered Gogo, mayor of the palace, to be strangled to death. Brunhild was faithless and outrageously brutal; she arranged many murders, and so many kings and princes of France perished at her hands, that one might see the truth in the prophecy made many years before by the Sybil, which was: "Brune will come from Spain; people and kings will perish when she looks at them; she will be trampled at the feet of horses." The prophecy was made for her, for she behaved as the Sybil had predicted.

. Book Three

I

Chilperic, the king of Soissons, was so abandoned to lechery, that he always brought with him a great crowd of women, violating the dignity of his office [Aimon III.5]. They were more interested in his beauty than in his nobility of lineage. He wanted to imitate his brother king Sigebert, and therefore sent an emissary to Athahild, the king of Spain, asking him to send him his daughter, who was the sister of Brunhild, his sister-in-law. Older than Brunhild, she was named Galswinth, and he charged them to say that if he sent her, he would abandon the company of all other women for her. This king, who thought that Chilperic would keep his word, willingly sent her. He gave her a rich dowry of jewels and other riches, and sent his own emissaries with her, commanding them to get guarantees from the king, by oath, before he married her, that he would not abandon her for another, and that she would be queen for as long as she lived. Chilperic swore to everything the emissaries set forth, and they returned to their country. The king had her baptized, for she was an Arian, as her sister had been, then he married her. He paid little attention to his promises, for he had a fickle heart, and little self-control. He broke the oath he had made to the emissaries, for Fredegund, who had been called to serve king Chilperic's wife, was so envious of the new queen, that she could not bear looking at her. She connived so, that very quickly, through her malice and by the art of flattery [one MS adds sorcery to her skills], in which she was particularly skilled, the king took her and kept her as though she were his wife. She became so swollen with pride and arrogance, that she committed crimes and atrocities fearlessly, as is customary with such women. She went through the palace announcing to everyone that she was lady and queen, saying many terrible things about queen Galswinth, who complained to the king about the ill-treatment she was receiving from her. But the king, who no longer loved her, deceived her and calmed her with smooth words. Fredegund's power over him made him so degenerate that he strangled Galswinth while she was sleeping in her bed. His brutality and criminality was very great, so great that no one has ever heard of any previous tyrant who equaled him. It was terrible for the French, and especially for the king, that he committed such a treacherous act, strangling in their bed his own wife, who had never done him any harm, whom he should have protected with his life, even had his enemies carried her off. He was insane, to have soiled the beauty and honor of such a noble marriage, in obedience to the urging of a foolish woman, who might murder him in a moment, if her malicious cleverness were so inclined, as she in fact did, later on. Our Lord clearly showed that the deed displeased him, and that he considered queen Galswinth to be a martyr, by a miracle that he did on her account. A glass lamp, which burned before her tomb, fell, by chance, on the pavement; the glass, which breaks easily, because of its nature, fell to the pavement without breaking, and without any damage at all, as though it had been made into a bushel of wheat. His brothers, who knew of his treacherous behavior, assembled their troops, proclaiming that such a criminal could not be their peer in their father's kingdom; but their efforts were slight, and the results were nil.

He took another wife afterwards, whose name was Audovera, with whom he had three sons: Theodobert, Meroveus, and Clovis. Fredegund, however, showed the same malice to her that she had shown in having Galswinth strangled, and she was divorced in a manner we shall describe to you.

King Chilperic assembled an army, together with his brother Sigebert, to fight the Saxons [a possible confusion with Soissons]. Queen Audovera, pregnant, remained home. Fredegund, who remained with her as a kind of attendant, told her, when the child was born: "Lady, have the child baptized quickly, so that the king's pleasure will be doubled when he returns; he will have a new daughter, and she will have been reborn in the holy font.” The queen thought that she was giving good advice, and ordered that a woman be provided to raise the child from the font and be her spiritual mother. Fredegund replied that no woman nobler than Audovera herself could be found for the task; thus was the queen deceived, by the advice of the treacherous Fredegund, into lifting her own daughter from the font, becoming her mother in two ways, both corporally and spiritually, which was not possible or appropriate. When Fredegund knew that the king was approaching, she hastened to meet him before he entered the palace. As soon as she met him, she said to him: "How glorious now is king Chilperic, who returns with a victory over his enemies, and to whom a new daughter has been born, Childinda, who be noble and beautiful. But there will be great grief, and a thing that should be avoided, if lady Audovera sleeps with king Chilperic tonight." The king, who was astonished at her words, asked why she said them. She told him what had happened, pretending to be unhappy about the events. When the king heard this, he said to her: "If it is the case that Audovera is separated from me by law, I shall take you in marriage, and you will be the companion of my bed." Then the king entered the palace, and the queen, who had, in her simplicity, been deceived, came forward, her daughter in her arms, whom she had born twice, in different senses, bodily and spiritually. The king said to her: "Oh queen, you have done something for which you should be strongly rebuked and blamed; you have lifted from the font your own daughter, whom you bodily conceived. I cannot remain married to you, because you are my godmother." The king sent into exile the bishop who had baptized the child, and he put the mother and the daughter in a monastery, giving them sufficient property and income. He then married Fredegund, who had wrought all this maliciously.

At this point, his brother king Sigibert got into considerable difficulty [Aimon III.vi]. Kacanus [a title, not a proper name: Khan] the king of a people called the Huns, entered his kingdom to lay waste and destroy his land. The king went up against him with a large army, to defend his territory. After a great battle, Sigibert conquered his enemies, killing many of them, and making peace with the rest. While he was battling these people, his brother, king Chilperic, who characteristically loved discord and contention, saw that his brother had left his territory without forces to protect it; he rushed to Rheims, the noblest city of his brother's kingdom, and quickly captured it. The city was completely unprepared, since its citizens had no idea that Chilperic would do this to his own brother. When king Sigibert heard of this, he was very angry, and he paid his brother back by seizing Soissons, the capital of his kingdom, and placing its people under his authority. He put Chilperic's son Theodoric in prison, but gave him to his father, who reclaimed him joyfully, and gave him gifts when he left. He made him swear, before freeing him, never to plot or to fight against him. The agreement did not last long, for he soon fought against him, but he was defeated, and accepted, against his will, conditions of peace.

At this point, the Saxons, who had previously entered Italy with their women and their children, with the consent of old Theodobert, returned to France with a great crowd of people [Aimon III.vii]. Mummolus, king Guntram's seneschal, came up against them to restrain their brutality. He managed, by force of arms, to chase them off, making them return to Italy, from which they had come. In the next year, the Saxons returned, reaching the Rhone on their journey to France. Mummolus again blocked their passage. Finally they negotiated with him, with gifts and with money, so that he gave them permission to pass through the land he was protecting as far as Sigibert's kingdom. He, however, gave them a royal welcome, chasing them back to the land from which they came. In returning to their country, they deceived many people along the way, selling and bartering large pieces of gold-plated copper as though they were made of solid gold. This deception reduced many people to great poverty, from which they suffered afterwards all the days of their lives. But the Saxons, who had deceived them so ruthlessly, were punished for their malice soon afterwards, as though by divine vengeance. The Swabians and the other nations who marched together against them, entered their lands, and fought three battles against them. The Saxons were defeated utterly, losing 20,000 of their people, and those who escaped death made peace by unconditional surrender.

II

When Justinian, the emperor of Constantinople, of whom we have spoken often above, had governed the empire beneficently 33 years, he passed from this life [Aimon III.viii)] (565 A.D.), leaving the empire to Justin the lesser, who was called the lesser to distinguish him from the great Justin who reigned before him. This Justin was a man energetic in promoting the Christian faith, a father to the poor, considerate, full of pity, and a noble cultivator of law and justice; for these reasons, everything he undertook turned out well. He obtained many victories in prosperity and in good fortune, through several ministers, particularly by the work of the very valiant Belisarius. In civil cases and in making laws he was marvelous. Because he had conquered and subdued the Alemanni, the Goths, the Huns, the Vandals, and the Africans, he was called by different surnames, according to the victories he had over these different nations. He had a temple constructed in Constantinople which was called the church of Saint Sophia, in honor of Jesus Christ, who is the divine wisdom and the divine sapience of God the father; in Greek the word is agya, in Latin Sophia, and for this reason the emperor named it Saint Sophia. The building is so noble that it surpasses in beauty and in goodness all the churches of the world, as those who have seen it attest.

In the time of this prince lived: Cassiodorus, an ecclesiastic renowned for both secular and divine knowledge and Denis the abbot, a man of great skill in discussions of the sacrament and of the time of Easter; Priscian, who rendered the deeds of the apostles in verse, flourished in the art of grammar, in the city of Cesaria, and saint Benedict in holy discipline, more blessedly than all the others. All of these good men flourished in this time, leading holy lives and doing good works.

Saint Germanus, bishop of Paris, went to visit the Sepulcher in Jerusalem in the time of this prince, returning through Constantinople [Aimon III.ix]. The emperor received him with great honor, and wanted to give him great gifts of gold and silver. The holy man refused everything, but asked him for holy relics of the saints. The emperor, who was very pleased with the piety of the good man, gave him thorns from the holy crown, relics of the Innocents, and one of the arms of saint George. The holy man received them with great devotion; when he returned to France, he gave some of them to the church of the Holy Cross, and some to the abbey of Saint Vincent. The zealous love we bear towards the prince has compelled us to tell of his behavior and noble deeds, and of the lives of the fine men who lived in his time. From this point we shall tell some of the deeds of Narses, of whom we have spoken earlier, and then we shall return to the order of the history.

Narses, whom the emperor had sent to Italy to deliver the Romans from subjection to the Goths who had captured the city, conquered and reduced to submission all the nations who rebelled against the empire. He was very civilized, glorious in victory, noble in justice, a fair judge, and one who understood clearly that the envy of evil men harmed him more than the gratitude of good men helped him. Having placed himself in mortal danger often to deliver his country and its citizens from becoming slaves of their enemies, and having acquired the ill-will of neighboring nations on their account, as his reward he had to suffer more persecution from his own people after the battles than he had suffered from his enemies; in fact, he was in more danger among the people he had delivered than he had been among his enemies. The Romans were instinctively good at treachery and criminal behavior; they shamelessly made accusations against him to the emperor, when he was not present, although he had placed his life in mortal peril so many times to protect their lives and well-being. But this malice was not new for them, for they were tainted, as though by nature, with the vice of ingratitude: ingratitude occurs when we do not acknowledge the good someone does for us, and when we are not grateful for what is done for us. This can be shown by a multitude of examples. The great Scipio, a senator who was called Africanus, because he had subdued all of Africa for the Empire, and who was noble and famous for the great victories he had won many times against the Cartheginians, received no gratitude from the city, and left as an exile, to die of grief and sadness, in exile. Another Scipio Africanus, who was not inferior to the first in nobility, lineage, or deeds, after he had conquered all of Libya, had to defend himself before the senators against charges trumped up by envious, evil men, who paid no attention to the great victories he had won, or to the perils he had undergone so many times for the common good. The next night he was killed in his bed by those who envied him [V. points here to Aimon III.x, after Paul D. II.v, who is "inspired" by Liber pontificalis, Duchesne I, p. 305]. In the same manner, they attacked Narses, complaining to the emperor and to his empress, lady Sophia; they said that they had gained no advantage in being delivered from the rule of the Goths, because Narses' authority was harsher and more burdensome than anything inflicted upon them by their foreign enemy. Caesar became very angry at this news, and quickly replaced Narses with another man, whose name was Longinus the Provost. When Narses heard about this, he said: "If I had done harm to the Romans, I would want to receive what I deserved for my deeds; and if I have done them good, why do they bear false witness against my welfare and against my life?" The empress, lady Sophia became so angry with him, that, in addition to telling him in the grossest terms that he was effeminate, beardless, and without the equipment natural to a man, she wrote letters to him, telling him that he should wield the distaff among the women rather than hold the office and place of a senator or counselor of Rome. When Narses heard the insults written to him by the empress, and the foul words which she sent him by the mouth of a emissary, he replied: "I shall spin a thread that will produce a cloth that Justin and Sophia will never be able to cut in their whole life." He spoke the truth, for he sent for a man who then did great damage and great grief to the Romans and to the empire. This was Alboin, the king of the Lombards, who was then in Pannonia. He came to Italy, bringing with him his people, his wife, and his entourage. Narses left the city of Rome and went to stay in Naples. Pope John, who took the see after pope Pelagus, went after him, and begged him to return with him to Rome. After these events, pope John passed from this world, and Narses died not long after. His body was placed in a sarcophagus of lead, and was carried, together with all his treasure, to Constantinople.

III

Two kinds of people formed alliances with king Sigibert, one of whom were called the Huns, the others the Avars [Aimon III.10]. They broke these alliances and spread out through France so rapidly that the king and the entire country were surprised, and entirely unprepared. In any event, he raised as many men as he could, and prepared them as well as he could to battle the invaders. But before the two armies joined for battle, his enemies, by I know not what kind of magic, managed to frighten the French so, that they turned and ran. The king was captured just as he was preparing to flee, but, by his presence of mind and promises, he pacified his enemies and returned to his people [565 AD]. He thought it better to return alive and healthy, by paying a ransom, than to die at their hands. [Reminiscence of Crassus not borrowed from Gregory, but a recollection of Aimon -V] In doing this, he rejected the bad advice of Crassus, who was once a Roman senator, who preferred to provoke his death at the hands of the enemy than to purchase his way out of bondage. We shall tell you how he fought against the Thracians; he was defeated, and lost many of his men. Because he did not wish to live in servitude, mocked and derided by his enemies, he struck the man who was leading him with his horse-whip. The barbarian was so angry and upset by being struck painfully, that he drew his sword and struck him in the side. Thus Crassus died, a powerful, famous man, who by chance might still have escaped without the grace and without the help of his enemies.

At this point, Clovis, one of the sons of king Chilperic, took the city of Bordeaux, which belonged to the kingdom of his uncle, Sigibert. Duke Sigulph, who guarded Sigbert's lands in this part of the kingdom, attacked Clovis and drove him out of the country, driving him before him all the way back to Paris, with horns and trumpets, as one would chase a stag. When king Chilperic heard that his son had been chased in such a fashion, he sent Theodobert, another of his sons, to seize the cities of Neustria (today called Normandy) that belonged to his brother's kingdom. Theodobert had previously sworn to king Sigibert, his uncle, before being released from captivity, that he would never do him any harm. On this trip he took from him many cities: Tours, Poitiers, all of Cahors and all of Limousin; he tortured monks and clerks, raped nuns, and wreaked havoc as far as Tours. After he had gone through the entire province of Aquitaine, destroying and laying waste monasteries and canonical establishments, they came finally to the church of Saint Martin. As some of these wretched people were preparing to cross a river, the monks on the other shore began to cry out: "Oh enemies of God, do not cross over to do violence to the church of saint Martin." They turned back when they heard this, and were contrite in their hearts. But twenty of them, wishing to act out the malice in their hearts, crossed in a boat, killed and wounded the monks, broke into the monastery of Saint Martin and robbed it. They packed up their loot and placed it in the boat, preparing to return. But the glorious confessor, mindful of his power, took vengeance. When they reached the middle of the river, they lost their oars; they pushed the boat with their lances then, but it sunk under their feet, and they were all drowned, except for one, who had tried to discourage the others from doing this evil, because he did not agree with them in his heart. The monks dragged the bodies from the river, together with the things that they had lost, placing the bodies in graves, and restoring to the church what had been taken from it. In this manner Theudebert remained in these parts, and he behaved towards the churches and towards the Christians as Diocletian had formerly towards those who believed in Christianity. At Poitiers he fought against Gundovald, who was the duke of that country, defeating him very badly, and killing nearly all of his people.

King Chilperic, who was very angry that the armies of his brother Sigibert had routed his own men, was not restrained in his own efforts. The victory that his son won at Poitiers was not enough for him, but he also invaded, with a large force, Champagne la Raenciene, and laid waste all the countryside around Rheims. King Sigibert, who was well provided with troops, was not inert; he did not wish to permit his land to be harmed without taking action, but he attacked his nephew Theudebert, who had laid waste his land and defeated his people. He laid an ambush for him along the road that he had to travel, and there all of Theudebert's people were defeated; he himself was killed while attempting to flee. Duke Arnulf took his body and had it buried in the city of Angouleme. After these events, king Sigibert assembled a force from all parts of his kingdom, and set out to fight against his brother, king Chilperic, who had laid waste his territory around Rheims. But wise and good men [adjectives added by Primat to Aimon's mere sed intercurrentibus legatis] went back and forth between them until they agreed to make peace. After this settlement, they established an agreement against king Guntram, their brother, who held the kingdom of Burgundy. In these negotiations, king Sigibert ordered the citizens of Clermont in Auvergne to attack Arles, but when king Guntram heard of this, he ordered the citizens of Arles to prepare to defend themselves against the men of Clermont. They fortified the passages and the strongholds through which they had to pass so well, that the attackers were defeated and killed. King Guntram prepared his army and moved against his brothers, who came upon him with a great force. As they approached each other, king Guntram had his army rest in a place called Virey, while king Chilperic and king Sigibert had their armies stop in another place, called Arcis. Arcis-sur-Aube.] At that point they were about to begin fighting, but emissaries and good people, who should give good advice to princes, pursued peace so effectively, that the three kings came to a peaceful agreement. The peace was ratified in the city of Troyes, in the church of Saint Leu. King Chilperic and king Sigibert swore to king Guntram that they would never harm him, and king Guntram reciprocated. Then they separated.

IV

The French Austrasians, who belonged to Sigibert's kingdom, began to complain about him, saying that they had come at his command, in the expectation of getting booty and spoils from their enemies, and that they should receive compensation, or that he should show them adversaries whom they might plunder [Aimon III.xii]. Then they complained that they were not consulted when the king made decisions about peace and war, and that they were the first to die in battle, and the last to be honored and rewarded. They also said that they had nothing against king Guntram, and that they were pleased with the peace that had been concluded with him. But the peace with king Chilperic displeased them, because they hated him with an ancient hate, for his life was detestable to them, and they wanted him dead. Words like these compelled and provoked king Sigibert to offer and to undertake to pursue his brother, who knew nothing about this, and did not know that he had anything to fear. Therefore Chilperic broke up his army, giving most of his people leave to return home. A emissary then arrived, telling him that his brother was pursuing him with a large army. When he heard this, he was very much disturbed, because he had stripped himself of troops. He fled to the city of Tournai with whatever knights he could gather. King Sigibert pursued him, and arrived in Paris, where saint Germanus met him, and said to him: "If you wish to spill your brother's blood, the grave that you prepare for him you will find prepared for yourself, and you will fall into it, according to the voice of David the prophet (Proverbs XXVI.27). Do not earn the title of fratricide, although you have the will and desire to do this." King Sigibert did not want to listen to the saint, because he suspected that he supported his brother's faction; therefore he rode ahead, intending to complete what he had set out to do. He came to a village named Vitry, where he found a large company of knights and of people of Chilperic's kingdom. They joined him, to serve his will, and all the princes and barons too, agreeing to abandon Chilperic, with the exception of a man named Ansovald, who preferred to remain with his lord in adversity, and to await whatever Fortune decided, rather than to break the faith that he had promised him and earn the name of traitor. When Sigibert saw that he had such a great army and such a great number of knights, he rode ahead and captured all the cities of his brother's kingdom, then came to Tournay and besieged his brother within the city. When king Chilperic saw that he was surrounded, he was frightened, and began to think of some way to remove his wife and children, whom he had brought with him, from this mortal danger. But Fredegund, his wife, thought of what should be done, supplying the intellect that her husband lacked, like a woman who was more cunning than any man at doing evil. She took two men and cast an evil spell over them, so that they lost all fear of death, and they promised to do whatever she wished. Then she ordered them to go to Sigibert's tent and, pretending to serve him, to kill him. She promised them great gifts if they returned, and if they were killed, she would give alms for their souls, and offer oblations to the saints, both male and female, that God might forgive them this sin. They left the city, plunged into the army encamped in front of it, and little by little made their way through it until they were in the company of those closest to the king. When they saw their chance, they reached him and struck him in the sides with their knives, and he fell dead instantly. There was so much noise and confusion among the tents, that one could scarcely hear that the king was dead. The killers were seized and quickly killed and decapitated. King Chilperic, within the ciy, wondered what the noise and confusion in the army might signify, since he knew nothing of Fredegund's strategy. When she knew that Sigibert had been killed, she told her lord how she had arranged it, reviving his hope for life and for well-being, as though he had been resurrected from hell. The next day he went out of the city, and the barons who had previously abandoned him came to him, and he took them back in his good graces. He had his brother's body taken and buried in a village named Lambres, then carried to the church of Saint Medard of Soissons and buried next to his father, king Lothar; he died in the thirteenth year of his reign.

An incident. In that time Fortunatus came to France from Spain, and then became bishop of Poitiers. He excelled in the art of versification and in the art of rhetoric. He did the lives of the saints partly in verse and partly in prose. He sent many fine treatises to his friends; to king Sigibert himself he sent a treatise in the form of a song, in which he celebrated the marriage of the king and Brunhild. I myself was a companion of his, and I have a book that he gave me, which contains the lovely writings he sent to his friends. When I looked in it and read it, I was amazed at his eloquence, and his elegant way of speaking [Although Aimon speaks here in the first person, he does not say that the book was given to him by Fortunatus, but by fate: Quod equidem ego, cum sors Librum ad diversos ab eo sibi familiares conscriptum manibus intulisset meis, legi, atque in eo facunditatem viri, dulcemque affabilitatem satis admiratus sum. Gregory speaks of his friendship with Fortunatus, as Viard notes, in his De miraculis sancti Martini, chapter xiii; see also Aimon III.xiii, Paul Diac II.xiii. Primat, then, produces a very odd effect at this point. In his translation of the Astronomer, for example, he clearly indicates that he and the man whose works he is translating are not identical. Here, however, his use of 'I' produces a speaker at least seven hundred years old].

After king Sigibert had been killed, things changed considerably from what they had previously been; many who had been close to him now strove for the favor of king Chilperic. Before king Sigibert had gone up against his brother, he had told his wife, queen Brunhild, to come to Paris to meet him on his return. Therefore she was at Paris at this point, together with one of her grandsons whose name was Childebert. When she heard of her lord's death, her heart was greatly troubled; she considered many ways of escaping, to save herself and her son from mortal danger. A duke, whose name was Gundovald took the child and put him out in a basket in the window, giving him to a friend whom he ordered to take him to Metz. The barons of the country received the child as their legitimate lord, crowning him and giving him his father's kingdom, following the advice of the aforementioned count Gundovald. After Brundhild had saved her son, she gave some thought to protecting her own life. She was so afraid of dying that she could not sleep or rest; although she wanted to flee, she had no way of getting out. King Chilperic, who did not want to do any more ill, sent her into exile, to the city of Rouen; her wealth went into Chilperic's treasury, and was given into the safekeeping of his daughter, who remained at Metz.

King Chilperic sent his son Meroveus to Berri to capture all the cities and towns on the bank of the Loire, and of the countryside. After leaving his father, he paid little attention to his orders; he went towards the city of LeMans, as though to visit his mother, who was in exile, not for anything she had done wrong, but because of the malice of Fredegund. After having visited his mother Audovera, he went to the city of Rouen, where he married Brunhild, his uncle's wife, whom king Chilperic had sent into exile. King Chilperic went to Rouen when he heard about this, to dissolve the marriage. But when they heard that he was coming, they shut themselves up in the church of Saint Martin, which had been well built below the walls of the city. In vain the king would have struggled to bring them out by force, unless he starved them out, but he swore to them by all the saints that they never would be separated, but would be joined, if holy Church consented. They thought that he was speaking the truth; they came out and met him, under the security of the oath that he swore; he had them fed and entertained for two days; on the third day they separated, and he took his son with him. He cared little about his oath. He was a fine judge of behavior, who condemned in his son the marriage which violated the faith of the holy Church, and did not fear the judgement of Our Lord for breaking his oath. But he did this more out of fear that Brunhild's malice and cleverness would turn his son against him, than out of a feeling that the marriage violated the law of holy Church.

When the king returned, an emissary announced that the barons of Champagne Raenciene had taken the city of Soissons. He quickly moved against them in battle, defeating them, and killing many of the noblest; he retook the city, and reestablished his authority. The king sent his son Clovis to Touraine, commanding him to establish his authority over the entire countryside of Perigord and of Anjou. He sent duke Desiderius with him to help, and ordered him to follow his advice in all things. Duke Mummolus, who defended this territory for king Guntram, came up against them in battle, with many men; he defeated and routed them, but with severe losses to his own forces. His own army was reduced by 50,000 men, who were killed in this battle, while Clovis, although he was defeated, lost only 20,000. King Chilperic suspected that his son Meroveus would support Brunhild's position, and therefore, following the advice of his stepmother Fredegund, had his hair cut, put him in a monastery, and had him ordained a priest.

V

At that time saint Germanus, bishop of Paris, went to eternal glory, having lived approximately 80 years; his body was buried in the sepulcher of the church of Saint Vincent. What Fortunatus says of him should not be forgotten [Here Primat weaves in MGH, Auct. Ant. IV, pt. 2, pp. 11-27]. King Childebert the old (elder) once sent to him (VI)M sous to distribute among the poor, for the love of Our Lord. After having distributed 3000 of them, the holy man went to the palace. The king asked him if he had any more to give. He answered yes, he still had one half, because he had not found people to whom to give them. Then the king said, "Give away what you have left, you will not run short of money." Then the king went in to where the household utensils were; he took the vessels of gold and silver, broke them up, and gave them to saint Germanus to give to the poor, so that he would not lose them. There was a struggle between the bishop and the king; they engaged in a contest of pity and a battle of generosity, scattering their wealth so that the poor might become rich with their coins. At another time it happened that saint Germanus needed a horse; the king gave him his own, begging him to keep it. Then it happened that a poor man asked him for alms; saint Germanus immediately gave him the horse that the king had given him, because the poor man's voice meant more to him than the voice of the king. King Chilperic entered Paris; the day after he arrived, a cripple, sitting at the gate of the monastery of Saint Vincent, where saint Germanus' body was still resting, was cured miraculously. In the morning, the people assembled at the gate, giving thanks to Our Lord and to saint Germanus. When this miracle was told to the king, he was very happy, and he came to worship the holy corpse with great devotion.

Then young king Childebert sent emissaries to his uncle, king Chilperic, ordering and asking him to send his mother Brunhild to him. The king did this willingly, sending her as a token of peace and agreement.

An incident. Athanahild, the king of Spain and father of Brunhild, died at this time. Leuva and Leuvigild ruled the kingdom after him. When Leuva died (572), Leuvigild took over the entire kingdom, and married queen Goiswinth, the mother of Brunhild, and the wife of the previously mentioned king Athanahild.

Alboin, of whom we spoke above, who ruled over the Lombards, at this time captured a great many cities in Italy, and garrisoned them with his own people. He drove the Romans out, especially those who had given him the greatest resistance. He besieged a city which was then named Ticinum, and now Pavia. At the beginning of the third year he captured it, proposing to kill all the people in the city as pagans, although he knew that they were Christians. But Our Lord changed his plan by means of something that happened to him. As he was entering the city, his horse fell in the middle of the bridge; torn by spurs and beaten by sticks, the horse could not get up. Finally Alboin decided not to kill the Christians, and, on the advice of his people, he let his heart be ruled by pity. He had first married Chlothsind, the daughter of Lothar, the king of France. After her death, he married another, whose name was Rosamund, daughter of Cunimond, the king of the Gepids, whom he had killed. But after he had reigned three years in Italy, Rosemond had him killed brutally by one of her lovers, whose name was Helmechin, to avenge the death of her father. From this other princes may take an example, that a man who was warlike, courageous, and famous for so many victories died by the malice of a woman; however, she was soon rewarded for the deed, and for her great cruelty, for it happened once that she offered a poisoned drink to Helmechim as he was coming from the bath, claiming that it would do him much good. When he had drunk some of it, he understood that it was poison, and he drew his sword, compelling her to drink the rest. In this way they both were punished for the murder they had committed. After Alboin, Cleph ruled the Lombards, only one year and six months, because the Lombards chose their new duke by common accord to rule over the people; their power lasted for ten years and each governed his city alone. Some of the dukes invaded France out of greed for loot and booty. Amatus, who was the defender and seneschal of the country appointed by king Guntram, fought against them in Provence. He was killed in that battle, together with a great part of the Burgundians and the people whom he led. When king Guntram heard this news, he sent for Mummolus, who was a man wise in war and virtuous, and gave him authority over that territory. Then the Lombards returned to Provence, expecting to win plunder as they had before. Mummolus met them, with a large, strong force of men, and fought two battles against them. He killed so many of them that they were completely defeated. Those who were able to escape returned to Lombardy, and they were never again foolhardy enough to return to France. Mummolus did not stop at that, and the destruction that he had accomplished was not enough for him, but he pursued them into their own country, and captured a castle named Nano, which is in the march of Lombardy. The duke of this castle, whose name was Ragilo, fled. When he tried to return to his own country, he was caught and killed by a French duke named Cranich. .

VI

At that time, Justin the Young ruled the empire of Constantinople; he was so greedy that he had large metal coffers made in which to hide the gold and silver that he carried off and stole. He was wicked, and stopped the ears of his heart to the commandments of Our Lord, and Our Lord took such vengeance upon him that He took from him his ability to think, and his memory. When he realized his condition, he appointed Tiberius Caesar as his associate in governing the empire [See Gregory V.19; Paul Diac. III.12,13; Aimon III.19]. Tiberius was a very gifted man, to the great advantage of the empire: he gave alms generously, he was wise, just, and, most important, he was a true Christian. After Justin had born the title of emperor for eleven years (578), he lost his life and the empire. The battles which Narses waged against the Goths and the Franks, of which we have spoken earlier, began in the time of the good emperor Justinian, but they were ended in the time of this Justin. After him, Tiberius Constantine took control of the empire, as the fiftieth emperor. During the time that he governed the empire under the emperor Justin, he gave alms very generously, and loved poor people very much; therefore Our Lord, who received his deeds and alms-giving graciously, showed a great sign of his love, miraculously providing him with a great amount of gold. One day he was walking through the palace and looked down; he saw a marble plank in the floor, marked with the sign of the holy cross. He said: "Why do we walk with unworthy feet on the sign of the holy cross, with which we should protect our chests and foreheads against the devil?" Then he ordered that the planks be dug up from the floor; when it had been removed, he found a second, identical sign engraved underneath, and then a third underneath that. When the three planks had been removed, they found underneath a treasure which had lain there a long time, which was of inestimable worth. The emperor, who knew very well that God had given it to him, distributed it among the poor. Narses' treasure was also found again in a city in Lombardy, by an old man, a native of the country, who unearthed it; the emperor distributed it in alms and good works for the poor.

Lady Sophia the empress, who had not kept the promises she had made to the emperor Tiberius, tried to remove him for another, whose name was Justinian, and who was the nephew of the emperor Justin, her lord. When the emperor saw that she was trying to supplant him, he had her put in prison. Justinian, whom she was trying to make emperor, appealed to the emperor, and gently chastized him. The emperor established a friendship with him, promising his daughter in marriage to Justinian's son, and his son in marriage to Justinian's daughter. The reasons why these marriages did not take place are not clear.

Chilperic, the king of France, sent his emissaries to the emperor Tiberius, and the emperor sent him in return many valuable gifts and many besants of gold, each of which weighed a pound. On one side of the coin was stamped the image of the emperor, with letters around it, saying: "This is the form of Tiberius Constantine, perpetual Augustus." On the other side a chariot was represented, with letters around it, which said: "This is the glory of the Romans." [Misunderstanding here: quadrigam et ascensorem in Paul D. and Aimon]

This emperor sent his armies against the Persians, who were beaten and completely routed; the emperor's army returned with an unusual amount of booty, leading 20 elephants and so much other wealth that it seemed enough to satisfy and satiate the hearts of the most avaricious men in the world.

An incident. While these things were happening in the East, other things were happening in Britanny [Aimon III.xx]. Macliaw and Bodicus were two counts of Britanny; they formed an alliance, and confirmed it with oaths. Then Bodicus died. Macliaw drove his son, whose name was Teudric, out of the kingdom. Teudric then assembled a large army, returned, and killed Macliaw and one of his sons, whose name was Jacob (perhaps 577). Then he took and held his inheritance. Another son of Macliaw, who was called Waroques, took over his father's land after his death.

VII

King Guntram killed the two sons of his brother-in-law Magnachar, took their wealth and treasures; not long afterward, his own two sons died. When he saw that he would be without bodily heirs, he adopted his nephew, the son of king Chilperic, and gave him the kingdom after his death.

King Chilperic sent Praetextus, the archbishop of Rouen, into exile, because he suspected that he was planning a treacherous stratagem, following the advice of Brunhild.

Meroveus, of whom we have spoken above, whom king Chilperic had tonsured and placed in a monastery, returned to the world, and was a layman again, because duke Guntram, of whom we spoke above, sent an emissary to order him to leave. One of his servants helped him dress again like a man of the world; he did not dare remain anywhere, out of fear of his father. He was granted sanctuary in the church of Saint Martin of Tours. At the same time, duke Guntram went to seek refuge out of fear of king Chilperic, who had threatened him for killing his son Theudebert, as he charged, in the battle about which we have spoken. The king sent a man named Roccolen to him, ordering him to bring Guntram back by force. When Roccolen arrived, he commanded saint Gregory, the archbishop, to expel Guntram from the church or he would come with a large force and drag him out violently. The holy man told him that such violence had never been done, and would never be done by him. The wretch, who had no compunction about destroying the church of the glorious confessor in whose power he was lodged, was suddenly overwhelmed by a serious disease, and was carried into the church, where he died shortly afterwards.

When Meroveus entered the church, the holy archbishop was singing mass. He asked for his blessing, and when he was refused, he swore that he would kill some of the people, because he had excommunicated him without consulting other bishops. Then he gave him his blessing to appease him, and sent one of his deacons to the king to tell him what was happening. Fredegund, who was always thinking of evil, convinced the king that Meroveus had sent the clerk to spy on him, and, for this reason, the king sent the clerk into exile. Then he ordered the archbishop to expel his enemy from the church, but when he saw that he was slow to carry out his order, he commanded a great force of men to go there, if necessary, to enforce the order. When Meroveus knew that the king had sent men to get him, he did not wish to leave the cloister. Leudast, count of the city, killed his servants, who had gone into the city to get provisions. He was so angry at this, that he captured a physician, whose name was Marileif, Chilperic's head physician [according to Gregory VII.xxv.], who had come to take care of the king. He took from him gold, silver, and everything that he had, and finally, would have killed him, had he not been brought into the cloister. He defamed his father and his stepmother. One day he asked archbishop Gregory to dine with him, and he told him that he had read something instructive. The archbishop took the book of Solomon and found the first verse for him (Proverbs XXX.17) Oculum quo adversatur patrem fodient corvi de torrentibus. In French this means: "Crows of the streams dig out the eye of the man who looks upon his father with ill-will." The archbishop was amazed that these words, with which the wise man chastised the son for his behavior towards his father, came to him so readily; but Meroveus would not listen to them.

Duke Guntram, who had fled, along with Meroveus, into the cloister for safety, sent one of his messengers to a sorceress, who had previously been successful in predicting the future. He was certain that she would always speak the truth, because she had once predicted not only the year, but the day and hour that king Caribert would die. The emissary reported her reply about his position in words like these: "King Chilperic will die this year. Meroveus will conquer all of his brothers and will seize the kingdom, then he will make you duke of France. You will hold this office five years, and in the sixth, you will become a bishop." Guntram told the archbishop her reply, and the archbishop said: "It would be better to get this answer from God than from the devil." Queen Fredegund, who secretly supported Guntram, because he had killed her stepson Theodobert, sent him a message to get Meroveus out of the cloister, and the traitor, who thought that those who were to seize him were already prepared, did what she told him to do, but to no avail, because there was no one to seize him.

The king sent a deacon with two charters to the monastery of Saint Martin; one of them had no writing on it, the message on the other was to the effect that a divine message should be written on the empty one, to tell him whether he should dare to drag Meroveus out of the church. The deacon waited three days without a reply. When Guntram heard that the king's emissaries had arrived, he swore boastingly by the altar-cloth that the king should know that he would not leave the church. Finally, Meroveus abandoned the sorceress' responses, and turned to divine response, for in those times, people commonly made use of these things [Aimon III.xxiii]. He remained awake three days and three nights, then received this reply from the book of Kings: Eo quod reliquistis Dominum Deum vestrum, tradidit vos Dominus in manus inimicorum vestrorum. That is, "Because you have abandoned your God, he will deliver you into the hands of your enemy " (III.ix.9). The prophet says: Dejectisti eos dum allevarentur, that is, "You have brought them down whom you raised up" (Ps. 72.18); the evangelist says: Scitis quia post biduum Pasch fiet, that is, "Don't you know that Easter will take place in two days?" (Math 26.2). Easter, in Hebrew, means a passing over. When Meroveus understood that the words applied to him, he fell down at the tomb of Saint Martin and wept bitterly, then went out, together with Guntram and more than six other men. He passed by the city of Auxerre and went directly to Dijon, and from there to Champagne Raenciene. There he was captured in a town, by people of the region, and he was very much afraid that he would be held there and delivered into his father's hands. It was his firm opinion that if his father could get a hold of him, he would punish him severely. He became so desperate that he called one of his servants, whose name was Gailen, and begged him to kill him. The servant carried out his order, striking him in the side with a sword that passed right through his body. In this manner, Meroveus' life ended. Gailen, who had killed him, then had his hands, nose, ears, and feet cut off, and died in his turn. Otherwise we know no more, for the history says no more about it.

One of the king's sons, whose name was Samson, died at this point, and the king grieved greatly for the death of this child.

An incident. In this year, a clear, bright star was seen in the body of the moon.

An incident. A powerful man of Chilperic's kingdom, whose name was Guntram Boso, left his daughters in the church of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, then went to king Childebert in the city of Metz, in the seventeenth year of the reign of Chilperic and Guntram, and in the third year of the reign of Childebert. Guntram wanted to remove his daughters from Poitier to take them with him, but he feared the power of one of his enemies, whose name was Dragolen, who had done him much damage. He had tried, with promises and gifts, to appease him. Boasting and prideful in his heart, Dragolen replied to the emissary that he still had the rope with which he customarily hanged other deceivers, and with which he would hang Guntram Boso. When Guntram heard this boastful reply, and the claim that he would hang him, he stretched his hands to the sky and called upon the Lord, who performs miracles in heaven and on earth, to help him, for the sake (prayer) of saint Martin. Then he fought Dragolen and struck him with his lance through the cheeks, so that he pierced from ear to ear the mouth that had spoken the overweening words against him, lifting him from the saddle, and throwing him dead to the earth. By means of this adventure he took his daughters from Poitiers and brought them where he wanted them.

An incident. The Poitevens and the Angevins met and joined forces, intending to surprise Varoque, the count of Britanny. However, he got wind of their plan and prepared for their coming, attacking them in the middle of the night, and killing many of them. Three days later he made peace with the dukes of king Chilperic, giving his son as a hostage, and returning what he had taken. He offered the city of Vannes, which the king let him hold by his grace, in return for tribute. Shortly afterwards, however, he failed to keep his agreements. He sent Ennius, the archbishop of Vannes, to court to have a reply in certain matters, but the king said so many nasty things to him when he came before him, and was so angry with him, that he sent him into exile.

VIII

The king convoked a council of all the prelates in his kingdom, in Paris, in the church of Saint Peter, which is now called Saint Genevieve [Aimon III.xxvi]. Praetextatus, the archbishop of Rouen, whom he had exiled, he recalled; he had him brought before all the prelates, and began to offer his case against him, doing all this at the instigation of queen Fredegund. "Noble and honorable bishops," he said, "although the royal power may lawfully condemn a man who is guilty of conspiracy against the king, I do not wish to violate holy canon. Therfore I present to you a man who bears the title of pastor falsely, because he has conspired against me." Having said this, he turned towards Praetextatus and said to him: "O you, archbishop, tell me why you give gifts to people to injure my well-being? Why did you marry my son Meroveus to his uncle's wife? Do you no longer know what canon law says about such a case? Why do you arm a son against his father, so that he wants to take my life and my kingdom?" When the king stopped speaking, the French who were outside, began to shout, and they tried to break down the doors of the cloister to torture the archbishop, but the king would not permit it. Instead, he gave him the power to absolve himself. He absolved himself by denying everything that the king had charged him with. Then false witnesses were prepared, who affirmed that he had given gifts to some of the people, to kill the king treacherously. He replied to the witnesses: "I confirm your word, to the extent that you say that I have given you gifts. How could I do otherwise than give you gifts for gifts, since your gifts have made me rich? But when you go on to say that I intended to harm the king, and connived against his well-being, then I say that these charges are entirely false." When he had said this, the king rose and went out, to his palace. After the king had left, the prelates remained in the church, and into their midst came Eutheces [Aetius in Gregory and in Aimon], archdeacon of Paris. He said to them: "Noble prelates, now the time has come that you may have glory and praise for your great constancy in defending holy Church vigorously, or you may be despised and reproached by those who come after you, for having brought shame and humiliation to your brother." After these words, all the prelates were silent, for they feared the baseness of Fredegund so much, that no one dared to utter a word. Then Gregory, the very valiant archbishop of Tours, began to speak, and he said to them: "Dear noble brothers, we must give useful counsel to the king, especially those who are closest to him, so that he may not be angrier than he ought to be against the prelate of Our Lord, so that he may not afterwards be cruelly punished by Him who avenges the wrongs done to the innocent." After these words, everyone was silent, as before. Then the holy man began to speak like this: "We who are appointed by Our Lord to govern the souls of the people should avoid that horrible judgement with which God threatens us through the prophet (Ezek.III.18), saying: 'Wretch, you will die a perpetual death, and if you do not warn him, I shall demand his death at your hands.' Therefore, we who are set up as sentinels in the house of Our Lord must not neglect showing him his spiritual perils, and we must go against his will when necessary, according to the examples of the ancient rulers. Maximus was driven from the empire because he compelled saint Martin to give communion to heretics; king Clodomires was killed because he was unwilling to believe the advice of saint Avitus."

When the holy man had finished his argument, all the prelates of the council were silent, as before, and some told the king, to flatter him and to get in his good graces, that Gregory, archbishop of Tours, alone was rebellious to the king's will. When the king heard this, he quickly sent one of his servants from the palace to get him. When the holy man came before the king, he was leaning on a tabernacle of small branches, and Bertrand, archbishop of Bordeaux was on his right hand, and Ragnemodus, archbishop of Paris was on his left hand. When the king saw Gregory in his presence, he addressed him in this way: "Tell me, you who guard justice more righteously than all the others, why do you resist my will? It seems to me that you support wrongdoers, and that the proverb applies in your case, which says that the crow will not put out the eye of another crow." The holy man replied: "Oh king, if I abandon the path of loyalty and justice, there will be enough men to bring me back, but if you abandon it, who will bring you back, unless it be the one who says that he takes vengeance for sins? Therefore, if we urge you to do justice and you are unwilling to listen to us, you will be punished more by God than by us." To this the king replied: "I have always imposed justice on others, but never against you. But I certainly have found more than enough cause and matter to take revenge; I shall urge all the people of Tours, whom you govern spiritually, to cry out against you, because you do not treat them justly. I myself, who am the king, shall complain to them that I cannot get from you the same thing that they ask, and then you will be hated both by me and by the people, and you will be maligned and denounced as a false priest." To this saint Gregory replied: "King, if I am evil and unjust, this is something better known by God than by you. But whether or not you want to take our advice, take the meaning of holy canon and consent to their judgment." Then the king said to the holy man, wanting to appease and assuage his heart, even though he was full of malice, when the tables were set out with bread and wine: "Here is a meal that I have prepared out of love for you; there are peas and fowl -- sit with us and partake of this food." Saint Gregory replied to him: "My food is to do the will of my father who is in heaven." He asked the king to do nothing against the canons. The king raised his hand and swore by Him who will live forever, that he would do nothing against the canons nor against the statutes of the holy Fathers. Saint Gregory then departed, leaving the king in his palace.

IX

In the morning, at the break of day, the emissaries of queen Fredegund came to saint Gregory's home, bringing two pounds of silver from her, to get Gregory's consent to the condemnation of Praetextatus; they said that the other good men, of their own good will, had agreed [Aimon III.xxvi]. The good man refused the money, saying that he would absolutely not agree, not for a thousand pounds, or even more. They continued to beg him, and he finally promised that he would consent to his brothers' wishes, in accordance with the decrees of canon law. They left happily, thinking that they had accomplished their task. Some of the prelates came to him and asked the same question, and he gave them the same reply. When the prelates assembled in council, the king came among them and said that he had found among the decrees of the canon that a bishop guilty of theft could be stripped of his office, for the king could read. The prelates began to ask among themselves who might be the one to be so punished. Then the king said to them: "Have you then forgotten what I revealed to you yesterday about the thievery Praetextatus committed against me? Certainly the king had showed to them, the day before, certain ornaments, worth 4000 sous, and a sack in which he had 2000 gold coins, and he said that he had stolen it all from him. But Praetextatus easily cleared himself of this charge, replying in this way: "Sir, the excellence of your royal majesty must clearly remember, if he so pleases, that Brunhild left in my care two packages of various things, when she left Rouen, then sent for them by her servants. Before giving them up, I asked and requested your advice on what to do in this matter. You then ordered me to give up one of the packages, because they could not carry more than one of them at that time. They came back a second and third time, and I gave them the others, following your orders. Sir, I had to give up all of these things, to prevent further anger between us two from increasing; of all this wealth, I have kept nothing. What do you accuse me of robbing?" Then the king said to him: "If everything you have said is true, and you took these things because you were ordered to, why did you take a garment of gold thread, giving it to whom you pleased, to our disadvantage and harm?" Then the archbishop replied: "I said once and I shall say again that I gave it to them only to achieve peace and gratitude from them. When my own wealth was exhausted, I had to take things that I had received in trust, because Meroveus, your son, your flesh and blood, whom she had asked in marriage, was my spiritual son, for I had lifted him from the font." The king saw clearly that he would not be able to convince him, or overcome him in any way; he left the council, summoned his most trusted toadies, and said to them: "I see that I am defeated by the archbishop's words, and that he has spoken the truth about everything; nevertheless, because what we do must please queen Fredegund, go to him, as though on my behalf, and give him this advice: you know that our lord, king Chilperic, is a most forgiving man, and quickly pardons the evil intentions of those who admit the truth to him. Go then, kneel at his feet, and acknowledge that you have wronged him, and be sure that he will pardon you quickly." They went to him and repeated these words. The archbishop was deceived by the trickery of those who promised that they would themselves kneel before him and would kiss his shoes to deflect his wrath. The next day, when the council met again, the king began to question Praetextatus in this fashion: "If you give gifts for gifts, why did you deliver Meroveus against my well-being?" To which he replied: "I have told you that Meroveus was my foster son and my spiritual son, and for these reasons may the angel of Our Lord help me, if need be." After they had fought a long time over these words, Praetextatus got up, then bowed before the king and began to shout loudly: "Kind king, have pity on the murderer who intended to kill you and replace you with your son." When he heard this avowal before the entire council, the king got up and bowed before the feet of the prelates, saying: "Hear and understand, noble and holy bishops, the treacherous murderer who confessed such a great crime." The prelates ran to the king and raised him from the ground. He then ordered Praetextatus removed from the church. He returned to his palace, then sent to the council some canons, containing a quire of new writing with this statement: "Bishops guilty of murder and of other crimes should be removed from office." When this canon had been read before everyone, Bertrand, archbishop of Bordeaux said to Praetextatus that he was very angry: "Brother and once fellow prelate, if you no longer merit the king's favor, you may no longer be numbered among our company." The king asked the entire council that Praetextatus be defrocked, or that the 108th psalm, concerning the curse of Judas be read over his head, and that he be excommunicated permanently. But the prelates and especially the very worthy Gregory, archbishop of Tours, did not want to do this. They expelled Praetextatus, and the king quickly had him seized and imprisoned; that very night he tried to escape, but he was captured and beaten and treated vilely. Finally he was sent into exile on an island in the sea which is located above a city named Constances [V. identifies this as island of Jersey, town of Coutances, and not one of the islands in Lake Constance].

X

Guntram, the king of Orleans, ordered his nephew Childebert, the king of Metz, to come in peace to a meeting on the border of the two kingdoms, in a place called Ponz Perrouz (Pompieres, Vosges); in accordance with his uncle's orders, he came there [Aimon III.xxvii]. King Guntram embraced him and feted him for a long time, and said to him, in the hearing of everyone: "Since God has taken all my bodily heirs from me because of my sins, I must look for another son to adopt, to whom I may leave my kingdom and my treasures. Fine, gentle nephew Theodobert, whom I love more than any man, I therefore expect and intend that you will inherit my land and my wealth, for which reason I beg that there may be between you and me such love and affection as exists between father and son. May one shield and one lance protect us both from this day forth, and such great love join us together, that if I should hereafter engender sons, I shall not take back the patrimony that I have assigned to you." After these words, the barons of king Childebert thanked king Guntram, and replied for their lord, since he was yet a child, and they ate together and exchanged gifts; they treated each other with great ceremony, then each returned to his own kingdom. But before they left, they sent to king Chilperic to give up what he had seized and taken of their lands, or to stop his preparations for battle against them. When king Chilperic heard these demands, he paid no attention to them.

In this time two bishops were particularly notorious for their outrageous behavior in the land, one was named Salonius and the other Sagittarius. Saint Nicetius, archbishop of Lyons, had raised them from the time that they were children, ordained them as priests, and then raised them to the office of prelate, Salonius of a city named Gap, and Sagittarius of another city, named Embrun. They were not content with being bishops, but became tyrants, murderers, robbers, and theives. They foolishly wasted their time and their lives in fornication and adultery. Their perversity grew so great that they battled armed men in the home of bishop Victor...(hole in MS) on his birthday. They tore his robe, beat and drove out his servants, and made off with the food he had prepared for the feast. When they had finished treating him so badly, they left him all alone in his home. Word of their deeds came to king Guntram, who convoked a synod of bishops at Lyon (567 or 570). The two, who were bishops in name only, were convicted of the crimes they had committed, and deposed from their sees in the presence of saint Nicetius, archbishop of Lyons, who had brought them up, and made them bishops. Losing their offices did not chastise them. They proceeded to win the favor of the king, by I know not what method. They brought letters to Pope John, deceiving him into believing that they had been wrongly deprived of their offices, convincing him so thoroughly that he wrote to king Guntram to restore them to their bishoprics. The king thoroughly rebuked and chastised them, and restored them to their bishoprics. They made a peaceful agreement with Victor, the bishop mentioned above, and they sent to him those who had done the damage to him, so that he might avenge himself upon them in whatever way he wished. But he obeyed the command of Our Lord, who says not to render ill for ill; therefore he pardoned them all, and let them go without punishment.

Salonius and Sagittarius, reestablished in their sees, began to behave worse than before, killing many men in the army that Mummolus put together against the Lombards. Even among their own people, among those in their spiritual care, they were so furiously unrestrained that they beat many of them until they drew blood. When king Guntram heard of this renewal of their past behavior, he had them removed from their sees, and put under guard until a meeting of prelates. In response, Sagittarius became so angry and indignant, that he began to speak outrageously against the king, saying openly that his sons would not inherit the kingdom after him, because their mother had been a servant of the household of Magnachar. At this time, the king's sons were still alive, and the king was very angry at them for these words. He took their horses and whatever else they owned from them, and had them placed in two abbeys, distant from each other, to repent, ordering those in charge to provide armed guards to prevent them from escaping by chance. Then the eldest of the king's sons fell ill, and some of his servants advised the king to let the two bishops return to their places, so that the wrath of Our Lord might not fall upon the king's people for having punished them. The king took this advice, and let them return to their bishoprics. They made a great show of outward religious piety; it seemed that they read their psalter all day long, and sang the psaltery ceaselessly in church. However, a little while later they returned to their vices, like dogs to their vomit, abandoning themselves to fornication and drunkenness: at the hour that the clerks were at matins, they were still sitting with their meat and wine at the table; they went to bed at the break of day, and slept until the third hour. They led such a life a long time, despising Our Lord and his commandments, and he despised them, as we shall show you hereafter.

King Chilperic took the city of Poitiers, which his nephew Childebert held, driving out duke Ennodius, who guarded the city and its garrison for Childebert. Duke Ennodius, who was exiled and deprived of everything, was recalled the next year, and the country and his possessions were restored.

Another noble man named Daco, the son of Gadaricus, went off because of something bad king Chilperic did, but I don't know what it was, because the story does not say. Duke Dragolen captured him then, as he rode through the country from one place to another. He gave himself to him in exchange for an oath guaranteeing to protect his life. But he deceived him, for when he brought him to the king, he himself killed him [Viard demonstrates that Primat, generating two Dacos where Gregory and Aimon had only one, did not understand Aimon III.28]. When Daco, another man, who was in the king's prison, heard that he had been killed, he confessed his sins to a priest without the king's knowledge, and then was killed.

An incident. In that year the Bretons invaded the region of Rennes, going as far as a town called Borc Cornu. Duke Bibolinus was then sent against them; he pursued them back to Britanny, laying waste the country with fire and sword. But the Bretons, who were enraged at such great destruction, did not restrain themselves, but they returned the next year, laying waste not only the land they had previously ravaged, but the entire province of Nantes. Felix, the bishop of the city, ordered them to stop their destruction; they promised to do so, but did not keep their word.

At this time it happened that a man from Paris suspected his wife of adultery; she asked her father, her mother, and her relatives for aid and comfort in this case, and those who thought her pure and innocent swore to her baron and to her friends, on the saints in the oratory of St. Denis, that she was not guilty of what she was accused, but the relatives of her husband told them, after they had sworn the oath, that they had perjured themselves. Words were exchanged on both sides, and a fight began, because neither side would bend or humble itself before the other, for they were noble people, the greatest at king Chilperic's palace. They drew their swords and inflicted terrible wounds on each other. Holy services were suspended in the church, whose sanctity was violated by the spilling of blood. News of this event reached the king, who swore that neither side would have his love or his favor, until they had obtained from Rainemont, bishop of Paris, in whose diocese the church was, a reconciliation, absolving them of the excommunication that they had incurred by this deed. They did what they had to for the archbishop to absolve them, and for them to be reconciled with the church [Viard points out that in Gregory the guilty woman is hanged, and the rest of this chapter is an addition by Primat]. However, because the history mentions at this point the oratory of Saint Denis, shouldn't one understand that this was the abbey where the holy body now rests, since at that time the abbey had not yet been founded, nor the holy body raised from the earth? On the other hand, it might be the chapel which was founded at the time of the passion, in honor of him whose holy body rests there, which is now Saint Denis of l'Etree.

XI

Nantinus , the count of Angouleme, died at this time, painfully tortured, by the vengeance of Our Lord, for the terrible damage he had done to holy Church, as we shall tell you later. Marachar, the uncle of count Nantinus, who had long wielded power in the county, went to the clergy, and in a short time saw to it that he became bishop of the city. But he did not live long, for those who did not like him poisoned him [in Aimon, with a poisoned fish-head]. In any event, the man for whom this crime was committed, whose name was Frontonius, became bishop after him, but he only lived a year. After Frontonius, the third Heraclius, who had previously been archpriest of Bordeaux, became bishop. Nantinus, of whom we have spoken, who had taken the country from the king, to avenge the death of his uncle, upbraided Heraclius for keeping in his entourage men who had poisoned his uncle to death. The controversy grew so heated on both sides that the count seized the cities that his uncle had given in his will to the church, claiming that he was himself not bound to the will, because the very clerks in whose favor the will had been made had killed Marachar. He then became even more wicked, killing some people, and striking a priest with a lance through the body. He had his hands tied behind his back and had him tortured to confess that he had murdered his uncle. The priest, who was innocent of the deed, lost so much blood from his body through the open wound that he gave up the ghost, like a martyr. For this and similar behavior, Nantinus was excommunicated by the bishop Heraclius. Finally, he pleaded so with some of the bishops who met at Saintes (579), that they had him absolved by their prayers, in return for his promise that he would mend his ways, and that he would give back whatever he had taken and seized from the church. When he returned to Angouleme, he destroyed all the houses, saying: "If the bishop takes them, he will find them empty." When the bishop heard that this had happened, after they had come to an agreement, he again excommunicated him, but a short time later he passed from this world. The count had himself absolved by another bishop, whom he corrupted by gifts. After this absolution, which was worth little or nothing, he got sick with a high fever. When his fever was at its highest point, he cried out loudly: "Harou alas! alas! how the bishop Heraclius punishes me! He flails me and makes my whole body burn with his fire. Alas! I want to die, so that I may not live longer in the great pain from which I now suffer." With such words and with such cries he finished his lamentable life. Those who do harm to holy Church should take care, and should understand that Our Lord takes vengeance for the evil deeds of those who harm her without cause.

King Chilperic, who grew worse with age, did great harm to the people who were under him, exacting excessive taxes on the advice of Fredegund. Many of them left the country and went to live elsewhere, as exiles, preferring to live freely in other countries than to be crushed in their own country by painful tributes. Among the other harmful customs he originated, Chilperic proclaimed that everyone, in both the upper and lower classes, who grew grapes, owed a jug of wine to the king's table, to be paid either by manual labor or by cash. In the country of Aquitaine, Marcus was established as prefect and collector of this tax; he was foul in compelling people to make these payments, using ugly words and threats. The people of this country were not always able to endure the foul things that he said to them, and he was killed for his atrocious behavior in the country of Limousin. Chilperic, who went steadily from bad to worse, was struck by a terrible ague, but recovered from this illness. After he had been cured, one of his grandsons, who had not yet been baptized, fell ill. The queen, who was very upset, had him baptized, and her anxiety was relieved, for he recovered his health after having been baptized. She was not happy for long, however, for one of her brothers, who was older than she, became ill. Disease and hidden illnesses had spread thoroughly through the royal line, having come down and flowed through the ancestral entrails in the bodies and limbs of the children, as though she wanted, by her work, to conquer the kingdom and their patrimony. Finally, queen Fredegund, who felt her griefs renewed in her heart so many times, as she looked at the bodies of her half-dead children, put aside the cruelty of the savage beast, and clothed her heart with human compassion. She went to the king, and spoke in this way: "Sir, we must acknowledge the favor and benefits that Our Lord has granted us; he has not taken vengeance for the malice in which we have lived for such a long time; although we have ourselves not suffered bodily the flails of the justice of God, yet we have been chastized by the stick with which our children have been beaten, and by means of this, we may perceive that Our Lord does not love us; in scripture he says, in his own person: "I chastise those whom I love." He has taken our children as pure innocents because he loved them. Ourselves he has chastised by means of various illnesses; we must believe that the persecutions we suffer are brought upon us by the tears of the widows and orphans who have been wrongfully abused by us. Let us then repent for the evils that we have done, and let us turn to Our Lord, and let us beg that he judge our crimes less harshly, for he is merciful towards sinners who humble themselves before him. Let us then burn the letters that we have written, and, for the well-being of our souls and of our descendants, let us destroy the charters in which the exactions, which would destroy the poor, are sealed. We must be very afraid lest our repentance not be true. Since we have permitted many great evils, we should not fear much suffering. Cannot one suffer some pain rather than lose that which one loves best? Why should we protect the treasures we have amassed and accumulated for so long, when we have lost all our heirs, who should have inherited them? Let us then be careful not to be like the rich man of whom the Gospel speaks, who filled his granary, and a voice told him that he would not see the next day, and he would not know who would inherit his wealth. Therefore he may be mild who has taken partial vengeance against us, and more merciful than if he had never taken any vengeance." This advice, given by Fredegund to the king, restrained the baseness and the avarice of his heart, and so softened the hardness of his nature that he threw into the fire and burned the documents in which the decrees had been written to do harm to the people.

A short while later, their youngest son died, and was buried in the sepulchre in the oratory of Saint Denis. Soon afterwards, the other son, whose name was Clodobert, was sick and close to death. The mother, who was in agony over the painful sighs of her child, had him carried to Saint Medard of Soissons; she herself and the king were there, and they made many rich offerings to honor the holy body. The child died in the middle of the night; the people of the city, dressed in mourning clothing, conveyed the body as far as the church of Saint Crispin. There he was buried with great tears and groans by the mother. The third child, whose name was Theodoric, died. Then the king saw clearly that this was God's vengeance, and that Our Lord was punishing him through his descendants. Fearful for himself, he ordered that great gifts be given to the churches. He still had one son left, whose mother was not Fredegund. He had him kept in prison on the advice of his stepmother. The king ordered those who guarded him to kill him. His ardor and eagerness for doing evil was so great, that it was not enough for him to see that Our Lord punished him daily in his progeny, but he increased and provoked the anger of Our Lord towards him by committing new sins.

XII

In the fifth year of the reign of Childebert, which was the nineteenth of the reign of Chilperic and Guntram, there was so much rain throughout the provinces of the kingdom of France, that the rivers overflowed more widely than they had ever done before; animals perished, homes and buildings were destroyed. When the rains stopped, and the waters retreated into their customary channels, the trees blossomed anew, in the month of September.

At this time lightning was seen moving through the air, and great thunder was heard everywhere in the country, as though great trees were trembling from the force of the wind.

In the city of Bordeaux there were great tremblings and earthquakes; great rocks broke and fell from the mountains, doing great harm to men and beasts.

The city of Bordeaux burned with a fire that came from the sky; this fire consumed many people; the granaries and the barns full of wheat were burned and destroyed.

The city of Orleans was burned in the same way.

Blood sprung visibly from the piece of sacramental bread on the altar in the region of Chartres.

A wolf leapt from the woods and entered the city of Poitiers by one of its gates; the citizens had the gates closed, then killed it in the middle of the city.

The skies were seen burning, and the Loire overflowed more than its normal amount.

The wind that is called the Auster, (which some people call the Galerne, which comes from the North), blew so fiercely this year, that it shook the forests, the walls and houses, and twisted the men when it caught them so strongly, that they almost died. The front of this whirlwind was seven times, in its width, the size of the land a plow might work in a day; its length was inestimable.

The signs and marvels that happened in this year (580) were meaningful, for the discords of kings and the battles of citizens followed them. An illness, which physicians call dysentery, struck almost the entire kingdom of France. Aufrigilda [Austrigild in Aimon], the queen and wife of Guntram, fell ill with this disease. She complained to her husband that the physicians had been negligent in curing her, and that because of their incompetence, the disease had so overcome her, that she would never recover. Whether or not the physicians were negligent, she spoke the truth, for she died of this disease (Sept 580). Because of this, the king ordered the physicians killed, after submitting them to various tortures [in Gregory they had merely been put to the sword].

In that year king Chilperic captured, in the city of Poitiers, the emissaries that Mir, the king of Galicia, had sent to king Guntram. He imprisoned them in Paris, releasing them the next year, allowing them to return to their own country.

Maurilius, the bishop of Cahors, fell into a great languor, from a burning iron that he had placed between his thighs, hoping to cure the leprosy with which he was infected. Many men, when they saw that he was dying, coveted the bishopric, but the good man chose a man named Ursicinus, and had him anointed before his death, then passed on to eternal joy, I think, for he gave alms very generously. He was so learned in divine scripture that he knew by heart practically all the authorities and genealogies of the Old Testament. He protected and defended the poor people of his church and his bishopric against the false judgments of corrupt judges; therefore he might say to Our Lord, as Job said: "I was the father of the poor and diligently upheld their rights" [XXIX.16].

Leuvigild, the king of Spain, sent as an emissary to king Chilperic one of the bishops of his country, whose name was Agilan. He was an Arian, and did not believe in the faith of the Church of Rome, especially in the articles of the Holy Trinity. Saint Gregory, the archbishop of Tours, came to dispute with him, and conquered him miraculously. This bishop said several times that he would not become a Catholic, that is, he would not believe in the true faith of the church of Rome; but finally, seeing himself in mortal danger, he received the true faith.

Tiberius Constantine, emperor of Constantinople, of whom we have spoken below, knew very well that his life was drawing to a close. For seven years he governed the empire diligently and well, with the counsel of his wife Sophia the August, who had been the wife of the emperor Justin. He summoned Maurice, born in a country of Greece called Cappadocia; he left the empire to be governed by him and one of his richly dowered daughters, saying to Maurice: "I grant my empire to you and to this young woman. See to it that you keep loyalty and justice in your heart forever, for these are the principal signs of a good emperor." Maurice was a noble man. When the emperor had said this, he paid nature's debt and passed on to the joy of paradise (582), as many think. He left great weeping and lamentation among the people, for he was a man of sovereign goodness, generous and ready to give alms, very wise in judgement; he loved everyone, had contempt for no one, and was loved by all. Maurice was crowned and garbed in imperial purple, and then led into a theater that was situated in the middle of the city, in accordance with the custom of the country. He was the first emperor of Greek lineage.

An incident. At this time, the state of Lombardy was in turmoil. The Lombards, who for ten years had been under the rule of the dukes whom they had proclaimed and established by common accord to govern the people, chose as their king Flavian, the son of king Cleph. Because he had no treasures or wealth by means of which he might govern his state, each of the dukes gave him half of whatever he had, to support him and those who served him in various offices. It was a marvelous thing how peaceful the whole country was; there was no violence, no use of brute force, no trickery, and no treason; everyone went anywhere he wished in complete safety.

XIII

Maurice, the emperor of Constantinople, sent fifty pounds by emissary to king Childebert, on condition that he drive the Lombards out of the land of Italy [Aimon III.36]. He prepared his army, and swiftly entered Lombardy. The Lombards did not dare to fight him, but retreated into their castles and fortresses. Then they made peace with the king by paying him generously. When the emperor heard that he had made peace with the Lombards without doing anything else, he ordered him to give back the money he had received from him, or to carry out the agreement. But the king, who had no fear of his force or for the pride of his own people, did not even deign to reply.

An incident. At that time, the Christians were suffering great persecutions in Spain, of which Gadsund, the mother of Brunhild, was the cause; you will hear about this now. Hermengild, the son of Leuvigild the king of the Goths who lived in Spain, had married Ingund, the sister of king Childebert. She was the daughter of Brunhild, the mother of king Childebert, and niece of Gadsund [some confusion here; V. points out that Gadsund was not the aunt, but the grandmother of Ingund, according to Gregory of Tours]. Hermangild was converted to the true faith of Rome and abandoned the Arian heresy, encouraged by his wife, and by the preaching of bishop Leander. Gadsund tried in every way she could to encourage her niece to kill her lord, but she would never assent to this. When Gadsund saw this, she advised her lord king Leuvigild to compel his son to live in another city together with his wife, because it displeased her too much to live with them, particularly because they were of another faith and creed. Since Hermangild would not leave or deny the holy faith of Rome because of this harassment, or any other, his father put him in prison; Easter day he decapitated him. He also persecuted many other good Christians who lived in that land. When this happened, Ingund fled, together with one of their sons, after the martyrdom of her husband. As she tried to return to France, the emperors' men who were defending the country against the Goths captured her and her son; she was brought to Seville, where she died, and her child was brought to the emperor Maurice in Constantinople. When king Childebert heard that his sister had been captured, and when he was informed of what happened thereafter, he assembled his army and entered Spain to avenge the wrongs and the shame that had been done his sister. He fought a great battle against the Goths, killing and routing many of them. He returned to France with great booty and with a great victory. The emperor Maurice then commanded him to go up against the Lombards; he did this willingly, because he thought that his sister was still in Constantinople, and that the emperor would give her to him for this service. He assembled his army and set off, but he had to return without getting anything done, because a battle developed within his army between the Germans and the French.

An incident. After Pope John, Benedict received the office; after Benedict, Pelagius was ordained, without the emperor's order, because at that time the Goths had surrounded and were laying siege to the city of Rome, so that no one could get out. Mummolus left king Guntram for I don't know what reason, installing himself in the castle of Avignon, with whatever he could get together, prepared to defend himself against his enemies.

King Childebert abandoned the peace and the alliance that he had established with his uncle, king Chilperic, who promised him that he would inherit his kingdom after him; but he lied about the agreement, as he had done with other things as well.

Ursio and Berthefried drove duke Lupus and his army from Champagne. When they were about to capture and kill him, Brunhild intervened and freed him by her entreaty, but the two princes destroyed his fortresses.

King Chilperic sent duke Desiderius to Aquitaine, with many men, to capture the cities of Agen and Perigueux. They drove duke Ragnovald from the country, took from his wife all their goods, then captured and occupied all the cities of the country. Leudast, together with most of his army, died in Gascony.

At this time there lived a recluse named Hospicius near the city of Nicetius; he did much penance out of love for Our Lord; his bare flesh was tied with chains of iron and covered with scales. He ate a bit of bread and dates, and in the fortieth year, he ate only the roots of the herbs he grew in his cell. Our Lord performed many miracles for him while he lived, to glorify his friend and to honor his servant on earth.

At this time Saint Martin the Gallician died; born in Pannonia, he went to the Orient to visit the holy places, where he learned much about Scripture, and then returned to Galicia. There he was ordained bishop of the church of Saint Martin, the principal church of Spain; he governed the church thirty years, then passed on to Our Lord.

In the seventh year of the reign of Childebert, which was the twenty-first of the reign of Chilperic and Guntram, a comet was seen in the sky on Easter-day. The sky was seen burning in the city of Soissons, and throughout the city of Paris, blood fell from a cloud, bloodying the clothing of many people. Sickness and death came upon the kingdom of France in the year that followed.

At that time duke Rodin died, a true giver of alms, full of great goodness, and just in all things. One day it happened that he buried the body of a man who had died; he ordered his servants to dig a grave in which to bury the body; when they had finished carrying out his orders, they found a great treasure. When they had removed it, they carried it before their lord. The good man understood very well that this was a gift from God, and apportioned it among the poor, for the love of him who had given it to him, like the good servant who returned the coin that his master had given into his keeping, multiplied by the hands of the poor. Many signs and many marvels were seen in the sky that year.

Agricola, bishop of Chalons, and Dalmas of Rodez, full of sanctity, passed from this world, having lived a good life. Agricola is the one mentioned in the life of Saint Germanus who was bishop of Paris. He adorned the church of his city, before he died, with rich marble columns, and had it painted with different, very rich paintings. Dalmas, the other bishop, had his own torn down several times, and because he always intended to improve it, he left it unfinished.

XIV

King Chilperic, who wished to spread a new heresy, wrote to the bishops of his kingdom that they should reject the name of the Trinity, and denounce he who is at once Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so that there would be no division of persons in God. Saint Gregory, archbishop of Tours, who surpassed all the other prelates in leading a good life and in sanctity, advised and told him that saint Hilary and saint Augustine were opposed to this position. Saint Gregory said to him: "King, you must beware lest he become angry with you, whose faith they preached, and you must recognize that they are opposed to this evil teaching that you wish to raise up." When the king, in his great pride, replied to him that he would ask advice of someone wiser than he, the holy man said that he would not be wise who felt otherwise about the faith. Salvius, one of the bishops of Albi, entered the palace as these words were being spoken; the king said that he would do as Salvius advised, then read to him aloud the manuscript of the heresy that he had just completed. When the bishop heard and understood the heresy, he was so shocked and disgusted by it, that he would have torn it up and burned it, if he could have gotten his hands on it. The king saw very well that all the bishops would oppose the perverse heresy that he wished to raise up against the faith, and therefore withdrew the proposal. However, he added omega, the Greek letter which is the equivalent of "o", to the number of our letters, and three other letters which can be found in this document, to the charters he gave and which were affixed with a seal in his time. He ordered that children in all the cities of his kingdom be instructed in these letters, and parts of books were rubbed out and recopied with the new letters.

Then Leudast was removed from the county of Tours, for the harm he did to the people without cause, and for the foul things he did to archbishop Gregory, although he had sworn that he would do him no harm. He was followed by count Eunomius. At that time, counts were in charge of counties, as bailiffs were of bailiwicks, and their appointments were temporary [Primat's addition]. When Leudast was removed, he was very angry against archbishop Gregory, suspecting that he had been the instigator. The traitor plotted to malign him at court. He made the king and queen believe that Gregory wanted to turn the city over to king Guntram. He said many outrageous things which were to the detriment and shame of the queen, openly affirming that Bertrand the archbishop of Bordeaux supported her. In this evil scheme he had a friend and co-conspirator, a cleric named Rigulph, who worked maliciously against his master, archbishop Gregory, in any way he could. The king, who was very upset by this affair, and especially about the ugly words spoken about the queen, had a synod of bishops convoked at a town called Brituel. hen the prelates were assembled, archbishop Bertrand complained much about having been defamed without cause. Archbishop Gregory cleared himself of the charges against him. In accordance with the decretals and the judgement of his brothers, he swore three times that he had never uttered a word to shame or to defame the king or the queen. The prelates knew very well that it was illegal, as well as against canon law and authorities, for a prelate to submit to this kind of purgation, but they agreed to appease the king, who was very disturbed by the terrible things that had been said about him. Therefore they said afterwards to the king: "Gregory our brother has cleared himself in this case by taking an oath; what do you think should be done between you and archbishop Bertrand, who has been slandered by you, unless it be that you be excommunicated?" The king replied to them that he had not said these words himself, but Leudast was the source of this statement. When they went to look for Leudast, he could not be found, because he had fled, like one who knew very well that he was guilty, when he heard that the prelates were to assemble. All the prelates who were there excommunicated him; they wrote to those who were not there, proclaiming their decision. They were amazed at the patience of the king, who, in spite of the fact that the queen had been terribly slandered, harmed no one without cause (unusual behavior for him), but merely ordered that Leudast, who had been excommunicated, be banished from his kingdom for the lies he had told against archbishop Gregory. The king had all of his possessions and everything the king had given him seized and taken from Tours to Bourges. He wandered up and down the country for a long time, then he brought about a reconciliation between himself and holy Church, and the king took him back into his good graces. Archbishop Gregory, who paid no attention to the foul things and the harm that Leudast had done to him, warned him that the queen was out to get him, since she was still angry with him. But he paid no attention to the holy man's warning. One day he entered a chapel where she was at prayer and threw himself at her feet, to effect a reconciliation between them, if he could. But she had such great hatred for him when she saw him before her, that she pushed him away. He left the chapel very unhappy, when he saw that she had rejected him; he conceived of many plans to get back in her good graces, one of which involved buying jewels to give to her. While he was in the market carrying out this plan, she sent servants to kill him, but when he saw himself surrounded, he struck one of them with his sword, escaped from their clutches and set out in flight to Paris. On the way, his feet slipped between the planks of a wooden bridge so badly that he broke his leg. The king had him conveyed out of the city and ordered that he be cured, but the queen, who was not thinking of curing him, had his throat broken with two sticks. In this way the wretch finished his life, having previously thrown many men in prison, and beaten, vilified, and constrained them to bear false witness against saint Gregory; he did not lower himself to do evil, but such behavior was naturally consistent with his birth, for he had been born a serf. He managed to find employment at the palace, but because he had bad eyes, he was given the job of cook. He performed so shamelessly there that he was thrown out as a thief. He returned several times, but because he could not restrain himself from stealing, he finally had an ear cut off. He knew that he could not hide this mark of shame. He went off to the wife of king Caribert and, by flattery got into her good graces, becoming keeper of the stables, and factotum. He managed things so well that king Caribert gave him, after the death of the queen, the county of Tours, from which he was driven shamefully, as you have heard. Riculph, the cleric who, together with Leudast, had born false witness against the archbishop, was taken by order of the king, and tortured brutally and at great length, as though he were a piece of iron or copper. It was a miracle that he could survive such torture. The king would have cut off his head, had archbishop Gregory not intervened. Under torture he admitted that he had said the words that resulted in the queen being exiled from the kingdom, and that Clovis, who alone survived of the sons of Chilperic, was king after his death.

Clovis was the king's son by another woman; he had sent him to the castle of Berny when his sons by Fredegund had died. He did all of this on the advice of his stepmother, for she thought that he would die of a sickness called dysentery, of which the others had died, and this illness was more widespread in this city than anywhere else. However, when he had escaped the disease, he clearly saw the malice of his stepmother and presumptuously despised her, boasting that he alone remained heir to the kingdom of his father. There were enough people to report these words to his step-mother, revealing not only what he said foolishly against her, but also making up things that he had not said, convincing her that her sons had been killed by the spells and charms of an old woman who was the mother of a girl who had slept with Clovis. The queen, who was wild with rage after these words, had the girl seized and tortured thoroughly, and then had her impaled on a stake and fixed in the earth in front of Clovis' home. She had the old woman beaten and tortured so that she swore that the false accusation was true. Then she asked vengeance for her sons from the king. The king went hunting in the woods and told his son to come with him. When he came, he had him tied up and sent to his step-mother. She had him imprisoned, and then tried in many ways to get him to tell the truth about which barons of the kingdom supported him. He did not confess to the crime of which she suspected him, accusing his servant instead. Two days later she sent him to a village called Noisy, ordering those who guarded him to stick a knife into his entrails without removing it, and afterwards to have it reported to the king that he had killed himself in despair, and that the knife was still in the wound. The king, who neither grieved nor wept for him, ordered that he be buried there in a tomb. Clovis' mother Audovera, the king's first wife, was killed, and her daughter, whom the king had engendered upon her, was treated basely and dishonored by Fredegund's servants, then shut up in a monastery. The old woman, who was the mother of Clovis' concubine, was condemned to be burned at the stake. She argued strongly against the queen's accusation, saying that she had confessed only to end the agony of the torture; she was tied to a stake and burned alive. Clovis' treasurer, whose name was Chappa, was seized and bound, and brought to the queen, but he was freed at the entreaty of saint Gregory, the archbishop of Tours.

XV

At that time king Chilperic had entertainments established at Paris and at Soissons, which were called circuses, like those the Romans used to celebrate in ancient times [the rest of this paragraph is Primat's addition]. A circus is like a round wall enclosing a broad place, within which horses run without escaping barriers that have been set in place. At such games the ancients, who were pagans, used to make sacrifices to their false gods; the games were established for two of them, Castor and Pollux, as the Ovidian tales relate.

After the meeting of bishops of which we have spoken, saint Gregory and saint Salvius were at a secret meeting one day in Paris, in a garden very near the king's chamber. As they were speaking together, saint Salvius turned his eyes towards the palace and saw the sword of the anger of Our Lord hanging over the roof the palace. He called saint Gregory and said to him: "Dear brother, do you see what I see?" Saint Gregory, who thought that he was joking, as he sometimes did, said that he saw only the palace and the roof; then saint Salvius told him what he had seen. The vision was not without meaning, for twenty days later the two sons of the king died, of whom we shall speak later.

One night, when saint Gregory went to sleep after matins, he saw, in a vision, an eagle flying above the church [Not an eagle, but an angelum in Aimon; therefore the reading should be angle and not aigle], shouting in a loud voice: "Alas, alas, God has struck Chilperic and all his sons; none of those now alive will remain for him." He said this because there were still four alive.

At that time there was a council in Lyons (583), by means of which many bishops who had lived badly improved their lives.

One day the king came to Paris from a city called Nogent; he asked saint Gregory, the archbishop of Tours, who accompanied him, to baptize a Jew named Priscus, who was one of his servants. But the Jew refused, saying that he did not believe in our faith, and he reviled it as much as he could. The holy man disputed with him, confounding him with excellent arguments. When the king saw that the Jew refused baptism and his benediction, he said to saint Gregory: "Because the traitor has refused the benediction, it will be removed from him; but I say to you, in the character of Jacob and in the words that he said to the angel when he fought with him, that I shall never let you go until you have given me your benediction" (Genesis 32.26). When the holy man had given him his benediction, and they had eaten together, he left the king and went to to Tours, to his own see.

An incident. At that time a recluse died at Angouleme, whose name was Parchus, a man of high moral qualities and great sanctity, who had brought back to life a man who had been hanged on the gallows for theft.

At that time it happened that Dynamius, who was in charge of the land of Provence, captured Theodore, the bishop of Marseille, and did many shameful, wretched things to him, without cause. Finally he let him go, but as soon as he went to king Childebert, king Guntram recaptured him. His canons and clerics, who disliked him, took the goods of the church when they knew he had been captured, emptied his granaries and cellars, and falsely accused him of many crimes and slandered him without cause. Then king Childebert ordered his uncle Guntram to give him one half of Marseille, which he had given to him after the death of his father, and if Guntram was unwilling to do this, Childebert said that Guntram would lose much more. King Guntram was unwilling, and ordered that the roads be guarded so carefully that no one should be able to come or go in his territory. King Childebert made a duke of one of his servants, whose name was Gundulf; he was of noble lineage, descended from a line of senators. He went to Marseille by way of the city of Tours, where archbishop Gregory received him with great joy, for he was his mother's uncle. He made him stay fifteen days, and at his departure gave him supplies and whatever was necessary to complete the journey. Bishop Theodore escaped from King Guntram's prison, and accompanied Gundulf in the hope that he might reestablish him in his bishopric, and in possession of the good which his clerics had taken from him. When they reached Marseille, Dynamius denied entry to the city to Gundulf, and the clerics denied Theodore entry to the church. Gundulf and bishop Theodore urged Dynamius to come speak to them in the church of Saint Stephen, which was next to the walls of the city. Those who were guarding the gate of the church let him enter alone; those who had come with him were shut out He was led to an oratory, where he was reviled and upbraided for his deeds. Those who remained outside were angry that they had been shut out and forced back. Gundulph ordered that they take the oldest, because he wanted to send them into the city to make them open the gates. Dynamius, who perceived clearly that he had been caught, fell at their feet; he promised to open the gates of the city, and he promised that thenceforth he would behave well and loyally towards king Childebert and towards the bishop. At these words, they let him go; he carried out the agreement very well, for he opened the gates of the city for them, and they were joyfully received by the citizens. The clerics, who had disloyally worked against their bishop, fled to their homes. but Duke Gundulf compelled them to give good surety that they would present themselves to king Childbert, and that they would submit to whatever punishment he deemed fit, to atone for their excesses. When Gundulf had received the city and reestablished the bishop in his see, he returned to king Childebert. After his departure, Dynamius did not keep the agreement he had made with the bishop very long, but told king Guntram that the bishop wanted to hand the city over to him Childebert, and that the bishop opposed him, telling the citizens that they would never obey him if he did not send bishop Theodore into exile. King Guntram was very angry at these words, and ordered that the bishop be seized, tied up, and brought to him. Afraid, the bishop did not dare go out of the city, but he had to dedicate a church which was outside the city, and he went to perform his duty. Those who were waiting to seize him suddenly leapt from ambush, beat the clerics who accompanied him and chased them off, pulled the bishop from his horse, and disrespectfully brought him upon a nag before the king, at a city named Aix (en Provence). A bishop named Pientius, like a good man, supplied him with clergy and company and whatever was necessary for him on the trip. The king carefully asked him if he was guilty of the charge, and found him not guilty; because he was also aware of the shameful way the bishop was treated, he gave him gifts, and said that he might return in peace to his bishopric. When he came back, the people received him joyfully, but the clerics had seized all of his own property. For this reason, and for others, the pacts formed between king Guntram and king Childebert were broken, and the country fell into great discord.

An incident. A townsman of Tours, named Lupus, proposed to take orders, because his wife had died. One of his brothers, whose name was Ambrose, dissuaded him from doing this, promising to find for him a good, beautiful woman, of noble lineage, who would prove advantageous to him. While carrying out this plan, both were killed by an adulterer who was the lover of Ambrose's wife; because he had tried to take his brother away from God, and to turn him towards the pleasures of the world, they both were lost.

An incident. In this year there was an eclipse of the moon.

In Tours, real blood flowed from the broken bread at the sacrament of the altar; no one should doubt that it was the true body and the true blood of Jesus Christ. In the area of Senlis, a man woke up in the morning and saw that the inside of his house was stained with blood. In the city of Angers, there were earthquakes; wolves entered the city [In Gregory and in Aimon the city is Bordeaux] and ate the dogs. Fire was seen streaking across the sky.

XVI

At this time king Chilperic had many Jews baptized, raising them from the font, and acting as godfather, but he was unable to convert Priscus the Jew, who was his servant. He ordered him to be imprisoned, but the Jew deceived him with gifts, and managed to gain permission for one of his sons to go to his wife, who lived in Marseilles, promising then to do the king's will. But the wretch, who did not wish to acknowledge his Creator, went to hell soon afterwards, when an argument arose between himself and another man, who was a Jew converted in Patarim [in 584 there were no Patarim; Primat has misconstrued Patirum, a proper name both in Gregory and in Aimon]. Their words grew so heated that he killed him with his sword.

Nonnichius, the duke of Limoges, captured two men who were carrying letters by Charterius, the bishop of Periguex; the letters contained abusive remarks about king Chilperic. Among other things written in the letters was a complaint by the bishop that he had been thrown out of paradise and into hell; by this he meant that he had fallen from the kingdom of king Guntram into the power of king Chilperic. He was seized and brought, together with the emissaries, to the king. Brought before the king, he was asked why he wrote such things, but because he could not easily be convicted, the king gave him leave to return, without any punishment, to his own country.

Aetherius, bishop of Lisieux, paid thirty deniers [twenty pieces of gold in Gregory VI.36] to ransom a cleric who had been condemned to death for having raped a woman. The bishop put him in charge of the grammar schools of this city, because he said that he was a grammar school master. The inhabitants of the city whose children he taught often invited him to dinner. He visited their homes so often that he fell in love with the mother of one of his pupils. He asked her to return his foolish love; she was a sensible woman, who told her lord, who set out to kill him. When the bishop found out, he set him free and gave him back his post. One day it happened that the bishop went out into the fields to amuse himself. The wretched cleric, who had forgotten all the good things that the bishop had done for him, ran after him with an axe on his shoulder. When the bishop turned towards him and asked why he was following him with that knife. He fell at his feet and said to him: "Dear sweet father, have pity on me, and pardon the sin which I have committed towards you; to tell the truth, I did not do it on my own, but the archdeacon encouraged me to kill you." The bishop ordered him to keep this hidden, and then he returned to his house. The archdeacon saw that he could not harm the bishop through someone else as well as he could by himself, so he made up a story that he had seen a mad woman [in Aimon, mulier, in Primat, fole dame] come out of the bishop's room. Then he and the aforementioned cleric ran up to him, together with others, ordering that his hands be tied securely. Thus he was seized, bound and imprisoned by the very man whom he had several times freed from bonds and from jail. He saw clearly that he had lost all aid and comfort, and he could hope for no human help. Therefore he turned all his thoughts to Our Lord and to Our Lady, and prayed with a good heart that they might comfort him. His bonds dropped from him instantly, and those who guarded him fell asleep. Seeing this, he left the prison and fled to the king. His enemies falsified charges against him, telling king Chilperic that he wanted to betray the city. But the people of the city, who were unhappy with the damage that had been done to them, begged the king to give them back their bishop. Then king Chilperic sent to king Guntram to send the bishop back, because he had no ill will towards him, and he knew of no charges against him of which he was guilty. At the request of his brother, king Guntram had him returned to his see, and gave him plenty of money and other things. He sent letters to the bishops of his realm, telling them to honor the archbishop with gifts and presents. He was given as much wealth and riches as he could carry on this trip.

King Chilperic placed a guard on the bridge of Paris [Primat is misled here by Aimon’s error in translating Gregory, who was referring to a bridge on the Orge] to ward off king Guntram's spies, and he ordered that all the passages be well guarded. One night Duke Asclepius surprised those who were guarding the bridge, killing them all, and looting the streets near the bridge. King Chilperic was so outraged and furious by this act, that he wanted to move a specially convoked army against king Guntram. In any event, he changed his mind, advised by some wise men, and demanded that his brother make reparations for the damage and harm that he or his men had done to him. And he, who loved right and loyalty made amends to him in accordance with his wishes. But king Chilperic who was a cruel man by nature, did not restrain himself, but took from him several cities that belonged to Guntram's kingdom, putting his own prefects and baillifs in charge of them, and ordering that their income be deposited in his coffers.

Queen Fredegund bore a son, who was baptized at Paris, and named Theodore

XVII

King Childebert sent Egidius [Aimon III.48], archbishop of Rheims, and some of the princes of his kingdom as emissaries to his uncle, king Chilperic, to confirm peace and their alliance. The archbishop began his speech this way: "Chilperic, noble king, our lord king Childebert, your nephew, asks that the accord and peace established between the two of you be entirely confirmed by everyone. He cannot have the love or the good will of king Guntram your brother, because he asks for the half of Marseilles that he holds illegally, and does not wish to pay tribute with the fruits of his kingdom. If you then wish to be of one mind and one will, joining our forces together, you will very soon be able to take vengeance for the wrongs that he has done to you." Then the king responded, saying: "The guilt and misdeeds of my brother are too evident to be easily concealed. If my dear nephew sees clearly and judges diligently in his heart how things have gone, he would find that his father was killed by his treachery and disloyalty; for which reason I promise aid and comfort of every kind, both from myself and from my companions, to aid in avenging the death of his father, for which I grieve much, for I have lost both my brother and my friend, who would have loved me very much had he lived." After these words, they confirmed the alliance and hostages were given by each side; then the emissaries left. King Chilperic assembled his army, and came to lay waste the country and to lay waste the cities and towns of Guntram's kingdom. He sent the dukes and the other leaders in different directions to take the city of Bourges. Duke Berulf, who was the leader of the men from Tours and Anjou, attacked from one direction, Desiderius and Bladast from another, with a great multitude of other people. The king had ordered them to take oaths of allegiance from the cities that they took in his name. The men of Bourges, who were prepared for their coming, came out to fight the duke Desiderius with fifteen thousand men, at a castle named Melun; while they fought, the other dukes laid siege to the city. King Chilperic hurried to follow them, leading his army through Paris, even though the army of his nephew Childebert had not yet arrived. However, he had some of his princes in his company, and they laid waste and pillaged the entire countryside as far as Melun, after they had passed Paris. King Guntram, who was very disturbed by these actions, was not afraid of facing them in battle; his help and comfort were entirely in the hands of Our Lord. The next night he left his encampment to look over his troops, and met a group of his enemies, who had separated from the main body to pillage; he attacked them and defeated them very quickly. The next day, when both armies were armed and ready to fight, and they were about to join battle, some good men, who had pity for the people and for the kings (who were brothers), worked so assiduously that a peace came about, and an agreement and an alliance were established between them. They promised to make amends for whatever damage they had done each other. King Chilperic ordered his people to refrain from plundering the countryside, but they were unwilling to obey; the king became so angry that he pierced the count of Rouen with his own sword In Gregory he only gives the order to execute him; Aimon adds the touch of theater.] In such a way he restrained others from plundering; he made them return the booty they had taken, and to give up all the prisoners they had captured. He ordered those who had laid siege to the city of Bourges to leave, but on their return some of them took everything they could get their hands on.

King Childebert kept his army apart from the others, together in a field; noise and grumbling from the lower ranks rose up during the middle of the night. They were trembling with rage and ill-will towards Egidius, the archbishop of Rheims, and towards the other leaders of the army, and they cried out in words like these: "Those who bring shame on the kingdom and bring it into the power of someone else should be dismissed from the presence and the company of the king." As soon as they saw that it was day, they came, fully armed, to the king's tent, intending to kill the archbishop. When he saw the danger he was in, he mounted a horse and fled, with a few people, as fast as he could. He was so afraid that he did not dare pick up a band which covered his head, which fell (as he was riding). It was very fortunate for him that those who pursued him had no horses. In the city of Rheims he remained firmly as long as they were prepared to pursue him. King Guntram gave to king Childebert the part of the city of Marseilles that he held against his will.

King Chilperic delayed the wedding of his daughter, whom he had promised to the king of Spain, out of grief for the death of one of his sons, of whom we spoke earlier. The emissaries who had been sent to Spain were called back, and others were sent immediately to announce that he could not celebrate the marriage at the established time, because he was grieving for his son. But the emissaries who had returned urged him to carry out the wedding, and he therefore thought of sending to Spain a daughter whom he had had with his first wife, queen Audovera. This girl had been shut away in a nunnery in the city of Poitiers, but her stepmother Fredegund thwarted this solution [both Aimon and Gregory attribute the thwarting to Radegund, the head of the nunnery; attributing the responsibility to Fredegund would seem to be Primat's own notion].

XVIII

Someone convinced queen Fredegund that her son, whose recent death had provoked such grief for herself and the king, had perished because of the prefect Mummolus, and that he had given so much money to several witches, that they had brought about the child's death. The queen easily believed these words, because she disliked Mummolus. She had the women seized and tortured and they confessed that they had killed many innocents by their charms and sorceries. Then they acknowledged that they had exchanged the life of her son for the health of Mummolus. The queen then became completely furious, burning one of them alive, and having the others tied to wheels and tortured while they were turned. Then she complained about Mummolus to the king, who had him brought before him in irons, and had him hanged from a rafter with his hands behind his back. When asked if he knew anything about the crime of which the women had accused him, he replied that he knew nothing about the death of the king's son, but he admitted that he had several times received from them drinks and various charms by means of which to gain the favor of the king and the queen. Then the king had him cut down and thrown in prison; when he was in prison, Mummolus told the king that no matter how much he was tortured, he felt no pain. The king was amazed, and said that he was an enchanter. He hated him so much for these remarks that he ordered him killed. But the queen begged that his life be extended; but it was not for long, for he died very soon after, because of the damage done by the tortures he had endured. The queen had the clothing and jewels of her child collected, and she had the clothing burned, the gold and silver melted in a furnace and placed deep in the earth, so that she would not see anything that would renew her grief for her son. Not long afterwards she gave birth to a very beautiful son, who was called Lothar. The king was so happy about this that he ordered the prisons throughout his kingdom opened, and the prisoners, no matter what crime they had committed, were to go free and unimpeded ("quit"). The king came to Paris and entered by force, breaking the agreement he had made with the citizens, in which he promised not to enter the city armed in order to take power. For such an act, he was to lose what share and what power he had legally in the city.

An incident. Theodore, bishop of Rodez, passed from this world. At this time Innocent, who was count of the city of Gareste, succeeded him as bishop, by the decree and judgement of queen Brunhild.

Remigius, the archbishop of Bourges, died at this time, and Supplicius succeeded him, with the assent of king Guntram, although many wanted the post, either by giving gifts or promises; about this situation the king said something which should be noted and kept in mind: "It is not our gracious custom to sell Our Lord's churches, nor do we give the benefices of his patrimony in return for gifts and services, for that is simony. The example of this secular prince should serve as a warning for prelates, who otherwise might give those things that they should not give [this last sentence is another one of Primat's moralizing contributions].

An incident. In that year roses were seen in January, and trees that had born fruit in June blossomed again in September.

King Chilperic, who was afraid that his brother king Guntram and his nephew king Childebert might fashion a conspiracy and alliance against him, had his treasury carried to the city of Cambrai. He established all his military strength in this town, and often made assemblies and bivouaced in the fields in tents, as though he wished to fight. On the calends of September (584) he sent his daughter to the king of Spain to be married, in a series of events that I shall describe to you. When he returned to Paris, he separated sons from fathers, compelling them by force to go with his daughter into Spain. Some of them hanged themselves rather than leave their land and their families, and those who were compelled to go to Spain wrote out wills as though they were about to die. There were as many tears and groans in Paris then as there once were in Egypt, when the Egyptians saw their first born dead. Then king Childebert sent emissaries to king Chilperic, telling him to give his daughter none of the treasures and wealth from cities that he had taken from Childebert, nor any of the slaves he had imprisoned from these cities. One of the emissaries was secretly killed; the king himself was suspected of having done it. Through the other two emissaries, he told his nephew that he would do nothing that he had prohibited, and that he had enough to give his daughter from his own treasury. The queen gave her so much gold, silver, and jewelry that the king feared that he would become a poor man. She clearly saw that the king her lord was not pleased that she gave so much to her, therefore, at one point, she said to the French around him, loudly enough for the king to hear: "Nobles, you should not think that the jewels we have given our daughter are from the king's treasury. The king himself gave me part of it as dowry, the other part I have acquired and amassed by my own efforts, and you yourselves, noble Frenchmen, have given me a part of it." With such payment she appeased the king's feelings. The noblest of the barons of France gave various kinds of jewels as presents to the girl. The queen and the barons gave so generously to her that six wagons were loaded full with her treasures and jewels. With great tears and with great cries she left Paris. As she passed through the gate of the city, one of the wheels of her carriage broke, and she fell to the ground. Some saw a troublesome meaning in this, saying that it was a sign of bad luck. When those who were escorting the young woman had gone eight miles, they pitched their tents to rest. As soon as this was done, fifty men stole one hundred of their horses, which were saddled and bridled with golden reins, and fled to king Childebert. When king Chilperic heard this, he was very much afraid that his nephew or his brother had set ambushes to rob his daughter; he had four thousand men armed to escort her, and they were put under the command of leaders named Bobo and Wado. The king ordered that their expenses by paid by the people, as well as by the poor people of the regions through which they passed, so that the treasure might not be diminished. With such a procession, and with such a group of men and women, she went off to Spain. She left France with great pride, as you have heard, but her prosperity was turned into adversity before she got out of the kingdom, as you are about to hear.

XIX

Queen Fredegund was a very beautiful woman, wise and tricky in counsel, equalled in treachery and malice only by Brunhild [Aimon III.lvi and LHF XXXV; Gregory offers no wardroom scene]. She had deceived and blinded king Chilperic in his gluttony and lechery, as women know how to do to men who utterly abandon themselves to them. One day, in preparing to go hunting in the woods, he ordered the saddles to be mounted, and went down into the courtyard. The queen, who thought that he would get on his horse without coming back upstairs, went into a cloak room to wash her hair. Before riding off, the king came back upstairs, and entered the room she was in so carefully that that she did not know he had come in, for she was lying supine on some pillows and cushions. Playfully he struck her in the curve of her behind with a small stick he was carrying; she did not turn around to look at him, because she was certain that it was someone else. Then she said: "Landry, Landry, you're behaving badly, how dare you do this?" Landry was count of the palace, the highest ranking in the house, who dishonored the king by committing adultery with his wife. When the king heard these words, he became suspicious and jealous, and almost went mad with rage. He ran from the room, rushing here and there, anguished and distressed, like a man who does not know what to do. He went off into the woods to forget and to relive his sadness. Fredegund knew that it had been the king, and that he had not been pleased by what she said; she thought that she would be in danger if she waited for his return, and therefore cast out all fear and assumed the bravery of a woman. She sent for Landry to speak to him, and she said: "Landry, your life is on the line; think more of your tomb than of your bed, if you don't think of a cure for your troubles." Then she told him what had been said. Landry was very frightened when he heard this, and he began to recollect and to recite to himself the things he had done wrong with heartfelt grief. The needles of his conscience pricked him sharply; he saw no place he could flee, nor how he could escape; it seemed to him that he had been taken and held like a fish in the nets. He began to groan and sigh deeply, and he said: "Alas, wretch! why did this day dawn, on which I have fallen into such great bitterness of heart? Wretch that I am, I am tortured in my conscience; I don't know what to do, or where to turn." Then Fredegund said to him: "Listen, Landry, and you will know what I think you should do, which will be good for both of us. He usually returns late at night; see to it that you have prepared murderers, and that you pay them well enough that they be willing to risk their lives. As soon as he gets down from his horse, they must kill him with their knives. When this is done, we will be out of mortal danger, and we shall reign together, with our son Lothar." Landry was enthusiastic about this plan, and he set about taking care of his part in it. The king came back from the woods very late. Those who had gone with him were not paying attention to him, but were going back and forth, as hunters do. When the king got down from his horse, the murderers, who were ready all around him, struck him in the body with their knives, and killed him (5 November, 584). Then the very men who had killed him began to shout: "Hey, hey, the king is dead. His nephew Childebert had him killed by spies, who, now that they have killed him, are running away." Everyone returned to where the king lay dead; when they heard the shouting, some mounted their horses and began chasing those they could not see. When they had pursued for a while those they could not easily see, they came back. Madulph, the bishop of Senlis, who had stayed at court three days, unable to speak to the king because of his overweening pride, came forward when he heard that he was dead, had the body dressed, put in a boat, and brought to Paris. These events happened on the river Marne, in a town known both then and now as Chelles. The king was buried outside the walls of Paris, in the church of Saint Vincent, to which he had given many gifts and privileges.

In his time few clerics became bishops, and he willingly denied churches to those who had been newly converted to the faith. He was a man full of the highest presumption, who thought that he was wiser than anyone else alive. He put together two books, modeled after Sedulius; these books were in verse, with short syllables and long syllables hopelessly confused. He composed other treatises which were entirely useless, and these disappeared from memory as soon as he died. He did not bother adjudicating the disputes of poor people, and he despised churches and abbeys, of which he said several times, in front of everyone in the palace: "All of our wealth goes to the church; clerics and prelates rule and are honored above all other men." He mocked and derided priests and ministers of holy Church. Why should I continue to relate his faults? To speak plainly, he never loved anyone completely, and no one ever loved him completely. As you have heard, he died hated by his own people, and unloved by others.

XX

After the death of king Chilperic, the men of Orleans and of Blois attacked the Dunois [inhabitants of the area around Chateaudun] They quickly surprised them, took from them all the possessions they could carry, and burned their houses and other things. The men of Chartres and of Chateaudun got together and attacked the men of Orleans and of Blois, inflicting equal damage upon them. Contention and war grew between them, until finally the leaders of both sides arranged a peace.

Queen Fredegund, who remained a widow, placed herself and as much of her treasury as she had left in the keeping of the church of Notre-Dame of Paris. Bishop Ragnemod received her, her treasury, and her other possessions. Those who were in charge of Chilperic's treasury confiscated the treasure they found at Chelles, the village where he died, and the very large, very beautiful vessels of pure gold that he had had made, and then they fled to king Childebert. Fredegund sent emissaries to king Guntram, saying that she would willingly put herself and her child, who was his nephew, in his protection. King Guntram came to Paris as quickly as he could, when he was certain of his brother's death. Fredegund went out to meet him and to welcome him to the city. King Childebert then returned, but the citizens blocked the way and shut the gates. He sent emissaries to his brother [uncle, correctly, and in other MSS, as Viard points out], who was inside the city, telling him to hold firm to the alliance they had already established between them. When the emissaries came before King Guntram, he accused them of disloyalty and trickery, because, through them and their bad advice, the friendship and alliance between himself and his nephew had been broken. Therefore, he said, he would fashion no alliance with them. They reported what he had said to their lord, and he in return demanded that he give over to him the kingdom of his uncle Charibert, which belonged to him by right. King Guntram replied that his right, as brother of the dead man, was greater than Childebert, nor would he permit the heritage which came to him from his brother to pass to any other man. Then Childebert asked, by a third emissary, that Guntram hand over Fredegund to be tortured and brought to justice, for having killed his father and his uncle. Guntram replied that he would be willing to hold a meeting with him about these affairs, for he secretly sided with Fredegund. He often asked her to eat with him; one day, while they were eating together, the queen got up from the meal, and Guntram said that she should sit down and eat a bit more. She replied that she could not sit so long, because she was having trouble with her stomach. The king was amazed at this, because he knew very well that she had given birth to a child less than four months before.

Ansovald and other princes of Chilperic took the child Lothar, who was their lord and heir to the kingdom, and led him through all the cities, taking oaths and receiving homage from the knights and noblemen of the kingdom, in his name and in the name of king Guntram. King Guntram made restitution to all those whom king Chilperic had humiliated and wrongfully harmed, and he restored to the churches legacies that had been taken from them. He very much feared the malice of those around him, and never went anywhere without armed guards. One day he said to the people in open church, having first called for silence: "Assembled nobles," he said, "I ask that you be more loyal to me than you were to my brothers, so that I may bring up my nephew in peace and protect you according to right and justice, so that he will not, God forbid, be without a protector, and you without a ruler" [In Gregory Guntram asks for a three-year moratorium on betrayal]. When the people heard the king speak like this, they were amazed at his good will and his gentle words; they all prayed to God to protect him from evil, and to give him good health and life.

While these things were happening in France, Rigunth, Chilperic's daughter, who had gone to Spain in great pomp, as you have heard, remained at Toulouse gathering supplies. But when Desiderius knew for certain that king Chilperic was dead, he seized all her treasure, put it in a well protected house, sealed it with a seal, and left some good men to protect it. The young woman, who was thus stripped of all her goods, fled to the church of Our Lady. There the count gave her a small allowance, then went off to Mummolus, who was staying in another city.

XXI

New complaints and accusations were made against Theodore, bishop of Marseilles, because he had received Gundovald in the city, who boasted that he was the brother of king Guntram. We should like briefly to touch upon Gundovald's upbringing, and how he became prominent, because we shall speak hereafter about some of his affairs and deeds. He was born in France, where his mother brought him up according to ancient royal traditions. His hair was thick, down to his shoulders, according to the old custom; his mother presented him to old king Childebert, with the understanding that he was the son of his brother, king Lothar. Thus she brought him to the man who was his uncle, because his father had hated him. King Childebert welcomed him, because he had no heir, then sent him to king Lothar, who wanted to see him. When he saw him, he had his hair cut off, and said that he was not his son. King Lothar died, and his son, king Caribert took Gundovald and brought him up as his brother, but king Sigibert summoned him, had his hair cut once again, and imprisoned him in the city of Cologne. He escaped from this prison, fled to Narses, who was then looking after Italy for the emperor of Constantinople. From there he went to the emperor Justin in Constantinople, with whom he was on good terms. Then it happened that Guntram Boso, on a pilgrimage to the sepulcher in Jerusalem, found him there, and encouraged and advised him to return to France. Gundovald took his advice. When he got to Marseilles, bishop Theodore welcomed him, and bought horses and other equipment for him. From there he went to the city of Avignon, to Duke Mummolus, who had wrongly abandoned king Guntram. When Guntram Boso heard what the bishop had done, he imprisoned him for having received into the city the spy and enemy of the kingdom, as he charged. The bishop, who was in a strongly built prison, prayed for comfort to Our Lord. Suddenly, a great brightness shone in the prison, frightening duke Guntram. He was taken from prison and brought before king Guntram, together with another bishop, whose name was Epiphanius, who had come to bishop Theodore in Marseilles from a city in Lombardy. The king had them both put back in prison; bishop Epiphanius died there, but Theodore, who was found innocent of all charges, returned to Marseilles, acquitted and a free man. He was freed so easily, because he showed a letter that the people closest to king Chilperic had sent to him, which said that the king had received Gundovald honorably. Duke Guntram and another duke of king Guntram took Gundovald's treasure and shared it; they had a great amount of gold and silver carried to the city of Clermont in Auvergne. Gundovald had placed this treasure on an island in the sea, until he could see how things would turn out. Guntram Boso then went to king Childebert. When he had stayed with him some length of time, and was about to return, together with one of his sons, he was seized and taken to king Guntram. The king threatened him and said that he would make him suffer for having allowed Gundovald into the city. He replied: "I shall show that I am not guilty of what you charge me with, by leaving my son as hostage with you until I have brought to you Mummolus, who is guilty of this deed." The king agreed to this, held his son, and let Guntram Boso go. Guntram Boso then went and besieged the city of Avignon with a large body of troops; he wanted very much to talk to Mummolus. He stationed himself on the banks of the river which runs near the city. Mummolus, who was on the other bank, shouted to him that he might cross without fearing for his safety, and Guntram jumped into the water, together with another companion, who was drowned. Guntram moved about in the water, as the waves pushed him, until he came to another part of the shore, and he got out with the help of a lance extended to him by a knight. Mummolus said many foul, insulting things to him. Then duke Gundulph arrived, sent by king Childebert to raise the siege of the city. He brought Mummolus with him to the city of Clermont. When he had stayed there a while, he returned, because so long a stay troubled him. He accompanied duke Desiderius, who had come to him from Toulouse. They sent for Gundovald and made him king over them; they raised him on a shield, in the sight of all the people, and shouted: "Long live the king! Long live the king!" according to the ancient custom for treating French kings. The carried him on the shield three times around the entire army, but the shield fell suddenly, together with the king, so that he could hardly be lifted up.

XXII

King Guntram sent his dukes and bailiffs to seize and hold the cities that king Sigibert's brothers had held, which belonged to the kingdom of his other brother, Caribert, and also those that king Chilperic had taken from king Childebert, his nephew. But count Gararic, a supporter of Childebert, as soon as he knew of the death of Chilperic, took oaths of allegiance from the Limousins, in the name of his lord, and then returned to Poitiers. There the Poitevins received him and swore the same oaths that the Limousins had sworn. Then he heard that the men of Bourges, who were on the side of king Guntram, had attacked the men of Tours, who were on the side of king Childebert, destroying and laying waste their country, and burning a village whose name was Mareuil. In this village a church dedicated to Saint Martin was burned to the ground. The power of the virtuous confessor appeared plainly there, for the cloth which was on the altar remained whole and unharmed, with no sign of having been burned or besmirched, and [Aimon III.lvi] the green plant with which the altar was decorated was neither burned nor damaged by the heat of the flames. It was miraculous, then, since the great pillar and the entire roof were burned to ashes, and the delicate green plant and the soft altar cloth were untouched and unharmed. Count Gararic, who heard how things had gone, told the people of Tours that they should in no way support King Guntram. Saint Gregory, archbishop of the city, gave this reply to the emissaries: "We know very well that the kingdom of France must revert to king Guntram, since all his brothers are dead, and for the same reason that king Lothar ruled over his sons as long as he lived, king Guntram must reign over his nephews all his life, nor shall we ever oppose him. King Childebert acts very foolishly when he thinks of opposing such a great prince."

When count Gararic knew that the people of Tours would not obey the orders of his lord, he left Eberon, king Childebert's chamberlain, in the city of Poitiers, then led his army to Orleans. He began to lay waste the countryside, pillaging and burning. The people of Orleans offered him a peace-treaty, if he would stop doing harm to them until after the meeting between the two kings had taken place; then they would willingly obey whoever became their lord. The count replied that the orders of his lord took precedence over their request, and that he would not violate them to do the will of the people of Orleans. As long as the count was in Orleans, the Poitevins chose and swore allegiance to king Guntram; it was not long before they broke their word, as they usually do.

The day of the meeting (584) approached; king Childebert sent emissaries to king Guntram before the end of the day. Gilles (Egidius), archbishop of Rheims, was one of them. When they came before the king, Gilles was the first to speak, saying: "Oh noble king, we give thanks to God the all-powerful, because he has not only granted peace and tranquility, but good fortune and increased power." The king replied to him: "One should give thanks to him who is king of all kings, but never to you, who are the most faithless of all living men, by whose counsel my land and my cities are burned and laid waste, and who, in the guise of religion, behaves not like a priest of Our Lord, but like a criminal and the worst kind of traitor." When the archbishop remained silent, because of the anger and indignation he felt at the king's words, one of the other emissaries spoke, like this: "Your nephew, the glorious king Childebert, asks that you restore to him entirely the kingdom that his father held." The king replied: "I think that I have replied sufficiently to this matter, for, at the other meeting, I said what I shall say now; I hold it by right of current agreements between us, and I shall always hold them, whether or not good will and friendship exists between us. Then the third emissary spoke to him, saying: "Good king, if we cannot get done any of the tasks we are assigned, please do one thing that our lord asks of you, which is to send Fredegund to him, that he may take vengeance for the death of his father and his uncle, whom she had killed." To this the king replied: "No one can or should hand Fredegund over to you, for she has a king for a son, born to a king, and, most important, I do not believe her guilty of what you charge her with." After these words, Guntram Boso, who had gone over to king Childebert, and had come with the emissaries, moved slowly towards the king, as though he wanted to say something to him in private. The king, who saw him coming towards him, ordered him to remain silent, and before he could speak, spoke these ironic words to him (irony is a figure of barbarism, which occurs when one says disdainfully words that are the opposite of what one means): "And you, sir, fine fellow, what will you say, who went to the sepulchre in Jerusalem and searched the entire kingdom of the Orient to bring back a bastard (that is what he called Gundovald), who has captured and laid waste our cities? You have always been a disloyal traitor, and have never kept faith or loyalty, nor done anything you promised to do." Then Boso replied to him: "King, when you sit on your royal throne, no one would dare to speak to you, nor to contradict anything you say; but had anyone else, who was my peer, said such foul, blasphemous things to me, I would contradict him with my body and my arms, and would make him admit that he had lied, in your presence." Everyone else was silent, but the king, who was angry, spoke again, and he said: "Men of good-will should see to it that this tyrant be damned to perdition; his lineage is unknown, for his father was originally a miller, and afterwards a weaver, earning a living at two trades." Although a man can know two trades, one of the emissaries said to the king: "A king never speaks such words, for they do not befit the mouth of a king. How can you say that a man has two fathers?" Everyone present began to laugh at these words, which were spoken in simplicity. In taking leave, one of the emissaries said: "King, we commend you to God, and because you do not want to be at peace with your nephew, know that the blade that killed your brothers is ready to cut off your own head." After these words, the king ordered them thrown out of the palace; then he had mud and excrement collected in the streets and thrown in their faces. The foul treatment given to the emissaries provoked great hatred between the two kings.

An incident. In this year, in the month of September, buds appeared on the vines, together with fully-grown grapes, and flowers on the trees.

A great beacon of fire ran across the sky at midnight, so vast that the air shone with it as though it were daylight.

A great column of fire was seen hanging from the sky, with a star above it; many were anxious about these signs, for the earth trembled, and many other marvels appeared; some thought that these were signs of the death of Gundovald.

XXIII

Leunard, who had been one of Chilperic's princes while the king was still alive, came to queen Fredegund from Toulouse; she was still taking refuge in the church of Our Lady in Paris. He said to her that he had escaped by fleeing, and that her daughter was closely guarded, and in need of food and clothing. Fredegund, who was enraged by such news, conceived such a great hatred towards him, that she stripped him of his baldric, and took away from him all the authority that had been granted to him by king Chilperic. She took away everything from all those who had gone off to serve her daughter, or she tortured them severely. Fear of God and of his mother, in whose church she had taken refuge, did not deter her from doing these evils. She had a cruel companion in performing these wicked deeds, a man named Audo, who would have been killed one day for his treachery and malice, had he not made his way into the cathedral.

The king ordered Praetextatus, the archbishop of Rouen, recalled from exile; to do this, he wanted first to call an assembly of prelates, but Ragnemod, the bishop of Paris, told him that that was unnecessary, because he had not been condemned by the council. He was then recalled and re-established in his see (584).

A poor man came in secret to the king, and told him to be on his guard against Faraulf, who had been king Chilperic's chamberlain, because he was sure that he planned to kill him. The king summoned Faraulf and asked him if this were true; he denied everything, and the king let him go without doing anything more. But from that day forward he had himself guarded well, and never went anywhere, even to church, without many armed men around him. He sent Fredegund to a town very close to the city of Rouen, to spend the rest of her life there. Some of the French barons, who had been very close friends of king Chilperic, her lord, went to her and pledged that they were ready to submit, at the right time and place, to her child Lothar, as their rightful lord. Fredegund remained there, together with Melanius, who had been removed from the bishopric of Rouen when Praetextatus was recalled.

Fredegund was greatly troubled in her heart at having lost the honor and the power to which she had become accustomed. What made it worse, was the knowledge that Brundhild was more powerful and more honored than she; for this reason, she summoned a man named Holeriques [Viard points to this as an error of the copyist, who was confused, perhaps by an "o" for a "c" into reading Olericum for Aimon's clericum quendam], who was extremely faithless and wicked. She told him to think of every way in which Brunhild might be killed. Eager to carry out her ill will, he told her that he would devote considerable thought to the project. He went to Brunhild and told her that Fredegund was so wicked and filled with great cruelty, that none of her entourage could stand her, and that because he had heard of Fredegund's great kindness and courtliness towards everyone, he had come to her. He spoke so well that he gained favor with her. Several times it happened that when she went to sleep, he walked her to the door of her bedroom. He charmed everyone in her home by his language, and he won the affection and good will of his peers; to those above him he was obedient and pliant. He was unable to keep them from suspecting his purposes for long, but was compelled to confess who he was and why he had come there. Finally he confessed all of his mistress' secret plot, and he was thrashed, tortured, and sent back to Fredegund. He told her everything that had happened, and because he had not carried out her orders, she had his feet and hands cut off as a reward for his service.

XXIV

King Guntram went to the city of Chalon, and there diligently sought to find out who killed his brother, king Chilperic. Fredegund said that Eberulf, who had been master chamberlain of the palace, had been the chief instigator of the deed, and that, because of this, he had left her service and would not remain with her. The king, who was extremely angry, swore that he would destroy not only him, but all his children, so that others would draw a lesson from his example, and would never dare kill a king of France. Eberulf, who greatly feared the king's threats, took refuge in the cathedral of Saint Martin of Tours. The king, when he heard this, ordered the men of Orleans and of Blois to take turns guarding the cathedral, to prevent his escape. In the process of coming and going, they did much damage along the route, seizing and carrying whatever they could get their hands on; two of them carried off mules which belonged to the church of Saint Martin. The came to the house of a peasant to ask for something to drink, and he said that he had nothing he could serve them. One of them took his lance to strike him, but the peasant attacked him, striking him dead with his sword. The other, seeing his companion dead, fled, in his fear leaving behind the mules he had stolen from Saint Martin. The king gave away all the moveable goods of Eberulf, who had been a great man; he had a house in the city of Tours, which the king had torn down and destroyed, so that only the bare walls remained. Eberulf suspected that the king had done all this on the advice of archbishop Gregory, and he threatened him, saying that if he ever got back into the king's good graces, he would reward Gregory for his "goodness." But the holy man was moved with pity and compassion for the suffering being inflicted on Eberulf, and paid no attention to the nasty things that he said. He could not leave the church, but stayed in one part of the cathedral as though he were in his own living quarters. The chaplain and those who guarded the cathedral closed the gates. There was one gate, in the part in which he was, that was not shut; children and girls entered there, and some others who desecrated the church. When the guards saw them, they threw them out and shut this gate. The bishop and the clerics got up around midnight to sing matins, and to perform Our Lord's service. Eberulf made such a great din and storm within that they had to stop performing the service. In his drunkeness, Eberulf seized a cleric, stretched him on a bench, and almost beat him to death because he did not want to give him some wine. He struck and beat many others until they bled in the house and in the cathedral of Saint Martin. He did such violent things fearlessly in the church of Saint Martin, in whose protection he had placed himself, and whose help he called for every day.

Saint Gregory, the archbishop, saw a vision one night in his sleep, which he told the next day to Eberulf. It seemed to him that he was at the altar of Saint Martin, and was celebrating the precious sacrament of the body and blood of Our Lord; at this point, king Guntram entered the church and ordered his people to seize Eberulf, who was holding on to the altar cloth, and to drag him by force from the cathedral. He stopped performing the service, and placed himself before the king, holding him to prevent him from approaching Eberulf. But Eberulf dropped the altar cloth and ran back and forth, in great fear. The archbishop, who was very upset, signaled to him to hold onto the altar cloth; at this point, saint Gregory awoke. When he had told this vision to Eberulf, he replied that his dream corresponded with his own intentions. When Gregory asked him what he intended to do, he said: "I intend, if king Guntram wishes to drag me by force from the cathedral, to hold onto the altar cloth with one hand and with the other to kill you and all the clerics." Saint Gregory clearly understood from this that he had the devil in his body, making him say this. Not long after, what the archbishop had seen in his vision came to pass; the king looked for a man who by his cleverness and by his malice might drag him from the cathedral, and bring him, tied up, or kill him. Such a man, whose name was Claudius, offered himself to the king and said that he had found someone who could do the job. The king promised him great rewards if he could do it. Then he went to Eberulf, and swore by God and by the saints that he would never find anyone better able or better disposed to help him with the king. The wretch thought that that a false oath was the best way to deceive him; Eberulf believed him, thinking that the oath that he had sworn meant that he was telling the truth.

Eberulf summoned him the next day to eat with him; after eating, they went to amuse themselves in the church-house. Claudius began to speak soothingly to him, swearing an oath to be his friend and to do whatever he could for him. Then he said that if he could find some good wine, he would gladly drink some. Eberulf said that he would gladly give him some very good wine, but he was waiting until it was brought from his house. He sent all of his servants to get this good wine, and was thus left alone. When Claudius saw him all alone, he stretched out his hands towards the chausible of saint Martin, and said: "Saint Martin, good confessor of Our Lord, I beg you that I may see my wife and my son." With these words, he drew out his sword and ran at Eberulf. One of his servants, hearing his words, leaped forward, seized Eberulf, who was distraught, and threw him down. Claudius, who held a naked sword, ran him through the sides with it. Claudius' other servants leaped at him from all directions, striking him with blows from swords and javelots, killing him where he lay. Claudius, aware that he was guilty of very great treachery, fled for safety to the cell of an abbot; he was wounded in the side, and had lost a thumb. He begged the abbot to hide him, together with his servants. When Eberulf's men returned and found him killed, they ran after Claudius, and surrounded the house of the abbot who had received him; they were well armed, and threw spears and javelots through the windows. Two clerics, who opened the gate, drew the abbot out with great difficulty. Those who were outside rushed in when they saw the gate open. They searched for Claudius until they found him under a bed, at which point they killed him and his servants, and then dragged the bodies out of the house. Their kinsman and friends took them and buried them. Even the poor and the crippled, who were seated outside the gates of the church, were so angered at the murder which had taken place in the church, that they followed as best they could, with sticks and stones, to avenge the shame done to the holy body. King Guntram was at first very angry, until he knew the whole truth. Those to whom the king gave Eberulf's possessions and moveable goods carried everything off so thoroughly, that they left his wife destitute.

XXV

In the twenty-fourth year of Guntram's reign, and the tenth of the reign of Childebert, king Guntram assembled his army from all of the cities of his kingdom, and moved against Gundovald. The men of Orleans and Bourges went up against those of Poitiers, who had withdrawn their allegiance to the king. They were angry at the bishop of the city, and eager to humiliate him, but he gave them a golden chalice which belonged to the church, and with it saved himself from exile and his people from captivity.

At this point, Gundovald came to Poitiers, but when he learned that king Guntram was there, he turned back to Angouleme, where he received an honorable reception from the bishop and the barons. After thanking them, he moved on to Perigueux; because he felt that the bishop there did not receive him properly, he treated him badly, persecuting him cruelly. From there he went to Toulouse, first sending some of his knights to order the bishop to come out to meet him. The bishop, whose name was Magnulf, called the people of the city together and urged them with all his power to hold out vigorously against Gundovald, because they would not want, by chance, to become subjugated the way they had been under Sigulf. Then he told them to remember duke Desiderius, and what they had suffered under him, when he made a similar request. With such words he exhorted them to resist, but fear of the arriving army urged them to open the gates. Finally they received Gundovald into the city. The bishop, while eating with him, began to speak like this: "Although you swear that you are the son of king Lothar, and although you say that the kingdom should be yours, it seems to us that what you have set out to do is too hard to accomplish." Gundovald replied to him: "I say that I am the son of king Lothar, and since I have obviously conquered part of the kingdom, when I take the city of Paris, I shall establish the seat of my kingdom there." The bishop said to him: "If it please God, you will not accomplish or reach what you say, as long as a royal heir lives." When the bishop had said this, Mummolus struck him in the face, and said to him: "Wretched bishop, aren't you ashamed to speak so outrageously to our lord, king Gundovald?" When duke Desiderius learned that he had urged the people to resist him, he struck him, and had him beaten with spears and sticks; then he seized and carried off the church's possessions, tied a rope around his neck, and sent him into exile. The French who had previously resisted Gundovald reached a river called the Dordogne, and waited there for further news of Gundovald. With him were Waddo, the chamberlain of Rigunth, daughter of king Chilperic, duke Desiderius, Mummolus, Bladast, and Sagittarius, to whom he had promised the bishopric of Toulouse. They all worked together closely, and everything was done under their advice under direction. Gundovald then sent two letters to his friends who lived in "sovereign" or "upper" France. That is, the area from the city of Rheims to the city of Metz [the next section is from Aimon III.67]. They were carried by two clerics, one of whom was born in the city of Cahors; he placed them in a hollow section of a wooden casket, then he covered them with wax, so that anyone looking for them might not find them. But this precaution proved useless, because king Guntram's people seized him and his companions, who then confessed the reason for their journey, and were imprisoned.

Gundovald came to the city of Bordeaux; archbishop Bertrand willingly received him, and he remained there I don't know how many days. At one point he asked archbishop Bertrand how he might be more secure, because he did not want to be surprised by his enemies. One of his servants told him that an Eastern king had triumphed over his enemies several times when he carried the relics Gregory specifies the saint's thumb.] of saint Sergius tied to his arm. He asked him who had the relics. Bertrand replied that an Eastern merchant named Eufronius was staying in the city, and that he was carrying some of these relics. He had built a church in his home, in which he cared for them with great reverence, and among the other miracles which Our Lord had performed for the martyr, he performed one that was particularly memorable, for the city burned, and this chapel was not harmed. The archbishop and the duke Mummolus were sent there to inquire about the relics; they said to the merchant that king Gundovald had sent them for the relics of saint Sergius that he had in his care. Eufronius the merchant replied: "Nobles, I beg you not to harm me, an old and broken man, and not to abuse or harm the saint; I shall give you one hundred gold besants if you refrain from doing this." They replied that even if he gave them two hundred, they would not relent. The archbishop looked up and saw a reliquary hanging on the wall; he quickly had a ladder set up, and he ordered his deacon to climb it to get the relics. When he had climbed up, such a great fear came upon him, that those below thought that he would fall; in any event, he took the reliquary and handed it to Mummolus, who proudly took it, opened it with his knife [in Aimon he shares the relics with his knife, and does not cut anything with it] and divided the relics into three parts. At this point the holy martyr showed a bit of his power, for such a great fear came upon all those present, that they were completely terrified [the supernatural terror is not in Gregory, but is added by Aimon]. The relics jumped far from them and disappeared, so that no one could see them. Everyone lay down to pray, especially Eufronius, the old man who was terribly aggrieved at the loss, at being stripped of such a precious treasure. Suddenly, the relics appeared near them; Mummolus took part of them, and they left. The martyr showed clearly that what they had done displeased him, for he had no wish to help anyone by whose orders his relics had been so mistreated. Gundovald sent these same emissaries to king Guntram, ordering them to carry olive branches, according to the ancient French custom, so that everyone would know that they were emissaries and would do no harm; but they did not restrain themselves as wisely as was necessary, for, before they got there, they told the people along the way what they should have told only to the king. When they came before him, he asked them who they were and who had sent them; they told him in an orderly manner what their errand was, that they were emissaries of king Gundovald, the son of king Lothar, as he said, and that he demanded that the king give him his part of his father's kingdom, and if he would not do it quickly, he should be well aware that Gundovald would invade the country with a great force, lay waste the countryside, seize the cities and the castles, for in a short time he would assemble a large army; even without the people of Aquitaine, who supported him, he expected great help from the kingdom of Austria and from the most powerful barons of the kingdom of Childebert. This was the answer the emissaries gave to the king's first question. He ordered that they be stretched on a rack and beaten for some time. This order was in violation of reason and of the protection given a delegation, for emissaries should not be treated badly, nor spoken to discourteously. Then they confessed that Rigund, the daughter of king Chilperic, and Magnulf, the bishop of Toulouse, had been sent into exile. The king then ordered that they be put in prison and guarded until their next audience with the king.