History of the Franks 1 part 11/38

And thus, confounded, he departed. But asking about holy Eufronius, they said that he was the nephew of blessed Gregory, whom we have mentioned above. The king answered: This is the first and great lineage. Let the will of God and of blessed Martin be done. Let the election be fulfilled. And, the command being given, the eighteenth after blessed Martin, holy Eufronius is ordained bishop. XVI. But Chramn, among the Arverni, was practicing various evils, as we have said, always holding envy against Bishop Cautinus.

At that time he fell grievously ill, so that his hair fell out from the excessive fever. He had with him then a magnificent man, conspicuous in all goodness, a citizen of the Arverni, Ascovindus by name, who sought to turn him by force away from this malice, but could not. For he had also Leo of Poitiers, a heavy goad for perpetrating all evils, who, according to the interpretation of his own name, was like a lion most savage in every greed. This man is said on one occasion to have said that Martin and Martial, confessors of the Lord, had left nothing useful to the rights of the treasury. But, immediately struck by the power of the confessors, made deaf and dumb and mad, he died.

For the wretched man came to the basilica of Saint Martin at Tours, and celebrated vigils, and gave gifts; but the accustomed power did not regard him; for he returned with the very infirmity with which he had come. But Chramn, having returned from the Arverni, came to the city of Poitiers. There, while he was residing in great power, seduced by the counsel of evil men, he desired to go over to his uncle Childebert, planning to prepare snares for his father. But he indeed deceitfully promised to receive him, whom he ought rather to have admonished spiritually not to be an enemy to his father. Then, conspiring together through secret messengers, they unanimously plotted against Chlothar.

But Childebert was not mindful that, as often as he had acted against his brother, he had always departed confounded. But Chramn, this pact having been struck, returned to the Limousin, and brought under his own dominion that which he had before walked in his father's kingdom. Then the people of the Arverni were held shut up within the walls, and, oppressed by various sicknesses, were perishing grievously. Moreover King Chlothar directed his two sons, that is Charibert and Guntram, against him. They, coming through the Arverni and hearing that he was in the Limousin, advanced as far as the mountain which they call by the name of Niger (Black), and found him there.

And pitching their tents, they sat down over against him, sending an embassy that he should restore his father's property which he had wrongfully seized; but otherwise, that he should prepare a field for battle. And when he pretended that he was subject to his father, and said: All that I have gone around I shall not be able to release, but I desire to retain this under my own power with my father's favor — they demanded that he should adjudicate this in battle between themselves. And when both armies had been moved and had come together for battle with a great array of arms, a storm suddenly arising, with grievous lightning and thunder, restrained them from fighting. But returning to the camp, Chramn deceitfully announced the death of their father to his brothers through an outside person.

For at that time the war against the Saxons, which we mentioned above (Chapters 10 and 14), was being waged. And they, fearing, returned with the utmost speed to Burgundy. But Chramn, directing his army after them, came as far as the city of Chalon, and besieging it, took it. From there he extended as far as the fortress of Dijon, and when he had arrived there on the Lord's day, I shall tell what was done. There was then holy Tetricus the bishop, of whom we made mention in the earlier book. The clergy, having placed three books upon the altar, that is of the Prophecy, the Apostle, and the Gospels, prayed to the Lord that He would show what should befall Chramn:

or whether felicity should attend him, or surely whether he could reign, that the divine power might declare it; and at the same time having one agreement, that each one should read at Mass that which he first opened in his book. So, the book of all the Prophets being first opened, they found: I will take away its fence, and it shall be for desolation; because, whereas it ought to have made grapes, it made wild grapes (Isaiah 5:5, 2). And the book of the Apostle being unbarred, they found: For yourselves, brethren, know diligently that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. When they shall say, Peace and security, then shall sudden destruction come upon them, as the pains of a woman in labor, and they shall not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3). But the Lord through the Gospel says:

Whoever does not hear my words shall be likened to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was its ruin (Matthew 7:26-27). But Chramn was received at the basilicas by the aforesaid priest, and there, eating bread, he extended his way to Childebert. Yet he was not permitted to enter within the walls of Dijon. King Chlothar was then strongly contending against the Saxons. For the Saxons, as they heard, stirred up by Childebert and indignant against the Franks in the previous year, going out from their region, came into France, and made plunderings as far as the city of Deutz, and perpetrated an exceedingly grievous [other reading: great] crime.

XVII. Then Chramn, having now received the daughter of Vilichar, going to Paris, bound to himself King Childebert in faith and charity, swearing himself to be his father's most certain enemy. But King Childebert, while Chlothar was contending against the Saxons, went into Champagne of Reims, and hastening as far as the city of Reims, devastated everything with plunderings and fire. For he had heard that his brother had been slain by the Saxons, and reckoning that everything would be subjected to his own kingdom, he overran all that he was able to reach. XVIII. Then too Duke Austrapius, fearing Chramn, took refuge in the basilica of Saint Martin; to him, placed in such tribulation, the divine aid was not wanting.

For when Chramn had so commanded him to be confined that no one should presume to provide him food, and he was guarded so strictly that he was not even permitted to draw water for himself, so that, the more easily compelled by hunger, he might himself voluntarily go out from the holy basilica to perish — a certain man, approaching the half-dead man, brought him a small vessel with water to drink. When he had received it, the judge of the place swiftly flew up, and snatching it from his hand, poured it out upon the ground. Whereupon the swift vengeance of God and the power of the blessed bishop followed. For on that very day the judge who had done these things, seized by a fever, expired at midnight; nor did he reach the next day to that hour at which he had struck the cup from the hand of the fugitive in the basilica of the saint.

After that miracle, all most abundantly brought him the things that were necessary. But when King Chlothar returned to his kingdom, he was held in great honor with him. But in his time, coming to the clerical order, he was ordained at the fortress of Selles, which is held in the diocese of Poitiers: it being to come about that, when Bishop Pientius, who then governed the church of Poitiers, should die, he himself should succeed. But King Charibert turned his decision into another course. At length, when Bishop Pientius had migrated from this light, at the city of Paris Pascentius, who was then abbot of the basilica of Saint Hilary, succeeded him, by the command of King Charibert, though Austrapius cried out that this place should be rendered to him; but the speeches he tossed about profited him little.

He too, having returned to his own fortress, when a sedition of the Theifali was stirred against him, whom he had often oppressed, was wounded by a lance and cruelly ended his life. But the church of Poitiers recovered its dioceses. XIX. In the time also of King Chlothar, the holy bishop of God, Medard, his course of good work being consummated, and full of days, eminent in holiness, met his day. Him King Chlothar buried with the highest honor at the city of Soissons, and began to build a basilica over him; which afterward his son Sigibert completed and set in order.

At his blessed tomb we saw lying the fetters and chains of captives, burst and broken, which are kept to this day at his blessed tomb in testimony of his power. But let us return to the higher matters. XX. So King Childebert began to be sick, and when he had lain for a very long time upon his couch at Paris, he died; and he was buried at the basilica of blessed Vincent, which he himself had built. His kingdom and treasures King Chlothar received; but Ultrogotha and her two daughters he placed in exile. But Chramn was presented to his father, yet afterward he showed himself faithless. And when he perceived that he could not escape, he sought Brittany;

and there he, with Chonober the count of the Bretons, both he and his wife and his daughters, lay hidden. But Vilichar his father-in-law took refuge at the basilica of Saint Martin. Then the holy basilica was set on fire through Vilichar and his wife, by the sins of the people and the mockeries which were committed in it, which we recall not without grievous sighing. But the city of Tours too had a year before been consumed by fire, and all the churches built in it were left deserted. Forthwith the basilica of blessed Martin, at the ordering of King Chlothar, was covered with tin, and restored to that elegance which it had before.

Then too columns of locusts appeared, which, passing through the Arverni and the Limousin, came, as men report, to the plain of Romagnat, where, in a great battle joined among themselves, they were greatly destroyed in collision. But King Chlothar, gnashing against Chramn, directed an army against him into Brittany. Yet not even he feared to go out against his father. And when both armies, gathered in one plain, had settled down, and Chramn with the Bretons had drawn up his battle-line against his father, with night coming on, there was a cessation from the war. On that night too Chonober, count of the Bretons, said to Chramn: I judge it unjust that you should have to go out against your father. Permit me this night to rush upon him and to lay him low with his whole army.

But Chramn, as I believe, prevented by the power of God, did not permit it to be done. But when morning had come, both, their armies having been moved, hastened to battle against one another. And King Chlothar went forth like a new David about to fight against his son Absalom, lamenting and saying: Look down, O Lord, from heaven, and judge my cause, because I suffer wrongs unjustly from my son. Look down, and judge justly; and impose that judgment which you once placed between Absalom and his father David. When therefore they clashed together, the count of the Bretons turned his back, and there he also fell. At length Chramn took to flight, having ships ready in the sea;

but while he wished to free his wife and his daughters, overwhelmed by his father's army, he was captured and bound. When this had been announced to King Chlothar, he ordered him to be consumed by fire with his wife and daughters; and shut up in the hut of a certain poor man, Chramn was stretched out upon a bench and strangled with a cloth; and so afterward, the cottage being set on fire over them, he perished with his wife and daughters. XXI.

Now King Chlothar, in the fifty-first year of his reign, sought out the threshold of the blessed Martin with many gifts; and coming to Tours, to the tomb of the aforesaid bishop, he reviewed all the deeds which he had perhaps performed negligently, and prayed with great groaning that for his faults the blessed confessor might entreat the mercy of the Lord, and by his intercession wash away the things he had committed unreasonably. Setting out from there, in the fifty-first year of his reign, while he was carrying on a hunt in the forest of Cuise, he was seized by a fever, and thereupon returned to the villa of Compiègne; and there, while he was grievously tormented by the fever, he said: 'What think you, what manner of King of Heaven is He, who thus puts to death kings so great?'

For while set in this weariness, he breathed out his spirit. His four sons, bearing him with great honour to Soissons, buried him in the basilica of the blessed Medard. He died one day after the completed year in which Chramn had been slain. XXII. But Chilperic, after his father's funeral, took the treasures which had been gathered together in the villa of Berny, and went off to the more useful among the Franks, and softening these very men with gifts, made them subject to himself. Then he soon entered Paris, and occupied the seat of King Childebert; but he was not permitted to hold this for long, for his brothers, joining together, drove him out from there; and so among themselves these four, namely Charibert, Guntram, Chilperic, and Sigibert, made a lawful division.

And the lot gave to Charibert the kingdom of Childebert, and to have his seat at Paris; to Guntram, the kingdom of Chlodomer, and to hold the seat of Orléans; to Chilperic, the kingdom of his father Chlothar, and to have his throne at Soissons; to Sigibert likewise, the kingdom of Theuderic, and to have his seat at Reims. XXIII. For after the death of King Chlothar the Huns attacked Gaul, and against them Sigibert led out an army, and having waged war against them, he both conquered and put them to flight; but afterward their king through envoys earned friendship with him. Now while Sigibert was occupied with them, his brother Chilperic overran Reims, and took away other cities which belonged to him.

For from this, what is worse, civil war arose between them. But Sigibert, returning a victor from the Huns, occupied the city of Soissons, and there he seized Theudebert, the son of King Chilperic, whom he found there, and sent him into exile. Then advancing against Chilperic, he stirred up war; and when Chilperic had been conquered and put to flight, he restored his cities to his own dominion. But Theudebert, that man's son, he ordered to be kept under guard at the villa of Ponthion for a whole year; afterward, as he was merciful, he enriched him with gifts and restored him sound to his father, having nevertheless received from him an oath that he should never act against him — which oath was afterward broken, our sins bringing it about. XXIV.

Now when King Guntram had obtained his portion of the kingdom, like his brothers, having removed the patrician Agricola, he bestowed the honour of the patriciate upon Celsus, a man tall in stature, strong in the shoulders, robust in arm, swollen in words, ready in his replies, and skilled in the reading of law; in whom thereafter so great a greed of possessing arose that, often seizing the property of churches, he subjected it to his own control. For when on one occasion he heard the reading of the prophet Isaiah read in church, in which he says: 'Woe to those who join house to house, and couple field to field, even to the boundary of the place' (Isaiah 5:8), he is reported to have exclaimed: 'This Woe is ill-suited to me and to my sons.'

But he left a son, who, dying without children, bequeathed to the churches, which his father had despoiled, the greatest part of his estate. XXV. Now Guntram, a good king, first joined to his bed as a concubine Veneranda, the maidservant of one of his men, from whom he received a son Gundobad. Afterward he took in marriage Marcatrude, daughter of Magnar. But he sent his son Gundobad to Orléans. And Marcatrude, jealous, after she had had a son, plotted against the death of this boy, and, as they say, killing him by poison sent to him in his drink. When he was dead, by the judgment of God she lost her own son whom she had, and incurred the king's hatred, and being dismissed by him, not long afterward she died.

After this the king took Austrechild, surnamed Bobila, from whom again he had two sons, of whom the elder was called Chlothar, the younger Chlodomer. XXVI. Moreover King Charibert took Ingoberg to wife, from whom he had a daughter, who afterward, taking a husband, was conveyed into Kent. Ingoberg had at that time in her service two girls, the daughters of a certain poor man, of whom the first was called Marcovefa, wearing a religious habit; the other Merofled: with love of these the king was greatly held captive; for they were, as we have said, the daughters of a craftsman in wool.

From this Ingoberg, jealous because they were loved by the king, secretly caused their father to work, in order that, while the king should perceive this, he might hold his daughters in hatred; and while this was being done, she called the king. He, hoping to see something new, beheld this man from afar arranging the royal wool: seeing which, moved with anger, he left Ingoberg and took Merofled. He had also another girl, the daughter of an 'opitio,' that is, a shepherd of sheep, by name Theudechild, by whom he is reported to have had a son, who, as he came forth from the womb, was straightway carried to the grave.

In the time of this king, at the city of Saintes, Leontius, having gathered the bishops of his province, drove Emerius from the episcopate, asserting that he had not canonically been endowed with this honour. For he had had a decree of King Chlothar that he should be consecrated without the consent of the metropolitan, who was not present. Having expelled him, they made an agreement upon Heraclius, then a presbyter of the city of Bordeaux, which, subscribed in their own hands, they transmitted to King Charibert through the presbyter Nuncupatus. He, coming to Tours, disclosed the matter to the blessed Eufronius, beseeching him that he would deign to subscribe this agreement — which the man of God openly refused.

And so, after the presbyter had entered the gates of the city of Paris and approached the presence of the king, he uttered these words: 'Hail, glorious king. For the apostolic see sends a most abundant greeting to your eminence.' To whom the king said: 'Have you then visited the city of Rome, that you bring us the greeting of that pope?' 'Your father Leontius,' said the presbyter, 'with his provincials, sends you greeting, making known that Aemulus — for so they were accustomed to call Emerius in his infancy — has been cast out from the episcopate, because, the sanction of the canons being set aside, he ambitiously sought the episcopate of the city of Saintes. And therefore they have directed an agreement to you, that another be substituted in his place;'

'so that it may come about that, while the transgressors of the canons are duly censured, the power of your kingdom may be extended to longer ages.' While he said this, the king, gnashing his teeth, ordered him to be dragged from his sight, and to be placed upon a wagon filled with thorns, and commanded that he be thrust into exile, saying: 'Do you suppose that there is none among the sons of King Chlothar who would keep his father's deeds, that these men have cast out, without our judgment, a bishop whom his will chose?' And at once, having dispatched religious men, he restored the bishop to his place, directing also certain of his chamberlains, who, having exacted a thousand gold pieces from Bishop Leontius, condemned the rest of the bishops according to their means.

And so any injury to the prince is avenged. After this he joined to himself in wedlock Marcovefa, namely the sister of Merofled. For which cause both were excommunicated by the holy bishop Germanus. But since the king was unwilling to leave her, being struck by the judgment of God she died. And not long after, that very King Charibert himself departed after her: after whose death Theudechild, one of his queens, sent messengers to King Guntram, offering herself of her own accord to his marriage. To whom the king gave this in reply: 'Let it not irk her to come to me with her treasures: for I will receive her, and make her great among the peoples, namely that she may enjoy greater honour with me than with my brother, who lately died.'

But she, rejoicing, having gathered all her possessions, set out to him. Seeing which, the king said: 'It is more fitting that these treasures be held by me than by her, who unworthily approached my brother's bed.' Then, having taken away many things and left a few, he assigned her to the monastery of Arles. But she, grudgingly submitting to be afflicted with fastings and vigils, through secret messengers summoned a certain Goth, promising that if he should bring her, conveyed into Spain, into wedlock, she would, leaving the monastery with her treasures, follow him with a willing mind. And he, doubting nothing, promised in return. And when, having collected her belongings and made bundles,

and was preparing to go out from the monastery, the diligence of the abbess forestalled her purpose; and the fraud being discovered, she ordered her to be grievously beaten and committed to custody, in which she remained until the end of the present life, worn down by no slight sufferings. XXVII. Furthermore King Sigibert, when he saw that his brothers were taking wives unworthy of themselves, and through their own baseness were even joining maidservants to themselves in marriage, sent a legation into Spain, and with many gifts sought Brunhild, daughter of King Athanagild. For the girl was elegant in workmanship, comely in aspect, honourable and seemly in character, prudent in counsel, and pleasant in conversation.

Her father, not refusing, sent her with great treasures to the aforesaid king. And he, having gathered his elders about him, with feasts prepared, received her as wife with immense gladness and merriment. And because she had been subject to the Arian law, by the preaching of the priests and the admonition of the king himself she was converted, and confessing the blessed Trinity in unity she believed, and was anointed with chrism — she who in the name of Christ perseveres as a Catholic. XXVIII. Seeing this, King Chilperic, though he already had several wives, sought her sister Galswintha, promising through envoys that he would relinquish the others: only let him be allowed to receive a bride worthy of himself and the offspring of a king.

And her father, accepting these promises, sent his daughter to him likewise, as the former, with great riches. For Galswintha was older in age than Brunhild. When she had come to King Chilperic, she was received with great honour, and was joined to him in marriage: by whom also she was loved with great love. For she had brought great treasures with her. But through love of Fredegund, whom he had had before, great scandal arose between them. For she had already been converted to the Catholic faith, and anointed with chrism. And since she complained continually that she was suffering injuries from the king, and said that she had no dignity with him, she asked that, leaving the treasures which she had brought with her, he would freely permit her to return to her homeland.

He, dissembling this by his wiles, soothed her with gentle words. At last he ordered her to be strangled by a servant, and found her dead in her bed. After her death God showed a great miracle. For that lamp, which hung by a cord and burned before her tomb, with no one touching it, its cord being broken, fell to the pavement: and the hardness of the pavement fleeing before it, it descended as though into some soft element, and was sunk in to the middle, yet not at all crushed: which was not without great wonder to those who beheld it. And the king, when he had so wept for her dead, after a few days received Fredegund in marriage. After which deed, his brothers, reckoning

that by his contrivance the aforesaid queen had been killed, and they cast him out of the kingdom. Now Chilperic at that time had three sons by Audovera, his former queen: that is, Theudebert, whom we mentioned above (Ch. 23), Merovech, and Clovis. But let us return to what we have begun. XXIX. The Huns again attempted to come into Gaul, against whom Sigibert directed himself with an army, having with him a great multitude of brave men. And when they were to clash, those men, instructed in magic arts, displayed various phantasms to them, and greatly overcame them. But as the army of Sigibert fled, he himself, enclosed, was held back by the Huns, had it not afterward been that —

since he was elegant and shrewd, those whom he could not overcome by valour in battle, he overcame by the art of giving. For having given gifts, he made a treaty with the king, that for all the days of their lives they should stir up no wars between themselves: and by a just reckoning this is weighed as pertaining rather to his praise than to any reproach. And the king of the Huns too gave many gifts to King Sigibert. Now he was called Gaganus; for all the kings of that nation are called by this name. XXX. But King Sigibert, desiring to capture the city of Arles, commanded the Auvergnats to be roused. For there was then Firminus, count of that city, who went off with them at their head.

But also from the other side Audovar came with an army, and entering the city of Arles, they exacted oaths on behalf of King Sigibert. When King Guntram had learned this, he directed the patrician Celsus thither with an army: who going off took away the city of Avignon. Then advancing to Arles and surrounding it, he began to assail the army of Sigibert, which was contained within the walls. Then Bishop Sabaudus said to them: 'Go out abroad and join battle, for you cannot, dwelling under the enclosure of the walls, defend either us or the dependents of this city. But if, God being favourable, you vanquish them, we will keep the faith which we have promised;'