Book 7

2. Now when Chilperic had died and had found the death he had long been looking for, the men of Orleans united with those of Blois made an attack on the people of Châteaudun and defeated them, taking them off their guard; they burned their houses and crops and whatever they could not carry away conveniently, and they plundered flocks and herds and carried off all that was not fast. Upon their departure the men of Châteaudun with the rest of the men of Chartres pursued them closely and treated them in the same way as they were treated, leaving nothing in their houses or outside their houses or of their houses. And while they were still abusing one another and raging, and the men of Orleans were ready to fight the men of Chartres, the counts intervened and at a hearing before them peace was made, on condition that on the day when court was to be held the side which had flamed out wrongfully against the other should make payment according to justice. And thus the war was ended.

[3. Vidast is slain in a quarrel with the Saxon Childeric, who settles for it
by a payment to Vidast's sons.

4. Fredegunda takes refuge in a church. Childebert gets some of her treasures.

5. Fredegunda invites Gunthram to take Chilperic's kingdom and become guardian to her son. He goes to Paris. Childebert also approaches the city]

6. When the people of Paris refused to admit Childebert he sent legates to king Gunthram, saying: "I know, most righteous father, that it is not unknown to your goodness how up to the present time the enemy has defrauded us both so that neither of us could find justice for what was due him. Therefore I humbly beg you now to keep the agreement that was made between us after my father's death." Then king Gunthram said to the legates: "O wretches, always faithless, you have no truth in you and you, do not stick to your promises; behold, you failed in all your promises to me and entered into a new compact with king Chilperic to drive me from my kingdom and divide my cities between you. Here is your compact; here are your very signatures by which you connived together. With what face do you now ask me to receive my nephew Childebert whom you wished to make my enemy by your perversity ? " To which .the legates said: "If you are so possessed with anger as not to keep your promises to your nephew, at least cease taking what is due to him from Charibert's kingdom." But he replied: "Here is the agreement entered into with my brothers that whoever entered Paris without his brother's consent should lose his part, and Polioctus the martyr and Hilarius and Martin the confessors were to be his judges and punishers. After this my brother Sigibert entered, who died by the judgment of God and lost his part. So did Chilperic. Now they lost their parts by these wrongdoings. Therefore since they have died by the judgment of God in accordance with the curses in the compact, I will subject all Charibert's kingdom with its treasures to my rule by right of law, nor will I grant anything to any one from it except of my own free will. Away with you then, you everlasting liars and traitors, and take this word to your king."

7. They departed, but legates came again from Childebert to the king I have mentioned, demanding queen Fredegunda, and saying: "Give up that murderess who strangled my aunt [note: Galesuenta, see p. 90 (Book IV:28)] and killed my father and uncle and also slew my cousins with the sword." But he answered: "In the court which we hold we decide everything and consider what ought to be done. " For he was supporting Fredegunda and used often to invite her to dinner promising that he would be her strongest defender. And one day when they were dining together the queen rose and said farewell but was detained by the king, who said: "Eat something more" But she replied: "Pardon me, pray, my lord, for according to the custom of women I must rise because of having conceived." Upon hearing this he was amazed, knowing that it was the fourth month since she had borne a son, but he permitted her to rise. Now the leading men of Chilperic's kingdom, like Ansoald and the rest gathered about his son, who, as we have stated, was four months old and was named Clothar, and they exacted oaths in the cities that formerly looked to Chilperic to be faithful to king Gunthram and his nephew Clothar. And king Gunthram by process of justice restored all that king Chilperic's followers had wrongfully taken from various sources, and he himself gave much to the churches, and he gave effect to the wills of the dead which had contained bequests to churches and had been broken by Chilperic, and he was generous to many and gave much to the poor.

8. But inasmuch as he had no trust in the men among whom he had come, he guarded himself with armed men, and never went to church or to the other places he took pleasure in visiting without a strong guard. And so one Lord's day, when the deacon had called for silence among the people for the hearing of the mass, the king rose and addressed the people: "I adjure you, men and women who are present, to think it worth while to keep unbroken faith with me, and not to kill me as you lately did my brothers, and to allow me for three years at least to help my nephews who have become my adopted sons. For it may perchance happen if I die while they are little that you will perish at the same time-may the eternal Deity not allow it-since there will be no one of our family strong enough to protect you. " When he said this all the people poured forth prayers to the Lord for the king.

9. While this was going on, Riguntha, king Chilperic's daughter arrived at Toulouse with the treasures described above. And seeing she was now near the Gothic boundary she began to contrive excuses for delay, and her people told her also that she ought to remain there for a time since they were wearied with the journey and their clothing was rough, their shoes torn, and the harness and carriages which had been brought on wagons were not yet put together. They ought first to make all these preparations with care and then set out on the journey and be received in all elegance by her betrothed, and not be laughed at by the Goths if they appeared among them in a rough condition. While they were delaying for these reasons, Chilperic's death was reported to duke Desiderius. And he gathered his bravest men and entered Toulouse and finding the treasures took them from the queen's control and put them in a certain house sealed up and under the guard of brave men, and he allowed the queen a scanty living until she should return to the city.

[10. Gundovald is proclaimed king.

11. A list of prodigies pointing to Gundovold's death.

12. Tours is forced to become subject to Guntram.

13. Poitiers also comes under Gunthram's control.]

14. Now when court was held, bishop Egidius, Gunthram Boso, Sigivald, and many others were sent by king Childebert to king Gunthram, and they went in to him and the bishop said: "Most righteous king, we thank the all­powerful God that he has retored you after many toils to your own land and kingdom." And the king said to him: "Yes, it is to the King of kings and Lord of lords who in his mercy thought it right to accomplish this, that due thanks should be given. For it is certainly not to you, whose treacherous counsel and perjuries my land was burned over a year ago; you never kept good faith with any man; your crooked dealings are everywhere; it is not a bishop, but an enemy of my kingdom that you show yourself to be." At these the bishop, though enraged, was silent; But one of the legates spoke: "Your nephew Childebert begs you to order the cites which his father held to be given back to him." At this he replied: "I told you before that our compacts give them to me and therefore I refuse to restore them." Another of the legates said: "Your nephew asks you to order the sorceress Fredegunda, through whom many kings have been killed, to be surrendered to him, so that he can avenge the death of his father, uncle and cousins." "She shall not be given into his power," said Gunthram, "because she has a son who is king. Besides I do not believe that what you say against her is true." Then Gunthram Boso approached the king as if he were going to make some request. But since it had been certainly reported that he had raised Gundovald up as king, Gunthram spoke before him and said: " You enemy of my country and kingdom, who went a few years ago to the East for the express purpose of bringing Ballomer"-so he used to call Gundovald-"into my kingdom, you who are always treacherous and never perform what you promise." Gunthram Boso replied: "You are lord and king and sit on a royal throne ­ and no one ventures to make answer to what you say. Now I say that I am innocent of this charge. And if there is any one of my rank who secretly makes this charge against me, let him come now openly and make it. Then, most righteous king, I will leave it to the judgment of God to decide when he sees us fighting on a level field." At this all were silent and the king added: "All ought to be eager to drive from our territories an adventurer whose father was a miller; and to tell the truth his father was in charge of the combs and wove wool." And although it is possible for one man to be master of two trades, still one of them answered in ridicule of the king: "Therefore, as you say, this man had two fathers at the same time, one a worker in wool, the other a miller. Fie on you, king, to say such an outlandish thing. For it is an unheard of thing that one man should have two fathers at the same time except in a spiritual sense." Then they laughed without restraint and another legate said: "We bid you good­by, O king. Although you have refused to restore your nephew's cities we know that the ax is still safe that was driven into your brothers' heads. It will soon strike yours." Thus they went off in a quarrelsome spirit. Then the king, inflamed at their insults, ordered his men to throw on their heads as they went rotted horse­dung, chips, hay and straw covered with filth, and the stinking refuse from the city. And they were badly fouled and went off amid unmeasured insult and abuse.