by Gregory of Tours
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Product Description
A dramatic narrative of French history in the sixth century. Gregory of Tours (c.A.D. 539-594) intended his HISTORY to be a chronicle of events and included the 21 years he spent as Bishop of Tours. This volume contains all ten books of the HISTORY. As Gregory unravels the bewildering events of those decades, what emerges is no dry historical document but a colorful, detailed and moving pageant.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 All Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 2008-12-08
To say that the History of the Franks is a grisly and bloody first-hand account of life in the early middle ages would be an understatement. In this book you will meet all four horsemen of the apocalypse, get to know their names, become acquainted and eventually feel like they are old friends. It frankly seems impossible that anyone could have survived this period in history and still retained their sanity to boot.
That said, Gregory of Tours seems like a remarkably level head in the face of pestilence and war, famine and flood, invasions and intimidation by all and sundry and the chance of torture, death and damnation at the whims of the so-called Frankish Kings. His tale begins with creation, move rapidly to the Romans and then through the early Fanks. While he often laments the "good-old" days of the early Frankish kings, they aren't painted in the brightest of colours. The history Gregory actually lived through only covers books V-X although possibly book IV has some personal experience in it. As one reads through the horrors executed by Kings Guntram and Chilperic and Childebert and assorted others (King was a loosely used term meaning some goon with swords at his command and a long ponytail) on each other, their populace and the church one wonders if perhaps Gregory is exaggerating or seeing only the dark side, like some tabloid newspaper. We can only hope this is the case because the wanton destruction, murder of children, forced marriages, burning houses and brutal fratricide don't do much to lift the tone of the book. Of course, it all makes for fascinating reading, like an action movie with no heros and only a body count. It makes you thankful to be born in the 21st century in a peaceful society. I can only imagine that Afghanistan or Iraq at their worst were something like Tours in the sixth century.
The translation is rollicking and easy to read. There is a brief introduction covering history, literary sources and Gregory's style (earthy and to the point). The translator like to interject occasionally with footnotes that read more like commentary than information (for example, he compares the justice of the Franks to that of modern Africa). There is also an extensive index raisonne with all the characters and places mentioned which runs to a hundred pages.
The book was generally an exciting read as source material. Gregory is apparently quite reliable and the age is "interesting" as the Roman's used to say. Not a time I would have liked to live.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Insightful, once you understand Gregory., 2007-11-15
This book is a valuable resource for any Dark Ages historian or anyone seeking good primary source material on early Germanic peoples. It requires, however, that you understand why Gregory writes this work in the first place. Gregory's goal, from what I interpreted, is to distance the Franks from other Germanic tribes such as the Alamanni and the Goths. Gregory lived his entire life under Frankish rule and of course is a bishop, and it would only be natural for him to want to portray the Catholic Franks as more noble or righteous than other tribes. But once you swim through the pro-Frankish bias and the musings about various martyred saints, this book can reveal a great deal about the political and social conditions of Europe immediately after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. I would recommend it to any student seeking to learn more about the early foundations of the Middle Ages.
3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
 Un libro per una ricerca, 2007-03-10
Ho comprato questo libro per una ricerca di storia medievale. Penso che mi sarà utilissimo. E' uno dei documenti più importanti per conoscere la storia di quel periodo.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
Fratricide, Poison, Being Ripped Apart by Wild Horses - Gotta Love Those Franks!, 2006-08-25
I first ran across Gregory of Tours years ago in an Early Medieval History course at the University of Houston (Go Haskins Society!). Under the tutelage of a great instructor (Dr. V~) the class read primary texts instead of the usual dry drivel that history teachers resort to. The History of the Franks was one of these.
And it's a great book no matter how you approach it. First, if it was not for Gregory's tome we fans of barbarians would have to resort to the rather sketchy coda (or laws) and archaeological data of that era to ascertain what was going on. (Okay there were those dry church records too.)
With Gregory of Tours we get sort of an "Examiner" newspaper view of earthly events.
For example, about the Bishop Cautinus:
Once he had taken possession of his bishopric, Cautinus began to behave so badly that he was soon loathed by everybody. He began to drink heavily. He was often so completely fuddled with wine that it would take four men to carry him from the table.
For example, mother-daughter relations:
Rigunth, Chilperic's daughter, was always attacking her mother (Fredegund), and saying that she herself was the real mistress, whereas her mother ought to revert to her original rank of serving-woman. She would often insult her mother to her face, and they frequently exchanged slaps and punches. 'Why do you hate me so, daughter?' Fredegund asked her one day. 'You can take all your father's things which are still in my possession, and do what you like with them.' She led the way into a strong-room and opened a chest which was full of jewels and precious ornaments. ...
... Rigunth was stretching her arm into the chest to take out some more things, when her mother suddenly seized the lid and slammed it down on her neck. She leant on it with all her might and the edge of the chest pressed so hard against the girls' throat.... (well you'll have to go to page 521 to see how it turns out - lol.)
Five Stars. Interesting and exciting reading - at least for barbarian fans and historians. One should note that there is a great deal of violence so that the book might not be for everyone.
Pam T.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Doom, Defeat, Despair. Welcome to the Dark Ages., 2006-01-03
I have been very fond of this book for a long time and after repeatedly checking it out from my local college library, I finally decided to buy a copy. I'm not sorry I did. St. Gregory of Tours takes the reader deep into an era about which very little is known. A world where the power of the Roman Empire in the West had crumbled to dust and real power had fallen into the hands of the warlords, some of them Roman, others German Clan Chiefs. But even as the walords sacked and pillaged the provinces of the former Empire, the Roman Catholic Church, with it's hierarchy dominated by the old Roman nobility, continued to function as a check to the chaotic rule of the warlords. The German Clan Chiefs and their families read like the most entertaining parts of Seutonius's Twelve Caesars. Atfer they "conquered" the Roman Empire, the German Royals whiled away their time with depravity, debauchery and greed. Princess Amalasuntha of the Lombards, after her slave boyfriend was murdered on her mother's orders, put poison in her mother's communion cup during the Arian Rite Mass. Princess Clotild, after using mercenaries to sieze control of the Convent of the Holy Cross in Poitiers, proceeded to run it in a manner that makes Charles Manson look like an amateur. One other reviewer compared St. Gregory to a 6th Century gossip columnist. I couldn't agree more. The only beef I have with this book is with the translator. For some reason he chose, when St. Gregory quoted the Holy Scriptures, to write out the quotes as they appear in the King James Bible instead of the Douay-Rheims which is much closer to the original Latin Vulgate that St. Gregory would have quoted from. It may not seem like a big deal but it had me wondering how accurate the Biblical quotes were. Aside from that, this is an utterly enjoyable book that I would recomend strongly for anyone interested in the Dawn of the Middle Ages.
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