Library › St Gregory of Tours › History of the Franks

History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 10, 2. Of the Return of Grippo the Envoy from the Emperor Maurice

Grippo, returning from a mission to the emperor Maurice, related that in the previous year he and his companions, taking ship, had touched at a port of Africa, and made their entry into the great Carthage. While they were there, waiting the order of the prefect, who was in residence there,¹ permitting them to proceed to have audience of the emperor, a servant brought by Evantius, one of the party, took an object of price from a certain merchant, and carried it home to his lodging. The owner followed him and demanded restitution of his goods. But the servant put him off; the quarrel kept growing, and one day the merchant, meeting the servant in the street, laid hold of him by the garment, and sought to detain him, saying: ‘I shall not let thee go until thou restore me the property which thou hast seized by violence.’ The other, in his struggle to wrest himself free from the man’s hands, rashly drew his sword and killed him, whereupon he returned forthwith to his lodging and never told his companions what had happened. There were present in the house at the time the three envoys, Bodegisil, son of Mummolen² of Soissons, Evantius, son of Dynamius of Arles,³ and this Grippo, who was by race a Frank; they had just risen from table, and had settled down to sleep and rest. As soon as the man of chief rank in the city was informed what had been done, he assembled a force of soldiers, and sent it, with all the people who had arms, to the strangers’ lodging. The envoys, suddenly startled out of their sleep, were confounded when they saw what was taking place. The leader of the force now cried out: ‘Lay down your arms and come forth in our midst, that we may discover peaceably how this manslaughter befell.’ At this they were afraid, as yet knowing nothing of what was done. They asked therefore those without to swear an oath that if they came forth unarmed their safety was assured. The men swore, but the excitement prevented them from keeping their word. First they put Bodegisil to the sword as he came out, and next, in like manner, Evantius. There the bodies lay before the door of the lodging, when Grippo, snatching up his arms, went out to the crowd, together with the servants who were with him, and spoke as follows: ‘We know nothing of what is befallen, and lo! ye have struck down with the sword the companions of my journey, my fellow envoys to the emperor. God shall judge our wrong, and requite their death by your destruction, in that ye have in this wise slaughtered innocent men coming amongst you in peace. After this deed there shall never more be peace between our kings and your emperor. For we came in the cause of peace, and to give our aid to the empire. I call God to witness that if the promised peace be not kept between the princes, the cause lieth in this offence.’ After Grippo had uttered these words and more of a like sort, the force of the Carthaginians melted away, and every man returned to his own home. Then the prefect paid a visit to Grippo; he sought to appease his wrath over these events, and made all arrangements for his journey to have audience of the emperor. On his arrival, Grippo first acquitted himself of his embassy, and then told how his companions had met their fate. The emperor was troubled, pledging himself to avenge their death and to do all that King Childebert should declare to be necessary. Thereupon Grippo returned in peace, bearing with him gifts from the emperor.

Previous · Contents · Next