GREGORY OF TOURS: Frankish bishop and historian; b. at Arverna, the present ClermontFerrand (250 m. s.s.e. of Paris), 538 or 539; d. at Tours Nov. 17, 593 or 594. He came of a noble Roman family, and originally bore the name Georgius 7lorentius, which he changed afterward out of veneration for his great-grandfather, Gregory, bishop of Langres. A dangerous illness in 563 induced him to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Martin at Tours, and his recovery fixed the religious tendency of his earlier years. On the death of Bishop Euphronius of Tours, in 573, he was chosen to fill the vacancy, and obliged by Sigibert I., at whose court he had been living, to accept. He devoted himself zealously to his episcopal duties, and also looked after the temporal welfare of the people of Tours. Tours had belonged to Charibert, on whose death (567) it came into Sigibert's possession, though it was incessantly contested by Chilperich, who, after Sigibert's murder in 576, ruled it until his own death in 584. Gregory took no active part in this conflict; but Chilperich and his partizans hated him, until his firm and wise behavior, when brought to trial on a false charge of having slandered Queen Fredegunde, made such an impression on the king that he maintained more friendly relations with him. These were continued by his successors, Guntchramnus and Childebert II., under whom he was frequently consulted on affairs of state. His literary activity began with a book (never completed) on the miracles of St. Martin in 575. Next came the history of Julian, a local saint. The Lrber in gloria mcr tyrum was written after 587; it, as well as the In gloria confessorum, celebrates by choice the deeds of Gallic saints. More important is the Liber vito patrum, which gives information concerning a number of Gallic leaders of the period following the fall of the empire and the foundation of the Germanic states. But his best-known work is his Historic Francorum, which he began not long after his consecration and continued down to 591, with some fragmentary additions in his later years. It be-

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gins with a synopsis of the history of the world, and at the end of the first book comes down to the beginning of the Frankish conquest and the death of St. Martin. The treatment grows more ex tended as it comes down, the last seven years alone filling four books. From the fifth book on it has the character of contemporary memoirs. Without graces of style, it has accuracy of statement and an earnest endeavor to be impartial, though theo logical and moralizing tendencies are sometimes obtruded on the reader. Gregory wrote also a commentary 'on the Psalms, of which only a few fragments remain, and De cursu scellarum, which served the practical purpose of helping to fix the time for the night offices by the position of the stars.

(A. Hauck.)

Bibliography: The Historia Prancbrum and other writings were first published at Paris, 1511-12, then at Basel, 1568; the Opera were edited by T. Ruinart, Paris, 1699; a new critical ed. by W. Arndt, with the Miracala by B. Krusch is in MGH, Script. rer. Memo., i (1885), 450-878; the Historia, ed. H. Omont, appeared Paris, 1886, and by G. Collon, ib. 1893. Ruinart's ed. is also in MPL, Ixxi. and in Bouquet, Recueil, vol. ii. Mention should also be made of the great edition by H. L. Bordier, 4 vols., Paris, 18574, containing the Vita by Odo and Jean Gilles, the latter of small value.

The Vita by Odo follows the preface in Ruinart's ed., ut sup., and is in MPL, lxxii. 115-126; cf. Ceillier, Auteurs sacrés, x. 809, xi. 365-409. Consult: J. W. LSbe11, Gregor von Tours und seine Zeit, Leipsic, 1839; A. Thierry, R&ita des temps m6rovingiena, Paris, 1840; A. Dupuy, Vie de S. Grégoire, ib. 1854; A. Jacobs, G_ographie de Grégoire de Tours, ib. 1858; L. B. Des Francs, ttudm sur Grégoire de, Tours, ib. 1861; C. Chevalier, Les Origines de lWlise de Tours, Tours, 1871; L. F. JAhan, Les L,~gendes veng6es, ou S. Grégoire de Toura, ib. 1871; Holder-Egger, in NA, i (1876), 268-276; A. Ebert, Allgemeine Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters, i. 566-579, Leipsic, 1889; M. A. Bonnet, Le Latin de Grégoire de Tours, Paris, 1890; Histoire littéraire de France, iii. 372-397; Neander, Christian Church, consult the Index; Schaff, Christian Church, iii. 658-661; DCB, ii. 771-776.