History of the Franks 1 part 27/38

"And without delay, amid the vapours of the surging waters, he was so dissolved and liquefied that no trace of him at all remained." When the king had said these things, while we marvelled, the feast being ended, we rose up. VI. The king therefore on the morrow set out to the hunt; and as he was returning, Garacharius, count of Bordeaux, and Bladast were presented to us by him; who, as we said above, had taken refuge in the basilica of Saint Martin, because they had been joined to Gundovald. For when I had first interceded on their behalf and had been able to obtain nothing, I spoke thereafter as follows: "Let your power give ear, O king. Behold, I have been sent by my lord on an embassy to you; but what shall I report back to him who sent me, when you are unwilling to render me any reply?"

He, astonished, said: "And who is your lord, who sent you?" To whom I, smiling: "Blessed Martin," said I, "sent me." Then he ordered the men to be presented to him. But when they had come into his sight, he reproached them with many treacheries and perjuries, calling them often crafty foxes; yet he restored them to his favour, giving back the things that had been taken from them. VII. And when the Lord's Day arrived, the king goes to the church to behold the solemnities of the Mass; but the brethren bishops and fellow-priests who were present gave place to Bishop Palladius to perform the festal rites. As he was beginning the prophecy, the king asks who he is. And when they had announced that Bishop Palladius had begun, the king, immediately moved, said:

"Shall he who was always unfaithful and treacherous to me now preach the sacred truths? I will go out at once from this church, lest I hear my enemy preaching." And saying these things, he began to go out of the church. Then the priests, troubled at their brother's humiliation, said to the king: "For we saw him present at your banquet, and saw you receive a blessing from his hand; and why does the king now spurn him? For if we had known him to be hateful to you, we would assuredly have turned aside to another, who ought to have done these things. Now, if you permit it, let him celebrate what he has begun; but hereafter, if you have any objection, let it be settled by the censure of canonical sanction." For Bishop Palladius had already withdrawn into the sacristy with great humility.

Then the king ordered him to be recalled, and so he carried through the things he had begun to do. For when Palladius and Bertram had again been summoned to the king's banquet, being mutually provoked, they reproached one another with many things concerning adulteries and fornication, and some things also concerning perjuries. At which matters many were laughing; but some, who were of keener understanding, lamented that thus the tares of the devil should sprout among the priests of the Lord. And so, departing from the king's presence, they gave bonds and sureties, that on the tenth before the Kalends of the ninth month they should meet at the synod. VIII. Then signs appeared, that is, rays from the region of the North, as they are often wont to appear.

A flash of light was seen to dart across the sky, and blossoms appeared on the trees. For it was the fifth month. IX. After this the king came to Paris, and began to speak before all, saying: "My brother Chilperic, dying, is said to have left a son, whose foster-fathers, at the mother's entreaty, asked that I should receive him from the holy font at the solemnity of the Lord's Nativity; and they did not come. They asked thereafter that he should be baptized at holy Easter, but neither then was the infant brought. They besought me a third time, that he should be presented at the festival of Saint John; but neither then did he come. They thus moved me, during a barren season, from the place where I was dwelling: I came therefore, and behold, the boy is hidden and is not shown to me."

"Wherefore, as far as I understand, that which is promised is nothing; but, as I believe, he is the son of some one of our vassals; for if he had been of our stock, he would assuredly have been brought to me. And therefore know this, that he is not received by me unless I learn sure tokens concerning him." Hearing this, Queen Fredegund, having joined to herself the foremost men of her kingdom, that is, three bishops and three hundred of the chief men, gave oaths that this child had been begotten by King Chilperic; and so the suspicion was removed from the king's mind. X. At length, when he frequently lamented the death of Merovech and Chlodovech, and did not know where, after they had killed them, they had cast them, there came to the king a man who said:

"If no harm be held against me hereafter, I will point out in what place the body of Chlodovech is laid." The king swore that nothing troublesome should be done to him, but rather that he should be enriched with gifts. Then he said: "That I speak the truth, O king, the very course of events that occurred will prove. For when Chlodovech was killed and buried beneath the eaves-drip of a certain oratory, the queen, fearing lest at some time, being found, he should be honourably buried, ordered him to be cast into the channel of the river Marne. Then, within a weir which I had prepared by my own labour for the catching of fish, I found him. But while I did not know who he was, by his long hair I recognized that it was Chlodovech."

"And taking him up upon my shoulders, I carried him to the shore, and there I buried him, having laid turf over him. Behold, his limbs being saved, do whatever you will." When the king learned this, feigning that he was going forth to the hunt, the mound being dug up, he found the little body whole and unharmed. One part only of the hair, which had been underneath, had now fallen away; but the other, with the very locks of the hair, remained intact. And it was recognized that this was the one whom the king with intent mind was seeking. Therefore, having summoned the bishop of the city, with clergy and people and the adornment of countless candles, he bore him to the basilica of Saint Vincent to be buried, mourning the dead grandsons no less than when he had seen his own sons already buried.

After this he sent Pappolus, bishop of the city of Chartres, who, searching out the body of Merovech, buried it beside the tomb of Chlodovech. XI. But a certain doorkeeper said concerning another doorkeeper: "Lord king, this man, having received a bribe, consented that you should be killed." And the doorkeeper of whom he had spoken, being seized, beaten, and afflicted with many torments, disclosed nothing of the matter about which he was questioned. For many were then saying that this was done out of treachery and envy, because that doorkeeper, upon whom this charge had been fastened, was very much loved by the king. But Ansoald, touched by I know not what suspicion, departed from the king without even bidding farewell.

But the king, having returned to Chalon, ordered Brantio, who had always been unfaithful to him, to be struck with the sword. He, being besieged in his own house, was slain by the king's men and perished, and his goods were brought under the dominions of the fisc. XII. At length, when the king was endeavouring with the utmost intent to persecute Bishop Theodore once more, and Marseille had now been brought back into the dominion of King Childebert, Ratharius is sent thither, as it were a duke on the part of King Childebert, to examine the cases. But, setting aside the action which had been enjoined upon him by the king, he hems in the bishop, demands sureties, and dispatched him to the presence of King Guntram, so that, namely, he should be present at the synod which was to be held at Mâcon, as one to be condemned by the bishops.

Nor was the divine vengeance lacking, which is wont to defend its servants from the mouth of rabid dogs. For as the bishop was going out from the city, immediately he plunders the goods of the church, and some things indeed he claims for himself, others he shuts up under the protection of seals. And when he had done this, straightway a most savage disease invades his servants, and, drained by fever, slew them; his son failed of this affliction, whom he buried with heavy groaning in the suburb of Marseille itself; and such a plague was upon his house that, when he had departed from that city, he was scarcely thought to return to his own country. But Bishop Theodore was detained by King Guntram. Yet the king did him no harm.

For he is a man of remarkable holiness, and assiduous in prayer, concerning whom Magnericus, bishop of Trier, related these things to me. Some years before, when he was being led to the presence of King Childebert under such close custody that, whenever he came to any city, he was permitted to see neither the bishop nor any of the citizens, on his coming to Trier it was announced to the bishop that this man, already placed in a boat, was being secretly carried off; and the priest rose up sorrowful, and swiftly following after, found him at the shore, and expostulated with the guards as to why there should be such impiety that it was not allowed for a brother to behold a brother: and having at last seen him, and kissed him, and bestowed upon him some garment, he departed.

Coming therefore to the basilica of Saint Maximinus, he prostrates himself at the tomb, holding fast to that saying of the apostle James: "Pray for one another, that you may be saved" (James 5:16). And when prayer had been poured forth for a long while with tears, that the Lord would deign to help his brother, he went out. And behold, a woman whom a spirit of error agitated began to cry out to the priest, and to say: "O wicked one, hardened in your days, who pour forth prayer to the Lord for our enemy Theodore! Behold, we daily seek how he may be thrust out from these Gauls, who with daily burnings together harasses us; and you cease not to pray for him? It would have been better for you to inquire diligently into the goods of your church, lest anything be lost to the poor, than to demand this so intently."

And she said: "Woe to us, who cannot overcome him!" And although demons ought not to be believed, nevertheless it appeared from this what manner of priest he was, concerning whom this demon, grieving, declaimed. But let us return to what we had begun. XIII. So then the king dispatches envoys to his nephew Childebert, who was tarrying at that time at the fortress of Koblenz, which received that name for this reason, because the Moselle and the Rhine, all flowing together, are joined in the same place. And because it had been agreed that they should unite Troyes, a city of Champagne, to both kingdoms, and it was not fitting for the bishops of Childebert's kingdom, Felix the envoy, a greeting having first been sent, the letters being shown, said:

"Your uncle, O king, diligently inquires who has drawn you back from this promise, so that the bishops of your kingdom delayed coming to the Council which you had together decreed. Or perhaps do evil men cause some root of discord to sprout up among you?" Then I, the king keeping silent, replied: "It is no wonder if tares are sown among the peoples; for among these it cannot at all find where to fasten a root. For it is hidden from none that King Childebert has no other father than his uncle. Nor does the uncle dispose to have any other son than this one, according to what we heard him say in the present year. Far be it therefore that among them a root of discord should germinate, since they ought alike both to protect and to love one another."

Then, Felix the envoy having been called aside more privately, King Childebert made request, saying: "I beseech my lord and father, that he inflict no injury upon Bishop Theodore: which if he should do, at once a scandal will germinate between us, and we shall go forth, sundered by the hindrance of discord, who ought to be peaceful in the keeping of love." And a reply having been received concerning other matters as well, the envoy departed. XIV. So then, while we were staying with the king in the aforesaid fortress, when we had been kept at the prince's banquet until the dark of night, the feast being ended we rose up, and coming to the river, we came upon a boat at the shore, which had been prepared for us; and as we were embarking, a crowd of various men rushed in, and the boat was filled both with men and with water:

but the power of the Lord was present, not without a great miracle, so that, though it was filled to the very gunwale, it could not be submerged. For we had with us the relics of blessed Martin, together with those of other saints, by whose power we believe we were saved. But when the boat, returning to the shore whence we had set out, had been emptied of men and of water, and the strangers having been driven off, we crossed over without hindrance. And on the morrow, bidding farewell to the king, we departed. XV. Setting out therefore on our journey, we came to the fortress of Yvois, and there, finding the deacon Ulfilaicus and being led to his monastery, we were most kindly received. For this monastery is, as it were, eight miles from the aforesaid fortress, situated on the summit of a mountain:

on which mountain he built a great basilica, which he made illustrious with the relics of blessed Martin and of the other saints. And while we tarried there, we began to entreat him that he would relate to us something of the good of his conversion, or how he had come to the office of the clergy, since he was a Lombard by race. But he was unable to set it forth, desiring with his whole intent to avoid empty glory. And I, adjuring him with terrible oaths, and having first promised that I would disclose to no one what he related, began to ask that he should conceal from me nothing of what I inquired. And when he had resisted for a very long while, overcome at last as much by my prayers as by my entreaties, he spoke these words.

"While I was a little boy," said he, "having heard the name of blessed Martin, not yet knowing whether he was a martyr or a confessor, or what good he had done in the world, or what region had merited to receive his blessed limbs in a tomb, I was already celebrating vigils in his honour, and, if any coin came into my hands, I gave alms. And as I advanced to a greater age, I applied myself to learning letters: from which I was able to write before I knew the order of the written letters. Then, joined to Abbot Aredius and taught by him, I went to the basilica of blessed Martin. And returning with him, he took up a little of the dust of the blessed sepulchre as a blessing. Which, placed in a small box, he hung about my neck:"

"and when we had been carried to his monastery in the territory of Limoges, the box having been received in order that he might place it in his oratory, the dust so increased that it not only filled the whole box, but even outside, between the joints, wherever it could find an opening, it welled forth. From this radiance of the miracle my spirit was the more kindled to fix all my hope in his power. Then I sought out the territory of the city of Trier, and on the mountain on which you now are I constructed, by my own labour, the dwelling which you behold. Yet I found here an image of Diana, which the unbelieving people here worshipped as a god. I also set up a column, on which I stood with great torment without any covering for my feet. And so when"

"the time of winter, as was its custom, came on, I was so seared by the icy cold that frequently the force of the frost cast off the nails of my feet, and in my beard the water, congealed by the frost, hung down after the manner of white wax-tapers. For that region is said very often to endure a great winter." But when we anxiously inquired what food or drink he had, or how he had overthrown the images of that mountain, he said: "My drink and food were a little bread and herbs, and a small amount of water. But when a multitude from the neighbouring estates began to flock to me, I preached continually that Diana was nothing, that the images were nothing, and that the cult which seemed to be practised by them was nothing; that those very songs were unworthy which they uttered amid their cups and flowing debaucheries:"

"but rather it was worthy to render a sacrifice of praise to Almighty God, who made heaven and earth. I also often prayed that the Lord, the image being destroyed, would deign to shake the people loose from this error. The Lord's mercy bent the rustic mind, so that it inclined its ear to the words of my mouth, that is, that, the idols being left behind, it might follow the Lord. Then, having called together certain of them, I deserved afterwards, with their help, to root up this huge image, which I could not break by my own strength; for I had already broken the remaining figures, which were easier. But when many had assembled at this statue of Diana, having put ropes to it, they began to pull: but their labour could profit nothing."

"Then I hasten to the basilica, and prostrate on the ground, with tears I implored the divine mercy, that, since it was beyond human industry to overturn it, the divine power might destroy what human strength was unable to. And going out after prayer, I came to the workmen, and laying hold of the rope, as soon as we began to pull at the first heave, the image straightway fell to the earth, and, broken with iron hammers, I reduced it to dust. At that same hour, when I had come to take food, my whole body was so filled, from the crown to the sole of the foot, with malignant pustules, that no place which a single finger could cover could be found empty:"

"and entering the basilica alone, I stripped myself bare before the holy altar. For I had there a flask full of oil, which I had brought from the basilica of Saint Martin: from it with my own hands I anointed all my limbs, and presently was laid to sleep. But waking about the middle of the night, when I rose to render the nocturnal office, I found my whole body so whole, as if no ulcer had ever appeared upon me. And I recognized that these wounds had been sent forth by nothing other than the envy of the enemy. And because that envious one himself always strives to harm those who seek God, when bishops came — who ought rather to have exhorted me to this, that I should sagaciously carry through the work I had begun — they said to me:"

This is no level path that you follow, nor can you, an obscure man, be compared to Simeon of Antioch, who sat upon a column. But the very situation of the place will not suffer you to endure this torment: come down rather, and dwell with the brethren whom you have gathered to yourself. At these words, since for priests not to obey is reckoned a crime, I came down, I confess, and walked with them, and took my food together with them. But one day the bishop, provoking me, sent workmen off to a country estate some distance away with shields and hammers and axes, and they smashed down the column on which I was accustomed to stand. Coming the next morning, I found everything in ruins, and I wept bitterly;

but I could not raise up again what they had destroyed, lest I be called a man opposed to the orders of the priests; and from that time, as I now dwell, I have been content to dwell with the brethren. XVI. When I asked him to set forth something of the miracles of blessed Martin which God had wrought in that place through him, he related these things. The son of a certain Frank, a most noble man among his people, was mute and deaf: brought by his parents to this basilica, I ordered him to rest in a little bed within that holy temple together with my deacon and another attendant; and by day indeed he gave himself to prayer, but by night he slept in that house, as we have said. At length, by the mercy of God, blessed Martin appeared to me in a vision, saying:

Cast the lamb out of the basilica, for he is now made whole. When morning came, as I was pondering what this dream might mean, the boy came to me, and uttering speech, began to give thanks to God, and turning to me he said: I give thanks to almighty God, who has restored to me both speech and hearing. Restored thus to health, he returned home. But another man, who being often mixed up in thefts and divers crimes was accustomed to swear falsely, when at some time he was accused of theft by certain people, said: I will go to the basilica of blessed Martin, and cleansing myself by an oath, I shall be declared innocent. As he was entering, the very axe fell from his hand and flew toward the door, and he, struck with a grievous pain in his heart, the wretch confessed in his own words the very things which he had come to excuse.

by perjuries. Another in like manner, when he was accused of burning his neighbor's house, said: I will go to the temple of saint Martin, and having sworn an oath I shall return innocent of this crime. For it was manifest that this man had burned that house down. But as he went forward to take the oath, I turned to him and said: As far as the testimony of your neighbors declares, you will not be found innocent of this crime; yet God is everywhere, and his power which is held within is the very same that is without. Still, if such vain confidence has so seized you that you think God or his saints do not avenge perjuries, behold the holy temple, swear against the truth as you please; for you will not be permitted to tread the sacred threshold. But he, raising his hands, said:

By almighty God and by the power of blessed Martin his bishop, I did not start this fire. And so, when the oaths had been taken, as he was withdrawing, it seemed to him as if he were encircled by fire; and at once falling to the earth he began to cry out that he was being grievously burned by the blessed bishop. For the wretch kept saying: I call God to witness, I have seen fire fall from heaven, which surrounding me scorches me with mighty vapors. And while he was saying these things, he breathed out his spirit. This affair was a lesson to many, that they should no longer dare to swear falsely in that place. This deacon related very many of these miracles, which I have thought too long to follow out. XVII.

Now while we were staying in that place, we saw for two nights signs in the sky, that is, rays from the direction of the North so brightly shining that they had never been seen to appear thus before; and on either side, namely from the East and from the West, there were bloodred clouds; and on the third night, at about the second hour, these rays appeared. And behold, while we were marveling at them, astonished, there arose from the four quarters of the world others like to these, and we saw the whole heaven covered over by them. And there was a shining cloud in the midst of the sky, toward which these rays gathered themselves in the manner of a tent, which, begun below with broader bands and narrowing as it rises, is often drawn together at the top into a single point of a cowl.

And in the midst of the rays there were also other clouds flashing as with vivid lightning. This great sign instilled in us much fear (see above, chapter 24); for we were expecting that some plague would be sent down upon us from heaven. XVIII. But king Childebert, urged on by the imperial envoys, who were demanding the gold that had been given the previous year, directed his army into Italy. For the report was that his sister Ingund had now been carried off to Constantinople. But when the commanders fell to quarreling among themselves, they returned without gaining any profit; for Wintrio the duke, driven out by the people of his district, lost his dukedom, and would have ended his life had not flight afforded him help; but afterwards, the people being pacified, he recovered the dukedom.

And so Nicetius, removed from the county of Auvergne through the intriguing of Eulalius, sought the dukedom from the king, immense gifts being given for it. And thus in the city of Auvergne, in Rouergue and in Uzès he was appointed duke, a man very young in years but keen in mind; and he made peace in the region of Auvergne and in the other places of his appointment. But Childeric the Saxon, having fallen into the king Guntram's displeasure, for the very cause on account of which we said above that others took refuge, sought the basilica of blessed Martin, leaving his wife in the kingdom of the aforesaid king. To whom the king had given solemn charge that she should not presume to see her husband, unless he were first reconciled to the royal favor.

When we had often sent an embassy to him on his behalf, at last we obtained that he should take back his wife, and dwell on this side of the river Loire, yet not presume to cross over to king Childebert. But he, having received liberty to take back his wife, secretly crossed over to him; and having obtained the office of a dukedom in the cities beyond the Garonne, which were held under the power of the aforesaid king, he went thither. But king Guntram, wishing to govern the kingdom of his nephew Chlothar, that is, the son of Chilperic, decreed that Theodulf should be count of Angers; and when he had been brought into the city, he was rebuffed, with a show of deference, by the citizens, and especially by Domigisel.

And running back to the king, and again receiving a command, he was brought in by duke Sigulf, and ruled the county of that city. But Gundobald, receiving the county of Meaux over Guerpinus, and having entered the city, began to conduct the hearing of cases. Thereupon, while in this office he was going around the district of the city, in a certain villa he was killed by Guerpinus. His kinsmen, gathered together, rush upon him, and shutting him up in a chamber of the house, slay him; and so each of the two departed from the county with death close at hand. XIX.

Now while abbot Dagulf was often charged with his crimes, since he frequently committed thefts and murders, and was moreover exceedingly dissolute in adulteries, at one time, coveting the wife of his neighbor, while he had intercourse with her and sought various occasions how he might overpower the husband of the adulteress within the precincts of this monastery, the man protested to him, saying that if he came near his wife he would be punished. And when the man had departed from his little dwelling, this Dagulf, coming by night with one cleric, enters the house of the harlot. But after they had drunk very long and become drunk, they were laid down upon a single bed.

While they slept, that man came, and having set fire to the straw, with uplifted axe slew them both. And therefore let this affair be a lesson to clerics, that they should not, against the statutes of the canons, enjoy the company of strange women, since both the canon law itself and all the holy Scriptures forbid this: except those women concerning whom no crime can be supposed. XX. When the appointed day of assembly came, the bishops were gathered by the order of king Guntram at the city of Mâcon.

But Faustianus, who by the order of Gundovald had been ordained bishop of the city of Aix, is removed on this condition: that Bertram, Orestes, and Palladius, who had consecrated him, should provide for him in turns, and supply him with a hundred gold pieces each year. Nicetius however, who had earlier, while still a layman, obtained a warrant from king Chilperic, gained the bishopric in that same city. Ursicinus, bishop of Cahors, is excommunicated, because he publicly confessed that he had received Gundovald: