Editing Gregory of Tours (section)

====Problems of interpretation====

Readers of the {{lang|la|Historia Francorum}} may find that one royal Frankish house is more generously treated than others. Gregory was also a Catholic bishop, and his writing reveals views typical of someone in his position. His views on perceived dangers of [[Arianism]], still strong among the [[Visigoths]],{{sfnp|Burrow|2007|p=204}} led him to preface the {{lang|la|Historia}} with a detailed expression of his orthodoxy on the nature of Christ. In addition, his ridiculing of [[Paganism|pagans]] and [[Judaism|Jews]] reflected how his works were used to spread the [[Christian faith]]. For example, in book 2, chapters 28–31, he described the pagans as incestuous and weak and then described the process by which newly converted King Clovis led a much better life than that of a pagan and was healed of all the conundrums he experienced as a pagan.

Gregory's education was the standard [[Latin]] one of [[Late Antiquity]], focusing on [[Virgil]]'s {{lang|la|[[Aeneid]]}} and [[Martianus Capella]]'s {{lang|la|Liber de Nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae}}, but also other key texts such as [[Orosius]]'s ''Chronicles'', which his {{lang|la|Historia}} continues, and [[Sallust]]; he referred to all these works in his own. His education, as was typical for the time, did not extend to a broad acquaintance with the pagan classics,{{sfnp|Burrow|2007|p=200}} but rather progressed to mastery of the [[Vulgate Bible]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Thorpe |first=Lewis |title=The History of the Franks |date=1974 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=978-0-14-044295-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyoffranks00greg/page/30 30] |url-access=registration |url= https://archive.org/details/historyoffranks00greg/page/30}}</ref> It is said that he constantly complained about his use of grammar.<ref>{{cite book |author=Gregory of Tours |translator-last=Thorpe |translator-first=Lewis |translator-link=Lewis Thorpe |editor-last=Radice |editor-first=Betty |editor-link=Betty Radice |title=The History of the Franks |series="[[Penguin Classics]]" series |publisher=[[Penguin Books|Penguin]] |date=1974 |page=63}}</ref> He did not understand how to correctly write masculine and feminine phrases, reflecting either a lack of ability or changes in the Latin language. Though he had read [[Virgil]], considered the greatest Latin stylist, he cautioned: "We ought not to relate their lying fables, lest we fall under sentence of eternal death." By contrast, he seems to have thoroughly studied the lengthy and complex Vulgate Bible, as well as numerous religious works and historical treatises, which he frequently quoted, particularly in the earlier books of the {{lang|la|Historia}}.

The main impression that historians once retained from the {{lang|la|Historia}} focused on Gregory's anecdotes about violence;{{sfnp|Burrow|2007|pp=203–204}} until recently, historians tended to conclude that Merovingian Gaul was a chaotic, brutal place. Recent scholarship have concluded that Gregory's underlying purpose was to highlight the vanity of secular life and contrast it with the miracles of the saints.<ref>See especially {{harvp|Goffart|1988}}, and {{harvp|Mitchell|Wood|2002}}.</ref> Though Gregory conveys political and other messages through the {{lang|la|Historia}}, and these are studied very closely, historians now generally agree that this contrast itself is the central and ever-present narrative device.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

[[File:Chilpéric Ier et évêques.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|St Gregory and King [[Chilperic I]], from the {{lang|fr|[[Grandes Chroniques de France|Grandes Chroniques de France de Charles V]]}}, 14th-century illumination]]