But as the bishop protested, and said that this man often sought out devices by which he might fall from the episcopate, the king, moved with mercy, commending his cause to God, yielded to both, clemently entreating the bishop on behalf of the deacon, and beseeching that the priest should pray for him: and thus with honor he was sent back to his city. But after two months Count Nonnichius, who had sown this scandal, struck with blood (apoplexy), perished; and his goods, because he was without children, were granted by the king to various persons. XXIII. Thereafter to King Chilperic, after many funerals of his sons, a son is born. On this account the king orders all the prisons to be relaxed, the bound to be released, and he commanded that the compositions owed to the fisc by the negligent should by no means be exacted.
But this infant afterward brought great grief. XXIV. New wars again arise against Bishop Theodore. For Gundovald, who said that he was the son of King Chlothar, coming from Constantinople, was conveyed to Marseille: concerning whose origin it has pleased me to recall a few things briefly. He, when he had been born in Gaul, and nurtured with diligent care, as is the custom of those kings, with the locks of his hair let down in tresses over his back, and instructed in letters, was presented by his mother to King Childebert, she saying: 'Behold,' she said, 'your nephew, the son of King Chlothar. And because he is held hateful by his father, receive him, because he is your flesh.' And he, because he had no sons, receiving him, kept him with himself.
These things are announced to King Chlothar, and he sent messengers to his brother, saying: 'Send the boy that he may come to me.' And he, without delay, directed the youth to his brother. Having seen him, Chlothar ordered the hair of his head to be shorn, saying: 'This one I did not beget.' Therefore after the death of King Chlothar, he was received by King Charibert; whom Sigibert, having summoned, again cut off the hair of his head, and sent him into the city of Agrippina, which is now called Cologne. He too, slipping away from that place, his hair again let grow, went off to Narses, who then presided over Italy; and there, having taken a wife, he procreated sons, and went to Constantinople.
Thence, as they relate, after a long time, being invited by a certain person to come into Gaul, having put in at Marseille, he was received by Bishop Theodore. And from him too, having received horsemen, he was joined to the duke Mummolus. Now Mummolus was at that time in the city of Avignon, as we have already said above. But the duke Guntram (Boso), seizing Bishop Theodore, thrust him into custody for this cause, reckoning why he had introduced a foreign man into Gaul, and had wished to subject the kingdom of the Franks to imperial dominions through these means. But he produced a letter, as they say, subscribed by the hand of the leading men of King Childebert, saying: 'I have done nothing on my own, except what was commanded me by our lords and elders.'
The priest was therefore kept in a cell, nor was he permitted to approach the church. But one night, while he was praying more attentively to the Lord, the cell shone with an exceeding splendor, so that the count who was his keeper was terrified with immense dread; and a globe of immense light was seen over him for the space of two hours. When morning came, that count related these things to the others who were with him. After this, moreover, he was led to King Guntram together with Bishop Epiphanius, who then, fleeing the Lombards, was sojourning at Marseille, namely because he too had been privy to this affair. Being examined therefore by the king, they were found in no crime.
The king, however, ordered them to be kept under guard, and there, after many torments, Bishop Epiphanius died. Gundovald, for his part, withdrew to an island and remained there, awaiting the outcome of the matter. But Duke Guntram Boso, together with the duke of King Guntram, divided Gundovald's property and carried off with him into Auvergne an immense weight of silver, as men report, and of gold and of other things. In the eighth year of King Childebert, on the day before the Kalends of February, when on a Sunday at the city of Tours the bell had been rung for matins and the people, rising, were gathering to the church, the sky being overcast and with rain, a great ball of fire fell from heaven and ran a long way through the air;
and it gave so great a light that everything could be seen as if at midday; then, when it had again been taken up into a cloud, night followed. The waters likewise rose beyond their wont, for the Seine and the Marne brought a vast flood around Paris, so that shipwrecks frequently occurred between the city and the basilica of Saint Lawrence. Duke Guntram Boso, having returned to Auvergne with the aforesaid treasures, went off to King Childebert. And when from there he was making his way back with his wife and children, he was seized and held by King Guntram, the king saying to him: «Your invitation brought Gundovald into Gaul, and on this account, some years ago, you went off to Constantinople.» To whom he replied:
«It was Mummolus,» he said, «your own duke, who received him and kept him with him at Avignon. Now then, let me go, and I will bring him to you, and then I shall be cleared of the things charged against me.» The king said to him: «I will not let you go, unless you pay fitting penalties for the things you have committed.» But he, seeing himself near to death, said: «Behold my son; take him, and let him be a hostage for the things I promise to my lord the king; and unless I bring you Mummolus, I will forfeit my little one.» Then the king allowed him to go, keeping his little child with him. And he, taking with him men of Auvergne and of the Velay, went off to Avignon. But by the cunning of Mummolus boats had been made ready, unsound, on the Rhône, and as they climbed aboard them without suspicion, as if into a
cross the river, the boats being swamped were sinking. Then, placed in peril, some escaped by swimming, while not a few, seizing the planks of those very boats, reached the shore. But very many, whose cunning was the less, were drowned in the river. Duke Guntram Boso, however, came to Avignon. For Mummolus had taken care, after he had entered within the walls of that city, that, since a small part remained which was not protected by the Rhône, water should be drawn off from the river so that the whole place might be fortified by this inundation; and in that place he dug ditches of great depth, and the flowing water covered the prepared traps. Then, as Guntram Boso approached, Mummolus said from the wall:
«If your faith is sound, let him come to one bank of the river, and I to the other, and let him say whatever he wishes.» When they had come together, Guntram Boso said in turn—for this arm of the river lay between the two: «If it is permitted,» he said, «I will come across, for there are certain things to be discussed between us more privately.» He said to him: «Come, do not fear.» Entering with one of his friends, weighed down as he was by the burden of his coat of mail, that friend, as soon as he touched the pit of the river, was plunged beneath the waters and nowhere appeared again. But Guntram Boso, when he was being submerged and carried off by the swift current, one of the bystanders held out a spear to his hand and restored him to the bank. And then, after insults had been hurled at one another, he and Mummolus departed.
While Guntram Boso was also besieging that very city with the army of King Guntram, these things were reported to Childebert. And he, stirred to anger because Guntram Boso was doing these things without being ordered, dispatched thither Gundulf, mentioned above. He, having raised the siege, brought Mummolus to Auvergne; but after a few days he returned to Avignon. King Chilperic, on the day before Easter was celebrated, went off to Paris. And so that he might be free of the curse which had been written in the pact between himself and his brothers, that none of them should enter Paris without the consent of another, he entered the city with the relics of many saints going before him;
and he kept the day of Easter with much joyfulness, and presented his son for baptism, whom Ragnemod, the priest of that city, holily received from the font, and ordered that he be called Theudoric. Marcus too, the referendary, of whom we made mention above, after he had amassed treasures from wicked exactions, was suddenly seized by a pain in his side; he had his head shorn, and, receiving penance, breathed out his spirit, and his goods were confiscated to the treasury, for great treasures of gold and silver, and of many kinds of things, were found there—he carrying away from it nothing else with himself, save the loss of his soul.
The envoys returning from Spain reported nothing certain, since Leuvigild was encamped with his army against his elder son. But in the monastery of the blessed Radegund a certain maiden by the name of Disciola, who was a niece of the blessed Salvius, bishop of Albi, died in this manner. When she had begun to be ill, and the other sisters assiduously attended her, the day came on which she should depart from the body; and about the ninth hour she said to the sisters: «Behold, I now feel myself lighter; behold, I have no pain. Now then there is no need for your anxiety, that you should bestow any care upon me, but rather depart from me, that I may the more easily relax into sleep.» Her sisters, hearing this, withdrew a little from the cell, and after a short while returned.
Then, as they stood before her, they waited to hear what utterance they might receive from her. But she, with hands outstretched, earnestly begging a blessing from I know not whom, said: «Bless me,» she said, «O holy and servant of God Most High. For behold, this is now the third time today that you are wearied on my account. And why, holy one, do you endure frequent injuries for a feeble little woman?» When they asked to whom she was speaking these words, she gave no answer at all. Then, after a little interval, she sent forth a loud voice with laughter, and thus gave up her spirit. And behold, a certain man possessed by a demon, who had then come to be cleansed at the glory of the blessed Cross, seizing his hair with his hands, dashed himself to the ground, saying: «Alas! Alas!»
«Alas for us, who have suffered such loss! Would that it had at least been permitted first to inquire into the causes, and so this soul had been taken from our power!» When those who were present inquired what this word was that he was speaking, he answered: «Behold, the angel Michael has received the soul of the maiden, and has himself carried it up to heaven. But our prince, whom you call the devil, has no share in her.» After this, the body, washed in water, shone with such snowy whiteness that the abbess could find no linen ready at hand which might be seen to be whiter than the body; nevertheless, clothed in clean linen, she was committed to burial. For another maiden of this monastery also saw a vision, which she related to the sisters.
«I thought,» she said, «that I was making some journey, and it was my wish, as I went, to reach a living spring. And when I did not know the way, a certain man presented himself to meet me, saying: 'If,' he said, 'you wish to come to the living spring, I will be the guide of your journey.' And she, giving thanks, followed him as he went before. As they walked, they came to a great spring, whose waters shone like gold, and the grasses gleamed and shimmered like various sparkling gems. And the man said to her: 'Behold the living spring which you have sought with much labor. Be satisfied now from its streams, that it may become for you a fountain of living water springing up unto eternal life.'»
«And when she eagerly drew from these waters, behold, from another quarter came the abbess, and clothed the maiden, who was bare, with royal raiment, which shone with such great light and gold and jewels that it could scarcely be looked upon, the abbess saying to her: 'For your Bridegroom sends you these gifts.'» When the maiden had seen these things, she was pricked to the heart, and after a few days asked the abbess to prepare for her a cell in which she might be enclosed. And she, having quickly completed it, said: «Behold,» she said, «the cell; what do you now desire?» But the maiden asked that she be permitted to be shut in. When this had been granted her, with the virgins gathered together, the blessed Radegund holding her hand, while lamps were held, she was led to the very place.
And so, bidding farewell to all, and kissing each one severally, she was enclosed. And the entrance through which she had gone in being blocked up, there she now devotes herself to prayer and reading. In this year the Emperor Tiberius departed from the world, leaving great mourning among the peoples over his death. For he was of the highest goodness, ready in almsgiving, just in judgments, most careful in judging, despising no one, but embracing all in goodwill; loving all, he too was loved by all. When he had begun to be ill, and despaired of living any longer, he summoned the Augusta Sophia, saying: «Behold, I now feel that the span of my life is fulfilled; now, with your counsel, I shall choose one who ought to preside over the commonwealth.»
«For it is fitting that a vigorous man be chosen, one who may take this power in my stead.» And she chose a certain Maurice, saying: «This man is very vigorous and shrewd, for, often fighting against the enemies of the commonwealth, he has won victories.» She said this, in fact, so that, when this one had passed away, she might be joined to him in marriage. But Tiberius, after he had learned the consent of the Augusta concerning this man's election, ordered his daughter to be adorned with imperial ornaments, and, having summoned Maurice, said: «Behold, with the consent of the Augusta Sophia you are chosen to the empire; that you may be the firmer therein, I will give you my daughter.» And, the maiden approaching, the father handed her over to Maurice, saying: «Let my empire be granted to you with this maiden. Enjoy it
in happiness, and be ever mindful that you delight in fairness and justice.» And he, having received the maiden, led her to his house, and, when the solemnity of the wedding had been completed, Tiberius died. Then, the period of mourning having been observed, Maurice, clad in diadem and purple, proceeded to the circus; and, praises being acclaimed to him, and gifts lavished upon the people, he was confirmed in the empire. Finally, King Chilperic received the envoys of his nephew Childebert, among whom the first was Egidius, bishop of Reims; and when these had been admitted to the king, and an account given, they said: «The peace which you made with our lord, your nephew, he asks to be by all means preserved by you;»
«but with your brother he cannot have peace, because, after your father's death, he took from him the region of Marseilles, and retains his fugitives, nor is willing to send them back to him; therefore your nephew Childebert wishes to preserve in full the affection which he now maintains with you.» And he said: «In many things,» he said, «my brother has become culpable. For if my son Childebert should inquire into the order of reason, he will at once recognize that by this man's collusion his father was slain.» As he said this, Bishop Egidius said: «If you join yourself with your nephew, and he joins himself with you, then, an army being set in motion, the vengeance which is owed will more swiftly be brought upon him.» When they had confirmed this with an oath, and given hostages between themselves, they departed.
And so Chilperic, trusting in their promises, set his kingdom's army in motion and came to Paris; where, when he had taken up residence, he inflicted great damage of property upon the inhabitants. Duke Berulf, with the men of Tours, Poitiers, Angers, and Nantes, came to the border of Bourges. Desiderius and Bladast, with the whole army of the province committed to them, hemmed in Bourges from another side, greatly laying waste the regions through which they came. Chilperic ordered the army that had come to him to pass through Paris. As it passed, he too passed, and went off to the fortress of Melun, giving everything over to fire and devastating it. And although his nephew's army had not come to him, nevertheless the dukes and envoys
were with him. Then he sent messengers to the aforesaid dukes, saying: «Enter Bourges, and advancing as far as the city, exact oaths of fidelity in our name.» But the men of Bourges, with fifteen thousand, gathered at the fortress of Mediolanum, and there clashed with Duke Desiderius; and a great slaughter took place there, so that of both armies more than seven thousand fell. The dukes too, with the rest of the host, reached the city, plundering and devastating everything; and such a depopulation was wrought there as had not even been heard of in olden times, so that neither house nor vineyard nor trees remained, but they cut down, burned, and demolished everything.
For they even carried off the sacred vessels from the churches, and burned the churches themselves with fire. But King Guntram came against his brother with an army, placing all his hope in the judgment of God. He, one day already toward evening, having sent forth his army, slew the greatest part of his brother's army. But in the morning, the envoys coming together, they made peace, each promising the other that whatever the bishops or the elders of the people should judge, the party that had transgressed the bounds of law should make amends to the other party; and so they departed peaceably. King Chilperic, however, since he could not restrain his army from plunder, put the count of Rouen to the sword; and thus he returned to Paris, leaving behind all the plunder and releasing the captives.
But those who were besieging Bourges, having received the order to return to their own homes, carried off with them so much plunder that the whole region from which they had set out was thought to be utterly emptied, both of men and of the very cattle. The army of Desiderius and Bladast too, entering through the territory of Tours, wrought such conflagrations, plunderings, and murders as are wont to be done against enemies; for they even led away captives, of whom many, despoiled, they afterward released. A plague of cattle followed this disaster, so that scarcely a single one remained; and it would be a novel thing if anyone should see a beast of burden or behold a heifer. But while these things were being done, King Childebert was staying in one place with his army.
Now on a certain night, the army being stirred up, the lesser folk raised a great murmuring against Bishop Egidius and the king's dukes, and began to cry out and to proclaim publicly: «Let those be removed from the king's presence who sell his kingdom, who subject his cities to another's dominion, who hand over the people of this very prince to the jurisdiction of another.» While they were uttering these and similar things with clamor, when morning came, having seized their array of arms, they hastened to the king's tent, namely so that, having seized the bishop and the elders, they might oppress them by force, beat them with blows, and tear them with swords. When this was discovered, the bishop took to flight, and, having mounted his horse, made for his own city.
But that mob followed with shouting, hurling stones after him and vomiting forth insults. His safeguard in this case was that these men did not have horses ready. Nevertheless, his companions' horses being exhausted, the bishop pressed on alone, so terrified with fear that he did not trouble to pick up one boot that had slipped from his foot; and thus, coming as far as the city, he shut himself within the enclosure of the walls of Reims. A few months before, Leudast had come into the territory of Tours with the king's order, that he might recover his wife and dwell there. But he also brought to us a letter signed by the hand of the priests, that he might be received into communion.
But since we had not seen the queen's letter—she being chiefly the cause for which he had been removed from communion—I deferred receiving him, saying: «When I have received the queen's mandate, then I shall not delay to receive him.» Meanwhile I sent to her; and she sent back to me in writing, saying: «Pressed by many, I could do nothing else but permit him to depart; now, however, I ask that he not obtain your peace, nor receive the blessed bread from your hand, until it be more fully determined by us what ought to be done.» And I, reading over this writing, feared lest he be killed; and, having summoned his father-in-law, I made this known to him, beseeching him to render him cautious, until the queen's mind should be softened.
But he, receiving deceitfully the counsel which I had sincerely conveyed for the sake of God—since he was still hostile to us—was unwilling to do what I had directed; and that proverb was fulfilled which I heard a certain old man relating: «Always give good counsel to friend and foe alike, because a friend accepts it, but a foe spurns it.» Having spurned this counsel, then, he made his way to the king, who at that time was staying with his army in the district of Melun; and he begged the people to pour out prayers to the king, that he might deserve to gain his presence. So, all the people interceding, the king presented himself to be seen by him. And, prostrated at his feet, he begged pardon, to whom the king said:
«Render yourself cautious for a little while,» he said, «until, the queen having been seen, it be agreed how you may return to her favor, to whom you are found to be much culpable.» But he, as he was incautious and frivolous, trusting in this, that he had merited the king's presence, when the king returned to Paris, on a Sunday in the holy church flung himself at the queen's feet, begging pardon. But she, trembling and abhorring the sight of him, repelled him from herself, and, with tears poured forth, said: «And since there is none left of my sons to inquire into the causes of my injury, to you, Lord Jesus, I commit them to be inquired into.» And, prostrated at the king's feet, she added: «Woe is me, who see my enemy, and prevail nothing against him!» Then, he being repelled from the holy place, the solemnities of the Mass were celebrated.
And so, when the king had gone out with the queen from the holy church, Leudast followed as far as the square, unsuspecting what might befall him; and going about the shops of the merchants, he scrutinized the wares, weighed the silver, and inspected various ornaments, saying: «These and these things I shall purchase, for much gold and silver remains to me.» While he was saying this, suddenly the queen's servants, arriving, sought to bind him with chains. But he, drawing his sword, struck one; the rest, thereupon kindled with rancor, seizing their shields and swords, rushed upon him. Of these one, aiming a blow, laid bare the greatest part of his head, of hair and of skin.
And when he was fleeing across the city bridge, his foot having slipped between two of the beams which make up the bridge, his leg was broken and crushed; and with his hands bound behind his back he was committed to custody. And the king ordered that he be sustained by physicians, until, healed of these blows, he might be tormented with a long-drawn-out punishment. When he had been led to a certain royal estate, and, with his wounds festering, was passing his last stretch of life, by the queen's order he was thrown to the ground on his back, and with a huge bar placed beneath his neck, another beat his throat against it; and so, having ever led a treacherous life, he ended it by a just death. In the ninth year of King Childebert, King Guntram gave back the region of Marseilles to that nephew of his.
The envoys of prince Chilperic, returning from Spain, reported that the province of Carpetania had been grievously laid waste by locusts, so that no tree, no vine, no woodland, no fruit, nor anything green remained which was not overthrown by the locusts. They said, in fact, that those enmities which had sprung up between Leuvigild and his son were being vehemently increased. A pestilence too, raging more fiercely in those parts, was devastating many places, but most violently it raged about the city of Narbonne, and already in the third year that it had taken hold there and abated, the people returning from flight were again consumed by the disease. For the city of Albi also labored greatly under this affliction.
In these days there appeared from the region of the North, at midnight, many rays gleaming with exceeding brightness, which, coming together, again separated, until they vanished. And the sky too, from that northern quarter, so glowed that it was thought to be producing the dawn. The envoys came again from Spain, bringing gifts and receiving an agreement with King Chilperic, that he should give his daughter, according to the earlier compact, in marriage to the son of King Leuvigild; and so, the agreement having been given and everything settled, that envoy returned. But when King Chilperic had gone out from Paris, to proceed into the district of Soissons, a new grief came upon him.
For his son, whom the year before he had cleansed with holy baptism, being seized by dysentery, breathed out his spirit. This indeed was prefigured by that flash which we mentioned above as having fallen from a cloud. Then, returning to Paris with immense weeping, they buried the boy, sending after the envoy to recall him, namely so as to prolong the agreement which he had made, the king saying: «Behold, I endure mourning in my house, and how shall I celebrate my daughter's wedding?» For he wished then to send thither another daughter, whom he had by Audovera, and whom he had placed in the monastery of Poitiers. But she put it off, the blessed Radegund especially resisting and saying: «For it is not fitting that a maiden dedicated to Christ should return again to the pleasures of the world.»
While these things were being done, it was reported to the queen that the boy who had died had been carried off by sorceries and incantations, and that Mummolus the prefect—whom the queen had now long held in hatred—was privy to it. Whence it came about that, as he was feasting in his house, a certain one of the king's courtiers was lamenting a boy dear to him, who had been seized by dysentery. The prefect answered him: «I have at hand an herb, from which, if a dysentery-sufferer drink, however desperate he may be, he is soon healed.» When these things were reported to the queen, she was kindled with greater fury. Meanwhile she put the women of the city of Paris to torture, and by blows compelled them to confess what they knew. But they