![]() ![]() 'Why do you hate me so, daughter?' Fredegund asked her one day. She would often insult her mother to her face, and they frequently exchanged slaps and punches. 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. He was often so completely fuddled with wine that it would take four men to carry him from the table. Once he had taken possession of his bishopric, Cautinus began to behave so badly that he was soon loathed by everybody. ![]() (Okay there were those dry church records too, but their not all that exciting.) Whereas with Gregory of Tours we get sort of an "Examiner" newspaper view of earthly events. One reason is that 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. And out of all the medieval primary sources I have read, it remains a favorite. I first ran across Gregory of Tours years ago in an Early Medieval History course at the University of Houston (Go Haskins Society!). ![]()
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