Book 9

[7. Ennodius, duke of Tours and Poitiers, is removed from office. The Gascons make an inroad on Frankish territory, and also the Goths. 8. Childebert desires to punish Gunthram Boso for the insults he had offered to Brunhilda during Childebert's minority. 9. Rauchingus, Ursio, and Bertefred, enemies of Brunhilda, plot Childebert's death. Rauchingus is trapped and brutally killed. Ursio and Bertefred take refuge in a stronghold]

10.

While this was going on king Gunthram sent a second time to his nephew Childebert saying: "Let there be no delay; come, that I may see you. For it is surely necessary for your own life as , well as for the public welfare that we see one another." Hearing this he took his mother, sister, and wife and hastened to meet his uncle. Bishop Magneric of the city of Trèves was present also, and Gunthram Boso came, whom bishop Ageric of Verdun had received in custody. But the bishop who had pledged his faith for him was not present, because the agreement was that he should appear before the king without any defender so that if the king decided that he must die he was not to be begged off by the bishop; and if the king granted him life he would go free. Now the kings met and he was judged guilty on various grounds and was ordered to be put to death. When he learned it he flew to Magneric's lodging and shutting the doors and sending the clerks and attendants away he said: "Most blessed bishop, I know that you have great honor with the kings. And now I flee to you to be rescued. Behold, the executioners are at the door, whence you may plainly know that if you do not save me I shall kill you and go outside and die. Let me tell you plainly that either one death overtakes us or an equal life shall protect us. O holy bishop, I know that you share with the king the place of father to his son [note: Godfather] and I am sure that whatever you ask you will obtain from him; he will not be able to deny your holiness anything you demand. Therefore either obtain my pardon or we shall die together." He said this with his sword unsheathed. The bishop was alarmed at what he heard and said: "And how can I do it if I am kept here by you. Let me go to beg the king's mercy and perhaps he will pity you." But replied: "By no means, but send abbots and men you trust to carry the message I propose." However, these matters were not reported as they were to the king, but they said that he was being protected by the bishop. And so the king was angry and said: "If the bishop refuses to come out let him die together with that doer of wickedness." The bishop when he was told this sent messengers to the king. And when they had told their story king Gynthram said: "Set fire to the house and if the bishop cannot come out let them be burned together." The clerks on hearing this burst open the door by force and got the bishop out. Then when the wretch saw that he was hemmed in by great flames on every side he approached the door with his sword. But as soon as he left the threshold and set foot outside at once one of the people threw a lance and struck his forehead. He was confused by this stroke and lost his head and tried to throw his sword but he was wounded by the bystanders with such a multitude of lances that with the heads sticking in his body and the shafts supporting him was unable to fall to the earth. A few who were with him were killed and exposed on the field at the same time. And permission to bury them was obtained from the princes only with difficulty. This man was faithless, headlong in avarice, greedy for other men's property beyond limit, swearing to all and fulfilling his promises to none. His wife and sons were sent into exile and his property confiscated. A great quantity of gold and silver and of valuables of different sorts was found in his stores. Moreover what he had concealed underground from a consciousness of wrongdoing did not remain hidden. He often made use of soothsayers and lots , desiring to learn the future from them, but was always deceived.

[11. Gunthram and Childebert settle their differences amicably. 12. Ursio and Bertefred are dislodged from their stronghold and slain. 13. Baddo is allowed to go free. Dysentery is severe in Metz. Wiliulf's wife marries a third time. 14. Bishop Egidius of Rheims makes his peace with Childebert.]

15.

Now at that time in Spain king Richared was influenced by the divine mercy and summoned the bishops of his religion and said to them: "Why are quarrels continually going on between you and the bishops who call themselves Catholic , ­ and when they do many miracles by their faith why can you do nothing of the sort? Therefore I beg you let us meet with them and examine the beliefs of both sides and find out what is true; and then either let them take our plan and believe what you say or else you recognize their truth and believe what they preach." This was done and the bishops of both sides gathered and the heretics expounded the doctrines that I have often described them as advocating. Likewise the bishops of our religion made the replies by which, as I have pointed out in the previous books, the heretics have been of ten defeated. And above all the king said that no miraculous cure of the infirm had been done by the bishops of the heretics, aid when he recalled to mind how in his father's time the bishop who boasted that he could restore sight to the blind by his faith which was not the true one had touched a blind man and [thus] condemned him to perpetual blindness and had come off in confusion ­ I have told this story more fully in the book of The Miracles ­ he summoned God's bishops to him separately. And by questioning then, he learned that it was one God that was worshiped with distinction of three persons, namely, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and the Son was not inferior to the Father nor the Holy Ghost, nor the Holy Ghost inferior to the Father nor the Son, but they were equal and alike all-powerful, and in this Trinity they confessed the true God. Then Richared perceived the truth and ending the argument he placed himself under the Catholic law, and receiving the sign of the blessed cross together with baptism he believed in Jesus Christ son of God, equal to the Father and the Holy Ghost, reigning for ages of ages. Amen. Then he sent messengers to the province of Narbonne to tell what he had done and bring the people to a like belief. The bishop of the Arian sect there at the time was Athalocus who caused such trouble to God's churches by his vain doctrines and false interpretations of the Scriptures that he was believed to be the very Arius who, as the historian Eusebius relates, lost his entrails in a privy. But when he did not allow the people of his sect to believe these things and only a few flattered him by agreeing with him he was transported with spite and went to his cell and laid his head on the bed and breathed out his worthless soul. And thus the heretics in the province confessed the inseparable Trinity and departed from error.

[16. King Richared sends an embassy to Gunthram and Childebert. It is not received by Gunthram. 17. An unusually cold spring. 18. The Bretons ravage the territory of Nantes.]

19.

The feud among the citizens of Tours which, as we have stated above, was ended, burst out again with renewed fury. After slaying Chramsind's kinsmen Sichar had become very friendly with him, and they loved one another so dearly that they often ate together and slept together in one bed. Once Chramsind made ready a dinner towards night and invited Sichar. He came and they sat down together to dinner. And Sichar became drunk with wine and made many boasts to Chramsind, and he is reported to have said at last: "Dearest brother, you owe me great gratitude for killing your kinsmen since you got payment for them and you have much gold and silver in your house, and if that payment had not given you a start you would now be naked and in need." But Chramsind heard Sichar's word with a bitter heart and said within himself: "Unless I avenge my kinsmen's death I ought to lose the name of man and be called a weak woman." And at once he exinguished the lights and plunged his dagger into Sichar's head. Sichar made a little cry and immediately fell and died. The attendants who had come with him rushed away. Chramsind stripped the garments from his lifeless body and hung it on a picket of the fence and mounted his horse and went to the king. He entered the church and threw himself at the king's feet and said: "I beg for my life, O glorious king, because I have killed men who slew my kinsmen secretly and plundered all their property." But when the case was gone into in detail queen Brunhilda was displeased that Sichar, who was under her protection, had been killed in such a way, and she became angry at Chramsind. When he saw that she was against him he went to Bouges, a village in the territory of Bourges where his kinsmen lived, because it was in Gunthram's kingdom. And Tranquilla, Sichar's wife, left her sons and her husband's property in Tours and Poitiers and went to her kinsmen at Pont­sur­Seine and there married again. Sichar was twenty years old when he died. He was in his lifetime a fickle, drunken, murderous person, who offered insults to many when he was drunk. Later Chramsind returned to the king and it was decided that he must prove that Sichar had killed his kinsmen. This he did. But since queen Brunhilda had placed Sichar under her protection, as we have said, she ordered Chramsind's property to be confiscated. But later it was returned by the court official Flavian. In addition he went to Agen and got a letter from Flavian directing that no one should touch him. Flavian had received his property from the queen.