Library › St Gregory of Tours › History of the Franks
History of the Franks
St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927
Book 2, 42. Of the Death of Ragnachar and His Brother
There was at that time in Cambrai a king named Ragnachar, whose wantonness was so unbridled that he hardly spared his own near kindred. He had as counsellor a certain Farron, defiled by the same foul taint, in regard to whom it was alleged that when any one brought the king a gift of food or a present, or any other kind of thing, the king would say that the gift was sufficient for him and his Farron. On this account the hearts of the Franks were swollen with the utmost indignation. Thereupon Clovis presented armlets and baldrics of spurious gold to the leudes of Ragnachar in order that they might call him in against their lord; the supposed gold was only copper, cunningly gilded. When he had set his army on foot against him, Ragnachar kept sending out scouts to bring in intelligence. These men were asked on their return in what strength the enemy was. They answered: ‘Abundant force for thee and for thy Farron.’ But Clovis came, and drew up his battle array. And when Ragnachar saw his army vanquished, he made ready to escape in flight, but he was caught by his own men, and brought before Clovis with his arms bound behind his back; so likewise was Ricchar his brother. Clovis said to him: ‘Why hast thou disgraced our race by suffering thyself to be bound? It had been better for thee to die’; he then raised his axe and buried it in his head. Afterwards he turned to his brother, and said: ‘If thou hadst stood by thy brother, he would not have been thus bound ’, and slew him in the same way with a blow of his axe. After their death, their betrayers for the first time discovered that the gold which Clovis had given them was false. But when they remonstrated with the king, men say that he replied: ‘This is the kind of gold deserved by the man who of set mind lureth his lord to his death’; adding that they ought to be content to have escaped with their lives, not expiating the betrayal of their lords by a death amid torments. When they heard this, they chose to sue for grace, declaring that it sufficed them if they were judged worthy to live. The two kings of whom I have spoken were kinsmen of Clovis. Their brother, Rignomer, was slain at Le Mans by his command, and the kingdom and treasures of all three passed into his possession. He caused many other kings to be slain and the near relatives whom he suspected of usurping his kingdom; in this way he extended his dominion over all Gaul. Upon a day when he had assembled his own people, he is said to have spoken as follows of the kinsmen whom he had destroyed: ‘Woe unto me who remain as a traveller among strangers, and have none of my kin to help me in the evil day.’ But he did not thus allude to their death out of grief, but craftily, to see if he could bring to light some new relative to kill.