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Brunhild and Fredegund, II: Queens, Politics, and the Writing of History

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Brunhild and Fredegund, II: Queens, Politics, and the Writing of History CHAPTER 7 Brunhild and Fredegund, II: Queens, Politics, and the Writing of History Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God, so whoever resists the powers resists what God has ordained, and those who resist will incur judgment. Romans 13:1–2 Introduction The bishops of the Merovingian kingdoms were necessarily politicians. They were drawn from the upper ranks of society, and their office brought finan- cial, social, and spiritual resources. Such political connections also had their risks, and sacredness was no guarantee of security.1 Gregory exemplified these circumstances. He belonged to an aristocratic family and he became bishop of an important diocese, one that changed hands between the differ- ent Merovingian kingdoms several times during his tenure.2 Though at first glance Gregory appears to have been at ease criticising the powers that be, scholarship has carefully demonstrated that several kings, especially Sigibert, Chilperic, and Guntram, impacted the content of the Histories, at least while they ruled Tours at different times during Gregory’s tenure.3 Rather less notice has been paid to the important women of Gaul. Yet never was Gregory more circumspect than in his treatment of Queen Brunhild, who, as we shall see, enjoyed influence within the kingdom of Austrasia, and the city of Tours, for much of his career. In contrast, Gregory showed little restraint in denounc- ing Fredegund and detailing her many crimes. That is, save one. In his writ- ings, Gregory never expressly accused Fredegund of marital infidelity, which might question the legitimacy of her husband Chilperic’s sons and undermine their right to rule—a sensitive matter during the king’s reign and thereafter, as Guntram exercised authority in Neustria as the guardian of Chilperic’s young 1 See the analysis of Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles, pp. 21–28. 2 On Gregory’s pastoral and civic responsibilities in Tours, see Pietri, La ville de Tours, pp. 313–26. 3 See, for example, Wood, ‘The Secret Histories’, p. 257; and Halsall, ‘Nero and Herod?’, p. 347. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���5 | doi ��.��63/9789004�94660_009 142 CHAPTER 7 son, Chlothar II. Yet what Gregory could not say openly he implied, in several cleverly constructed passages within the Histories that nudged his audience toward that very conclusion. Thus, Gregory the aristocrat and bishop may have thought he was in a privileged position to critique those in power, but he also knew that candour had a cost. A combination of fear and respect occasionally stayed his pen, never more so than with Brunhild. Brunhild, Gregory, and the Austrasian Court Gregory’s deference to Brunhild resulted from his own connections to the Austrasian court, in which the queen enjoyed prominence for many years. Direct evidence linking the two is sparse, because Gregory was reluctant to provide it, but Venantius Fortunatus wrote that Brunhild had been responsi- ble for Gregory’s appointment as bishop of Tours (together with her husband Sigibert and Chlothar I’s former queen, Radegund).4 Fortunatus also wrote that Gregory had been consecrated in Reims, which often served as a home to the Austrasian court, rather than in Tours, as was canonically required. Based on this, Martin Heinzelmann has quite reasonably speculated that Gregory acquired the favour of the Austrasian king and queen during regular stays at court from the mid-560s onward, and that he may well have taken an oath of allegiance to Sigibert and his successor, Childebert II, whose reign began under Brunhild’s guardianship and lasted beyond Gregory’s own lifetime.5 As we saw in Chapter 4, Gregory upheld the marriage of Sigibert and Brunhild as an ideal, and he used Childebert’s regnal years as the chronological frame- work for Books V–X of the Histories, even though Tours fell under the con- trol of Chilperic and Guntram for most of those years.6 Gregory even served as a diplomat in 588, representing Austrasian interests at Guntram’s court in Chalon-sur-Saône, as we saw at the beginning of Chapter 6.7 Three years previously, Gregory had attended a meeting in Koblenz between Childebert 4 Venantius Fortunatus, Carmina, V. 3. This is also discussed in Chapter 1, pp. 23–24. 5 Heinzelmann, Gregor von Tours, p. 30; and Heinzelmann, ‘Bischof und Herrschaft’, pp. 72–73. George, Venantius Fortunatus: A Latin Poet in Merovingian Gaul, pp. 4–5 speculated that Gregory may have attended Sigibert’s marriage to Brunhild in Metz c. 566 and met the young Venantius Fortunatus for the first time while there. 6 See Breukelaar, Historiography and Episcopal Authority, pp. 148–51 and n. 11. Breukelaar also provided an analysis of Gregory’s connections to the Austrasian court (pp. 201–07), but he emphasised Sigibert’s influence upon the bishop to the exclusion of Brunhild, who received little attention. 7 Historiae, IX. 20..
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