History of the Franks

Records of Civilization SOURCES AND STUDIES EDITED BY JAMES T. SHOTWELL, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN COLLABORATION WITH FRANKLIN H. GIDDINGS, Ph.D., LL.D. JULIUS A. BEWER, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AND THE HISTORY OF PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT EXEGESIS IN CIVILIZATION IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY MUNROE SMITH, J.U.D., LL.D. CARLTON H. HAYES, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF ROMAN LAW AND COMPARATIVE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY JURISPRUDENCE IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY WILLIAM R. SHEPHERD, PH.D. ELLERY C. STOWELL, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN COLUMBIA ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY LAW IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY GEORGE W. BOTSFORD, Ph.D. HAROLD H. TRYON, M.A., B.D. rROFBSSOR OF HISTORY IN COLUMBIA INSTRUCTOR IN NEW TESTAMENT AND CHURCH UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1916 All rights reserved RECORDS OF CIVILIZATION SOURCES AND STUDIES EDITED BY JAMES T. SHOTWELL A COMPREHENSIVE SERIES CONSISTING OF DOCUMENTS IN TRANSLATION COMMENTARIES AND INTERPRETATIONS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL GUIDES For titles of volumes^ see list at end of this volume. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS SALES AGENTS LEMCKE AND BUECHNER HUMPHREY MILFORD 30-32 West 27TH St., New York Amen Corner, London, E.C. 1Recor^6 of Ct\>llt3atlon: Sources an^ StuMes HISTORY OF THE FRANKS BY GREGORY BISHOP OF TOURS SELECTIONS, TRANSLATED WITH NOTES BY ERNEST BREHAUT, Ph.D. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1916 All rights reserved Copyright, 1916, By COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS. Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1916. ,-* 4 ^. OCI -4-1116 NortoooU ^rega J. S. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. / PREFACE Among the narrative records of civilization inaccessible to those whose reading is confined to English texts, few are of greater historical interest than the History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours. The reason that it has remained so long untranslated into English is clear, however, to any one who has ever seriously considered the problem of which at least a partial solution is offered here. In the first place, although part of Gregory's narrative deals with events and men of great importance, there are long sections dealing with happenings which in themselves are not worth our remembering. Yet, if one views the work as a source for the history of society rather than merely as a narrative of the acts of kings, queens, or- saints, it is often these relatively unimportant events which are most instructive and interesting ; for Gregory's picture of manners and customs is given by way of a story of what real people actu- 9i\\v did and said. It follows from this, that, if our main interest in the History of the Franks is in its picture of the life and customs of th . times, we must find that picture in what is often but a repetition of royal murders, social disorder, and turmoil, lightened only by tne equally persistent repetition of saintly virtue. The editorial problem of how much or how little of such data to include is natu- rally one of considerable difficulty. In the next place, the historical value of the text varies, according as Gregory dealt with past or present ; so that, viewed as a narrative of fact, the later portions have a much greater claim -for preservation than the earlier. If one were attempting to show what Gregory contributed to our knowledge, one would be obliged to concentrate, therefore, upon these later sections, and even there the value varies. But, viewing the History of the Franks as itself an exhibit of the age which it records, we find ourselves often more interested in what Gregory does not know of the past than in what he does know of the present. In the very limitation of outlook, in the choice of incident and arrangement of perspective, the narrative of distant events VI PREFACE reveals the state of culture of Merovingian Gaul in Gregory's day. Hence, for the history of thought and society, the poorest part of Gregory's work ranks in importance with the best. It might be urged that the one solution for these editorial prob- lems would be to offer a translation of the whole of Gregory's work. But this, aside from the cost of publication, seems too great a bulk of text for all but special students of the period, who should in any case go to the original. The student of European history in its larger aspects, to whom one Childebert is like another, de- mands an anthology ; for he finds the text so crowded with similar incidents that he is likely not only to lose the thread of the narrative but also to fail to appreciate the sections most significant for his own purpose. In the circumstances, a middle course has been taken. The chapters omitted are summarized and in cases where they contain any items of special interest sections of them have been quoted in the summary. This work of excision and conden- sation has been made with the ever-present sense of the protest sure to come from the medievalist when he sees the work of desecration at last accomplished which Gregory himself so sadly feared, and upon the authors of which he called down the wrath of Heaven throughout all eternity, in the forceful words on page 247 of this translation. It is only to be hoped that a new social value — which anthropologists tell us is the basis of the sacred — may justify the sacrilege. With reference to the text itself, the translator has attempted to follow the original as faithfully as possible. It is difficult to render into another language Gregory's combination of literary qualities, the chief of which are vigor, crudity, and a frequent affectation of literary style ; but this, we beHeve, Dr. Brehaut has succeeded in accomplishing in a marked degree. There are chapters which have the charm of Froissart, swift in motion and tinged with romance ; but the most romantic figure of all is the bishop of Tours himself, whose quaint but shrewd outlook penetrates the whole; and this impression of subjectivity the present version seeks to convey. In addition to the text of the History of the Franks, the volume contains some extracts from Gregory's Eight Books of Miracles and a short apparatus of notes and aids for further study. J. T. S. : CONTENTS PAGE Introduction ix History of the Franks — Selections Book I I Book II 19 Book III 51 Book IV 73 Book V 103 Book VI . 143 Book VII 167 Book VIII 187 Book IX 203 Book X 225 Selections from the Eight Books of Miracles .... 249 . Notes , 263 Genealogies 276 Bibliography 279 Map . i facing 280 Index 281 Vll INTRODUCTION The History of the Franks by Gregory, bishop of Tours, is an historical record of great importance. The events which it relates are details of the perishing of the Roman Empire and the begin- ning of a great modern state and for these events it is often the sole authority. However although Gregory was relating history mainly contemporaneous or recent, we must allow largely for error and prejudice in his statements of fact. It is rather as an unconscious revelation that the work is of especial value. The language and style, the intellectual attitude with which it was conceived and written, and the vivid and reaHstic picture, unin- tentionally given, of a primitive society, all combine to make the History of the Franks a landmark in European culture. After reading it the intelligent modern will no longer have pleasing illusions about sixth-century society. Gregory's Hfe covers the years from 538 to 594. He was a product of central Gaul, spending his whole life in the Loire basin except for brief stays elsewhere.^ The river Loire may be regarded as the southern limit of Prankish colonization and Gregory therefore lived on the frontier of the barbarians. He was born and grew up at Clermont in Auvergne, a city to which an inexhaustibly fertile mountain valley is tributary. In this valley his father owned an estate. Its wealth brought Clermont much trouble during the disorderly period that followed the break-up of Roman rule, and Gregory gives a hint of the eagerness which the Frankish kings felt to possess this country.^ ^ Besides Clermont and Tours in which cities Gregory spent most of his Hfe we hear of stays at Poitiers, Saintes, Bordeaux, Riez, Cavaillon, Vienne, Lyons, Chalon-sur-Sa6ne, Chalons-sur-Marne, Rheims, Soissons, Metz, Coblentz, Braine, Paris, Orleans. Monod, Sources de Vhistoire Merovingienne, p. 37. 2 Childebert the elder is represented as saying : Velim unquam Arvernam Lemanetn quae tantae jocunditatis gratia refulgere dicitiir, oculis cernere. H. F. Ill, 9. ix X INTRODUCTION After 573 Gregory lived at Tours in the lower Loire valley. This city with its pleasant climate and moderately productive territorial background had more than a local importance in this age. It lay on the main thoroughfare between Spain and Aquitania and the north. Five Roman roads centered in it and the traffic of the Loire passed by it. The reader of Gregory's history judges that sooner or later it was visited by every one of importance at the time. It was here that the Frankish influences of the north and the Roman influences of the south had their chief contact. However the natural advantages of Tours at this time were surpassed by the supernatural ones. Thanks to the legend of St. Martin this conveniently situated city had become *'the religious metropolis" of Gaul. St. Martin had made a great impression on his generation.^ A Roman soldier, turned monk and then bishop of Tours, he was a man of heroic character and force.

Load more