The History of the Franks

“‘What a poor period this is!’ they have been heard to say. ‘If among all our people there is not one man to be found who can write a book about what is happening today, the pursuit of letters really is dead in us!’”

Here, Gregory of Tours remarks upon the state of education in his time, which was an era where a comprehensive education was increasingly only reserved for the clergy. Likewise, he gives a motive for why he wrote his History of the Franks: to provide the sort of book lacking in his own day.

“Proposing as I do to describe the wars waged by kings against hostile peoples, by martyrs against the heathen and by Churches against the heretics, I wish first of all to explain my own faith, so that whoever reads me may not doubt that I am a Catholic.”

As a devout Catholic Christian, religion was important in shaping Gregory’s outlook. He wanted to argue against the rival sect of Arian Christianity (See: Background) and prove that history itself was not on the Arians’ side. More generally, Gregory adopts a providential view of history in his writing, regarding God as directly intervening in human affairs and reflecting The Intersection Between Christianity and Politics in his own day.

“In my opinion this captivity is a symbol of the enslavement into which the soul of a sinner is led, and indeed such a soul will be carried off into fearful exile unless some Zerubbabel, that is Christ Himself, can rescue it.”

This is one example of Gregory of Tours’ providential view of history. Here, he examines ancient Hebrew history as an allegory for the emergence of Christianity. In other words, this history is used for the purpose of explaining and validating Christianity.