Saint Guntram

Yesterday's post mentioned that the Franks fell into civil war and became less of a threat to Lombardy. The Frankish Kingdom had a long history with lots of shifts in power. We should take a serious look at the history of the Franks, especially prior to Charlemagne, and right now let's talk about Guntram.

Also called Gontrand, Gontran, Gontram, Gunthram, Gunthchramn, and Guntramnus, the man we'll call Guntram (c.532 – 28 March 592) was a son of Clothar I, a king of the Franks in the Merovingian dynasty, the dynasty that gave way to the Carolingians.

Guntram was king of Orléans (taking over the ruling of Burgundy) from 561 to 592, inheriting it when his father died and the kingdom was divided among four sons (Paris, Reims, and Soissons went to Guntram's brothers). Gregory of Tours wrote a history of the Franks; he refers to Guntram as "good king Guntram." Although in his youth he was a bit of a wild child, he repented during his later life. Gregory says he treated the sick, the oppressed, and all his subjects with care.

Guntram was one of the more respected and powerful of the four brothers, partially because he had a general named Mummolus who was considered the greatest strategist of the age. He actually changed his allegiance to others at times, but wound up back with Guntram. When Guntram's brother Sigebert I of Austrasia started a war, Guntram called their brother Chilperic I of Soissons for help. But when Sigebert was killed in 575 and Chilperic invaded Austrasia, Guntram sent Mummolus to stop him and allow Sigebert's son Childebert II (who was only five) to succeed his father.

When Guntram's two sons died two years later of dysentery, Guntram adopted Childebert. As Childebert grew up, however, he was not always loyal to Guntram in exchange for the support he had received. Chilperic also tried expanding his own territory. Guntram and Childebert together allowed St. Columbanus to found an abbey and two monasteries in their territory. (The illustration shows the two men enthroned.)

Guntram was able, through military force and negotiation,  to suppress the attempts to take over each other's lands. He also was able to force cooperation and peace with neighbors, putting down invasion attempts and rebellions.

When he died in 592, Childebert succeeded him. Guntram was interred in a church he had founded, the Church of Saint Marcellus. He was almost immediately venerated as a saint, and miracles were ascribed to him, some of which Gregory of Tours claimed to have witnessed himself.

Without Guntram's military force and moderating influence, strife became more common between parts of western Europe. Let's, however, look back at his father, the man at whose death the Frankish Kingdom split into four parts. Tomorrow we'll look at Clothar I, king of Soissons, of Orléans, of Reims, of Paris, and of the Franks.

Gregory of Tours

Chilperic I speaking to Bishop Gregory

Georgius Florentius (539-593) was born into a distinguished Gallo-Roman family in Arverni in southern France. His father died when he was young, and Georgius went to live with his uncle, Bishop Gal, who educated him as a cleric. After recovering from a serious illness, he decided to join the church, and he changed his name to Gregory in honor of his mother's great-grandfather, the Bishop of Langres.

In 573, he was appointed Bishop of Tours by Sigebert I, King of Austrasia and Auvergne. He traveled to Rome to have his appointment confirmed, where the 6th century Latin poet Fortunatus wrote a poem to commemorate him. A bishop had many civic as well as ecclesiastical duties, and Gregory justified the faith in him by tending to his flock and challenging the shortcomings of politicians. The Frankish dynasties at the time were not living up to the standards of leadership established by King Clovis (466-511), and their rule often descended into petty disputes and civil war. When Sigebert fought a war with Chilperic I (539-584; he was a son of Clothar I and Aregund), Gregory tried to make them see the damage they were doing to the common folk, proclaiming "This has been more hurtful to the Church than the persecution of Diocletian."*

As brave as he was in trying to ameliorate the crude Frankish culture with an infusion of more sophisticated Roman culture and Christian sensibility, he was also diligent in recording the history of his country. He wrote ten books of history (Historia Francorum, History of the Franks), seven on miracles, one on the lives of the early church fathers; he also wrote on liturgy and scripture.

His work can be called propagandist—or perhaps simply written unsurprisingly with his own personal filters—since Christian tribes and countries always come out looking better than pagans in his history. He also comes out strongly against Arianism and Jews. Despite his moralizing—maybe because of it—his anecdotes are an excellent view into the culture and customs of the time. His history, along with two other works called the "Chronicle of Fredegar" and the "Book of the History of the Franks," provide an almost unbroken history of Gaul for 300 years after the Fall of Rome. He is also fairly objective at times: his writing on miracles questions the truth of some of them.

He is also our best source of history for the Frankish dynasty called the Merovingians while it was still strong and founding what would eventually become the nation of France. He would have been saddened a hundred years later to find a line of kings so different from Clovis and Chilperic that they would be called the "do-nothing kings." But that's a tale for another day ... like tomorrow.

*Diocletian (245-313) was the emperor responsible for the final and worst wave of Christian persecution in the Roman empire.