The History of the Franks

Gregoy of Tours begins by stating that “many things keep happening, some of them good, some of them bad” (63). For example, there are heretics, kings going to war, and some people are good Christians and others do not have so much faith. No one is keeping track of these events, Gregory complains, because literature has almost disappeared in Gaul. Despite claiming that his writing style is “not very polished” (63), Gregory has decided to write History of the Franks in order to “keep alive the memory of those dead and gone, and to bring them to the notice of future generations” (63).

The History of the Franks begins with Gregory of Tours declaring his Catholic Christian faith. Specifically, he declares that he believes that Jesus was human when he was crucified and then rose from the dead; that there is a holy trinity which includes God the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost or Spirit; and that the world will end with the rise of the Antichrist. Specifically, Gregory rejects what he views as the heretical argument that the Son is a lesser entity than God the Father, which is proven by the fact that Jesus does not know the day the world will end (68-69).