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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 6, Of the Many Wrongs to the Cities of His Brother Done by King Chilperic, or at His…

King Chilperic now received envoys from his nephew Childebert, at the head of whom was Egidius, bishop of Reims.¹ When they were introduced, and permission to speak was given, they said: ‘Our lord thy nephew asketh of thee that the peace which thou hast made with him may be in all ways preserved. But with thy brother² he can have no peace, because, after their father’s death, he took from him a part of Marseilles, and keepeth fugitives, refusing to send them back.³ For this cause thy nephew Childebert desireth to preserve unimpaired the friendly feeling which now bindeth him to thee.’ Chilperic made reply: ‘In many things my brother’, said he, ‘is proven guilty. For if my son⁴ Childebert will inquire how one event came of another, he will forthwith discover that King Guntram was privy to his father’s⁵ death.’ At these words Bishop Egidius said: ‘If thou join forces with thy nephew and he with thee, and ye march together against him, the vengeance due shall be the quicker taken.’ An agreement was confirmed by oath and hostages were exchanged, after which the embassy departed.

Trusting in their promises, Chilperic assembled his own army and came to Paris, where his sojourn proved exceeding costly to the inhabitants. But Duke Berulf,⁶ with the men of Tours, Poitiers, Angers, and Nantes, marched to the territory of Bourges. Desiderius and Bladast, with the whole strength of the province entrusted to them, invested the territory on the other side, causing great devastation along the line of their march. Chilperic bade the army which had come to join him pass through Paris, and when it was gone through, he himself followed, and came to the strong place of Melun, committing all to flames and devastation. Though the army of his nephew had not joined him, dukes and envoys of Childebert were in his company. He then sent messengers to the aforesaid dukes, saying: ‘Enter the territory of Bourges, advance to the city, and exact oaths of allegiance in my name.’ But the men of Bourges, to the number of fifteen thousand, gathered at Châteaumeillant, and did battle against Duke Desiderius; and there was made so great a slaughter, that of the two armies more than seven thousand fell. The two dukes with the remainder of their force pushed on to the city, doing havoc and ravaging on all sides; and there was wrought devastation beyond all that is told of ancient times. There remained not a house, nor a vineyard, nor a tree; all was cut down or ruined. They even carried off the sacred vessels from the churches and burned the churches themselves with fire. But King Guntram came up with an army against his brother, putting all his hope in the judgement of God. And on a day, towards evening, his army advanced and destroyed the greater part of the host of Chilperic. In the morning they sent men to parley, and made peace, each promising that whichever had exceeded the bounds of law should pay such composition to the other as their bishops and chief subjects should decide. So they parted in peace. King Chilperic, finding it impossible to keep his army from plundering, put the count of Rouen to the sword, after which he returned to Paris, leaving behind all his booty, and setting the prisoners free. But when the forces which were besieging Bourges received the order to return home, they brought away with them such vast spoil that the whole region, after they had left it, seemed void alike of man and beast. The army of dukes Desiderius and Bladast, on their entry into the territory of Tours, was in the same way guilty of such burning, pillaging, and manslaying as commonly are wrought only in an enemy’s country; they further carried off captives, most of whom they released after stripping them of all that they had. This disaster was followed by a sickness among the herds, so that scarce a head of cattle was left, until it was a strange thing to see a horse or set eyes upon a heifer.

During these events King Childebert remained with his army in one place. But when one night the army was ordered to march, the lower ranks raised loud murmurs against Bishop Egidius and the king’s dukes. There were shouts and open cries: ‘Away out of the king’s presence with those who sell his kingdom, subject his cities to another master, and deliver over our prince’s people to foreign rule.’ The next morning, still shouting these and the like threats, they seized their arms and rushed to the king’s tent to lay hands upon the bishop and the persons of rank, use them roughly, beat them or wound them with their swords. But the bishop was warned of their intent; he took flight, mounted his horse, and set off for his own city.⁷ The mob followed in an uproar, casting stones and loudly venting their abuse. The one thing that saved him was that the pursuers had no horses ready. As it was, the horses of his companions flagged, and the bishop alone reached the goal, in such panic that he never troubled to fasten one of his boots that slipped from his foot. In this state he reached his city of Reims and shut himself up within its walls.

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