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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 4, 20. Of the Death of Childebert and of Chramn

King Childebert now fell ill, and died, after lying long bed-ridden at Paris; he was buried in the church of the blessed Vincent which he had built himself. King Lothar succeeded to his kingdom and his treasures, and sent into banishment Vultrogotha and her two daughters. Chramn presented himself before his father, but once more played the traitor, whereon, seeing no other way of escape, he fled to Brittany; there he and his wife and daughters remained in hiding with Chanao, count of the Bretons. Willichar the priest took refuge in the basilica of Martin. Then the holy basilica, as the result of the sins of the people, and of the deeds of mockery there committed, was set on fire by Willichar and his wife, a misfortune which I cannot record without a deep sigh of grief. Already, a year before, the city of Tours had been consumed by fire, and many churches in it had been left desolate. Forthwith, by command of King Lothar, the church of the blessed Martin was roofed with tin, and restored with the same splendour as before. At the same time appeared two swarms of locusts; they are said to have traversed Auvergne and the Limousin and reached the plain of Romagnat, where they fought a great battle, dashing with great force against each other.

King Lothar, in wrath against Chramn, marched with his army against him into Brittany.¹ The prince on his part did not shrink from going forth against his father. The two forces were massed close in a single plain, and Chramn with the Bretons had formed his line of battle over against his father, when the fall of night prevented the conflict. During the night Chanao, count of the Bretons, said to Chramn: ‘I hold it wrong for thee to go forth against thy sire. Suffer me to fall upon him this night, and lay him low with all his army.’ Chramn, prevented, in my belief, by the divine power, would not allow this to be done. In the morning the two armies were set in movement, and the two sides rushed to the encounter. Lothar went like a new David to fight against his son as another Absalom,² weeping and protesting after this manner: ‘Look down from heaven, O Lord, and judge my cause, for I suffer injury wrongfully at the hands of my son. Look Thou down and judge justly, and pass that judgement which of old Thou didst deliver between Absalom and his sire.’ When the armies joined battle, the count of the Bretons turned his back, and fell there on the field. Chramn took to flight, for he had vessels ready on the sea; but as he sought to save his wife and daughters from the enemy, his father’s army came upon him, and he was taken prisoner and put in bonds. King Lothar, at news of his capture, ordered him to be burned, together with his wife and daughters. They were shut up in a poor man’s hut, where Chramn was stretched on a bench and strangled with a kerchief. The hut was then set on fire over their heads, so that he, his wife, and his daughters all perished together.

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