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History of the Franks
St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927
Book 7, Of the Fire in a Quarter of Tours, and of the Miracles of the Holy Martin
King Guntram now sent his counts to take the cities which Sigibert had formerly received as his share of the kingdom of his brother Charibert; they were to exact an oath of loyalty, and subject all to his authority. The people of Tours and Poitiers wished to pass under the lordship of Sigibert’s son, Childebert; but the men of Bourges were called out, and prepared to march against them; they began carrying fire into the territory of Tours. They next burned down the church of Mareuil in that territory, where relics of the holy Martin were preserved. But the power of the saint was a present help; for even in so fierce a fire, the altar-cloths were not consumed by the flame, and the very herbs, gathered long ago and placed upon the altar, were in no part burned. At sight of these fires the people of Tours sent an embassy, declaring that it was better for them for the present to submit to King Guntram than to behold all things laid waste by fire or sword.