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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 9, 41. Of the Slaying in the Church of Hilary

Meanwhile Gundegisel, bishop of Bordeaux,¹ associating with himself Nicasius of Angoulême,² Safarius of Périgueux, and Maroveus of Poitiers, came to the church of the blessed Hilary, in his quality of metropolitan, to censure these nuns, hoping to get them back into their monastery; But they resisted with stubbornness, and when the bishops, in accordance with the letter above cited, pronounced sentence of excommunication, the gang of ruffians which I have mentioned rose up against them and handled them so roughly within the very walls of the church, that the bishops fell to the ground and could hardly rise, while the deacons and other clerics came forth covered with blood, and with their heads broken. So huge a terror seized them, as one may believe, by the Devil’s prompting, that when they issued from the sacred place, they did not even take leave of each other, but went off home, every man by the first way open to him. Desiderius, deacon of Syagrius, bishop of Autun, was present at this disaster; without even searching for a ford, he plunged into the Clain at the first spot where he reached the bank, and swam his horse across to low ground on the farther shore.

Clotild now chose bailiffs, seized the lands of the monastery, and with stripes and blows compelled all the men whom she could force away from that house to enter her service; she further threatened, if she succeeded in entering the building, to throw the abbess down from the walls. When news of these disorders was brought to King Childebert, he sent authority to Count Macco,³ commanding him to do his utmost to repress them. Gundegisil, after he had, in concert with the other bishops, excommunicated these nuns and so left them, wrote a letter in his own name and that of his brethren present with him to the bishops then assembled with King Guntram, receiving from them the following reply:

Copy of the Letter.

‘To their ever dear lords Gundegisil, Nicasius, and Safarius, most worthy occupants of their apostolic seats, the bishops Aetherius,⁴ Syagrius,⁵ Aunacharius,⁶ Hesychius,⁷ Agricola,⁸ Urbicus,⁹ Felix,¹⁰ Veranus,¹¹ Felix,¹² and Bertram,¹³ these. When the messenger delivered your letter, our happiness in rejoicing at your safety was balanced by our affliction in bewailing beyond measure the outrage which ye report yourselves to have suffered, for not only have the prescriptions of the Church been transgressed, but all reverence for religion hath been forgotten. Ye have made known to us that the nuns who, hearkening to the voice of the Evil One, went forth from the monastery of Radegund of blessed memory refused either to hear your admonition, or to return within the walls of the convent which they had deserted; moreover, that they did outrage to the church of our lord Hilary, by the blows inflicted on you and upon your people. Ye have told us that for these offences it seemed good to you to suspend them from the privilege of communion, and ye have chosen to consult our mediocrity upon this matter. Therefore, inasmuch as we know that ye have well studied the canons, and that the Rule in its full content ordereth any who are caught in such excesses to be coerced not by excommunication alone, but also by a sufficient penance; and further, inasmuch as we hold you in veneration and feel for you the warmest brotherly love, we hereby declare, being of one mind and accord, that we consent unto your judgements and share your opinions. We leave the matter so, until we sit with you at the council to be held on the first day of November, and deliberate together how we may bridle the temerity of such offenders, to the end that none hereafter falling into such temptation may be led by vainglory to perpetrate the like deeds.

‘Yet forasmuch as the word of our lord the apostle Paul enjoineth us without ceasing,¹⁴ in season and out of season, to correct by constant admonition those who transgress; and forasmuch as he protesteth that godliness is useful in all things:¹⁵ now therefore we urge you with continual prayer to invoke the mercy of the Lord, that He may deign to kindle in these nuns the spirit of contrition, that in penitence they may make true amends for all that by their fault they have done amiss, that through the virtue of your preaching these souls, in a measure lost, may by Christ’s grace be brought back to their monastery; that He who carried home to the fold one lost sheep upon His shoulders may rejoice over the issue of their transgression as over the gaining of a whole flock. And above all things we beseech you to give us without ceasing the suffrage of your prayers, as indeed we have sure hope that ye will do. I, Aetherius, the sinner, your peculiar friend, presume to salute you. I, Hesychius, your client, dare reverently to salute you. I, Syagrius, who love you, salute you with like reverence. I, Urbicus the sinner, who hold you in veneration, submissively salute you. I, Veranus the bishop, who revere you, salute you with veneration. I, Felix, your servant, presume to salute you. I, Felix, your humble and devoted brother, dare salute you. I, Bertram the bishop, your humble and obedient brother, presume to greet you.’

Notes

Cf. VIII. 22.
Cf. VIII. 2.
Of Poitiers; cf. X. 15, 21.
Of Lyons.
Of Autun.
Of Auxerre; cf. V. S. M. v. 13.
Of Grenoble.
Of Nevers.
Of Riez.
Of Belley.
Of Cavaillon.
Of Châlons-sur-Marne.
Of Le Mans.
2 Tim. iv. 2.
1 Tim. iv. 8.