Library › St Gregory of Tours › History of the Franks

History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 3, 12. Of the Devastation of Auvergne

But Theuderic with his army marched into Auvergne, bringing ruin and devastation to the whole region.¹ Meanwhile Arcadius, the instigator of the mischief, through whose wickedness the land was laid waste, betook himself to Bourges, which city at that time formed part of Childebert’s kingdom; his mother, Placidina, and Alcima, his father’s sister, were taken at Cahors, deprived of their property, and banished.² King Theuderic, then, arriving at the city of Clermont, pitched his camp in the suburb. In those days the blessed Quintianus was bishop: Meanwhile his troops overran the whole of that region, destroying everything and dealing the ruin of war on every side. Some of them came to the church of the holy Julian, broke in the doors, removed the bars, pillaged the possessions of the poor which were brought together there, and committed many outrages. But those who were guilty of these misdeeds were seized by an unclean spirit, so that they bit and rent each other with their own foul teeth, while they cried aloud, saying: ‘Wherefore, O holy martyr, dost thou thus afflict us?’ Which things I have written in my book of his Miracles.³

Previous · Contents · Next