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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 5, 39. Of the Death of Chlodovech

After the death of his sons, King Chilperic, still full of sorrow, abode with his consort in the month of October in the forest of Cuise. His son Chlodovech he sent, at the queen’s suggestion, to Berny, that he too might die the same death; for at this time the disease which had killed his brothers yet raged there unabated. But the prince was untouched of that sickness. The king himself now went to Chelles, his domain in the territory of Paris. After some days he commanded Chlodovech to come to him, and I will here tell freely the manner of the prince’s end.

While he was dwelling with his father on this domain he began to vaunt himself untimely and to say: ‘Behold, my brothers are dead, and the whole kingdom is fallen to me; all Gaul shall be under my feet; the fates have made me largess of universal power. Mine enemies are in the hollow of my hand, and I shall do to them whatsoever shall seem good in my sight.’ Moreover he spoke as beseemed not of his step-mother Fredegund. But she heard of it, and was filled with great alarm. And after some days one came to the queen who said: ‘That thou sittest thus bereaved of thy children cometh through the treachery of Chlodovech. For he loveth the daughter of one of thy women, and hath slain thy sons by the magic arts of her mother. I therefore warn thee, look thyself for no better lot, since the hope whereby thou shouldst have reigned is taken from thee.’ Then was the queen terrified and inflamed with rage, for she was yet sore with her recent loss. She bade arrest of the girl on whom Chlodovech had cast his eyes and had her severely beaten; she further commanded that her hair should be shorn, and that she should be fastened to a stake set up before Chlodovech’s lodging. The girl’s mother she had bound and subjected to the torture, till there was drawn from her a confession confirming these charges. And now, whispering these and other things in the king’s ear, she demanded of him vengeance upon Chlodovech.

Now as the king was setting forth later for the chase, he ordered his son to be brought secretly before him. When he came he was seized by royal command and manacled by the dukes Desiderius and Bobo, his arms and apparel were stripped from him, and he was taken to the queen in base array. She commanded him to be held in custody, desiring to have the truth from him; she was fain to know whether all was verily as described to her; whose counsel and whose prompting he had followed, and who had been chief among his friends. He denied all else, but revealed a number of his friendships. Three days afterwards the queen ordered him to be taken in bonds across the Marne, and guarded in the domain called Noisy. While in this duress he was stabbed to death, and his body was buried on the spot.¹ In the meantime messengers were sent to the king to say that the prince had pierced himself with his own hand, affirming that the knife which struck the blow was still sticking in the wound. King Chilperic, deceived by this account, shed never a tear for the son whom, the queen setting him on, he might be said to have himself delivered up to death. The prince’s servants dispersed in different directions. His mother² was put to a cruel death: his sister tricked into a monastery by the queen’s servants, where she assumed the religious habit, and remains at this day;³ all their possessions were handed over to the queen. The woman who had informed against Chlodovech was sentenced to be burned alive. As she was being dragged along, the wretched creature swore that she had spoken falsely; but her confession availed her nothing; she was bound to the stake, and consumed alive in the flames. The chamberlain of Chlodovech was brought back from the territory of Bourges by Chuppa,⁴ count of the stables, and handed over to the queen. He was destined to undergo divers tortures, but the queen ordered him to be released from his punishment and from his chains, and on my intercession suffered him to go free.

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