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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 4, Of Chramn and His Abettors, and the Evil Which He Did, and How He Came to Dijon

Chramn, as I have related,¹ wrought divers ill deeds at Clermont, holding to his grudge against Bishop Cautinus. At this time he sickened so sore that his hair fell from him through his exceeding fever. He had with him a citizen of Clermont, Ascovindus, one of great place and in the eye of all men, who sought with all his strength to turn the prince from this ill doing, but did not succeed. For there was also about him Leo of Poitiers, goading him on to every kind of evil deeds, a man right fitly named, being most savage in all manner of desire. He is said on some occasion to have accused the confessors Martin and Martial of having left nothing of any value to the royal domain. But straightway, stricken by the power of the confessors, he became deaf and dumb and died in madness. The wretched man came to the church of the holy Martin at Tours, kept vigil, and presented gifts; but the accustomed power of the saint was not towards him, and he carried away with him the same infirmity with which he came. Chramn now left Clermont, and came to the city of Poitiers. There he dwelt with great power; but led astray by the counsels of evil men, he desired to go over to his uncle Childebert, being prepared to deal treacherously with his father. Childebert, not without guileful intent, promised to receive him, though it was his duty to advise him as a Christian not to act treasonably against his own father. They then conspired through secret emissaries, and plotted together against Lothar. Yet Childebert forgot that every time he had acted against his brother, in the end he had been himself confounded.

Chramn, after entering into this treaty, returned to Limoges and reduced under his own dominion all the parts of his father’s kingdom through which he had formerly made a progress. At that time the people of Clermont were confined within their walls, perishing under the heavy burden of divers maladies. King Lothar now sent his two sons, Charibert and Guntram, to Chramn. They passed through Auvergne, and hearing that he was in the territory of Limoges, came to the hill called the Black Mountain, where they found him. They pitched their tents and encamped over against him, sending him a message, either to restore such of his father’s possessions as he had usurped, or else to make ready the field for battle. He pretended submission to his father, and said: ‘I cannot give up all the territory through which I have made my progress, but I am willing to hold it in my power with my father’s consent.’ They then demanded the arbitrament of battle. But when both forces with all their armament were afoot and had drawn together for the conflict, a storm suddenly arose with mighty thunder and lightning, which prevented the battle. When they had returned to their camps, Chramn cunningly sent a stranger to announce his father’s death to his brothers. At this time was being waged the war against the Saxons, of which I have above spoken.² In their anxiety they returned with the utmost speed to Burgundy. Chramn pursued them with his army, and came as far as Chalon, which he took after a siege. He then pushed on to Dijon, arriving there upon a Sabbath day. I will relate what thereupon befell.

The holy Tetricus, the bishop,³ whom I have mentioned in an earlier book, was at the time in the place. The clergy placed on the altar three books, namely, those of the Prophets, the Epistles, and the Gospels, and prayed the Lord to reveal what should befall Chramn; they asked the divine power to declare whether he should prosper, and whether he should ever reign. At the same time it was agreed between them that each should read at Mass the passage which he found on opening the book. The book of the Prophets was opened first, and there they found this verse: ‘I will take away the wall thereof, and it shall be broken up; because it should have brought forth grapes, and it hath brought forth wild grapes.’⁴ Then they opened the Epistles, and found this: ‘For ye yourselves know perfectly, brethren, that the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night. When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction shall come upon them as the pains of a woman in childbirth, and they shall not escape.’⁵ And through the Gospels the Lord said: ‘He who heareth not My words shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the river-floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and of it there was made great ruin.’⁶ Chramn was received by the above-named bishop at the churches, where he was given bread to eat, and afterwards went on to Childebert; he was not permitted, however, to enter the walls of Dijon.

King Lothar was now fighting stoutly against the Saxons. For this people, incited, as it was said, by Childebert, and incensed against the Franks the previous year, advanced from their territory into the Frankish land; they ravaged the country as far as the city of Deutz, doing everywhere exceeding injury.

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