ARTICLES ET MÉLANGES ARTIKELEN EN MENGELINGEN
Gregory of Tours and Clovis
Ian N. Wood
For over a century the chronology of the reign of Clovis has been the subject of debate. The onslaughts on Gregory of Tour's account, especially those directed by Krusch and van de Vyver, exposed the weaknesses of the chapters associated with the king's conversion in Book Two of the Libri Historiarum, but a host of major scholars continued to defend the traditional outline of Clovis's reign, and prevented any alternative interpretation from securing unanimous support 0). Indeed the arguments over Clovis's baptism were so indecisive that Tessier proposed a truce, insisting that the exact date did not matter (2). Nevertheless historians have continued to argue about the chronology, with Weiss upholding the attitude of acute scepticism towards Gregory's account (3), while Reydellet has asserted his acceptance of the bishop of Tour's narrative (4). The continuity of the debate is in itself an indication that, /race Tessier, the chronology of Clovis's reign
(1) See especially B. Krusch, Zwei Heiligenleben des Jonas von Susa ; II. Die ältere Vita Vedastis und die Taufe Chlodovechs, in Mitteilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung, XIV (1893), pp. 427-48 ; Α. van de Vyver, La victoire contre les Alamans et la conversion de Clovis, in Revue Beige de Philologie et d'Histoire, XV (1936), pp. 859-914, XVI (1937), pp. 35-94 ; Idem., L'unique victoire contre les Alamans et la conversion de Clovis en 506, in Revue Belge, XVII (1938), pp. 793-813. For a recent overview of the debate, R. Weiss, Chlodwigs Taufe .· Rheims 508 (Bern-Frankfurt, 1971), pp. 9-14.
(2) G. Tessier, Le Baptême de Clovis (Paris, 1964), pp. 124-5 ; Idem., La conversion de Clovis et la christianisation des Francs, in Settimane di Studio, XIV, La conversione al cristianesimo nell'Europa dell'alto medioevo (Spoleto, 1967), pp. 166-9.
(3) Weiss, Chlodwigs Taufe, pp. 15-9.
(4) M. Reydellet, La royauté dans la littérature latine de Sidoine Apollinaire à Isidore de Seville (Rome, 1981), pp. 95-1 13.
