GREGORY
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GREGORY
master of Tours. The new king was acquainted with
Gregory and insisted that in deference to the wishes of
the people of Tours he should become their bishop;
thus it came to pass that Gregory went to Rome for
consecration. The poet, Fortunatus, celebrated the
elevation of the new bishop in a poem full of sincere
enthusiasm whatever its defects (" Ad eives Turonicos
de Gregorio episcopo"). Gregory justified this con-
fidence, and his episcopal reign was highly creditable
to him and useful to his flock; the circumstances of
the time offered peculiar difficulties, and the office of
bishop was onerous both from a civil and a rehgious
point of view.
I. Gregory as Bishop. — He undertook with great zeal the heavy task imposed on him. In the near past King Clovis had both used and abused his power, but his services to the social order and the fame of his ex- ploits caused the abuses of his reign to be in great part forgiven. His successors, however, had fewer merits, and when they sought to increase their authority by deeds of \aolence, almost endless civil war was the re- sult. Might overcame right so often that the very notion of the latter tended to disappear. Barbarian fierceness and cruelty were everj'where rampant. During the war between Sigebert and Chilperic, Gre- gory could not restrain his just indignation at the sight of the woes of his people. "This", he wrote, has been more hurtful to the Church than the persecution of Diocletian". In Gaul, at least, such may have been the case. The Teutonic tribes newly established in Gaul, or loosety wandering throughout the whole Ro- man Empire, were well aware of their physical prow- ess, and disinclined to recognize any rights save that of conquest. Their chiefs claimed whatever the^' de- sired, and the army took the rest. Whoever ventured to oppose them was put out of the way with pitiless rapidity. The civilization on which they so suddenly entered was for them a source of annoyance and con- fusion; coarse material pleasures ajipealed to them far more than the higher ideals of Roman life. Drunken- ness was prevalent in all classes, and even the prover- bial chastity of the Franks was soon a forgotten glory. Vengeance threw off all restraint of religion ; the pow- erful and the lowly, clerg>' and laity, were a law unto themselves. Queen Clotilda, the model of women, was popularly thought to have nourished feelings of revenge against the Burgundians for more than thirty years (see, however, for a rehabilitation, G. Kurth, "Sainte Clotilde", Sth. ed., Paris, 1905, and article Clotilda). Guntram, one of the best of the prankish kings, put to death two physicians because they were unable to restore Queen Austrechilde to health. This being the moral temper of the upper classes, it is need- less to speak of the Gallo-Frankish multitude. It is greatly to St. Gregory's honour that amid these con- ditions he fulfilled the office of bishop with admirable courage and firmness. His writings and his actions exhibit a tender solicitude for the spiritual and tem- poral interests of his people, whom he protected as best he could against the lawlessness of the civil power.
Amid his labours for the general welfare he upheld always what was right and just with prudence and courage. By his office he was the protector of the weak, and as such always opposed their oppressors. In him the Merovingian episcopate appears at its best. The social morality of the sixth century has no braver or more intelligent exponent than this cultivated gen- tleman. Gregory e.xplains the government of the world by the constant intervention of the supernat- ural: direct assistance of God, intercession of saints, and recourse to the miracles wrought at their tombs. He also played a prominent part in increasing the number of churches, which were then the centres of religious life in Gaul. The cathedral church at Tours, burnt do-mi under his predecessor, was rebuilt, and the church of St. Perpetuus restored and decorated. Since the days of Clovis the Church had held, through
her bishops, a preponderating position in the Frankish
world. In the eyes of the people the bishops were the
direct representatives of Ctod, and dispensed His
heavenly graces quite as the king bestowed earthly
favours. This was not owing, however, to their moral
or religious position, but rather to their social influ-
ence. With the spread of the rude barbarian civiliza-
tion in Gaul the old Roman civilization, especially in
municipal administration, was unable to cope. The
civil authority was unequal to the former responsibili-
ties it assumed, and was soon oblivious of its obliga-
tions. The public offices, however, which it neglected
corresponded to pressing social needs that must some-
how be satisfied. At this juncture the bishops stepped
into the breach and became at once politically more
important under Frankish than they had been under
Roman rule. The Frankish kings gladly recognized
in them indispensable auxiliaries. They alone pos-
sessed science and learning, while they rendered signal
services on different missions freely intrusted to them,
and which they alone were capable of fulfilling. On
the other hand they were slow to reprove their bar-
barian masters or to resist them. Gregory himself
says in his reply to Childeric: "If one of us were to
leave the path of justice, it would be for you to set him
right ; should you, however, chance to stray, who could
correct or resist ? ' ' The only d uty the bishops seem to
have preached to the Frankish kings was a conscien-
tious fulfilment of the royal duties for the good of
souls. This duty the kings did not deny, though they
often failed to execute it or took refuge in a too liberal
conscience.
Tours, which had long possessed the tomb of .Saint Martin, was one of the most difficult sees to rule. The city was continually changing masters. On the death of Clotaire (5(31) it fell to Charibert, and when he died it reverted to the kingdom of Sigebert, King of Aus- trasia, but not till after a lively conflict. In 573, Chilperic, King of Neustria, seized it, but was soon constrained to abandon the city. He seized it again only to lose it once more ; at last, on the assassination of Sigebert in 570, Chilperic became its final master, and held it till he died in 584. Though Gregory took no direct part in these struggles of princes, he has described for us the sufferings they caused his people, also his own sorrows. It is easv to see that he did not love Chilperic; in return the king hated the Bishop of Tours, who suffered much from the attacks of royal partisans. A certain Leudot, who had been deprived of his office through Gregory's complaints, accused the bishop of defamatory statements concerning Queen Fredegunde. Gregory was cited before the judges, and asserted his innocence under oath. At the trial his bearing was so full of dignity and uprightness that he astonished his enemies, and Chilperic himself was so impressed that ever afterwards he was more concilia- tory in his dealings with such an opponent. After the death of Chilperic, Tours fell into the hands of C!un- tram, Iving of Burgundy, whereupon began for the bishop an era of peace and almost of happiness. He had long known Guntram and was known and trusted by him. In 587, the Treaty of Andelot brought about the cession of Tours by Guntram to Childebert II, son of Sigebert. This king, as well as his mother Brune- haut, honoured Gregory with particular confidence, called him often to court, and entrusted to him many important missions. This favour lasted until his death.
II. Gregory as a Historian. — From the time of his election to the episcopate Gregory began to write. His subjects seem to have been chosen, at the begin- ning of his literary activity, less for their importance than for the purpose of edification. The miracles of St. Martin were then his main theme, and he always cherished most the themes of the hagiographer. Even in his strictly historical writings, biographical details retain a place often quite disproportionate to their
