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History of the Franks
St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927
Book 4, 21. Of the Death of King Lothar
In the fiftieth year of his reign, King Lothar sought the threshold of the blessed Martin, bringing many gifts. Arriving at Tours, he went to the tomb of the aforesaid bishop, where he recounted all the evil acts which by negligence he might have committed, and with many a groan, prayed the blessed confessor to implore the Lord’s mercy on his offences, and by his intercession wash away the sins which he had thoughtlessly committed. Returning in the fifty-first year of his reign, he was seized with a fever while hunting in the forest of Cuise, and thence went back to his domain of Compiègne. There he was grievously vexed by the fever, and cried: ‘Welladay! what think ye? What manner of king is He above, who thus doeth to death such great kings?’ In the midst of this weariness of spirit, he gave up the ghost.1 His four sons bore him with great pomp to Soissons and buried him in the church of the holy Médard. He died on the first anniversary of the day on which Chramn was slain.
Notes
- In 561.