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History of the Franks
St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927
Book 4, 9. Of the Death of King Theudovald
Theudebald, on reaching man’s estate, wedded Vuldetrada. This Theudebald is said to have been of a malicious humour. Once, when angry with a man suspected of robbing him, he related to him the following fable: ‘A serpent found a jar of wine, entered by the mouth, and drank the whole contents. Swollen by the wine, it could not get out as it had got in. The owner of the wine came up while the serpent was vainly seeking a way out, and said to it: “Cast up first what thou hast swallowed, and then thou wilt be able to go free.”’ This fable filled the hearer with exceeding fear and hatred. It was in this king’s reign that Buccelin was slain by Narses, after having brought the whole of Italy under the dominion of the Franks. Italy was won for the emperor, nor was any afterwards able to recover it.
In the same reign we saw grapes grow on the tree called the elder, apart from any conjunction with the vine; the flowers of this tree, which, as you know, usually produce black berries, now yielded grapes. At this time also a fifth star coming from the adverse side was seen to enter the circle of the moon. I believe that these signs presaged the king’s death. He fell into a great weakness, and from the waist downwards lost control of his limbs; after a gradual decline, he died in the seventh year of his reign.1 Lothar succeeded to his kingdom, and took Vuldetrada to wife. But the bishops rebuked him, so that he left her, and gave her in marriage to Duke Garivald. His son Chramn he sent to Auvergne.
Notes
- A.D. 555.