History of the Franks 1 part 19/38

He was often wont to say to his intimates that one cannot deceive a prudent man except by perjuries. But since he still despised me upon my return, and would not come to greet me as the other citizens had done, but rather threatened to kill me, I, with the counsel of the bishops of the province, ordered him to be removed into a monastery. And when he was being kept there under stricter confinement, through the intervention of envoys of Bishop Felix — who had been a supporter of the aforesaid affair — the abbot being circumvented by perjuries, he slipped away in flight and made his way to Bishop Felix; and the latter eagerly received the man whom he ought rather to have abhorred.

But Leudast, proceeding into the territory of Bourges, carried off with him all the treasures which he had extorted from the spoils of the poor. Not long after, the men of Bourges with their judge rushed upon him and took away all the gold and silver, and whatever he had brought with him, leaving him nothing but what he wore upon his body; and they would have taken his very life, had he not escaped by flight. Having afterward recovered his strength, he again, with certain men of Tours, fell upon those who had plundered him; and having killed one of them, he recovered some of his goods and returned to the territory of Tours. Hearing this, Duke Berulf sent his servants with a force of arms to seize him. But he, seeing that he was on the very point of being captured, abandoned his goods and made for the basilica of Saint Hilary of Poitiers.

But Duke Berulf transmitted the captured goods to the king. For Leudast went out from the basilica, and bursting into divers houses, carried on public plunderings. Moreover he was often caught in adulteries even within that holy portico. The queen, being deeply moved that a place consecrated to God should be so defiled, ordered him to be cast out of the saint's basilica. Being expelled, he again made for his hosts in the territory of Bourges, begging to be hidden by them. And although I ought to have made mention earlier (Chapter 45) of my conversation with the blessed bishop Salvius, yet because it slipped my mind, I do not think it sacrilege if it be written down later.

And so, when not long after the aforementioned synod we wished to return to our own dwelling, away from the king already named, it did not please me to depart before we should take leave of this man with the giving of kisses. I found him, when I sought him, in the courtyard of the dwelling at Brennacum. I told him that I was now about to return home. Then, having withdrawn a little, while we were conversing this way and that, he said to me: 'Do you see above this roof the things that I behold?' And I to him: 'I see indeed the covering which the king lately ordered to be made.' And he: 'Do you see nothing else?' And I to him: 'I see nothing else,' I said. For I supposed that he was speaking something in jest. And I added: 'If you discern something more, tell it.' But he, drawing deep sighs, said:

'I see the unsheathed sword of divine wrath hanging over this house.' Yet the priest's word did not prove false; for after twenty days the king's two sons, whom we recorded above (Chapter 35) as having died, passed away. The fifth book is ended, completed in the fifth year of King Childebert. HERE BEGIN THE CHAPTERS OF THE SIXTH BOOK. Here begins the sixth book, commenced from the sixth year of the same Childebert. I. That Childebert went over to Chilperic; and concerning the flight of Mummolus. II. Concerning the envoys of Chilperic returned from the East. III. Concerning the envoys of Childebert to Chilperic. IV. How Lupus was put to flight from the kingdom of Childebert four times. V. The dispute with the Jew. VI. Concerning the recluse Saint Hospitius, and his abstinence and miracles.

VII. Concerning the passing of Ferreolus, bishop of Uzès. VIII. Concerning Eparchius, recluse of the city of Angoulême. IX. Concerning Domnolus, bishop of Le Mans. X. Concerning the basilica of Saint Martin broken into. XI. Concerning Bishop Theodore and Dynamius. XII. Concerning the army set in motion against the people of Bourges. XIII. Concerning Lupus and Ambrosius, citizens of Tours, slain. XIV. Concerning the portents which appeared. XV. Concerning the death of Bishop Felix. XVI. That Pappolenus took back his wife. XVII. Concerning the Jews converted by King Chilperic. XVIII. Concerning the envoys of Chilperic returned from Spain. XIX. Concerning Chilperic's men at the river Orbieu. XX. Concerning the death of Duke Chrodinus. XXI. Concerning the signs displayed. XXII. Concerning Bishop Cartherius. XXIII. That a son was born to King Chilperic. XXIV.

Concerning the plots of Bishop Theodore, and concerning Gundovald. XXV. Concerning the signs and prodigies seen about that time. XXVI. Concerning Duke Gunthramnus and Mummolus. XXVII. That King Chilperic entered Paris. XXVIII. Concerning Marcus the referendary. XXIX. Concerning the nuns of the monastery of Poitiers, or, Concerning the miracles which were wrought in the monastery of the Lady Radegund. XXX. Concerning the death of the Emperor Tiberius. XXXI. Concerning the many evils which King Chilperic ordered to be done in the cities of his brother, or which he himself did. XXXII. Concerning the destruction of Leudast. XXXIII. Concerning locusts, diseases, and prodigies. XXXIV. Concerning the death of Chilperic's son, whom he named Theodoric. XXXV. Concerning the death of the prefect Mummolus, and the women slain. XXXVI.

Concerning Bishop Aetherius, and concerning the lust of a certain cleric. XXXVII. Concerning the murder of Lupentius, abbot of Javols. XXXVIII. Concerning the death of Bishop Theodosius, and his successor. XXXIX. Concerning the death of Remigius, bishop of Bourges; and concerning the burning of the city, and the succession of Sulpicius. XL. Concerning our dispute with a heretic. XLI. That King Chilperic withdrew with his treasures to Cambrai. XLII. That Childebert went off into Italy. XLIII. Concerning the kings of Galicia. XLIV. Concerning divers signs. XLV. Concerning the marriage of Rigunth, daughter of Chilperic. XLVI. Concerning the death of King Chilperic. THE SIXTH BOOK. In the sixth year, then, of his reign, King Childebert, rejecting the peace of King Gunthramnus, joined himself with Chilperic.

Not long after, Gogo dies, and in his place Wandelinus is appointed. Mummolus slips away in flight from the kingdom of Gunthramnus, and shuts himself up within the fortification of the walls of Avignon. At Lyon a synod of bishops is assembled, deciding the disputes of various cases and condemning the more negligent by judgment. The synod returns to the king, dealing much concerning the flight of Duke Mummolus, and somewhat concerning the discords. II. Meanwhile the envoys of King Chilperic, who three years before had gone to the Emperor Tiberius, returned, not without grievous loss and toil. For since they had not dared to approach the port of Marseille on account of the discords of the kings, they came to the city of Agde, which is situated in the kingdom of the Goths.

But before they reached the shore, the ship, driven by the wind and dashed against the land, was broken into pieces. The envoys, however, with their attendants, seeing themselves in peril, seized planks and were scarcely brought to the bank, with many of the attendants lost; but the greater part escaped. The goods, moreover, which the waves had carried to the shore, the inhabitants plundered; and taking from them whatever was best, they brought it back to King Chilperic. Yet many of these things the men of Agde retained for themselves. At that time I had gone to the estate of Nogent to meet the king; and there the king showed us a great salver, which he had fashioned of gold and gems, of fifty pounds' weight, saying: 'I have made these to adorn and ennoble the nation of the Franks.'

'But I shall make many more besides, if life remains my companion.' He also showed gold pieces each of a pound's weight, which the emperor had sent, having on one side the likeness of the emperor depicted, and written round it: 'OF TIBERIUS CONSTANTINUS, PERPETUAL AUGUSTUS'; while on the other side they had a four-horse chariot and a charioteer, with the inscription: 'THE GLORY OF THE ROMANS.' He showed also many other ornaments which had been presented by the envoys. III. Finally, while he was tarrying at the same estate, Egidius, bishop of Reims, came on an embassy to King Chilperic with the chief nobles of Childebert; and there, a conference having been held to the effect that, the kingdom of King Gunthramnus being taken away, these two should join themselves together in peace, King Chilperic said:

'Through my increasing sins, my sons have not remained to me, nor is there now any other heir surviving to me except my brother Sigibert's son, that is, King Childebert: therefore in all things in which I shall be able to labor, let him be my heir. Only, so long as I live, let it be permitted me to hold all things without scruple or dispute.' And they, giving thanks, subscribed to the agreements and confirmed what they had spoken, and returned to Childebert with great gifts. As they were departing, King Chilperic sent Bishop Leudovald with the chief men of his kingdom. And they, an oath having been given and received, and the agreements confirmed, returned laden with gifts. IV.

But Lupus, duke of Champagne, since for a long time he had been worn down by adversities and continually despoiled, and especially by Ursio and Berthefred, who at last, an agreement having been made that he should be killed, set an army in motion against him. Seeing this, Queen Brunhild, grieving over the unjust persecutions of her faithful man, girding herself manfully, broke into the midst of the enemy's ranks, saying: 'Do not, O men, do not do this evil, do not pursue an innocent man; do not for one man's sake join battle, by which the solace of the region should perish.' As she was speaking these things, Ursio answered: 'Withdraw from us, O woman. Let it suffice you to have held the kingdom under your husband. Now, however, your son reigns, and his kingdom is preserved not by your protection but by ours.'

'But do you withdraw from us, lest the hooves of our horses trample you into the earth.' When they had brought forth these and other things between them for a very long time, the queen's diligence prevailed so that they did not fight. Nevertheless, departing from that place, they burst into the houses of Lupus, and having plundered all his store — pretending that they were laying it up in the king's treasury — they brought it to their own houses, leveling threats at Lupus, and saying: 'He shall not escape our might alive.' But he, seeing himself in this crisis, his wife having been kept safe within the walls of the city of Laon, fled to King Gunthramnus. Received kindly by him, he lay hidden with him, awaiting until Childebert should reach the lawful age. V.

And so King Chilperic, while he still tarried at the aforesaid estate, ordering the baggage to be moved, made ready to come to Paris. As I approached him to take my leave, a certain Jew named Priscus, who was on familiar terms with him for the purchasing of wares, came up. The king, having gently grasped his hair with his hand, said to me: 'Come, priest of God, and lay your hand upon him.' But when the Jew resisted, the king said: 'O hard mind and ever incredulous race, which does not understand the Son of God promised to it by the voices of the prophets; which does not understand the ecclesiastical mysteries prefigured in its own sacrifices.' As he said this, the Jew said:

'God needs no marriage, nor is He enriched by offspring, nor does He suffer Himself to have any partner of His kingdom, who through Moses says: See, see that I am the Lord, and besides me there is no god. I will kill, and I will make alive; I will smite, and I will heal' (Deut. XXXII, 39). To this the king said: 'God begot from a spiritual womb an everlasting Son, not younger in age, not lesser in power, of whom He Himself says: From the womb before the morning star I begot you' (Ps. CIX, 3). 'Him therefore, born before the ages, He sent in the last ages as a healer to the world, just as your prophet says: He sent His Word, and healed them' (Ps. CVI, 20). 'But as for what you say, that He Himself does not beget, hear your prophet speaking from the voice of the Lord:'

'Shall I, who make others to bring forth, not myself bring forth?' (Isa. LXVI, 9). For He says this concerning the people who are reborn into Him through faith. To this the Jew replied: 'Could God become man, or be born of a woman, be subjected to blows, condemned to death?' To this, while the king kept silent, I thrust myself into the midst and said: 'That God the Son of God should become man arose from a cause not of His own necessity but of ours. For He could not redeem man, captive to sin and subjected to the servitude of the devil, unless He had taken on manhood. But I will furnish testimonies not from the Gospels and the Apostle, which you do not believe, but from your own books, and I will pierce you with your own sword, just as David is read to have slain Goliath of old.'

'Therefore, that God was to become man, hear your prophet: He is God, he says, and man, and who has known Him? And elsewhere: This is our God, and no other shall be reckoned besides Him; He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob His servant, and to Israel His beloved. After this He was seen upon earth, and conversed with men' (Baruch III, 36, 37, 38). 'And that He is born of a Virgin, hear likewise your prophet saying: Behold, a Virgin shall conceive in her womb, and shall bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us' (Isa. VII, 14; Matt. I, 23).

'That He should be subjected to blows, that He should be fastened with nails, and lie under other injuries also, or be afflicted, another prophet says: They pierced my hands and my feet: they divided my garments among them' (Ps. XXI, 17, etc.). And again: They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink (Ps. LXVIII, 22). And that through that very gibbet of the cross He should restore in His kingdom the falling world, subjected to the dominion of the devil, the same David says: The Lord has reigned from the tree (Ps. XCV, 10). Not that He had not reigned before with the Father, but over the people whom He had freed from the servitude of the devil He received, as it were, a new kingdom. The Jew replied to this: 'What need had God that He should suffer these things?' And I to him:

'I have already told you: God created man harmless, but, circumvented by the cunning of the serpent, he became a transgressor of the commandment; and therefore, cast out from the seat of paradise, he was assigned to worldly toils — he who through the death of the Only-begotten of God, Christ, was reconciled to God the Father.' The Jew said: 'Could not God have sent prophets or apostles who might recall him to the way of salvation, without His Himself being humbled in the flesh?' To this I said: 'From the beginning the human race ever transgressed, whom never did the submersion of the flood terrify, nor the burning of Sodom, nor the plagues of Egypt, nor the miracle of the sea and the dividing of the Jordan — they who ever resisted the Law of God, believed not the prophets;'

'and not only did they not believe, but they even slew the very preachers of repentance. Therefore, unless He Himself had descended to redeem him, no other could have accomplished these things. By whose nativity we are reborn, by His baptism washed, by His wound healed, by His resurrection raised up, by His ascension glorified. And that He was to come to heal our diseases, your prophet says: By His bruise we are healed (Isa. LIII, 5). And elsewhere: He Himself shall bear our sins, and shall pray for the transgressors (Ibid. 12). And again: Like a sheep He was led to the slaughter; and as a lamb before the shearer is dumb without voice, so He opened not His mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away. His generation who shall declare?' (Ibid. 7, 8).

'The Lord of hosts is His name' (Isa. LIV, 5). 'Concerning Him also that Jacob, of whose lineage you boast that you have come, in that blessing of his son Judah, as though speaking to Christ Himself the Son of God, says: The sons of your father shall adore you. A lion's whelp is Judah. From the bud, my son, you have ascended; reclining you have slept like a lion, and like a lion's whelp. Who shall rouse him up?' (Gen. XLIX, 8, 9). 'His eyes are more beautiful than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk' (Ibid. 12). 'Who, he says, shall rouse Him up? And although He Himself has said: I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it up again (John X, 18), yet the apostle Paul says:'

'Whoever does not believe that God raised Him from the dead cannot be saved' (Rom. X, 9). When we had said these and other things, the wretch was never pricked in conscience to belief. Then the king, when he saw that, the Jew being silent, he was not moved by these discourses, turned to me and asked that, a blessing having been received, he might depart. For he said: 'I will tell you, O priest, what Jacob said to the angel who was speaking to him: I will not let you go, unless you bless me' (Gen. XXXII, 26). And saying this, he ordered water to be poured upon our hands; and these being washed, a prayer having been made, having received bread and giving thanks, we ourselves partook, and offered it to the king; and the unmixed wine being drunk, we took our leave and departed. But the king, mounting his horse,

returned to Paris with his wife and daughter and all his household. VI. There was, moreover, at the city of Nice at that time a recluse named Hospitius, of great abstinence, who, bound with iron chains next to his bare body and clothed over them with a hair-shirt, ate nothing but plain bread with a few dates. In the days of Lent, however, he was nourished on the roots of Egyptian herbs which the hermits use, brought to him by traders. First indeed drinking the broth in which they had been cooked, he afterward consumed the herbs themselves. For the Lord deigned to work great miracles through him. For at a certain time, the Holy Spirit revealing to him the coming of the Lombards into the Gauls, he foretold it in this manner: 'They shall come,'

he said, 'the Lombards into the Gauls, and shall lay waste seven cities, because their wickedness has grown up in the sight of the Lord, for there is none that understands, none that seeks God; there is none that does good, whereby the wrath of God might be appeased. For the whole people is unfaithful, given over to perjuries, liable to thefts, prompt in murders, from whom no fruit of justice grows up in any wise; tithes are not given, the poor are not fed, the naked are not clothed, strangers are not received in hospitality nor sufficiently satisfied with food: therefore this plague comes upon them. But now I say to you: Gather all your substance within the enclosure of the walls, lest it be plundered by the Lombards;'

'and fortify yourselves in the strongest places.' As he was speaking these things, all were astounded, and bidding farewell with great wonder, they returned to their own homes. To the monks also he said: 'Depart, you too, from this place, taking with you what you have; for behold, the nation that I have foretold draws near.' But when they said: 'We will not leave you, most holy father,' he said: 'Fear not for me; for it shall come to pass that they will inflict injuries upon me, but they shall not harm me unto death.' When the monks had departed, that nation came; and while it laid waste all that it found, it came to the place where the holy man of God was enclosed. But he showed himself to them through the window of his tower.

But they, going around the tower, could not find the entrance through which they might come in to him. Then two of them, climbing up, uncovered the roof; and seeing him bound with chains and clothed in a hair-shirt, they said: 'This man is an evildoer, and has committed homicide: therefore he is held bound with these fetters.' And an interpreter being summoned, they inquired of him what evil he had done, that he should be constrained by such a punishment. But he confessed that he was a homicide and guilty of every crime. Then one of them, having drawn his sword that he might bring it down upon his head, his right hand, in the very stroke, hung suspended and grew rigid, nor could he draw it back to himself. Then, loosening the sword, he let it fall to the ground.

Seeing these things, his companions raised a cry to heaven, beseeching the saint that he would graciously make known what ought to be done. But he himself, having imposed the sign of salvation, restored the arm to health. And the man, converted in that same place, with head tonsured, is now held to be a most faithful monk. But two dukes who heard him were restored unharmed to their country; while those who scorned his command perished miserably in that very Province. Moreover, many of them, seized by demons, cried out: 'Why do you thus torment and burn us, O holy and most blessed one?' But, having laid his hand upon them, he cleansed them. After this there was a man, an inhabitant of Angers, who through an excessive fever had lost both speech and hearing alike;

and when he had recovered from the fever, he remained deaf and dumb. Now a deacon from that province was sent to Rome, to obtain pledges of the blessed apostles, or of the other saints who guard that city. When he had come to the parents of that sick man, they begged that he would deign to take him as a companion of the journey; trusting that, if he should approach the tombs of the most blessed apostles, he might forthwith obtain healing. As they were going, they came to the place where the blessed Hospitius dwelt. Having saluted and kissed him, the deacon disclosed the reasons of his journey, and indicated that he was setting out for Rome, and earnestly requested to be commended to those who were friends of the holy man among the shipmasters.

And while he still tarried there, the blessed man perceived through the Spirit of the Lord that a miraculous power was present. And he said to the deacon: 'The sick man who is now the companion of your journey, I beg you to present to my sight.' And he, delaying nothing, swiftly goes to the lodging and finds the sick man full of fever, who by a nod indicated that his ears were giving off a ringing; and grasping him, he leads him to the holy man of God. But he, having grasped his hair with his hand, drew the man's head into the window, and taking oil sanctified by a blessing, holding his tongue with his left hand, he poured it into his mouth and onto the crown of his head, saying: 'In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ may your ears be opened, and may that power unlock your mouth, which once drove out the harmful demon from the deaf and dumb man.'

And saying these things, he asked his name. But the man with a clear voice said: 'I am called thus.' When the deacon had seen these things, he said: 'I render immeasurable thanks to You, Jesus Christ, who deign to show forth such things through Your servant. I was seeking Peter, I was seeking Paul and Laurence, and the others who illumine Rome with their own blood: here I have found them all, here I have discovered every one.' As he said these things with the greatest weeping and wonder, the man of God, with all earnestness shunning vain glory, said:

'Be silent, be silent, most beloved brother, it is not I who do these things, but He who founded the world out of nothing, who, taking on manhood for our sake, gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, to the leprous their former skin, to the dead life, and to all the sick abundant healing.' Then the deacon, rejoicing and bidding farewell, departed with his companions. As they were departing, a certain man, Dominicus — for such was the man's name — blind from birth, came to prove the power of this miracle. And while he resided in the monastery for two or three months, devoting himself to prayer and fastings, at length the man of God called him to himself and said: 'Do you wish to receive sight?' And he said to him: 'My desire was to know the unknown.'

'For what light is, I know not; I know only this, that it is praised by all; but I from the beginning of my age until now have never been worthy to see.' Then, with blessed oil making the holy cross over his eyes, he said: 'In the name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer may your eyes be opened.' And immediately his eyes were opened; and he was filled with wonder, beholding the mighty works of God which he saw in this world. After this a certain woman, who, as she herself declaimed, had three demons, was brought to him; and when he had blessed her with a sacred touch, and had set the cross of holy oil upon her forehead, the demons being cast out, she departed cleansed. But another girl also, vexed by an unclean spirit, he healed by a blessing.

But when now the day of his death was drawing near, he called to himself the provost of the monastery, saying: 'Bring an iron tool, and break through the wall, and send messengers to the bishop of the city, that he may come to bury me. For on the third day from this I depart from the world, and go into the rest appointed for me, which the Lord has promised me.' As he was saying these things, the provost of the monastery sent to the bishop of the city of Nice, that they might announce these things to him. After this a certain Crescens came to the window, and seeing him bound with chains and full of worms, said: 'O my lord, how can you so bravely endure such grievous torments?' And he said to him: 'He strengthens me, for whose name I suffer these things.'

'But I tell you that I am now loosed from these bonds, and go into my rest.' And when the third day came, he laid aside the chains with which he had been bound, and prostrated himself in prayer; and when he had prayed for a very long time with tears, placing himself upon a bench, with feet outstretched and hands lifted up to heaven, giving thanks to God, he gave up his spirit. And immediately all those worms which had been boring through the saint's limbs vanished. And Bishop Austadius, arriving, most diligently committed the blessed body to burial. All these things I learned from the very mouth of him whom I set forth above as having been healed by him from being dumb and deaf, who narrated to me many other things also concerning his miracles:

but that matter forbade me to speak of it, because I heard that his Life had been written by many. VII. At that time Ferreolus, bishop of Uzès, a man of great sanctity, full of wisdom and understanding, died; who composed some books of letters, as though following Sidonius. After his death Albinus, formerly prefect, received the episcopate through Dynamius, governor of the Province, without the king's counsel; and using it for no more than three months, when a case arose against him on this account that he should be removed, he died. Jovinus again, who had once been governor of the Province, received the royal mandate concerning the episcopate. But Marcellus, a deacon, son of the senator Felix, forestalled him.