Gregorius Turonensis Episcopus, Historiae Ecclesiasticae Francorum Libri Decem

IX. I)e Francorum vero regibus , quis fuerit primns a muniis ignoratur. Nam cum multa de eis Sulpicti Alexandri i narret lIistoria , non tamen regem primum eorum ullatenus nominat, sed duces eos habuisse dicit : quæ tamen de eisdem refrrai, memorare videtur. Nam cum dicit Maximum intra Aqui- , leiam, amissa omni spe imperii, quasi amentem residere, adjungit: t Eo tempore Genubaude • , Marcomere, et Sunnone ducibns, Franci in Germaniam . prorupere, ac pluribus mortalium limite irrupto caesis, fertiles maxime pagos depopulati, ASrippinensi etiam Coloniæ metum incussere. Quod uhi Treveris perlatum est, Nannenus b et Quintinus militiæ magistri, quibus infantiam lilii et defensionem Galliarum Maximus commiserat, collecto exercitu apud Agrippinam couvenere. Sed onusti præda hostes, provinciarum opima depopulati, Rhenum transiere, pluribus suorum in 58 Romano relictis solo, ad repetendam depopulationem pararis, cum quibus congressus Romanis accommodus fuit, mul- tis Francorum apud Carbonariam c ferro peremptis. Cumque consultaretur de successu, an in Franciam transire deberent. Nannenus abnuit, quia non inparatos et in locis suis indubie fortiores tuturos scirbat. Quod cum Quintino et reliquis viris militaribus displicuisset, Nauneuo Mogontiacum reverso, Quinlinus cum exercitu circa Nivisium d castellum Rhenum transgressus , secundis a fluvio castris, casas habitatoribus vacuas atque ingentes vicos destitutos offendit. Franci enim , simulato metu, se in remotiores saltus receperant, concidibus per extrema silvarum procuratis. Itaque universis domibus exustis , in quas saevire stoliditas ignava victoriae consummationem reponebat, noctem sollicitam milites sub armorum onere duxerant. Ac primo diluculo, QuinUno praiii duce ingressi saltus, in medium fere diem i implicantes se erroribus viarum , toto pervagati sunt: tandem cum ingentibus septis omnia a solido clausa offendissent, in palustres campos, qui silvis jungebantur, prorupere: molienlihus e, hostium rari apparuere: qui conjunctis arborum truncis, vei concidihus superstantes, velut e fastigiis turrium , sagittas tormentorum ritu effudere illitas herbarum venenis, ut summae cuti, neque lethalibus inflicta locis vulnera, haud dubix mortes sequerentur. Dehinc majori multitudine hostium eircumfusus esercitus, in aperta camporum, quae libera Franci reliquerant, avide effusus est: ac primi equites voraginibus immersi , permixtis hominum jumentorumque corporibus, ruina invicem suorum oppressi sunt. Pedites etiam, quos nulla onera equorum calcare. rant, implicati limo, aegre explicantes gressum, rursus se, qui paulo ante vix emerserant, silvis trepidanles occulebant. Perturbatis ergo ordinibus, caesae tegiones, Heraclio Jovinianorum I 59 tribuno, ac pene omnibus qui militibus praeerant, exstinctis , paucis effugium tutum nox et latibula silvarum præstitere. » Haec in tertio Historiæ libro narravit.

IX. As for the kings of the Franks, who was the first is unknown to many. For although the History of Sulpicius Alexander tells much about them, it nowhere names their first king, but says that they had dukes; yet what it does report about them seems worth recording. For when it says that Maximus, having lost all hope of empire, was sitting inside Aquileia as if out of his mind, it adds: “At that time the Franks, under the dukes Genobaud, Marcomer and Sunno, burst into Germany, and having broken through the frontier and slaughtered a great many people, they laid waste the most fertile districts and struck fear even into Cologne. When this was reported at Trier, Nannenus and Quintinus, masters of the soldiers, to whom Maximus had entrusted his infant son and the defence of the Gauls, gathered an army and assembled at Cologne. But the enemy, laden with plunder, having stripped the richest parts of the provinces, crossed the Rhine, leaving many of their men on Roman soil, ready to renew the ravaging; an engagement with these went in the Romans' favour, and many Franks were killed with the sword at Carbonaria. And when they were deliberating about following up the success, whether they ought to cross into Francia, Nannenus refused, because he knew that the Franks would not be unprepared and would undoubtedly be stronger on their own ground. Since this displeased Quintinus and the other military men, Nannenus went back to Mainz, and Quintinus crossed the Rhine with the army near the fort of Nivisium; at the second camp from the river he came upon houses empty of inhabitants and great villages deserted. For the Franks, pretending to be afraid, had withdrawn into the remoter forest uplands, having set up barricades of felled trees along the edges of the woods. And so all the houses were burned — in raging against them their dull cowardice placed the crowning of victory — and the soldiers spent an anxious night under the weight of their arms. At first light, with Quintinus as leader of the battle, they entered the forest, and until about midday, entangling themselves in the mazes of the paths, they wandered all over it. At length, when they found everything closed off solidly with huge fences, they broke out into the marshy fields that adjoined the woods; as they struggled on, the enemy appeared here and there, who, standing on tree-trunks fastened together or on the barricades of felled trees, as if from the tops of towers, poured out arrows like artillery, smeared with the poisons of herbs, so that certain death followed wounds inflicted on the surface of the skin and in places that were not fatal. Then the army, surrounded by a greater multitude of the enemy, poured eagerly into the open fields that the Franks had left free; and the cavalry first, sunk in bogs, with the bodies of men and beasts mingled together, were crushed by the fall of their own men upon one another. The infantry too, whom no weight of horses had trampled, caught in the mud and barely freeing their steps, hid themselves trembling again in the woods from which they had barely emerged a little before. So, the ranks being thrown into confusion, the legions were cut down; Heraclius, tribune of the Joviniani, and nearly all who commanded the soldiers were killed, and night and the hiding-places of the woods gave a safe escape to a few.” This he narrated in the third book of the History.

Anno autem secundo Childeberti regis, cum videret Merovechus patrem suum in hac deliberatione intentum, assumpto secum Guntchramno duce ad Brunichildem pergere cogitat, dicens: Absit ut propter meam personam basilica domni Martini vi..,. lentiam perferat, aut [Al. et j regio ejus per me ca- ptivilati subdalnr. Et ingressus basilicam , dum vigilias ageret. res quas secum habebat, ad sepulcrum beati Martini exhibuit, orans ut sibi sanctus succur- reret, atque ei concederet gratiam suam, ut regnum accipere posset. Leudastes tunc comes cum multas ei in amore Fredegundis insidias tenderet, ad extremum pueros ejus, qui in pago egressi 216 fuerant, circumventos dolis gladio trucidavit, ipsumque inleri- mere cupiens, sreperire loco opportuno potuisset. Sed ille consilio usus Guntchramni, et se ulcisci de- s!derans, redeunte Marileifo i archiatro de praesentia regis, comprehendi praecepit : cæsumque gravissiulC, aMato auro argentoque ejus , et reliquis rebus quas secum cxhibebat, nudum reliquit. Et interfecisset utique, si non inter manus caedentium elapsus, ecclesiam expetisset: quem nos postea indutum vesHmen- tis, obtenta vita Pictavum remisimus. Merovechus vero de patre atque noverca multa crimina loquebatur: quae cum ex parte vera essent , credo acceptum non fuisse Dea, ut haec per filium vulgarentur, sicut ill sequentibus cognovi. Quadam enim die ad cunvi- vium ejus ascitus I, dum pariter sederemus, suppli- cHer petiit aliqua ad instructionem animæ legi. Ego vero reserato Salomonis libro,vesiculum qui primus occurrit arripui, qui haec continebat; Oculum gui adversus aspexerit A patrem, effodiant eum corvi de convallibus (Prov. in, i 7). Illo quoque non intel- Hgente, consideravi hune versiculum a Domino prae- paratum. Tunc direxit Guntchramnus i puerum ad mulierem quamdam, sibi jam cognitam a temporo Chariberti regis, habentem spiritum pythonis, ut ei qum erant eventura narrarct. Asserebat praeterea ipsam siH ante hoc tempus, non solum annum, sed et diem et horam, in qua rex Charibertus obiret de- nuntiasse. Quae haec ei per pueros mandata remisit : Futurum est enim ut rex Chilpericus hoc anno defi- ciat, et Merovechus rex exclusis fratribus i omne capiat regnum. uvero ducatum totius regni ejus annis quinque tcnebii. Sexto vero anno in una civi- tatum a, quæ super Ligeris alveum sita est in dextra ejus parte ł iavente populo, episcopatus gratiam adipisceris, ac senex et plenus dierum ab hoc mundo migrabis. Cumque haec pueri redeuntes domino nun- tiassent, statim ille vanitate elatus, tanquam 21J si jam in cathedra Turonicae ecclesiæ resideret, ad me haec detulit verba. Cujus ego irridens stultitiam, dixi: A Deo hæe poscenda sunt; nam credi non debent quae diabolus repromittit. Ille b autem ab initio mendax est, et in veritate nunquam stetit (Joan. VIII, 44). Illo quoque cum confusione discedente, valde irridebam hominem , qui talia credi putabat. Denique quadam nocte vigiliis in basilica sancti antistitis celebratis, dum lectulo decubans obdormissem, vidi angelum peraera volantem. Cumque super sanctam basilicam præteriret,voce magna ait: Heu heu! percussit Deus Chilpericum, et omnes filios ejus; nec superabit de his qui processerunt ex lumbis ejus, qui regat regnum illius in aeternum. Erant ei eo tempore de'diversis uxoribus filii quatuor, exceptis filiabus. Cum autem hæc in posterum impleta fuissent, tunc ad liquidum cognovi falsa esse quae pomise- rant harioli. Igitur commorantibus bis apud basilicam sancti Martini, misit ad Guntchramnum Bosonem Fredegundis regina, quaeque ei jam pro morte Theodoberti patrocinabatur occulte, dicens; Si hie- rovec6um cjicere potueris de basilica ut interiicia- tur, magnum de me munus accipies. At ille præsto putans esse interfectores, ait ad Merovechum: Ut quid hic quasi segnes et timidi residemus, et ut he- betes circa basilicam hanc occulimur? Veniant enim equi nostri, et acceptis accipitribus, cum canibus exerCeamur venatione, spectaculisque patulis jocun- demur. Hoc enim agcbat c callide, ut eum a sancta basilica separaret. Guntchramnus vero alias sane bonus. Nani ad perjuria nimium praeparatus erat, verumtamen nulli amicorum sacramentum dedit, quod non protinus omisisset. Egressi ilaqne, ut di. xinlus, de basilica, ad Jocundiacensem domum d civitati proximam progressi sunt: sed 218 a nemine Merovechus nocitus est e. Et quia impetebatur tunc Guntchramnus de interitu, ut diximus, Theodoberti, misit Chilpericus rex nuntios et epistolam scriptam ad sepulcrum sancti Martini, quæ habebat insertum, ut ei beatus Martinus rescriberet, utrum liceret extrahi Guntchramnum de basilica ejus, an nou. Sed Baudegilus f diaconus, qui hanc epislolam exhibuit, chartam puram cum eadem quam detulerat, ad sanctum tumulum misit. Cumque per triduum ex.- spectasset, et nihil rescripti reciperet g, redivit ad Chilpericum. Ille vero misit alios, qni a Guntechramno sacramenta exigerent, ut sine ejus scientia h basilicam non relinqueret. Qui ambienter jurans pallam altaris fidejussorem dedit i, nunquam se exinde sine jussione regia egressurum. Merovechus vero non credens pythonissæ, tres libros super sancti sepulcrum posuit, id est Psalterii, Regum, Evangeliorum: et vigilans lota nocte, petiit ut sibi beatus confessor quid eveniret ostenderet, et utrum possit regnum accipere, an non, ut Domino indicante cognosceret i. Posthaec continuato triduo in jejuniis, vigiliis, atque orationibus, ad beatum tumulum iterum accedens. revolvit librum , qui crat Regum: versus autem primus paginæ quam reseravit, hic erat: Pro eo quod dereliquistis Dominum Deum vestrum, et ambu- lastis post deos alienos , nec fecistis rectum ante con- spectum ejus ; ideo tradidit vos Dominus Deus vester in manibus inimicorum vestrorunt (III Reg. IX, 9). Psalterii autem versus hic est inventus: Verumtamen proptor dolositatem, posuisti eis mala : dejecilti eos, dum allevarentur. Quomodo (acti suut in desolationem ? subito defecerunt: perierunt propter illiqui- tates suas (Psalnl. LXXI, 18. ł9). In Evangeliis autem hoc est repertum:Scitis quia post biduum Pascha fiet, et Filius hominis tradetur ut crucifigatur (Matth. XXVI, 2). In his responsionibus ille confusus, flens diutissime 219 ad sepulcrum beati antistitis, assumto secum Guntchramno duce, cum quingentis aut co amplius viris discessit. Egressus autem basilicam sanctam, cum iter ageret per Antissiodorense terri- toriuln, ab Erpone k duce Guntchramni regis comprehensus est. Cumque ab eo detineretur, casu nescio quo dilapsus, basilicam sancti fermani 1 in- . gressus est, Audiens haec Guntchramnus rex, in ira commotus Erponem septingentis m aurcis damnat, ei ab honore removet, dicens; Retinuisti, ut ait frater meus, inimicum suon). Quod si hoc facere cogitabas ad me cum debuisti prius adducerc; sin autem aliud, uec tangere debueras quem tenere dissimulabas. Exercitus autem Chilperici regis usque Turonis ac- cedeM, regionem illam in praedas mittit, succendit, atque devastat: nec rebus sancti Martini pepercit, sed quod manu tetigit, sine ullo Dei intuitu, aut timore diripuit. Merovechus prope duos menses ad antedictam basilicam residens, fugam iniit, et ad Brunicbildem reginam usque pervenit: sed ab Au- 8trasiis non est collectus. Pater vero ejus exercitum contra Campanenses commovit, putans eum ibidem occultari:sed nihil nocuit, nec eum potuit reperire J

In the second year of King Childebert, when Merovech saw his father intent on this plan, he thought of going to Brunhild, taking Duke Guntram with him, and said: “God forbid that the basilica of the lord Martin should suffer violence on my account, or that his region should be brought into captivity through me.” And entering the basilica while he was keeping vigil, he presented at the tomb of the blessed Martin the things he had with him, praying that the saint would come to his aid and grant him his favour, so that he might receive the kingdom. At that time Count Leudast, who was laying many traps for him out of love for Fredegund, at last caught by trickery his servants who had gone out into the countryside and put them to the sword, and he wanted to kill [Merovech] himself, if he could find him in a suitable place. But [Merovech], following Guntram's advice and wishing to avenge himself, ordered Marileif the chief physician to be seized as he was returning from the king's presence; and having had him beaten very severely, and his gold and silver and the other things he was carrying taken from him, he left him naked. And he would certainly have killed him, had [Marileif] not slipped out of the hands of those beating him and fled to the church; afterwards we clothed him, obtained his life, and sent him back to Poitiers. Merovech spoke of many crimes of his father and stepmother; and although these were partly true, I believe it was not pleasing to God that they should be made public by a son, as I learned from what followed. For one day, when I had been invited to his table and we were sitting together, he humbly asked that something be read for the instruction of the soul. I opened the book of Solomon and seized on the first verse that met me, which said: “The eye that looks against a father, may the ravens of the valleys dig it out” (Prov. 30:17). He did not understand, but I considered that this verse had been prepared by the Lord. Then Guntram sent a servant to a certain woman, known to him since the time of King Charibert, who had a spirit of python, so that she might tell him what was going to happen. He claimed, moreover, that before this time she had foretold to him not only the year but also the day and the hour in which King Charibert would die. She sent back to him by the servants this message: “It shall be that King Chilperic dies this year, and that King Merovech, shutting out his brothers, takes the whole kingdom. And you will hold the dukedom of his whole kingdom for five years. In the sixth year, in one of the cities that lie on the Loire, on its right bank, you will obtain the grace of a bishopric with the favour of the people, and old and full of days you will depart from this world.” When the servants returned and reported this to their master, he was at once puffed up with vanity, as if he were already sitting on the throne of the church of Tours, and he brought these words to me. Laughing at his folly, I said: “These things must be asked of God; for what the devil promises ought not to be believed. He is a liar from the beginning, and has never stood in the truth” (John 8:44). And when he went away abashed, I laughed heartily at the man who thought such things could be believed. Then one night, after the vigils had been celebrated in the basilica of the holy bishop, as I lay on my bed and had fallen asleep, I saw an angel flying through the air. As he passed over the holy basilica, he said in a loud voice: “Alas, alas! God has struck Chilperic and all his sons; and none of those who came forth from his loins will survive to rule his kingdom for ever.” At that time he had four sons by different wives, not counting daughters. When these things were later fulfilled, then I knew clearly that what the soothsayers had promised was false. While these men were staying at the basilica of Saint Martin, Queen Fredegund sent to Guntram Boso (she was already secretly protecting him on account of Theudebert's death), saying: “If you can drive Merovech out of the basilica so that he may be killed, you will receive a great reward from me.” He, thinking the killers were ready at hand, said to Merovech: “Why do we sit here like sluggards and cowards, and hide like dullards round this basilica? Let our horses be brought, and let us take hawks and exercise ourselves in hunting with hounds, and enjoy the open views.” He did this cunningly, to separate him from the holy basilica. Guntram was otherwise a good man; but he was all too ready for perjury, and indeed he never swore an oath to any of his friends that he did not promptly break. So they went out of the basilica, as we said, and went on to the house at Jocundiacum near the city; but Merovech was harmed by no one. And since Guntram was then being accused, as we said, of Theudebert's death, King Chilperic sent messengers with a written letter to the tomb of Saint Martin, which contained the request that the blessed Martin should write back to him whether or not it was lawful to drag Guntram out of his basilica. But the deacon Baudegil, who delivered this letter, placed a blank sheet on the holy tomb together with the one he had brought. And when he had waited three days and received no reply, he went back to Chilperic. Chilperic then sent others to exact oaths from Guntram that he would not leave the basilica without his knowledge. Guntram swore eagerly and gave the altar cloth as his surety that he would never go out from there without the king's order. Merovech, not believing the prophetess, laid three books on the saint's tomb, namely the Psalter, Kings and the Gospels; and keeping vigil all night, he asked the blessed confessor to show him what would happen, and whether he could receive the kingdom or not, so that he might learn it from the Lord's revealing. After this, having continued three days in fasting, vigils and prayers, he went to the blessed tomb again and opened the book, which was Kings; and the first verse of the page he opened was this: “Because you have forsaken the Lord your God and walked after strange gods, and have not done what is right in his sight, therefore the Lord your God has delivered you into the hands of your enemies” (3 Kings 9:9). In the Psalter this verse was found: “Yet because of deceitfulness you have set evils for them; you cast them down while they were being lifted up. How have they come to desolation? Suddenly they have failed; they have perished because of their iniquities” (Ps. 71:18–19). And in the Gospels this was found: “You know that after two days the Passover will come, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified” (Matt. 26:2). Confounded by these answers, he wept for a very long time at the tomb of the blessed bishop, and then, taking Duke Guntram with him, departed with five hundred men or more. Having left the holy basilica, while he was travelling through the territory of Auxerre, he was captured by Erpo, a duke of King Guntram. And while he was being held by him, he slipped away by some chance I do not know, and entered the basilica of Saint Germanus. When King Guntram heard this, he was moved to anger, fined Erpo seven hundred gold pieces and removed him from his office, saying: “You have held, as my brother says, his enemy. If you meant to do this, you ought first to have brought him to me; but if not, you ought not even to have touched a man you did not mean to keep.” King Chilperic's army advanced as far as Tours, plundered that region, burned it and laid it waste; nor did it spare the property of Saint Martin, but whatever it laid hands on it carried off, without any regard for God or fear of him. Merovech, having stayed nearly two months at the aforesaid basilica, took flight and made his way as far as Queen Brunhild; but he was not received by the Austrasians. His father moved an army against the people of Champagne, thinking he was hidden there; but he did no harm, and could not find him.

. XXX V. Sed haec prodigia gravissima 243 lues est subsecuta. Nam discordantibus regibus, et iterum bellum civile parantibus, dysentericus morbus pene Callias totas præoccupavit. Erat enim his qui patiebantur valida cum vomitu febris, renumque nimius dolor, caput grave vel cervix. Ea vero quae ex ore c projiciebantur, colore croceo, aut certe viridia crant; a multis autem asserebatur venenum orcul- tum esse. Rusticiores vero corales hoc pusulas d nominabant ' quod non est incredibile, quia missæ in scapulis sive cruribus ventosae, procedentibus erum- pentibusqne vesicis, decursa sanie multi liberaban- tur; sed et herbæ, quae venenis medentur, potui sumptae, plerisque praesidia contulerunt. Et quidem primum haec infirmitas a mense Augusto initiata , parvulos adolescentes arripuit, lethoque subegit. Perdidimus dulces et charos nobis infantulos, quos aut gremiis fovimus, aut ulnis bajutavimus, aut pro. pria manu ministratis cibis ipsos studio sagaciore nutrivimus; sed abstersis lacrymis cum beato Job, diximus : Dominus dedit, Dominus abstulit ; quomodo Domino placuil, ita factum eat. Sit nomen ejas bene- dictunl ill sæcula (Job. I, 21). Igitur in his diebus Chilpericus rex graviter ægrotavit : quo convale- scente, filius ejus junior, necdum ex aqua et Spiritu sancto renatus, ægrolare coepit. Quem in extremis videntes, baptismo abluerunt. Quo parumper melius agente, frater ejus senior, nomine Chlodobertus, ab hoc morbo corripitur, ipsumque in discrimine mortis Fredegundis mater cernens, sero poenitens, ait ad regcm : Diu nos male agentes pietas divina susten- tat; nam saepe nos febribus et aliis malis corripuit, et emendatio non successit. Ecce jam perdimus filios; ccce jam eos lacrymæ pauperum, lamenta viduarum, suspiria orphanorum interimunt; nec spes remanet cui aliquid congregemus. Thesauriza- mus, nescientes cui congregemus ea. Ecce thesauri remanent a possessore vacui, rapinis ac maledictionibus pleni. Nunquid non exundabant 244 promptuaria vino? nunquid non horrea replebantur fru- mento ? nunquid non erant thesauri referti aaro, argento, lapidibus pretiosis, monilibus, vel reliquis imperialibus ornamentis Y Ecce quod pulchrius habe- batHUi, perdimus. Nunc, si placet, veni [AI. venite], et incendamus omnes descriptiones iniquas; surfi- ciatque fisco nostro, quod suffecit patri regique Chlothachario. Haec effata regina, pugnis verberans pectus, jussit libros exhiberi, qui de civitatibus suis per Marcum venerant; projectisque in ignem, iterum ad regem conversa : Quid tu, inquit, moraris? Fac quod vides a me fieri, ut et si dulces natos perdimus, vel poenam perpetuam evadamus. Tunc rex compunctus corde tradidit omnes libros descri- puonum igni , conflagratisque illis, misit qui futuras prohiberent descriptiones. Posthæc infantulus junior dum nimio labore tabescit, elstiuguirnr; quem cum maximo moerore deducentes a villa Brennaco Parisios, ad basilicam sancti Dionysii sepelire manda- terunt e. Chlodnbertum vero componentes in feretro, Suessionas ad basilicam sancti Mcdardi duRe- runt, projicientesque eum ad sanctnm sepulerum, voverunt vota pro eo ; sed media nocte, anhelus jam et tenuis, spiritum exhalavit : quem in basilica sau- ctorum Crispini atque Crispiniani i martyrum sene- Jierunt. Magnus quoque hic g planctus omni populo luit; nam viri lugentes, mulieresque lugubribus ve- stimentis indutae, ut solet in conjugum exsequiis fieri, ita hoc funus sunt prosecutae. Multa postea Chilpericus rex ecclesiis, sive basilicis, vel pauperibus est largitus.

XXXV. But these prodigies were followed by a most grievous plague. For while the kings were at odds and once more preparing civil war, a dysenteric disease seized almost the whole of Gaul. Those who suffered from it had a violent fever with vomiting, very great pain in the kidneys, and a heavy head or neck. What they threw up from the mouth was saffron-coloured or else green; and many maintained that it was a hidden poison. The country people called it corales pusulae [pustules]; which is not incredible, because when cupping-glasses were applied to the shoulders or legs, and blisters rose and burst, many were freed once the matter had run off; and herbs that cure poisons, taken as a drink, also brought relief to very many. This sickness, beginning first in the month of August, seized young children and brought them to death. We lost sweet little children, dear to us, whom we had warmed in our laps, or carried in our arms, or fed with food served by our own hand, nourishing them with the most attentive care; but wiping away our tears we said with blessed Job: The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it has been done. Blessed be his name for ever (Job 1:21). In these days, then, King Chilperic fell gravely ill; and as he was recovering, his younger son, not yet reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, began to sicken. Seeing him at his last, they washed him in baptism. While he was doing a little better, his elder brother, named Chlodobert, was seized by this disease; and his mother Fredegund, seeing him in danger of death, repenting late, said to the king: “For a long time the divine mercy has borne with us in our evil-doing; for it has often chastised us with fevers and other ills, and no amendment followed. See, now we are losing our sons; see, now the tears of the poor, the laments of widows, the sighs of orphans are killing them; and no hope remains of anyone for whom we might gather anything. We heap up treasure, not knowing for whom we gather it. See, the treasures remain without an owner, full of plunder and curses. Did not the storerooms overflow with wine? Were not the granaries filled with grain? Were not the treasuries crammed with gold, silver, precious stones, necklaces and the other imperial ornaments? See, what we had that was more beautiful, we are losing. Now, if you will, come, and let us burn all the unjust tax-assessments, and let what sufficed for your father, King Chlothar, suffice for our treasury.” When the queen had said this, beating her breast with her fists, she ordered the books to be brought out which had come from her cities by way of Marcus; and when they had been thrown into the fire, she turned again to the king and said: “Why are you delaying? Do what you see being done by me, so that, even if we lose our sweet children, we may at least escape everlasting punishment.” Then the king, pierced to the heart, gave all the books of the assessments to the fire, and when they had burned up he sent men to forbid future assessments. After this the younger little child, while wasting away under excessive suffering, died; and carrying him with the greatest grief from the villa of Brennacum to Paris, they had him buried at the basilica of Saint Denis. Chlodobert they laid on a bier and brought to Soissons, to the basilica of Saint Medard, and laying him down before the holy tomb they made vows for him; but at midnight, already gasping and weak, he breathed out his spirit; and they buried him in the basilica of the holy martyrs Crispin and Crispinian. There was great mourning for him among all the people; for the men mourning, and the women dressed in mourning clothes, followed this funeral as is usually done at the funerals of husbands. Afterwards King Chilperic gave much to churches and basilicas and to the poor.

XXXV. Dum autem haec agerentur, nuntiatur re- ginæ puerum qui mortuus fuerat, maleficiis et incan- tationibus fuisse subducturo, ibique Mummolum præ- lectum i, quem jam diu regina invisum habebat , conscium esse. Unde factum est, ut epulante eo in domo sua, quidam de aulicis regis puerum dilectum sibi, qui a dysenteria correptus fuerat, lamentaretur. Cui præfectus respondit : Habetur mihi herba in promptu, de qua si dysentericus 310 hauriat, quam- libet desperatus sit, mox sanatur. Nuntiatis his re-. ginæ, majore furore succenditur. Interea appreben- sas mulieres urbis Parisiacae tormentis applicat, ac verberibus cogit fateri quae noverant. At illae conti.. tentur se maleficas esse, et multos occumbere letho se fecisse testatae sunt, addentes illud, quod nulla ratione credi patior : Filium, aiunt, tuum, o regina, pro Mummoli praefecti vita donavimus. Tunc regina tormentis gravioribus mulieribus affectis, alias eue- cat, alias incendio tradit, alias rotis ossibus confractis innectit. Et sic Compendium villam una cum rege secessit, ibique universa regi quae de praefecto audierat revelavit. Rex vero missis pueris jussit eum ar- eessiri, discussumque catenis onerant, et suppliciis subdunt. Trabi post tergum revinctis manibus appen- dilur, et ibi quid maleficii noverit, interrogatur. Sed nihil de his quæsuperius memoravimus, confitetur. Hoc tamen protulit saepius se inunctiones et potiones, quæ ei regis reginaeque gratiam praeberent, ab his mulieribus suscepisse. Depositus igitur de pœna, vocat ad se lictorem, dicens : Nuntia domino meo regi, quia nihil mali sentio de his quae illata sunt. His auditis rex : Verumne R est, inquit, hunc esse maleficum, si de his nihil est læsus pœnis? Tunc extensus ad trochleas, tandiu loris triplicibus cæsus est, quoadusque ipsi lassarentur tortores : posthaec sudes ungulis manuum pedumque de6gunt. Cumque in hoc causa ageretur, ul ad decidendam cervicem ejus gladius immineret, a regina viam obtinuit, sed non fuit minor morte humilitas subsecuta. Nam impositus plaustro, ad Burdegalensem urbem, in qua ortus fuerat, ablata omni facultate, transmitti- tur; in via vero ictuatus h sanguine, vix accedere quo jussus est valuit. Sed non post multum tempus spiritum exhalavit. Posthaec regina apprehenso pue- ruli thes'auro, tam vestimenta quam reliquas species, vel ex serico, aut quocunque vellere invenire potuit, igne consumpsit; quod ferunt quatuor plaustra le- vasse : aurum vero et argentum fornace conflatum reposuit, ne aliquid integrum remaneret, quod ei planctum filii in memoriam revocaret.

XXXV. While these things were going on, it was reported to the queen that the boy who had died had been carried off by sorceries and incantations, and that the prefect Mummolus, whom the queen had long hated, was privy to it. It had come about in this way: while he was feasting in his house, one of the king's courtiers was lamenting a boy dear to him who had been seized with dysentery. The prefect answered him: “I have a herb ready to hand; if someone with dysentery drinks of it, however hopeless his case, he is soon cured.” When this was reported to the queen, she was inflamed with still greater fury. Meanwhile she had women of the city of Paris seized, put them to torture, and forced them with beatings to confess what they knew. And they confessed that they were witches, and testified that they had caused many to meet their death, adding something which I can in no way allow to be believed: “Your son, O queen,” they said, “we gave up for the life of the prefect Mummolus.” Then the queen subjected the women to heavier tortures, and killed some, gave others to the fire, and bound others to wheels with their bones broken. And so she withdrew with the king to the estate of Compiègne, and there revealed to the king everything she had heard about the prefect. The king sent servants and ordered him to be summoned; and having examined him they loaded him with chains and subjected him to tortures. He was hung from a beam with his hands tied behind his back, and there he was questioned about what sorcery he knew. But he confessed nothing of the things we have mentioned above. This much, however, he did reveal: that he had often received from these women ointments and potions that would win him the favour of the king and queen. So when he was taken down from the torture, he called the lictor to him and said: “Tell my lord the king that I feel no harm from what has been done to me.” Hearing this, the king said: “Is it not true, then, that this man is a sorcerer, if he has not been hurt at all by these torments?” Then he was stretched on the pulleys and beaten with triple thongs until the torturers themselves grew tired; after this they drove splinters under the nails of his hands and feet. And when the matter had come to the point where the sword hung over him to cut off his head, he obtained his life from the queen; but a humiliation no less than death followed. For he was put on a cart and sent off to the city of Bordeaux, where he had been born, with all his property taken from him; and on the way he was struck by a seizure of the blood, and was barely able to reach the place he had been ordered to go. And not long afterwards he breathed his last. After this the queen took the little boy's treasure, and burned both the clothes and the other goods, whether of silk or of any fleece she could find; they say it filled four carts. The gold and silver she had melted down in a furnace and put away, so that nothing should remain whole to bring the mourning for her son back to her mind.

XLIV. Fuit b tunc temporis mulier, quæ spiritum pythonis [AI. et infra. phylonis] habens, Inultum præstabat dominis divinando quæstum; eoque in gratia profecit, ut ab his libera facta, suis voluntatibus laxaretur. Si quis enin aut furtum, aut aliquid mali perferret, statim hæc quo fur ahiil, cui tradidit, vel quid ex hoc fecerit, edicebat. Congregabat quotidie aurum argentumque, procedens in ornamentis, ita ut putaretur aliquid esse divinum in Impuli.. Sed cum Agerico Viridunensi episcopo haec nuntiata fuissent, misit 369 ad comprehendendum ealn. Qua apprehensa et ad se adducta, juxta id quod in Actibus legimus apostolicis (Act. XVI, 16). cognovit in ea iln- mundum spiritum esse pythonis. Denique cum elor- cismum super eam diceret, ac frontem illius oleo sancto perungeret, exclamavit daemonium, et quid esset prodidit saterdoti. Sed cum per eum a puella non ellruderelur, abire permissa est. Cernens vero puella, quod in loco illu habitare non posset, ad Fredegundem reginam abiit, ihiqne et latuit.

XLIV. There was at that time a woman who had a spirit of python [divination] and brought her masters much profit by her soothsaying; and she rose so far in their favour that they set her free and left her to her own wishes. For if anyone suffered a theft or any other harm, she would at once declare where the thief had gone, to whom he had handed [the goods], or what he had done with them. Every day she gathered gold and silver and went about in finery, so that she was thought among the people to be something divine. But when this was reported to Ageric, bishop of Verdun, he sent to have her arrested. When she was seized and brought to him, he recognised, in accordance with what we read in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 16:16), that there was in her an unclean spirit of python. Then, when he said an exorcism over her and anointed her forehead with holy oil, the demon cried out and revealed to the bishop what it was. But since it was not driven out of the girl by him, she was allowed to go. The girl, seeing that she could not live in that place, went to Queen Fredegund, and there she hid.

VI. Fuit eo anno in urbe Turonica Desiderius no- mine, qui se magnum qucmdam esse dicebat, asserens se multa posse facere signa. Nam et nuntios inter se, atque Petrum Paulumque apostolos discurrere jactitabat : ad quem, quia præsens non eram, rusticitas populi multa confluxerat, deferentes secum caecos et debiles, quos non sanctitate sanare, sed errore necromantici ingenii quærebat illudere. Nam hos qui erant paralytici, aut alia impediti debilitate, jubebat valide extendi, utquos virtutis divinae largitione dirigere non potcrat, quasi per industriam res. tanraret. Denique apprehendebant pueri ejus manus hominum, alii vero pedes, tractosque diversas iu partes, ita ut nervi putarentur abrumpi : cum non sanarentur, dimittebantur exanimes. Unde factum est ut in hoc supplicio multi spiritum exhalarent; tan tumque miser elatus erat, ut uiinorem K se beatum Martinum esse diceret, se vero apostolis coaequaret. Nec mirum, si hic similem se dicat apostolis, cum ille auctor nequitiæ, a quo ista procedunt, Christum se in fine sæculi fassurus sit. Nam de hoc animadversum est, ut superius diximus, errore necromanticæ artis fuisse imbutum. Quia, ut asserunt qui eum viderunt, cum quisque de co procul et abdite quidquam locutus fuisset mali, coram populo astante improperabat, dicens: Quia hoc et illud de me cflatus est, quæ sanctitate mea erant indigna. Et quo alio nisi nuntiantibus daemoniis id cognoscebat ? Habebat autem cucullum ac tunicam de pilis caprarum, et in praesenti quidem abstinens erat a cibis et potu ; clam autem cum in diversorium venisset, ita infarcibat in ore, ut minister non occurret et tantum poscenti pur. rigere. Sed detecta dolositate ejus, et a nostris de.. prehensa, ejectus est extra urbis terminum. Nec co- gnovimus deinceps quo abisset; dicebat 423 tamen civem se esse Burdegalensem. Nam et ante hos septem annos fuit et alius magnus valde seductor, qui inultos decepit dolositate sua. Hie enim colobio b indutus erat, amictus desuper sindone , crucem ferens, de qua dependebant ampullula, quas dicebat oleum.sanctum habere. Aiebat enim se de llispaniis adventare, ac reliquias beatissimorum martyrum Vincentii levitæ, Felicisque martyris i exhibere. Sed cum jam vespere ad basilicain sancti Martini Turonis advenisset, et nos in convivio resideremus, mandatum misit, dicens : Occurrant reliquiis sanctis. Cui nos, quia hora jam praeterierat, diximus : Requescant beate reliquiæ super altarium, donec mane procedamus ad occursum earum. Sed hie primo di- luculo consurgens, nee exspectatis nobis, adveuit cum cruce sua, et in cellula nostra adluit. Stupefactus ego, et admirans levitatem, interrogo, quia hæc sibi velint. Respondit quasi superbus et inflata, voce : Meliorem, inquit, occursum nohis exhibere debueras. Sec haec ego in aures Chilperici II regis ingeram : ille autem ulciscetur despectionem meam. Et ingressus in oratorium, me postposito, ipse capitellum unum , atque alterum, ac tertium dicit; ipse orationem profert, et ipse consummat, elevataque iterum cruce abiit. Erat eniin ei et sermo rusticus, et ipsius linguæ latitudo turpis atque obscoena; sed nec dc eo sermo rationabilis procedebat : qui usque Parisios accessit. His enim diebus Rogationes publicæ celebrabantur, quae ante sanctum Dominicæ AscenSionis dietu agi solent. Factum est autem, ut procedente Ragnemodo pontifice cum populo suo, et loca Sancta circumeunte, ut et hic cnm cruce sua adre- niens, inusitatum populis exhibens indumentum, adjunctisque publicanis ac rusticis mulieribus, et iste chorum suum faceret, et quasi cum sua multitudine loca sancta circumire tentat, Haec cernens episcopus, misit archidiaconum suum , dicens : Si reliquias sanctorum exhibes, pone eas paululum 424 in basilica, et nobiscum celebra dies sanctos; decursa aute:n solemnitate, proficisceris in viam tuam. At ille parvipendens quæ ab archidiacono dicebantur, cœpit episcopum conviciis ac maledictionibus prosequi. Sacerdos vero intelligens eum esse seductorem, jussit eum recludi in cellulam. Perscrutatisque cunctis quae habebat, invenit eum eo sacculum magnum plenum de radicibus diversarum herbarum; ibique et dentes talpae, et ossa murium, et ungues atque adipes ursinos. Vidensque hæc maleficia esse, cuncta jussit in flumen projici, ablataque ei cruce, jussit eum a termino Parisiacæ urbis excludi. Sed hic iterum facia altera cruce, coepit quae gesserat exercere; captusque ab archidiacono, et catenis vinctus, jussus est custodiri. His diebus Parisios adveneram, et ad basilicam beati Juliani martyris b metatum habebam. Nocte igitur insequenti erumpens miser iste de custodia, cum ipsis quibus erat nexus catenis ad antedictam basilicam sancti Juliani properat : atque in p vimento in loco quo ego stare eram solIus, ruit, ac sopore vinoque oppressus obdormivit. Nos vero ignari facti, media surgentes nocte ad reddendas Domino gratias, invenimus eum dormientem : de quo tantus foetor [Al. paedor] egrediebatur, ut omnium cloacarum atque secessuum foetores foetor ille deviccril. Sed nec nos prae hoc foetore in basilicam sanetam ingredi poteramus. Accedens vero unus clericorum, clausis naribus eum excitare nititur, nec potuit, ita enim erat miser madefactus vino. Tunc quatuor accedentes clerici, levantes eutn inter mannis, in unum angulum basilicæ projeccrunt; et ex hibentes aquas, abluto pavimento, resperso * tiam berbulis odoratis, sic ingressi sumus explere cursumc: nunquam tamen nobis psallentibus potuit excitari, donec dato terris die altius solis lampas ascenderet: dehinc excusatum reddidi sacerdoti. Convenientibus autem episcopis apud urbem Parisiacam, dum haec in convivio narraremus,425 ipsum pro castigationis gratia adesse præcipimus. Quo astante, elcvatis Amelius Beorretanæ urbis d episcopus oculis, co- guoscit eum suum esse famulum, sibique per fuga. dilapsum, et sic excusatum receptum reduxit in patriam. Multi enim sunt qni has seductiones exercentes populum rusticum in errorem ponere non desistunt : de quibus, ut opinor, et Dominus in Evangelio ait , Consurgere e in novissimis temporibus pseudochristos, et pseudoprophetas, qui dantes signa el prodigia. etiam electos in errorem inducant (Mattk. xxiv, 24). De his ista sufficiant : nos potius ad pro. positum redeamus.

VI. That year there was in the city of Tours a man named Desiderius, who said he was someone great, claiming that he could work many miracles. He even boasted that messengers ran back and forth between himself and the apostles Peter and Paul. Since I was not there, a great crowd of country people had flocked to him, bringing with them the blind and the crippled, whom he sought not to heal by holiness but to delude by the error of his necromantic craft. Those who were paralysed, or hampered by some other disability, he would order to be stretched forcibly, so that those he could not straighten by the gift of divine power he might restore, as it were, by his own effort. So his servants would seize some people's hands, and others their feet, and pull them in different directions until it seemed their sinews would snap; and when they were not healed, they were let go half dead. As a result many breathed their last under this torment; and the wretch was so puffed up that he said the blessed Martin was lesser than he, and made himself equal to the apostles. And no wonder if this man calls himself like the apostles, when that author of wickedness from whom these things proceed will declare himself to be Christ at the end of the world. For it was noticed of him, as we said above, that he was steeped in the error of the necromantic art. For, as those who saw him affirm, whenever anyone had said anything bad about him far away and in secret, he would reproach that person openly before the people standing by, saying: “He has said this and that about me, things unworthy of my holiness.” And how else did he know it, unless demons told him? He had a hood and a tunic of goats' hair, and in public he abstained from food and drink; but in secret, when he had come to his lodging, he would cram his mouth so that his attendant could not keep up with handing him as much as he demanded. But his deceit was uncovered and caught out by our people, and he was thrown out beyond the city's boundary. We did not learn afterwards where he went; he said, however, that he was a citizen of Bordeaux. Seven years before this there was also another, a very great deceiver, who misled many by his trickery. He was dressed in a sleeveless tunic, with a linen cloak over it, and carried a cross from which hung little flasks which he said held holy oil. He said he was coming from Spain and was bringing relics of the most blessed martyrs Vincent the deacon and Felix the martyr. When he had arrived in the evening at the basilica of Saint Martin at Tours, while we were sitting at dinner, he sent a message saying: “Let them come out to meet the holy relics.” Since the hour was already past, we said to him: “Let the blessed relics rest on the altar until we go out in the morning to meet them.” But he rose at first light and, without waiting for us, came with his cross and appeared in our cell. I was astonished, and wondering at his effrontery I asked what this meant. He answered as if in pride and in a swollen voice: “You ought to have given us a better reception. But I will pour this into the ears of King Chilperic, and he will avenge the slight to me.” And going into the oratory, pushing me aside, he himself said one versicle, then a second and a third; he himself said the prayer and he himself concluded it, and lifting up his cross again he went away. His speech was uncouth, and the broadness of his very tongue foul and obscene; nor did any reasonable talk come from him. He went on as far as Paris. At that time the public Rogations were being held, which are usually performed before the holy day of the Lord's Ascension. And it happened that while Bishop Ragnemod was in procession with his people, going round the holy places, this man too arrived with his cross, displaying his unusual dress to the people, and gathering publicans and country women to himself he formed his own choir, and tried to go round the holy places with his own multitude, as it were. Seeing this, the bishop sent his archdeacon, saying: “If you are carrying relics of the saints, set them down for a little while in the basilica and celebrate the holy days with us; when the feast is over, you shall go on your way.” But he, making light of what the archdeacon said, began to assail the bishop with insults and curses. The bishop, realising that he was a deceiver, ordered him to be shut up in a cell. When everything he had was searched, he found with him a large bag full of roots of various herbs, and in it also moles' teeth, mice's bones, and bears' claws and fat. Seeing that these were instruments of sorcery, he ordered them all thrown into the river, and, having taken his cross from him, ordered him to be expelled from the territory of the city of Paris. But he made another cross and began to do again what he had done before; he was seized by the archdeacon, bound in chains, and ordered to be kept under guard. In those days I had come to Paris and had my lodging at the basilica of the blessed martyr Julian. On the following night this wretch broke out of custody and hurried, in the very chains with which he was bound, to the aforesaid basilica of Saint Julian; and he fell down on the pavement at the spot where I used to stand, and, overcome by drowsiness and wine, fell asleep. Knowing nothing of what had happened, we rose at midnight to give thanks to the Lord and found him asleep; such a stench came from him that it surpassed the stenches of all sewers and privies. Indeed we could not enter the holy basilica because of this stench. One of the clerics went up and, holding his nose, tried to wake him, but could not, so sodden with wine was the wretch. Then four clerics came up, lifted him in their hands and threw him into a corner of the basilica; and fetching water, they washed the pavement and strewed it with sweet-smelling herbs, and so we went in to complete the office. Yet for all our psalm-singing he could not be woken, until day had been given to the earth and the lamp of the sun had climbed higher. After that I handed him back to the bishop, having pleaded for him. When the bishops were meeting in the city of Paris and we were telling this story at dinner, we ordered him to be present, for the sake of correcting him. As he stood there, Amelius, bishop of the city of Bigorre, raised his eyes and recognised him as his own servant who had run away from him; and so, having pleaded for him, he took him back and brought him home to his own country. For there are many who practise these deceptions and do not cease to lead country people into error; of them, I think, the Lord also says in the Gospel that in the last times there will arise false christs and false prophets who, giving signs and wonders, will lead even the elect into error (Matt. 24:24). Let this suffice about them; let us rather return to our subject.

XXV. At in Galliis Massiliensem Provinciam morbus saepe nominatus invasit: Andegavos, Namneticos, atque Cenomanicos valida fames oppressit. Initia suni eniiu haec dolorum, juxta illud quod Dominus ait in Evangelio : Erunt pestilentiæ et fames, et terramotu. per loca (Matlh. XXIV, 7) ; et exsurgent pseudochrisli, et pseudoprophetæ (Ibid. xxiv, 11) ; et dabunt signa et prodigia in coelo, ila at electos in errorem mittant (Marc. XIII, 22). Sicut præsenti gestum est tempore. Quidam euim ex Biturico, ut ipse postmodum est professus, dum saltus silvarum ingressus, ligna cæderel ad explendam operis cujusdam necessitatem, muscarum eum circumsedit examen , qua de causa per biennium amens est habitus : unde intelligi datur diabolicae emissionis fuisse nequitiam. Posthæc transactis urbibus propinquis, Arelatensem Provinciam adiit, ibique indutus pellibus, .quasi religiosus orabat : ad quem illudendum pars adversa, divinandi ei tribuit facutatem. Ex hoe ut in majori proficeret scelere, commotus a loco, Provinciam memoratam deserens, Gabalitanæ f regionis terminum est ingressus, proferens 519 se magnum, ac profiteri se non metuens Christum, assumpta secum muliere quadam pro sorore, quam Mariam vocitari fecit. Confluebat ad eum multitudo populi, exhibens infirmos, quos contingens sanitati reddebat. Conferebant enim ei aurum argentumque, ac vestimenta, ii qui ad eum conveniebant. Quod ille, quo facilius seducerei, pauperibus erogabat, prosternens se solo, effundens orationem cum muliere memora a, et surgens se iterum a circumstantibus adorari jubebat. Prædicebat enim futura, et quibusdam morbos, quibusdam damna provenire denuntiabat, paucis salutem futuram. Sed haec omnia diabolicis artibus, et præstigiis nescio quibus agebat. Seducta est autem per eum multitudo immensa populi, et non solum rusticiores, verum etiam sacerdotes ecclesiastici. Sequebantur autem eum amplius quam tria millia populi. Interea coepit quosdam spoliare ac praedari, quos in itinere reperisset : spolia tamen non habentibus largiebatur. Episcopis ac civibus minas morts intentabat, eo quod ab iis adorari despicerctur. Ingressus autem Vellavæ urbis terminum, ad locum quem Aniciunl a vo<itant accedit; et ad basilicas propinquas cum omni exercitu restitit, instruens aciem, qualiter Aurelio b ibidem tunc consistenti episcopo bellum inferret, mittens etiam ante se nuntios, homines nudo corpore, saltantes atque ludentes, qui adventum ejusannuntiarent. Quod stupens episcopus, direxit ad eum viros strenuos, inquirentes quid sibi Vellent ista quae gereret. Unus aUtem ex iis qui erat senior, cum se inclinasset quasi osculaturus genua ejus ac discussurus viam illius, jussit eum apprehensum spoliari : nec mora, ille eVaginato gladio in frusta concidit, ceciditqUe Christus ille, qUi magis Antichristus nominari 520 debet, et mortuus est, dispersique sunt oinnes qui cum eo eraut. Maria aulem illa, suppliciis dedita , omnia phantasmata ejus Credendum diabolica circumventione turbaverat, nunquam ad sensum integrum sunt regressi, sed hunc semper quasi Christum, Mariam autem illam partem deitatis habere profitebantur. Sed et per totas Gallias emerserunt plerique, qui per has pr£a:stigias adjungentes Sibi mulierculas quasdam, quæ debacchanics sanctos eos confiterentur, magnos se in populis præfercbant : ex quibus nos plerosqUe vidimus, quos objurganteS revocare ab errore nisi sumus.

XXV. In Gaul the disease often mentioned invaded the province of Marseille, and a severe famine oppressed the people of Angers, Nantes and Le Mans. For these are the beginnings of sorrows, as the Lord says in the Gospel: “There will be pestilences and famines and earthquakes in various places” (Matt. 24:7); “and false christs and false prophets will arise” (ibid. 24:11); “and they will give signs and wonders in the sky, so as to lead the elect into error” (Mark 13:22). And so it happened at the present time. A certain man from Bourges, as he himself afterwards confessed, had gone into the forest glades and was cutting wood to meet the needs of some work, when a swarm of flies surrounded him; for this reason he was held to be out of his mind for two years. From this one may understand that it was a wickedness sent by the devil. After this he passed through the neighbouring cities and went to the province of Arles, and there, dressed in skins, he prayed as if he were a man of religion; and to make sport of him, the Adversary gave him the power of divination. Then, to advance in greater wickedness, he moved from that place, left the said province, and entered the territory of the Gévaudan, proclaiming himself someone great and not afraid to profess himself Christ, taking with him a certain woman as his sister, whom he had called Mary. A multitude of people flocked to him, bringing the sick, whom he touched and restored to health. Those who came to him brought him gold and silver and clothing. He gave these away to the poor, the more easily to lead them astray, prostrating himself on the ground and pouring out prayer with the woman mentioned; and rising again, he ordered those standing around to worship him. He foretold the future, and announced that sickness would come to some, losses to others, and to a few well-being to come. But all this he did by devilish arts and by I know not what illusions. An immense multitude of people was led astray by him, and not only the simpler country folk but even priests of the Church. More than three thousand people followed him. Meanwhile he began to rob and plunder some whom he met on the road; the spoils, however, he gave away to those who had nothing. He threatened bishops and citizens with death because they disdained to worship him. Entering the territory of the city of Velay, he came to the place they call Anicium; and he halted with his whole army at the nearby basilicas, drawing up a battle line to make war on Aurelius, who was then bishop there, and sending messengers ahead of him, men with naked bodies, dancing and capering, to announce his coming. The bishop, astonished at this, sent capable men to him to ask what these doings of his meant. When one of them, the senior, had bowed down as if to kiss his knees and to question him about his doings, he ordered him to be seized and stripped; at once he drew his sword and cut him to pieces, and that Christ, who ought rather to be called Antichrist, fell and died, and all who were with him were scattered. That Mary, handed over to torture, all his phantasms [...]; [those] whom he had thrown into confusion by devilish deceit so that they believed [in him] never returned to a sound mind, but always professed that he was, as it were, Christ, and that that Mary had a share in the godhead. Throughout all Gaul, too, many arose who by these tricks attached to themselves certain foolish women, who in their frenzy would proclaim them saints, and so set themselves up as great among the people; we have seen many of them, and have tried by rebuking them to call them back from their error.