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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 8, How Nicetius Was Appointed Governor of Provence. And of All that Antestius Did

In the twelfth year of King Childebert,¹ Nicetius of Auvergne was made governor² of the province of Marseilles and of the other cities in the region then under that king’s jurisdiction.

Antestius was sent³ by Guntram to Angers, and severely punished all those implicated in the death of Domnola,⁴ wife of Nectarius. He confiscated the goods of Bobolen,⁵ as ringleader in this crime. He next came to Nantes and began to harass the bishop Nonnichius.⁶ ‘Thy son’, he said, ‘is a party to this villainy, and deserveth to be punished according to his guilt.’ The youth, however, dismayed by an accusing conscience, fled to Lothar, son of Chilperic; and Antestius, obtaining sureties that Nonnichius would appear before the king, went himself to Saintes.

A rumour went abroad about this time that Fredegund had secretly dispatched envoys to Spain, and that Palladius, bishop of Saintes, had privily received them, and sent them forward on their journey. It was now Lent, and the bishop had retired to an island of the sea to pass the days in prayer. As he was returning, according to his custom, for the commemoration of the Lord’s Supper,⁷ and the people waited his coming, Antestius waylaid and stopped him, then, without troubling to establish the real facts of the case, spoke as follows: ‘Thou shalt not pass into the city, but shalt be condemned to banishment, because thou hast received envoys from the enemy of our lord the king.’ The bishop replied: ‘I know not what thou sayest. But since the holy days are close upon us, let us go into the city, and when the holy solemnities of the feast are over, bring what charge thou wilt against me, and I will give thee an answer; for there is nothing in that which thou deemest.’ He answered: ‘Not so. Thou shalt not set foot upon the threshold of thy church, for thou art plainly false to our lord the king.’ What need for more? The bishop was arrested on the road; an inventory was made in the church house.⁸ The citizens could not persuade the duke even to put off the examination till after the Easter festival. They interceded; he refused, but at last laid bare the wound hidden within his breast. ‘If’, he said, ‘the bishop will by legal sale place in my possession the house which he owns in the territory of Bourges, I will do what ye ask; if not, he shall not escape my hands, but shall be driven into banishment.’ The bishop dared not refuse; he wrote a deed of sale, signed it, and transferred the piece of land. Thereupon, having found sureties for his appearance before the king, he was given permission to enter the city. When the feast of Easter was past, he proceeded to the king. Antestius was also there, but failed to prove any of his charges against the bishop, who was therefore commanded to return to his city, his case being deferred to a future council on the chance that some of the charges might then be made more certain. Bishop Nonnichius was present too, but after making the king many gifts was dismissed.

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