Gregory of Tours: History and Society in the Sixth Century

For 1400 years Gregory's Histories--the principal work of Merovingian history--have been understood as a "history of the Franks" and as an objective portrayal of history, albeit told by a naive narrator. This completely new interpretation of the Histories reveals connections between apparently unconnected, adjacent chapters, and also begins to make out their real function. Gregory (538-594) can be seen as focusing on the development of a socio-political concept of society, which anticipates the leadership of the Christian state entrusted to the joint government of bishops and king.