Library › St Gregory of Tours › History of the Franks

History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 10, 25. How a Man Calling Himself the Christ Was Killed

In Gaul the plague which I have so often named invaded the province of Marseilles,¹ and a great famine afflicted Angers, Nantes, and Le Mans. This was the beginning of sorrow, according as the Lord spake in the Gospels: ‘There shall be pestilence and famine, and earthquakes in divers places, and there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and they shall give signs and wonders in the heaven, to mislead even the elect,’² as hath befallen in this present time.

A certain man of Bourges, as he himself afterwards related, went into a glade to cut wood required to finish a certain work, when a swarm of flies encompassed him, in consequence whereof he was as one mad for the space of two years; from this it is evident that here was an evil device of the Devil. After this he traversed the neighbouring towns and came to the province of Arles, where he clad himself in skins and gave himself to prayer like a holy man. The Enemy, to deceive him, gave him the power of divining the future. Next, to commit greater crimes, he left his place, and, abandoning the aforesaid province, entered the country of Javols, giving himself out to be some great one, and not afraid to profess himself the Christ; he took with him a woman, supposed to be his sister, whom he caused to be called Mary. A multitude flocked to him, and brought their sick before him, whom, by laying on of hands, he restored to health. Those who thus came together to him bestowed upon him gold, silver, and raiment. But he, the more readily to beguile them, distributed these things among the poor, prostrating himself upon the earth, pouring forth prayers, together with the woman of whom I have spoken; he would then rise, and once more bid those who stood round about adore him. He foretold the future, and to some he announced coming sickness, to others losses; only to few did he promise good fortune to come. All these things he did by diabolical arts, and I know not what cunning tricks. And a vast multitude of the people was led astray by him, and not merely the uneducated, but even priests of the Church; more than three thousand persons followed him. In the meantime he began to rob and despoil many whom he met upon the road, making free gift of the spoil to those who had no possessions. Bishops and citizens he menaced with death if they refused to worship him. Entering the territory of Le Velay, he proceeded to the place called Anicium, and halted with his whole band near the neighbouring churches, disposing his men like an army, as if to attack Aurelius, at that time bishop of the diocese. He then sent before him, as messengers to announce his arrival, naked men, who leapt and performed antics as they went. The bishop, astounded at these doings, sent to him stout fellows to ask of him the meaning of his proceedings. One, who was foremost among them, first bowed down as if to kiss his knees, thus impeding his movements, and commanded him to be seized and stripped; he then in a trice drew his sword and cut him to pieces. So fell and died this Christ, who should rather be called Antichrist, and all his following were dispersed. The woman Mary was put to the torture, when she disclosed all his visionary schemes and his tricks. The men whose wits, by his devilish cunning, he had deranged so that they believed in him, never wholly recovered their senses, but ever professed him to be Christ, and this Mary to be partaker in his divinity. And throughout all the land of Gaul there arose many, attracting to themselves by such deceptions weak women who in a frenzy proclaimed them to be saints; and so they magnified themselves among the people I myself saw many of them, whom by sharp reproof I strove to recall from their errors.

Previous · Contents · Next