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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 2, 37. The War with Alaric

Now King Clovis said to his men: ‘It irketh me sore that these Arians hold a part of Gaul. Let us go forth, then, and with God’s aid bring the land under our own sway.’ This speech finding favour with all, he assembled his army, and marched on Poitiers, where King Alaric then happened to be. Part of the troops had to traverse the territory of Tours, and out of reverence for the blessed Martin the king issued an edict that none should take anything from that region but water and hay. Now a certain soldier, finding some hay belonging to a poor man, said: ‘Was it not the king’s order that we should take grass and nothing besides? Well, this is grass, and if we take it we shall not transgress his bidding.’ So he took the hay from the poor man by force, taking advantage of his own strength. The matter came to the ears of the king, who straightway cut the man down with his own sword, saying: ‘Where shall be our hope of victory, if we offend the blessed Martin?’ And the army was content to take nothing more from this region. Moreover the king sent messengers to the church of the saint, with these words: ‘Go now, and haply ye shall bring some good auspice of victory from that sacred house.’ He entrusted them with offerings to be set in the holy place, saying: ‘If Thou, O Lord, art my helper, and if Thou hast determined to deliver into my hands this unbelieving people, ever set against Thee, deign of Thy favour to give me a sign at the going in to the basilica of the blessed Martin, that I may know that Thou wilt deign to show Thy servant Thy favour.’ His men, setting forth on their journey, reached Tours according to the king’s command. And as they were entering the church, the precentor chanced to lead this antiphon: ‘Thou hast girded me, O Lord, with strength unto the battle; Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. Thou hast also made mine enemies turn their backs upon me, and Thou hast destroyed them that hate me.’¹ The messengers, hearing these words chanted, gave thanks to God, and vowing gifts to the blessed confessor, joyfully returned with their news to the king. But when Clovis had reached the Vienne with his army he was wholly at a loss where to cross the stream, for it was swollen by heavy rains. That night he besought the Lord that He would show him where he might pass, and lo! at dawn a hind of wondrous size entered the river at God’s bidding, and where she forded the host saw that it could cross. When the king came to the neighbourhood of Poitiers, but was abiding at some distance in his tents, he saw a fiery beacon issue from the church of the holy Hilary and come over above his head; it signified that aided by the light of the blessed confessor Hilary he might more surely overcome the host of those heretics against whom the saint himself had so often done battle for the faith. He adjured the whole army to despoil no man, either there or upon the way, and to rob none of his goods.

In those days the abbot Maxentius, a man laudable in holiness, lived recluse for the fear of God in his monastery in the territory of Poitiers. I give no particular name to the monastery, since to our own day the place is always known as the cell of the holy Maxentius. Now when the monks beheld a dense body of soldiers drawing near the monastery, they besought the abbot to come forth out of his cell for their encouragement. He delayed to come. Then, stricken with panic, they opened the cell door and brought him out, whereupon he went forth fearlessly to meet the enemy as if to ask peace of them. One of their number unsheathed his sword to strike the abbot on the head, when lo! he found his hand held rigid at the level of his ear, while the sword fell backwards; he then fell at the feet of the holy man, and besought his pardon. When the rest saw what was done, they returned to the army in great dread, fearing that they might all perish. But the blessed confessor rubbed the man’s arm with consecrated oil, and making the sign of the Cross, restored him to health; thus by his protection the monastery remained unharmed. He performed many other miracles, which whoso seeks diligently will find as he reads the history of the abbot’s Life. This took place in the twenty-fifth year of Clovis.

In the mean time King Clovis encountered Alaric, king of the Goths, on the field of Vouillé at the tenth milestone out of Poitiers. Part of the combatants fought with missiles from a distance, another part hand to hand. But when, as their habit is, the Goths turned to fly, King Clovis by God’s aid obtained the victory. He had with him as an ally Chloderic, son of Sigibert the Lame. This Sigibert, in the fight at Zülpich against the Alamanni, was wounded in the knee so that he limped. When the Goths were put to flight, and the king had slain Alaric, two of the enemy suddenly came up and struck at him with their spears on each side; the cuirass which he wore and the speed of his horse preserved him from death. There perished on this field a great number of the people of Auvergne who had come with Apollinaris, and the chief men of senatorial family fell. From this battle Amalaric, son of Alaric, fled into Spain and ruled with prudence his father’s kingdom. Clovis sent his own son Theuderic through Albi and Rodez to Clermont. Traversing these cities he subdued beneath his father’s sway the whole country from the Gothic to the Burgundian frontier. Alaric had reigned twenty-two years. Clovis, after wintering in Bordeaux, carried off all Alaric’s treasures from Toulouse and came to Angoulême. And the Lord showed him such favour that the walls fell down of themselves before his eyes; he drove out the Goths and subjected the city to his own rule. Then, his victory being complete, he returned to Tours and made many offerings to the holy shrine of the holy Martin.

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