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History of the Franks
St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927
Book 9, 43. How Theudoald the Priest Came to Assuage the Scandal
Thereafter Bishop Maroveus, having heard that these nuns were uttering reproaches against him, sent Porcarius, abbot of the church of the blessed Hilary, to Bishop Gundegisel and the other bishops of his province, to ask that they would grant him leave, after giving the communion to the nuns, to come before them and be heard; his request was, however, absolutely refused. King Childebert, who was vexed without ceasing from both sides, alike by the monastery and by the nuns who had abandoned it, dispatched the priest Theuthar to put an end to the recriminations which they kept up between them. Theuthar summoned Clotild and her companions before him. But they said: ‘We shall not come, because we are suspended from communion; if we are once more received into the Church, we will forthwith present ourselves before thee.’ At this reply, he returned to the bishops, and spoke with them upon this matter. But as he could obtain no result on the subject of their communion, he went back to Poitiers. The nuns were now separated; some returned to their relatives, others to their own houses, others to monasteries to which they had previously belonged, for together they could not bear the severity of winter, firewood being scarce. A few remained with Clotild and Basina. But even among these there were great discords, for each one of them wanted to set herself above the rest.