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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 9, Of the Scandal that Arose in the Monastery at Poitiers Through Clotild and Basina

In the monastery of Poitiers¹ arose a great scandal. The Devil seduced the heart of Clotild, who boasted herself the daughter of King Charibert. Relying upon her kinship with the royal house, she bound the nuns by oath to join in bringing charges against the abbess Leubovera, who should then be expelled from the monastery, while she herself should be chosen superior in her place. She now left the convent with forty or more nuns, including her cousin Basina, daughter of Chilperic,² saying: ‘I am going to my royal kinsfolk, to make known to them the insults put upon us, how we are humiliated in this place as though we were not kings’ daughters but the offsprings of low serving-women.’ Rash and unhappy woman, not remembering how conspicuous for humility was the blessed Radegund, foundress of that monastery. From which house she now went forth, and came to Tours; and giving me greeting, said: ‘I beseech thee, holy bishop, deign to take under thy protection and to maintain these virgins, reduced to great humiliation by the abbess of Poitiers, while I myself go to our royal kinsmen to make plain to them all that we suffer, and then come again.’ I made them answer: ‘If the abbess is in fault, or hath in anything transgressed any of the canons, let me go to my brother, Bishop Maroveus,³ and together let us convict her of offence; then, when the matter is arranged, go ye back into the monastery, lest that be wantonly dispersed which the holy Radegund with perpetual fasts and prayers and with constant charity brought together.’ But she made reply: ‘Not so, but we will seek the kings.’ Then I said: ‘Wherefore do ye resist the voice of reason? For what cause do ye refuse to hear this my episcopal admonition? I fear me the assembled bishops of the churches may remove you from communion.’ For so it is set down in a letter written to the holy Radegund in the early days of her community by those who were before us, a copy of which I deem it fitting to insert in this place.

Copy of the Letter

‘To the most blessed lady and daughter of the Church in Christ, Radegund, the bishops Eufronius, Praetextatus, Germanus, Felix, Domitianus, Victorius and Domnolus.⁴

‘The health-bringing providence of the infinite Godhead is ever active about the race of man, nor at any place or any time doth it depart from its continual benefits, since the holy Arbiter of all things sendeth forth on all sides to till the inheritance of the Church men who in the zeal of eager toil plough its fields with the share of faith, that, by the divine attempering, the harvest of Christ may bring forth a hundredfold. The healthful dispensation of His goodness is so widely spread abroad, that nowhere doth He refuse that which He knoweth to be profitable to many. When therefore He that shall judge shall appear, there shall not fail Him many to crown, through the most holy example of these men. And so, when at the rising of the Catholic religion the beginnings of our venerable faith first had breath of life within the borders of Gaul, and the ineffable mysteries of the Holy Trinity were as yet known to few, of His compassion He deigned to send the blessed Martin, born of a foreign race, to give light to our land, that He might not win less here than He had elsewhere gained throughout the world by the preaching of the apostles. Although the blessed Martin lived not in the days of the apostles, yet he lacked not the apostolic grace; for that which he missed by the lateness of his coming was made good to him in the sum of that which he earned; since he who excelleth in desert is in nothing diminished because he cometh after others. We give thee joy, most honoured daughter, in that by divine grace there is revived in thee the example of this celestial love; for though the world waxeth old⁵ and the times decline, the faith flowereth afresh through the eager striving of thy heart, and that which had grown chill in the long frost of age at length gloweth anew by the flame of thy fervent mind. But since thou camest to us wellnigh from the same region whence we are told that the holy Martin journeyed hither, it is no marvel that thou shouldst seem to imitate in thy works him whom we believe to have guided thy feet. So by a wish happily crowned thou attainest to his pattern in whose footsteps thou hast followed, and makest that most blessed among men thy partner, in that, like him, thou shunnest share or lot in the world. The rays of his doctrine shining forth in thee, thou dost so suffuse with celestial light the hearts of all that hear thee, that everywhere the minds of virgins follow the call, aglow with the spark of the divine fire; ardent in the love of Christ, they are rapt away to quench their thirst at the fountain of thy bosom, each abandoning her kin chooseth thee rather than her own mother. Which thing is wrought not by nature but by grace. Beholding, therefore, the longings of their devotion, we render thanks to the mercy from above which uniteth the wills of men with its own will; since we have faith that it will preserve in its embrace all those whom it hath bidden draw together about thee.

‘And since we learn that by favour of the Lord many virgins have eagerly flocked out of our dioceses to accept thy Rule, and since we have considered the petition in thy letter, which was welcome to us, this now is our decree in the name of Christ our Author and Redeemer: That all equally who are there assembled with intent to remain in the love of God must keep inviolate that which of their most free will they have chosen, since it is not meet to corrupt the faith promised to Christ in the face of heaven, and it is no light crime (which God forbid) to pollute the temple of God, so that His wrath be kindled to its destruction. We therefore before all things ordain that if a virgin cometh, as we have already said, from the places committed by God’s providence to our episcopal control, who shall deserve to become a member of thy monastery in Poitiers, following the institution of Caesarius, bishop of Arles, of blessed memory, it shall never be permitted to her to leave it, seeing that, as ordered by the Rule, she hath entered of her own desire; lest that which shineth forth honourable in the eyes of all be turned to dishonour by the base misdeed of one. If, therefore, which may God forfend, any nun, inflamed by some allurement of a distracted mind, shall wilfully cast down into the defilement of such great reproach her discipline, her glory, and her crown, so that by the guile of the enemy, like Eve forthdriven from Paradise, she consent to forsake the bars of the cloister, say rather of the kingdom of heaven, to be dragged and trampled in the vile mud of the streets, let her be sundered from our fellowship, let her be stricken with the dire wound of excommunication. So that if, Christ being thus forsaken, she shall desire, through the Devil’s wiles, to espouse a man, not only shall she who hath eloped be held adulterous and base, but also he who shall wed her; he shall be rather a profaner of things sacred than a spouse. And any who, to bring this crime about, hath administered to her that which was poison rather than counsel, we will that he be smitten with a retribution like to hers, through the divine judgement, until, separated from her companion, with a penitence fitting her detestable offence, she deserve once more to be received and taken back to fellowship in the place from which she fled. We add hereto that the bishops who hereafter shall succeed us shall hold themselves bound to pass like condemnation upon such guilt. And if, which we are fain not to believe, the bishops shall desire to relax aught of that which our deliberation containeth, let them know that one day it shall be for them to defend their act against us before the Eternal Judge; for it is the general law of our salvation, that man keep inviolate his every promise made to Christ. That this our decision and decree may have due authority, we have thought fit to confirm it by signing it with our own hands, that, under the guardianship of Christ, it may be observed for evermore.’

After the reading of this letter Clotild said: ‘Nothing whatever shall hinder us from presenting ourselves before the kings, whom we know to be our kinsmen.’ They had come from Poitiers on foot without a single horse to help them, so that they were exhausted and worn out: no one had provided them with any food on the way. They reached our city on the first day of March; great rains were falling, and the endless downpour had made quagmires of the roads.

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