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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 7, 13. Of Fire and Sack at Poitiers

No sooner was Chilperic dead than Duke Gararic came to Limoges and received oaths of allegiance to Childebert. Thence he proceeded to Poitiers, where he was admitted, and where he remained. When he heard what the people of Tours had to undergo, he sent a message adjuring us, if we wished to protect our interests, not to go over to Guntram, but rather remember Sigibert, of whom Childebert was the son. We, however, sent back the following reply to the bishop and citizens: that unless for the present they submitted to Guntram, they would be treated even as we. For Guntram now stood in the place of a father to the two sons of Sigibert and Chilperic, whom he had adopted; therefore he held the whole kingdom under his rule, as his father Lothar had done before him. They did not agree, and Gararic quitted the town, as it seemed, to bring up an army, leaving behind him Ebero, treasurer of Childebert. But Sichar,¹ with Willachar, count of Orleans, now made count of Tours, levied an army against the men of Poitiers, that the peoples of Tours and Bourges might move to the attack from two sides, and the whole territory might be laid waste. But when they had approached the territory, and had begun to burn houses, the people of Poitiers sent envoys to say: ‘We pray you to stay your hands until the conference between the kings Guntram and Childebert. If it is there agreed that the good King Guntram have these districts, we make no resistance; if not, we are prepared to recognize that king as our lord, to whom we owe obedience in all things.’ To this they replied: ‘All this is nothing to us; we have only to fulfil the commands of our prince. If ye refuse, we shall go on as we have begun, and lay all waste.’ Seeing that there was no alternative but general ruin by fire, pillage, and leading into captivity, the men of Poitiers drove Childebert’s men from the city, and took the oath of allegiance to King Guntram, though they were not destined to keep it long.²

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