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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 8, 41. Of the Men Who Murdered Praetextatus

Now when the rumour ran through the whole country that Bishop Praetextatus had been killed by Fredegund, in order to clear herself of the charge she ordered a slave to be seized and severely flogged, crying: ‘It is thou who hast brought this impious charge on me, by assailing with the sword Praetextatus, bishop of Rouen.’ She then handed him over to the bishop’s nephew. But when he was put to the torture he made a clean breast of the whole matter. ‘I received from Queen Fredegund’, he said, ‘a hundred pieces of gold to commit the crime, from Bishop Melantius¹ fifty, and fifty more from the archdeacon of the city; they further promised to enfranchise both myself and my wife.’ On these words the bishop’s nephew unsheathed his sword and cut the accused man to pieces. Fredegund appointed Melantius to his cathedral church² at Rouen, having previously given him the bishopric.

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