Editing Gregory of Tours (section)

===''History of the Franks''<!--'Historia Francorum' redirects here-->===
====Summary====
Gregory of Tours' history is densely written, with numerous narratives and characters. It contains Christian tales of miracles, descriptions of omens and natural events, stories of Christian martyrs, dialogues of church debates, discussions of the lives of holy men, nobility, and eccentric peasants, frequent Bible verses and references, and explorations of the complex international relations between numerous tribes and nations including the [[Lombards]], [[Visigoths]], [[Ostrogoths]] and [[Huns]], also Gregory's biography and interpretation of events.

====Book 1====
Book One begins with a pronouncement by the author that he is a Frankish [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] clergyman who follows the [[Nicene Creed]] and abhors heresy like those of the "wicked" [[Arianism|Arian]] sect among other heresies. The narrative history begins with a brief epitome of the biblical [[Old Testament]] and [[New Testament]], and the subsequent spread of the Christian religion into Gaul. Next, Gregory covers the history of Christianity in Gaul and some of the major events in Roman-Gallo relations. It ends with the death of [[Saint Martin of Tours]] in 397.

====Book 2 (397–511)====
Book Two covers the beginnings of the Merovingian dynasty, including King [[Clovis I]]'s conversion to Christianity by his wife [[Clotilde]], and ending with his death in 511, after his conquest of large tracts of land in modern-day France.

====Book 3 (511–548)====
Book Three follows the four sons of Clovis who equally divide his realms after his death in 511. These four kings, [[Theuderic I]], [[Chlothar I]], [[Childebert I]], and [[Chlodomer]], quarrel and fight for supremacy over the Frankish realm. Despite their disputes, they occasionally work together against an outside threat, such as their attack of the [[Kingdom of the Burgundians|Burgundians]] in 523. Eventually, Chlothar becomes the most powerful king in the Frankish realm. After the death of Theuderic I in 534, Book Three ends with the death of his son and successor [[Theudebert I]] in 548. Theudebert's kingdom is inherited by [[Theudebald]] until his own death in 555.

====Book 4 (548–575)====
Book Four continues from when the two remaining sons of Clovis die: Childebert in 558 and Clothar in 561. The last years of Clothar's life see the entire realm of the Franks ruled by him. At the time of his demise in 561 (as under Clovis before him), the kingdom is divided equally between four sons of Clothar: [[Charibert I]], [[Sigebert I]], [[Guntram]], and [[Chilperic I]]; they quarrel for control of the entire realm. A truce between them is maintained until after the death of Charibert I in 567. Clothar's remaining sons fight for the supremacy, with Sigibert showing the strongest military force. Book Four ends with the killing of Sigbert in 575, leaving Chilperic as the dominant king. Gregory of Tours blames [[Fredegund]], the wife of Chilperic, for the assassination. Fredegund, he says, had long held a grudge against Sigibert and his wife [[Brunhilda of Austrasia|Brunhilda]].

==== Book 5 (575–581) ====
Book Five begins the part where the author has much personal knowledge about the events in the Frankish kingdom. This book and the ones after are considerably longer and more detailed than the previous, while covering a shorter amount of time. This book also contains Gregory's impressions of ecclesiastical issues he witnessed and had some bearing on. It describes a possible debate that Gregory had with a rival Arian church leader. Moreover, Book 5 also introduces [[Childebert II]], the son of recently slain Sigibert and of the still-living Brunhilda. Childebert is taken along with Brunhilda under the protection of Gunthram, brother and sometime rival of Chilperic.

==== Book 6 (581–584) ====
In Book Six, the young Childebert betrays his alliance with his adoptive uncle Gunthram, who had protected Childebert and his mother after his father Sigibert's death. Now Childebert forms an alliance with his uncle, Chilperic, who had often been an enemy of Sigibert. In 584, Chilperic is murdered under mysterious circumstances.

==== Book 7 (584) ====
In Book Seven, Fredegund assumes regency for her young son [[Chlothar II|Clothar II]]. In the future, he will be king of all Franks until his death in 629&nbsp;– beyond Gregory's narrative, which ends in roughly 593. Fredegund and her son are under the protection of Gunthram. She remains in power until her death in 597. Also in this book is the rebellion of [[Gundoald|Gundovald]] and its failure. Gundovald claimed to be a lost illegitimate son of dead Chlothar I. Many of the Frankish nobles and the Byzantine emperor [[Maurice (emperor)|Maurice]] gave some support to this rebellion; however, it is swiftly crushed by Guntram.

==== Book 8 (585) ====
"Many evil things were done at this time", as Gregory writes in Book Eight. It begins with the travels of Guntram to Paris and Orleans and describes numerous confrontations between the king and some bishops. Meanwhile, Guntram becomes ill and fears for his life. Gregory comments that the king's illness is a just punishment since he is planning to send a great number of bishops into exile. Fredegund gives two poisoned daggers to two clerics and sends them away with the order to assassinate Childebert and Brunehild. However, the two clerics are arrested by Childebert, tortured, and executed. Meanwhile, Fredegund is also behind the assassination of bishop Praetextus of Rouen while he is praying in his church. Guntram orders his army to march against Arian-controlled [[Septimania]] and Spain without success and blames his army commanders for having allowed atrocities and random destruction.

==== Book 9 (586–587) ====
In Book Nine, the [[Treaty of Andelot]] is signed in 587 between Guntram, Brunhilda, and Childebert II. It is a close pact of alliance, wherein Childebert is formally adopted as Guntram's heir. Brunhilda also formally allies with Guntram and comes under his protection.

==== Book 10 (587–591) ====
The last book is set around 589. Basina, the daughter of Chilperic I and Clotilda (daughter of Charibert) leads a brief revolt from a nunnery.

The 18 bishops of Tours are named and described. The book ends with a summary of Gregory's previous written works.

==== Analysis ====
{{Further|List of Frankish kings}}

The {{lang|la|Historia Francorum}} is made up of ten books. Books I to IV initially recount the world's history from the [[Genesis creation narrative|Creation]] (as was traditional for such works);<ref>{{cite book |last=Burrow |first=John |title=A History of Histories: Epics, Chronicles, and Inquiries from Herodotus and Thucydides to the Twentieth Century |location=London |publisher=[[Allen Lane]] |date=2007 |page=198 |isbn=9780713993370}} Also reprinted by Knopf (2008), Vintage (2009), and Penguin (2009).</ref> but move quickly on to the [[Christianization of Gaul]], the life and times of [[Martin of Tours|Saint Martin of Tours]], the conversion of the Franks and the conquest of Gaul under [[Clovis I]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Wallace-Hadrill |first=J. M. |title=The Barbarian West: 400–1000 |edition=3rd revd. |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts / Oxford |publisher=Basil Blackwell |date=1989 |orig-date=1952, 1957, 1967 |pages=71–72 |url= https://archive.org/details/barbarianwest4000000wall_q3r1/ |via=Internet Archive |url-access=registration}}</ref> and the more detailed history of the [[List of Frankish kings|Frankish kings]] down to the death of [[Sigebert I]] in 575. At this date, Gregory had been bishop of Tours for two years.

With his fifth book, Gregory embarks (with some relief) on contemporary history, opening: "Here, I am glad to say, begins Book V".<ref>Quoted in {{harvp|Burrow|2007|p=205}}.</ref> This, the second part of his history, Books V and VI, closes with [[Chilperic I]]'s death in 584. During the years that Chilperic held Tours, relations between him and Gregory were tense. After hearing rumours that the bishop of Tours had slandered his wife, [[Fredegund]], Chilperic had Gregory arrested and tried for treason&nbsp;– a charge which threatened both Gregory's bishopric and his life.<ref name="cathen" /> The most eloquent passage in the {{lang|la|Historia}} is the closing chapter of Book VI, in which Chilperic's character is summed up unsympathetically through the use of an invective: [[Herod Antipas|Herod]] and [[Nero]] are among the comparisons employed.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Bury |editor1-first=J. B. |editor1-link=J. B. Bury |editor2-last=Gwatkin |editor2-first=H. M. |editor2-link=Henry Melvill Gwatkin |editor3-last=Whitney |editor3-first=J. P. |editor3-link=James Pounder Whitney |title=The Cambridge Medieval History |volume=II: The Rise of the Saracens and the Foundation of the Western Empire |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] / [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |date=1913 |page=122 |url= https://archive.org/details/cambridgemedieva02buryuoft/ |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

The third part, comprising Books VII to X, takes his increasingly personal account to the year 591, and concludes with a plea for further chroniclers to preserve his work in entirety (as indeed would be done).{{sfnp|Burrow|2007|p=210}} An [[epilogue]] was written in 594, the year of Gregory's death.

====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]]