MSS.

mss., and it was these alone that were used by the chronicler fredegarius in his abridgment of gregory's history. to the first six books gregory subsequently added chapters on the bishops salonius and sagittarius, and on his quarrels with felix of nantes. the authenticity of these chapters has been undeservedly attacked by catholic writers. books vii. to x., from 584 to 591, were written in the form of a diary; of each important event, as it occurred, he inserted an account in his book. the last six books are of great historical value. gregory had an intimate knowledge of contemporary events. he was frequently at court, and he found tours an excellent place for collecting information. the shrine of st martin attracted the sick from all quarters, and the basilica of the saint was a favourite sanctuary for political refugees. moreover, tours was on the high road between the north and south of france, and was a convenient stage for travellers, the ambassadors going to and from spain frequently halting there. gregory plied every one with questions, and in this way gathered a great mass of detailed information. he was, besides, at great pains to be an impartial writer, but was not always successful. his devotion to austrasia made him very bitter against, and perhaps unjust to, the sovereigns of neustria, chilperic and fredegond. as an orthodox christian, he had no good word for the arians. he excuses the crimes of kings who protected the church, such as clovis, clotaire i. and guntram, but had no mercy for those who violated ecclesiastical privileges. this attitude, no doubt, explains his hatred for chilperic. but if gregory's historical judgments are suspect, he at least concealed nothing and invented nothing; and we can correct his judgments by his own narrative. his history is a curious compound of artlessness and shrewdness. he was ignorant of the rules of grammar, confused genders and cases, and wrote in the vernacular latin of his time, apart from certain passages which are especially elaborated and filled with poetical and elegant expressions. but in spite of his shortcomings he is an exceedingly attractive writer, and his mastery of the art of narrative has earned for him the name of the herodotus of the barbarians. t. ruinart brought out a complete edition of gregory's works at paris in 1699. the best modern complete edition is that of w. arndt and b. krusch in _mon. germ. hist. script. rer. merov._ (vol. i., 1885). of the many editions of the _historia francorum_ may be mentioned those of guadet and taranne in the _soc. de l'hist. de france_ (4 vols., with french translation, 1836-1838), of omont (the first six books; a reproduction of the corvey ms.) and of g. collon (the last four books; a reproduction of the brussels ms. no. 9, 403). gregory's hagiographic works were published by h. bordier in the _soc. de l'hist. de france_ (4 vols., with french translation, 1857-1864). cf. j. w. lobell, _gregor von tours und seine zeit_ (2nd ed., leipzig, 1868); g. monod, "etudes critiques sur les sources de l'histoire merovingienne" in the _bibl. de l'ecole des hautes etudes_ (1872); g. kurth, "gregoire de tours et les etudes classiques au vi^e siecle" in the _revue des questions historiques_ (xxiv. 586 seq., 1878); max bonnet, _le latin de gregoire de tours_ (paris, 1890). for details, see ulysse chevalier, _biobibliographie_ (2nd ed.). (c. pf.)