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⁵ While it would be simplistic to dismiss Gregory of Tours as a mere misogynist, Dick Harrison observes that of the 197 women (approximately 15% of a total of 1,346 individuals) who appear in the Historiae, 27 out of 59 ascribed characteristics are portrayed negatively. Merovingian queens could acquire political influence through kinship and marital ties, acting as regents for underage sons, through their access to financial resources, and by patronizing secular and ecclesiastical clients. The Age of Abbesses and Queens: Gender and Political Culture in Early Medieval Europe (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 1998), 75–76Google Scholar. On the sources of political influence, see Wemple, Suzanne, Women in Frankish Society (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981), 58–70Google Scholar; Stafford, Pauline, Queens, Concubines, and Dowagers: The King's Wife in the Early Middle Ages (Athens, Ga.: The University of Georgia Press, 1983), 104–106Google Scholar; Nelson, Janet, “Queens as Jezebels: Brunhild and Balthild in Merovingian History”, in Politics and Ritual in Early Medieval Europe, ed. Nelson, Janet (London: Hambledon Press, 1986), 4–9Google Scholar; Harrison, , The Age of Abbesses and Queens, 205–211Google Scholar. On female violence in Francia, see Pancer, Nina, Sans peur et sans vergogne (Paris: Albin Michel, 2001), 211–257Google Scholar; Gradowicz–Pancer, Nina, “De–gendering Female Violence: Merovingian Female Honour as an Exchange of Violence,” Early Medieval Europe, 11, no. 1 (2002), 1–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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⁷ Wood, “The Secret Histories of Gregory of Tours,” 253–270; Wood, Ian, “The Individuality of Gregory of Tours,” in The World of Gregory of Tours, ed. Mitchell, Kathleen and Wood, Ian (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 29–46Google Scholar.

⁸ Goffart, Walter, The Narrators of Barbarian History, paperback ed. (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005), 112–234Google Scholar.

⁹ See, for example, the individual contributions to Mitchell, Kathleen and Wood, Ian, eds., The World of Gregory of Tours (Leiden: Brill, 2002)Google Scholar.

¹⁰ See the observation of Halsall, “Nero and Herod,” 337–338.

¹¹ Verdon, Jean, Grégoire de Tours (Le Côteau: Horvath, 1989), 78–79Google Scholar. For a helpful summary of various multi-stage dating schemas for the Historiae, see Halsall, “The Preface to Book V of Gregory of Tours' Histories,” 306–307.

¹² Wood, “The Secret Histories of Gregory of Tours,” 254–257.

¹³ Wood, “The Secret Histories of Gregory of Tours,” 257–259.

¹⁴ Halsall, “Nero and Herod,” 337–350.

¹⁵ Alexander C. Murray makes a persuasive case that the Historiae in their entirety were composed between 585 and 594. “Chronology and the Composition of the Histories of Gregory of Tours,” Journal of Late Antiquity, 1 (2008), 157–196CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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¹⁷ Gregory of Tours, Libri de Virtutibus Sancti Martini Episcopi, Monumenta Germaniae Historica [hereafter MGH] Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum [hereafter SRM] 1:2, ed. Krusch, Bruno (Hanover: Hahn, 1885), I.29Google Scholar.

¹⁸ Fredegar, Chronica, MGH SRM 2, ed. Krusch, Bruno (Hanover: Hahn, 1888)Google Scholar, III.93: “Crudelissimam vitam digna morte finivit.” On the compositional context of Fredegar's Chronicle, see Wood, Ian, “Fredegar's Fables,” in Historiographie im frühen Mittelalter, ed. Scharer, Anton and Scheibelreiter, Georg (Vienna: Oldenbourg, 1994), 359–66Google Scholar; Collins, Roger, Fredegar (Aldershot: Variorum, 1996)Google Scholar.

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²⁰ Gerberding, Richard, The Rise of the Carolingians and the Liber Historiae Francorum (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987), 155–156Google Scholar.

²¹ Liber Historiae Francorum, chapter 36: “. . . maleficia Fredegundis reginiae.”

²² Capitularia Regum Francorum, MGH Leges 2:1, ed. Boretius, Alfred (Hanover: Hahn, 1883), 8–10Google Scholar; Weidemann, Margarete, Das Testament des Bischofs Berthramn von Le Mans vom 27. März 616 (Mainz: Verlag des Romisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, 1982)Google Scholar.

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²⁴ Brennan, Brian, “The Career of Venantius Fortunatus,” Traditio 41 (1985), 74–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar; George, Judith, “Poet as Politician: Venantius Fortunatus' Panegyric to King Chilperic,” Journal of Medieval History 15:1 (1989), 5–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Coates, Simon, “Venantius Fortunatus and the Image of Episcopal Authority in Late Antique and Early Merovingian Gaul,” English Historical Review 115, no. 464 (2000), 1135–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²⁵ Fortunatus, Carmina, IX.1.144: “Sis quoque catholicis religionis apex.” C.f. Heinzelmann, Gregory of Tours, 183, note 93, who sees the absence of references in this poem to Chilperic's relations with his bishops as evidence that Chilperic sought to avoid employing “bishops as participants or councilors in his exercise of power.” Presumably, the bishops in attendance at Berny would have disagreed with this assessment. Additionally, in the same note, Heinzelmann admonishes Judith George for failing to note the absence of any discussion of Chilperic's episcopal relations. In fact, George, “Poet as Politician,” 12–13, reads lines 51–52 (“Noxia dum cuperent hostes tibi bella parare, pro te pugnavit fortis in arma fides”) as being in reference to Chilperic's reliance upon the support of his bishops.

²⁶ For the most recent (and thorough) effort, see Armand, Frédéric, Chilpéric Ier: petit fils de Clovis, grand-père de Dagobert, le roi assassiné deux fois (Cahors: La Louve Éditions, 2008)Google Scholar. Armand (pp. 152–270) acknowledges Chilperic's respectful attitude towards the church and its bishops. For Gregory's explicit critiques, see Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, MGH SRM 1:1, ed. Krusch, Bruno and Levison, Wilhelm (Hanover: Hahn, 1937–51), V.44 and VI.46Google Scholar.

²⁷ de Pizan, Christine, The Book of the City of Ladies, trans. Brown-Grant, Rosalind (London: Penguin Classics, 1999), 31Google Scholar. Thus, for Wemple, Women in Frankish Society, 63–64, Fredegund is a woman of “courage and acumen,” but also, “ruthless and manipulative.” For Goffart, The Narrators of Barbarian History, 224, she is “savage but resolute.” For Wood, Ian, The Merovingian Kingdoms (London: Longman, 1994), 124Google Scholar, she is “a model, if somewhat bloodthirsty, queen.”

²⁸ On Chilperic's efforts at imitatio imperii, see Bachrach, Bernard, Anatomy of a Little War: A Diplomatic and Military History of the Gundovald Affair, 568–586 (Boulder: Westview Press, 1994), 35–38Google Scholar

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³² Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IV.3. The true parentage of the pretender Gundovald is uncertain.

³³ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IV.22. On the partition of 511, see Ewig, Eugen, “Die fränkischen Teilungen und Teilreiche (511–613),” in Spätantikes und fränkisches Gallien, ed. Atsma, Hartmut (Munich: Artemis, 1976–2009), I.114–128Google Scholar. The Kingdom of Soissons included in 561 the civitates of Soissons, Amiens, Boulogne, Therouanne, Tournai, Cambrai, Arras, Noyon, Toulouse, and possibly other cities within the southern province of Novempopulana. On Soissons as a royal center, see Ewig, Eugen, “Résidence et capitale pendant le Haut Moyen Age,” in Spätantikes und fränkisches Gallien, ed. Atsma, Hartmut (Munich: Artemis, 1976–2009), I.386Google Scholar.

³⁴ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IV.23.

³⁵ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IV.51.

³⁶ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IV.28. On Merovingian polygamy, see Wemple, Women in Frankish Society, 38–41.

³⁷ Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms, 123–124.

³⁸ Ewig, “Die fränkischen Teilungen,” 138–139.

³⁹ Ewig, “Die fränkischen Teilungen,” 139–140.

⁴⁰ For the treaty of Andelot between Childebert II, his mother Brunhild, and Guntram, see Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IX.20. Among those civitates redistributed were those originally given to Chilperic's wife Galswinth as a morgengabe.

⁴¹ Weidemann, Das Testament des Bischofs Berthramn von Le Mans, 149–151, has reconstructed Chlothar's regnum circa 584 as consisting of the following civitates: Boulogne, Therouanne, Tournai, Arras, Amiens, Vermand-Noyon, Rouen, Beauvais, Coutances, Bayeux, Lisieux, Evreux, Rennes, Le Mans, Angers, and possibly Avranches.

⁴² As described by Fredegar, Chronica, IV.42.

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⁴⁵ On the legal value of conciliar canones, see Halfond, Gregory, The Archaeology of Frankish Church Councils, AD 511–768 (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 131–158Google Scholar.

⁴⁶ On the aristocratic backgrounds of sixth-century Merovingian-era bishops, see Heinzelmann, Martin, Bischofsherrschaft in Gallien (Munich: Artemis, 1976)Google Scholar. Matthew Innes exaggerates the dichotomy between central and peripheral political power, but is correct to emphasize the importance of episcopal office-holders as important sources of local auctoritas. See State and Society in the Early Middle Ages, the Middle Rhine Valley 400–1000 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 254,Google Scholar.

⁴⁷ Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms, 75–77.

⁴⁸ Beck, Henry G., Pastoral Care of Souls in South-East France during the Sixth Century (Rome: Pontifical Gregorian University, 1950)Google Scholar.

⁴⁹ This was the lesson that Remigius of Rheims attempted to covey to Clovis in his first letter to the king, written after Clovis took control of the province of Belgica Secunda: Epistolae Austrasicae, MGH Epistolae 3, no. 2, ed. Gundlach, Wilhelm (Berlin: Weidmann, 1892), 113Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms, 79.

⁵¹ George, Judith, Venantius Fortunatus: A Latin Poet in Merovingian Gaul (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 51–2Google Scholar.

⁵² Fortunatus, Carmina, IX.1.51–52: “Noxia dum cuperent hostes tibi bella parare, pro te pugnavit fortis in arma fides.”

⁵³ I.e. Aetherius of Lisieux, Badegisel of Le Mans, Bertram of Le Mans, Bertram of Bordeaux, Egidius of Reims, Faramodus of Paris, Ferreolus of Limoges, Germanus of Paris, Leudovald of Bayeux, Malluf of Senlis, Palladius of Saintes, Melantius of Rouen, Nicetius of Dax, Nonnichius of Nantes, Ragnemodus of Paris, Amelius of Tarbes, and Unknown of Tournai. Similarly, a core group of seventeen prelates provided the basis for ecclesiastical support for Chilperic's brother, Guntram: Gregory Halfond, “All the King's Men: Episcopal Political Loyalties in the Merovingian Kingdoms,” Medieval Prosopography (forthcoming).

⁵⁴ I.e. Faramodus of Paris, Ragnemodus of Paris, Egidius of Rheims, Melantius of Rouen, Malluf of Senlis, Unknown of Tournai, Bertram of Bordeaux. I have not included here Bishop Felix of Chalon-sur-Marne, whom Guntram suspected of working to forge friendly relations between Brunhild and Fredegund, a charge which Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IX.20, explicitly denies.

⁵⁵ With Fredegund: Bertram of Le Mans, Amelius of Tarbes, and Palladius of Saintes. With Chilperic: Aetherius of Lisieux, Badegisel of Le Mans, Ferreolus of Limoges, Germanus of Paris, Leudovald of Bayeux, Nicetius of Dax, and Nonnichius of Nantes.

⁵⁶ In Neustria: Bertram of Le Mans, Melantius of Rouen, Aetherius of Lisieux, Leudovald of Bayeux, Faramodus of Paris, Germanus of Paris, Ragnemodus of Paris, Egidius of Reims, Unknown of Tournai, Malluf of Senlis, Badegisel of Le Mans, and Nonnichius of Nantes. In Aquitaine: Bertram of Bordeaux, Amelius of Tarbes, Palladius of Saintes, Ferreolus of Limoges, and Nicetius of Dax.

⁵⁷ That is Egidius of Rheims, Melantius of Rouen, and Bertram of Bordeaux. Rheims was a political capital of the Austrasian regnum, although Bishop Egidius frequently worked on behalf of the Neustrian monarchy. The three unnamed bishops mentioned by Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.9 have not been included in the tally.

⁵⁸ That is Bishops Germanus, Ragnemodus, and Faramodus.

⁵⁹ That is: Boulogne, Therouanne, Tournai, Cambrai/Arras, Amiens, Vermand/Noyon, Rouen, Beauvais, Coutances, Bayeux, Lisieux, and Evreux. See Weidemann, Das Testament des Bischofs Berthramn von Le Mans, 149–158.

⁶⁰ Weidemann, , Das Testament des Bischofs Berthramn von Le Mans, 125–127Google Scholar.

⁶¹ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.9. These three unnamed bishops have not been added to the tally of Fredegund's supporters, since they might have been prelates whose loyalty is explicitly attested elsewhere, such as Unknown of Tournai.

⁶² Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.31.

⁶³ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.3.

⁶⁴ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IX.13.

⁶⁵ Concilia aevi Merovingici, MGH Leges 3:1, ed. Maassen, Friedrich (Hanover: Hahn, 1893), 191Google Scholar.

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⁶⁷ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.5.

⁶⁸ As Breukelaar observed, good bishops, for Gregory, are pious, charitable, educated, capable administrators, and effective shepherds of their flocks. See Historiography and Episcopal Authority, 242–243. On the praise of good bishops by Gregory's contemporary, Venantius Fortunatus, see Roberts, Michael, The Humblest Sparrow: The Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2009), 38–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁶⁹ Tetricius and Nicetius were also, purely coincidentally of course, relations of Gregory: Heinzelmann, Gregory of Tours, 17 and 21.

⁷⁰ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.14 and V.50 respectively record visions by Gregory himself and Salvius of Albi predicting the deaths of Chilperic's sons. Heinzelmann, Gregory of Tours, 141, sees the vision of V.14 as anticipating that of V.50. On the implications of V.14 for the dating of the Histories, see Murray, “Chronology and the Composition of the Histories of Gregory of Tours,” 168–172. On dream-visions in the Historiae, see De Nie, Views from a Many-Windowed Tower, 268–293.

⁷¹ That is, Praetextatus of Rouen, Eunius of Vannes, Salvius of Albi, Charterius of Périgueux, Mundericus (bishop elect) of Langres, Gregory of Tours, and Leudovald of Bayeux (on whom, see above). Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.5, has Guntram accuse Bishop Theodore of Marseilles of colluding in Chilperic's murder as one of the Gundovald conspirators, although his guilt is far from certain, and Gregory himself seems to have believed in Theodore's innocence: Wood, “The Secret Histories of Gregory of Tours', 263–264.

⁷² On Chilperic's preference for ‘face-to-face’ confrontations with accused bishops, see Nelson, “Queens as Jezebels,” 46.

⁷³ Halfond, The Archaeology of Frankish Church Councils, 91.

⁷⁴ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.18.

⁷⁵ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.49.

⁷⁶ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V1.46.

⁷⁷ Wallace-Hadrill, The Frankish Church, 44.

⁷⁸ I.e. the Councils of Lyons (567/70), Paris (573), Chalon-sur-Saône (579), possibly Lyons (581), Troyes (585), Mâcon (585), Unknown (588), on which see Halfond, The Archaeology of Frankish Church Councils, 229–234.

⁷⁹ For example, Childebert I: Orleans (549), Paris (551/2); Childebert II: Verdun/Metz (590); Brunhild and Theuderic II: Chalon-sur-Saône (602/4). On these councils, see Halfond, The Archaeology of Frankish Church Councils, 227–228, and 235–236.

⁸⁰ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.20.

⁸¹ Armand, Chilpéric Ier: petit fils de Clovis, 252–3. C.f. Heinzelmann, Gregory of Tours, 184.

⁸² Armand, Chilpéric Ier: petit fils de Clovis, 111–112 and 139–140.

⁸³ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.22: “Proclamante vero episcopo et dicente, quod saepius hic ingenia quaereret, qualiter eum ab episcopatu deiceret, rex misericordia motus, commendans Deo causam suam, cessit utrisque, deprecans clementer episcopum pro diacono, et supplicans, ut pro se sacerdos oraret. Et sic cum honore urbi remissus est.”

⁸⁴ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.5.

⁸⁵ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.26.

⁸⁶ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.40.

⁸⁷ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.20.

⁸⁸ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.24, VIII.5, VIII.12–13.

⁸⁹ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.20.

⁹⁰ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.9.

⁹¹ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VII.31. Nicetius was the brother of Bishop Rusticus of Aire. On the Rustici, see Heinzelmann, Bischofsherrschaft in Gallien, 101–113.

⁹² Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.20.

⁹³ Heinzelmann, Martin, “L'aristocratie et les évêchés entre Loire et Rhin jusqu'a la fin du VIIe siècle,” in La Christianisation des pays entre Loire et Rhin (IVe-VIIe siècle), ed. Riché, Pierre (Paris: Editions du Cerf 1993), 81–82Google Scholar.

⁹⁴ Compare Heinzelmann, Gregory of Tours, 51–75 and 181–191, to Wood, “The Individuality of Gregory of Tours,” 44–45.

⁹⁵ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.22.

⁹⁶ Priscus' service is recorded in his epitaph: Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, II.168.

⁹⁷ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.45.

⁹⁸ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.39.

⁹⁹ Fredegar, Chronica, III.89.

¹⁰⁰ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.22.

¹⁰¹ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IV.18 and X.31. Similarly, Chilperic's nephew, Childebert II, was responsible for the appointment of the referendarius Charimer to the episcopate of Verdun: Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IX.23.

¹⁰² Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.15. On the existence of an episcopal dynasty in Nantes, see Heinzelmann, “L'aristocratie et les évêchés entre Loire et Rhin,” 85. On the comes Nonnichius, see Martindale, J. R., ed., The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), IIIB.947–8Google Scholar. On the identification of the vir inlustris Nonnichius mentioned in Venantius Fortunatus, Vita Sancti Germani, MGH AA 4:2, ed. Krusch, Bruno (Berlin: Weidmann, 1885), chapter 15Google Scholar8, see Heinzelmann, Bischofsherrschaft in Gallien, 214, note 180; Van Dam, Saints and their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul, 295, note 107.

¹⁰³ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VII.16.

¹⁰⁴ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VII.18.

¹⁰⁵ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.31 and VIII.41.

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¹⁰⁷ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, X.26.

¹⁰⁸ Fortunatus, Carmina, IX.12. On the identification of the referendarius Faramodus, see Karin Selle-Hosback, “Prosopographie merowingischer amsträger in der Zeit von 511 bis 613,” Ph.D. Diss. (Bonn: Universität zu Bonn, 1974), no. 91; Martindale, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, IIIA.477; Weidemann, Margarete, Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit nach den Werken Gregors von Tours (Mainz: Verlag des Romisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, 1982), 178Google Scholar.

¹⁰⁹ Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, II.467.

¹¹⁰ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.44. While the suggestion of Halsall, “Nero and Herod,” 340–341, that the Trinitarian debate occurred around the time of the Council of Berny is plausible, I follow Heinzelmann, Gregory of Tours, 144, in dating this debate to the days immediately following the council. This would better explain Gregory's willingness to confront Chilperic.

¹¹¹ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.5.

¹¹² Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.46: “Ecce pauper remansit fiscus noster, ecce divitiae nostrae ad eclesias sunt translatae; nulli penitus nisi soli episcopi regnant.”

¹¹³ Wallace-Hadrill, The Frankish Church, 124.

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¹¹⁹ Heinzelmann, Gregory of Tours, 185.

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¹²¹ C.f. Heinzelmann, Gregory of Tours, 185, who argues that the decree discussed above was “almost certainly accompanied by other comparable decrees [intended] to limit the social role of the churches.” No such decrees, if they ever existed, survive.

¹²² Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.34.

¹²³ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VII.4.

¹²⁴ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.27.

¹²⁵ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.46; Liber Historiae Francorum, ch. 35.

¹²⁶ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VII.19.

¹²⁷ E.g. Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.31, VII.14, VIII.31, and IX.20. On the late antique hagiographical tradition of episcopal ambassadors, see Gillett, Andrew, Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West, 411–533 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 113–171CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹²⁸ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.3.

¹²⁹ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.28. On Merovingian-Visigothic relations, see Wood, The Merovingian kingdoms, 169–175Google Scholar. On Fredegund and Brunhild's rivalry as a ‘bloodfeud,’ see Wallace-Hadrill, J. M., The Long-Haired Kings (London: Methuen and Co., 1962), 134–135Google Scholar; c.f. Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms, 127.

¹³⁰ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.29.

¹³¹ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.43.

¹³² Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.18.

¹³³ Van Dam, , Saints and their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul, 73–76Google Scholar; Wood, “The Individuality of Gregory of Tours,” 33 and 43; Halsall, “Nero and Herod,” 344–347.

¹³⁴ On Egidius's role in political conspiracies, including the Gundovald affair, see Goffart, Walter, “Byzantine Policy in the West under Tiberius and Maurice: The Pretenders Hermengild and Gundovald (579–585),” Traditio 13 (1957), 73–118CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bachrach, Anatomy of a Little War, 48–49, 78–81, and 107–108; Wood, “The Secret Histories of Gregory of Tours,” 267–268.

¹³⁵ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.18 and V.49.

¹³⁶ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VII.31, VIII.2, and VIII.20.

¹³⁷ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.7, VIII.22.

¹³⁸ Goffart, “Byzantine Policy in the West,” 104–105; Bachrach, , Anatomy of a Little War, 88–92Google Scholar.

¹³⁹ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.36.

¹⁴⁰ Capitularia Regum Francorum, 19 (chapters. 11–12). Although this is the standard attribution, recently Woll, Ingrid, Untersuchungen zu Überlieferung und Eigenart der merowingischen Kapitularien (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1995), 17–29Google Scholar, has identified Chlothar I as its author. C.f. however, da Silva, Marcelo Candido, “Le prince, la lex et la iustitia: le Bréviaire d'Alaric et l'Édit attribué à Clotaire II,” in Le Bréviaire d'Alaric aux origines du code civil, eds. Rouche, Michel and Dumézil, Bruno (Paris: Presses de l'Université de Sorbonne, 2008), 199–212, who also summarizes the debate concerning authorshipGoogle Scholar.

¹⁴¹ Weidemann, , Das Testament des Bischofs Berthramn von Le Mans, 8–9Google Scholar, no. 1 Fredegund and Chlothar conquered Étampes in 596 upon the death of Childebert II: Fredegar, Chronica, V. 17. Fredegund would die within a year of the victory.

¹⁴² Weidemann, , Das Testament des Bischofs Berthramn von Le Mans, 11–12Google Scholar, no. 4.

¹⁴³ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.39.

¹⁴⁴ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IX.18 and IX.41.

¹⁴⁵ Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms, 207.

¹⁴⁶ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IX.42.

¹⁴⁷ Baudonivia, Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, MGH SRM 2, ed. Krusch, Bruno (Hanover: Hahn, 1888), chapter 7Google Scholar; Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IX.39 and IX.42.

¹⁴⁸ Baudonivia, Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, chapter 10.

¹⁴⁹ Fortunatus, Carmina, IX.1.125–128.

¹⁵⁰ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.34. Gregory of Tours, Liber in Gloria Martyrum, MGH SRM 1:2, ed. Krusch, Bruno (Hanover: Hahn, 1885), chapter 5Google Scholar, reports without explanation that Chilperic ordered an orphaned blind girl named Chrodigildis to enter Radegund's monastery, where her sight was miraculously cured.

¹⁵¹ Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms, 73–75Google Scholar.

¹⁵² Capitularia Regum Francorum, 19, chapters. 11–12.

¹⁵³ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.34; Liber Historiae Francorum, ch. 34. Fortunatus composed epitaphs for the two princes: Fortunatus, Carmina, IX.4 and IX.5. On the Church of Sts. Crispus and Crispinian, see May Viellard-Troiekouroff, Les monuments religieux de la Gaule d'après les œuvres de Grégoire de Tours (Paris: H. Champion, 1976), 288–289Google Scholar. On St. Denis, see Viellard-Troiekouroff, Les monuments religieux de la Gaule, 252–53Google Scholar.

¹⁵⁴ Effros, Bonnie, Merovingian Mortuary Archaeology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), 122–123CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁵⁵ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.32.

¹⁵⁶ Flobert, Pierre, La vie ancienne de Samson de Dol (Paris: Éditions du CNRS, 1997), 19Google Scholar.

¹⁵⁷ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, III.29 and VIII.33. On the church of St. Vincent (later Saint-Germain-des-Prés), see Viellard-Troiekouroff, Les monuments religieux, 211–14Google Scholar; Picard, Jean-Charles, Beaujard, Brigitte, et al. , Province ecclésiastique de Sens (Paris: De Boccard, 1992), 119–122Google Scholar; Perin, Patrick, “Saint-Germain-des-Prés, première nécropole des rois de France,” in Médiévales 31 (1996), 29–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁵⁸ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.33.

¹⁵⁹ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IV.51.

¹⁶⁰ Epistolae Austrasicae, MGH Epistolae 3, ed. Gundlach, Wilhelm (Berlin: Weidmann, 1892), no. 9Google Scholar.

¹⁶¹ Gregory of Tours, Liber in Gloria Confessorum, MGH SRM 1:2, ed. Krusch, Bruno (Hanover: Hahn, 1885), chapter 88Google Scholar. For a different reading of this passage, see Halsall, “Nero and Herod,” 348.

¹⁶² Weidemann, , Das Testament des Bischofs Berthramn von Le Mans, 18–19, no. 18Google Scholar; Picard, Province ecclésiastique de Sens, 126–127Google Scholar.

¹⁶³ Brühl, Carlrichard, Kölzer, Theo, Hartmann, Martina, and Stieldorf, Andrea, eds, Die Urkunden der Merowinger (Hanover: Hahn, 2001), Dep. 58 and 59Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁴ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.34.

¹⁶⁵ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.46; Liber Historiae Francorum, ch. 35.

¹⁶⁶ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VIII.10.

¹⁶⁷ Liber Historiae Francorum, chapter 37. Erwin Panofsky notes that the mosaic slab marking Fredegund's tomb is a later replica, see Tomb sculpture: four lectures on its changing aspects from Ancient Egypt to Bernini (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1964), 50Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁸ On the Church of St Martin in Tours, see Viellard-Troiekouroff, Les monuments religieux, 311–24Google Scholar.

¹⁶⁹ On the Church of St. Medard in Soissons, see Viellard-Troiekouroff, Les monuments religieux, 289–90Google Scholar.

¹⁷⁰ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.14. Chilperic supposedly composed a letter to the saint asking whether Guntram Boso could be ejected from the saint's church, but he received no response.

¹⁷¹ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, VI.10.

¹⁷² Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, X.11. While Fredegund enjoyed considerable personal wealth, she had limited access to the funds of the royal fiscus. See Stafford, Queens, Concubines, and Dowagers, 104–105Google Scholar; Hen, Yitzhak, “Gender and the Patronage of Culture in Merovingian Gaul,” in Gender in the Early Medieval World, eds. Brubaker, Leslie and Smith, Julia M. H. (Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 2004), 227–229Google Scholar.

¹⁷³ Van Dam, Saints and their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul, 22–28. C.f. Ewig, Eugen, “Le culte de Saint Martin à l'époque Franque,” in Spätantikes und fränkisches Gallien, ed. Atsma, Hartmut (Munich: Artemis, 1976–2009), II.360–363Google Scholar.

¹⁷⁴ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, IV.19, IV.21, and IV.51. Medard of Noyon had consecrated Chlothar's wife Radegund a deaconess: Fortunatus, Venantius, Vita Radegundis, MGH AA 4:2, ed. Krusch, Bruno (Berlin: Weidmann, 1885), chapter 12Google Scholar.

¹⁷⁵ Van Dam, Saints and their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul, 72.

¹⁷⁶ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.3.

¹⁷⁷ Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini, MGH Poetae 4:2–3, ed. Strecker, Charles (Berlin: Weidmann, 1923), 455–457Google Scholar. For evaluations of Chilperic's poetic efforts, see Norberg, Dag, “La poésie du roi Chilperic,” in La poésie latine rythmique du Haut Moyen Age, ed. Norberg, Dag (Stockholm: Almquist and Wiksell, 1954), 31–40Google Scholar; Kindermann, Udo, “König Chilperich als lateinischer Dichter,” Sacris Erudiri 41 (2002), 247–272CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.44, expresses the bishop's own low opinion of the king's poetic efforts.

¹⁷⁸ Gregory of Tours, Decem Libri Historiarum, V.34.

¹⁷⁹ Wallace-Hadrill, The Frankish Church, 49.

¹⁸⁰ Halfond, The Archaeology of Frankish Church Councils, 67–69 and 200–208Google Scholar.