Library › St Gregory of Tours › History of the Franks
History of the Franks
St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927
Book 7, How the King Besought the People that He Might Not Be Slain Like His Brothers
But as he had no trust in the men among whom he was now come,1 he surrounded himself with an armed guard, and never went to church or to any other place that he wished to visit without a large escort. And so it befell that on a certain Sunday, after the deacon had imposed silence on the people during the celebration of Mass, the king turned to the congregation and said: ‘I adjure you, men and women here present, that ye keep your loyalty to me inviolate, and not to slay me, as late ye slew my brothers; may it be granted me, at least for three years, to bring up the nephews whom I have made my adopted sons, lest haply, which everlasting God forbid, after my death ye perish together with these boys, when there shall remain no strong man of our line for your defence.’ As he uttered these words all the people uttered a prayer to the Lord for the king.
Notes
- The people of Paris.