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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 9, 30. Of the Tax-collectors at Poitiers and Tours

Now King Childebert, at the request of Maroveus, bishop of Poitiers, sent thither Florentianus, his mayor of the household, and Romulf, count of the palace, to prepare new tax-lists, that the people might pay the taxes as in his father’s time. For many on the lists had died, and the weight of the tribute pressed heavily upon their widows and the orphans and upon the infirm. The king’s representatives examined the cases in due order, relieving the poor and feeble, and making all those pay this public tax to the state who were justly liable. In due course they came to Tours. But when they proposed to tax our people, saying that they had in their hands the book with lists of taxpayers made in the time of former kings, we answered them: ‘It is clear that a register of taxpayers for the city of Tours was made in the reign of King Lothar, and that the books were taken away to be submitted to the king. But smitten with fear of the holy bishop Martin, he caused them to be burned. After the death of King Lothar our people took the oath of loyalty to King Charibert, who likewise solemnly swore not to make new laws or customs binding on our people, but to secure to them the same conditions under which they had lived in his father’s reign; he further promised to inflict no new ordinances upon them which would cause them loss. But Gaiso, then count, took the lists, made, as I have said, by former assessors, and began to exact the tax. He was opposed by Bishop Eufronius, but took the amounts which he had wrongfully collected, and went to the king, to whom he showed the capitulary in which the sums due were set down. The king, sighing, yet fearing the power of the holy Martin, threw the capitulary into the fire and returned the pieces of gold already extorted to the church of the saint, declaring that no citizen of Tours should pay any tax to the royal treasury. After his death King Sigibert possessed this city, but laid no burden of tribute upon it. And Childebert, now in the fourteenth year of his reign, hath likewise exacted nothing, nor hath the city had to groan under the pressure of any taxation. It lieth in your power to assess this tax or not; but be ye ware of the harm that shall ensue if ye prepare to go against the oath of the king.’ To this speech of mine they replied: ‘Here in our hands is the book in which is entered the tax imposed on the people of Tours.’ I retorted: ‘This book hath not issued from the royal treasury, nor hath it been valid throughout all these years. There is no reason for surprise if, through the enmities of the citizens, it hath been preserved in the house of some private person. But God shall judge those who, to despoil our city, have produced it after so great a tract of time.’ Meanwhile the son of Audinus,¹ who had actually produced the book, caught a fever that very day, and died the next day but one. We then dispatched a mission to the king, petitioning him to send us notice of his commands with regard to this matter. Forthwith a letter was sent confirming the immunity of the people of Tours from all assessment in veneration of the holy Martin. After it had been read, the men who had been sent for this purpose returned home.

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