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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 10, 8. Of Eulalius and Tetradia His Wife

An episcopal council was held on the confines of Auvergne, the Gévaudan and Rouergue, to judge the case of Tetradia, widow of Desiderius, from whom Count Eulalius sought restitution of the objects taken away by her when she fled from his house.¹ But it will be well to take up this affair from a point somewhat farther back, and to tell how Tetradia came to abandon Eulalius and take refuge with Desiderius.

The young Eulalius, after the manner of youth, was often wild; his mother was always chiding him, till at last his proper love for her changed to hatred. It was her habit to offer frequent prayer in the oratory of her house, and often to keep night vigils while the household slept, making supplication to God with tears. She was one day found strangled in the shirt of hair worn when she prayed. None knew for certain who did the deed, but the son was generally set down as the murderer of his mother. When Cautinus, bishop of Clermont,² was informed of the affair, he deprived Eulalius of communion. But on the feast of the blessed martyr Julian, when the citizens assembled in the church with their bishop, this Eulalius flung himself at the bishop’s feet, complaining that he had been excluded from communion without a hearing. Cautinus then suffered him to be present at the Mass with the congregation. But when the time for communion came, and Eulalius approached the altar, the bishop said: ‘It is common talk that thou art the slayer of thy mother. I know not whether thou art guilty of this crime, therefore I leave it to the judgement of God and of the blessed martyr Julian. If, as thou dost maintain, thou art innocent, do thou draw near; take thy portion of the consecrated bread, and place it in thy mouth. It is God who seeth the secrets of thy heart.’ Eulalius took the Eucharist, communicated, and went away. This was the man who had to wife Tetradia, on her mother’s side of noble blood, on her father’s of a lower descent. As he lived in concubinage with the maids in his house he began to neglect his wife, and when he returned from his lecheries he would often beat her very cruelly. Moreover, his many excesses had burdened him with debts, on account of which he would rob her of her money and her jewels. The lady was brought into the utmost straits, and she had lost her honourable position in her husband’s house. When he now left her to go to the court, her husband’s nephew, Virus by name, became enamoured of her, and having lost his own wife, sought to marry her. Virus feared his uncle’s enmity, and sent her to Duke Desiderius, with the intention of wedding her in due time. Tetradia took away with her all her husband’s possessions in gold, silver, and raiment, and all his movable property; she also took her elder son, leaving her younger boy behind. Eulalius only learned what had befallen on his return from his journey. When his grief was somewhat abated and he had waited a while, he fell upon his nephew Virus, and slew him in one of the narrow valleys of Auvergne. On the news that Virus was slain, Desiderius, who had also recently lost his wife, now himself married Tetradia. Eulalius then abducted a girl from a monastery at Lyons, whom he took to wife. But his concubines, moved, as was commonly said, by jealousy, affected his reason by witchcraft. After some lapse of time, he secretly attacked and slew Emerius, cousin of his new wife. In like manner he killed Socratius, brother of his half-sister, whom his father had by a concubine. He did much evil more, which to recount were over-long. His son John, who had gone away with his mother, escaped from the house of Desiderius, and came to Auvergne. Innocentius³ was at this time a candidate for the bishopric of Rodez, and Eulalius sent him a message, hoping by his aid to recover certain property of his in the territory of that city. But Innocentius said: ‘I will do that which thou desirest, if thou wilt give me one of thy sons, that I may make him one of the clergy, and keep him with me for my support.’ Eulalius then sent the boy John, and so recovered his property. Bishop Innocentius, receiving the boy, shaved the hair of his head and handed him over to the archdeacon of his church. This boy grew so ascetic that in place of wheat he would eat only barley; he drank water instead of wine, and rode an ass instead of a horse, while he wore nothing but the meanest raiment.

The bishops and magnates, therefore, assembled on the confines of the above-mentioned cities. Tetradia was represented by Agin,⁴ and Eulalius appeared in person to plead against her. He demanded the goods which she took from his house when she went off to Desiderius, and it was decreed that she should make satisfaction by restoring fourfold the amount which she had taken away, while the sons which she had borne to Desiderius should be held illegitimate. It was further ordered that if she paid Eulalius all that she was bidden, she should be free to return to Auvergne and enjoy without let or hindrance the property which she inherited from her father. Which things were done.

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