Final conquest of

the Franks. A.D. 332

[523]

46

the king of the Franks of the danger and difficulty of his enter-
prise. He imposed a tribute on the Burgundian prince, com-
pelled him to pardon and reward his brother's treachery, and
proudly returned to his own dominions, with the spoils and
captives of the southern provinces. This splendid triumph was
soon clouded by the intelligence that Gundobald had violated
his recent obligations, and that the unfortunate Godegesil, who
was left at Vienna with a garrison of five thousand Franks,4
had been besieged, surprised, and massacred by his inhuman
brother. Such an outrage might have exasperated the patience
of the most peaceful sovereign; yet the conqueror of Gaul dis-
sembled the injury, released the tribute, and accepted the
alliance and military service of the king of Burgundy. Clovis
no longer possessed these advantages which had assured the
success of the preceding war; and his rival, instructed by ad-
versity, had found new resources in the affections of his people.
The Gauls or Romans applauded the mild and impartial laws
of Gundobald, which almost raised them to the same level with
their conquerors.
The bishops were reconciled and flattered
by the hopes, which he artfully suggested, of his approaching
conversion; and, though he eluded their accomplishment to
the last moment of his life, his moderation secured the peace,
and suspended the ruin, of the kingdom of Burgundy.47

I am impatient to pursue the final ruin of that kingdom, which Burgundy by was accomplished under the reign of Sigismond, the son of Gundobald. The Catholic Sigismond has acquired the honours of a saint and martyr; 48 but the hands of the royal saint were stained with the blood of his innocent son, whom he inhumanly sacrificed to the pride and resentment of a stepmother. He soon discovered his error, and bewailed the irreparable loss.

46 The Epitomizer of Gregory of Tours (in tom. ii. p. 401) has supplied this number of Franks; but he rashly supposes that they were cut in pieces by Gundobald. The prudent Burgundians spared the soldiers of Clovis, and sent these captives to the king of the Visigoths, who settled them in the territory of Toulouse. [For the Burgundian war we have, besides Gregory, who represents the Frank point of view, Marius of Aventicum, who represents the Burgundian point of view. The Chronicle of Marius supplies the date and the main facts; in Gregory's story there is a legendary element.]

47 In this Burgundian war I have followed Gregory of Tours (1. ii. c. 32, 33, in tom. ii. p. 178, 179), whose narrative appears so incompatible with that of Procopius (de Bell. Goth. 1. i. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 31, 32), that some critics have supposed two different wars. The Abbé Dubos (Hist. Critique, &c. tom. ii. p. 126-162) has distinctly represented the causes and the events.

48 See his life or legend (in tom. iii. p. 402). A martyr! how strangely has that word been distorted from its original sense of a common witness. St. Sigismond was remarkable for the cure of fevers.

While Sigismond embraced the corpse of the unfortunate youth,
he received a severe admonition from one of his attendants: "It
is not his situation, O king! it is thine which deserves pity and
lamentation". The reproaches of a guilty conscience were
alleviated, however, by his liberal donations to the monastery of
Agaunum, or St. Maurice, in Vallais; which he himself had
founded in honour of the imaginary martyrs of the Thebæan
legion.49 A full chorus of perpetual psalmody was instituted by
the pious king; he assiduously practised the austere devotion of
the monks; and it was his humble prayer that heaven would
inflict in this world the punishment of his sins.
His prayer
was heard; the avengers were at hand; and the provinces of
Burgundy were overwhelmed by an army of victorious Franks.
After the event of an unsuccessful battle, Sigismond, who wished
to protract his life that he might prolong his penance, concealed
himself in the desert in a religious habit, till he was discovered
and betrayed by his subjects, who solicited the favour of their
new masters. The captive monarch, with his wife and two
children, were transported to Orleans, and buried alive in a deep
well, by the stern command of the sons of Clovis; whose cruelty
might derive some excuse from the maxims and examples of
their barbarous age. Their ambition, which urged them to
achieve the conquest of Burgundy, was inflamed, or disguised,
by filial piety; and Clotilda, whose sanctity did not consist in
the forgiveness of injuries, pressed them to revenge her father's
death on the family of his assassin. The rebellious Burgundians,
for they attempted to break their chains, were still permitted to
enjoy their national laws under the obligation of tribute and
military service; and the Merovingian princes peaceably reigned
over a kingdom whose glory and greatness had been first over-
thrown by the arms of Clovis.50

war. A.D. 507

The first victory of Clovis had insulted the honour of the The Gothic Goths. They viewed his rapid progress with jealousy and

49 Before the end of the fifth century, the church of St. Maurice, and his Thebaan legion, had rendered Agaunum a place of devout pilgrimage. A promiscuous community of both sexes had introduced some deeds of darkness, which were abolished (A.D. 515) by the regular monastery of Sigismond. Within fifty years, his angels of light made a nocturnal sally to murder their bishop and his clergy. See in the Bibliothèque Raisonnée (tom. xxxvi. p. 435-438) the curious remark of a learned

librarian of Geneva.

50 Marius, bishop of Avenche (Chron. in tom. ii. p. 15 [Mommsen, Chron. Min., ii. p. 235]), has marked the authentic dates, and Gregory of Tours (1. iii. c. 5, 6, in tom. ii. p. 188, 189) has expressed the principal facts, of the life of Sigismond and the conquest of Burgundy. Procopius (in tom. ii. p. 34 [B. G. i. 12]) and Agathias (in tom. ii. p. 49) shew their remote and imperfect knowledge. 8

VOL. IV.

terror; and the youthful fame of Alaric was oppressed by the more potent genius of his rival. Some disputes inevitably arose on the edge of their contiguous dominions; and, after the delays of fruitless negotiation, a personal interview of the two kings was proposed and accepted. This conference of Clovis and Alaric was held in a small island of the Loire, near Amboise. They embraced, familiarly conversed, and feasted together; and separated with the warmest professions of peace and brotherly love. But their apparent confidence concealed a dark suspicion of hostile and treacherous designs; and their mutual complaints solicited, eluded, and disclaimed a final arbitration. At Paris, which he already considered as his royal seat, Clovis declared to an assembly of the princes and warriors the pretence, and the motive, of a Gothic war. "It grieves me to see that the Arians still possess the fairest portion of Gaul. Let us march against them with the aid of God; and, having vanquished the heretics, we will possess, and divide, their fertile provinces." 51 The Franks, who were inspired by hereditary valour and recent zeal, applauded the generous design of their monarch; expressed their resolution to conquer or die, since death and conquest would be equally profitable; and solemnly protested that they should never shave their beards, till victory would absolve them from that inconvenient vow. The enterprise was promoted by the public, or private, exhortations of Clotilda. She reminded her husband, how effectually some pious foundation would propitiate the Deity and his servants; and the Christian hero, darting his battle-axe with a skilful and nervous hand, "There (said he), on that spot where my Francisca 52 shall fall, will I erect a church in honour of the holy apostles". This ostentatious piety confirmed and justified the attachment of the Catholics, with whom he secretly corresponded; and their devout wishes were gradually ripened into a formidable conspiracy. The people of Aquitain was alarmed by the indiscreet reproaches of their Gothic tyrants, who justly accused them of preferring the dominion

51 Gregory of Tours (1. ii. c. 37, in tom. ii. p. 181) inserts the short but persuasive speech of Clovis. Valde moleste fero, quod hi Ariani partem teneant Galliarum (the author of the Gesta Francorum, in tom. ii. p. 553, adds the precious epithet of optimam) eamus cum Dei adjutorio, et, superatis eis, redigamus terram in ditionem nostram.

52 Tunc rex projecit a se in directum Bipennem suam quod est Francisca, &c. (Gesta Franc. in tom. ii. p. 554). The form and use of this weapon are clearly described by Procopius (in tom. ii. p. 37). Examples of its national appellation in Latin and French may be found in the Glossary of Ducange, and the large Dictionnaire de Trevoux.

The

of the Franks; and their zealous adherent Quintianus, bishop of Rodez, 53 preached more forcibly in his exile than in his diocese. To resist these foreign and domestic enemies, who were fortified by the alliance of the Burgundians, Alaric collected his troops, :: far more numerous than the military powers of Clovis. Visigoths resumed the exercise of arms, which they had neglected in a long and luxurious peace; 54 a select band of valiant and robust slaves attended their masters to the field; 55 and the cities of Gaul were compelled to furnish their doubtful and ts reluctant aid. Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, who reigned in Italy, had laboured to maintain the tranquillity of Gaul; and ⚫ he assumed, or affected for that purpose, the impartial character of a mediator. But the sagacious monarch dreaded the rising empire of Clovis, and he was firmly engaged to support the national and religious cause of the Goths.

Clovis.

The accidental, or artificial, prodigies, which adorned the victory of expedition of Clovis, were accepted, by a superstitious age, as AD. 507 the manifest declaration of the Divine favour He marched from Paris; and, as he proceeded with decent reverence through the holy diocese of Tours, his anxiety tempted him to consult the shrine of St. Martin, the sanctuary and the oracle of Gaul. His messengers were instructed to remark the words of the Psalm, which should happen to be chaunted at the precise moment when they entered the church. Those words most fortunately expressed the valour and victory of the champions of Heaven, and the application was easily transferred to the new Joshua, the new Gideon, who went forth to battle against the enemies of the Lord.56 Orleans secured to the Franks a

It is singular enough, that some important and authentic facts should be found in a life of Quintianus, composed in rhyme in the old Patois of Rouergue (Dubos, Hist. Critique, &c. tom. ii. p. 179).

54 Quamvis fortitudini vestræ confidentiam tribuat parentum vestrorum innumerabilis multitudo; quamvis Attilam potentem reminiscamini Visigotharum viribus inclinatum; tamen quia populorum ferocia corda longâ pace mollescunt, cavete subito in aleam mittere, quos constat tantis temporibus exercitia non habere. Such was the salutary, but fruitless, advice of peace, of reason, and of Theodoric (Cassiodor. 1. iii. ep. 2).

55 Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, 1. xv. c. 14) mentions and approves the law of the Visigoths (1. ix. tit. 2, in tom. iv. p. 425) which obliged all masters to arm, and send, or lead, into the field, a tenth of their slaves.

56 This mode of divination, by accepting as an omen the first sacred words, which in particular circumstances should be presented to the eye or ear, was derived from the Pagans; and the Psalter, or Bible, was substituted to the Poems of Homer and Virgil. From the fourth to the fourteenth century, these sortes sanctorum, as they are styled, were repeatedly condemned by the decrees of councils, and repeatedly practised by kings, bishops, and saints. See a curious dissertation of the Abbé du Resnel, in the Mémoires de l'Académie, tom. xix. p. 287-310.

[Battle of Vouille]

bridge on the Loire; but, at the distance of forty miles from Poitiers, their progress was intercepted by an extraordinary swell of the river Vigenna, or Vienne; and the opposite banks were covered by the encampment of the Visigoths. Delay must be always dangerous to Barbarians, who consume the country through which they march; and, had Clovis possessed leisure and materials, it might have been impracticable to construct a bridge, or to force a passage, in the face of a superior enemy. But the affectionate peasants, who were impatient to welcome their deliverer, could easily betray some unknown, or unguarded, ford; the merit of the discovery was enhanced by the useful interposition of fraud or fiction; and a white hart, of singular size and beauty, appeared to guide and animate the march of the Catholic army. The counsels of the Visigoths were irresolute and distracted. A crowd of impatient warriors, presumptuous in their strength, and disdaining to fly before the robbers of Germany, excited Alaric to assert in arms the name and blood of the conqueror of Rome. The advice of the graver chieftains pressed him to elude the first ardour of the Franks, and to expect, in the southern provinces of Gaul, the veteran and victorious Ostrogoths, whom the king of Italy had already sent to his assistance. The decisive moments were wasted in idle deliberation; the Goths too hastily abandoned, perhaps, an advantageous post; and the opportunity of a sure retreat was lost by their slow and disorderly motions. After Clovis had passed the ford, as it is still named, of the Hart, he advanced with bold and hasty steps to prevent the escape of the enemy. His nocturnal march was directed by a flaming meteor, suspended in the air above the cathedral of Poitiers; and this signal, which might be previously concerted with the orthodox successor of St. Hilary, was compared to the column of fire that guided the Israelites in the desert. At the third hour of the day, about ten miles beyond Poitiers, Clovis overtook, and instantly attacked, the Gothic army; whose defeat was already prepared by terror and confusion. Yet they rallied in their extreme distress, and the martial youths, who had clamorously demanded the battle, refused to survive the ignominy of flight. The two kings encountered each other in single combat. Alaric fell by the hand of his rival; and the victorious Frank was saved by the goodness of his cuirass, and the vigour of his horse, from the spears of two desperate Goths, who furiously rode against him to revenge the death of their sovereign The vague expression of a mountain of the slain serves to indicate a