This week in Christian history: Gregory of Tours dies, Unam Sanctum edict, missionary preacher arrested

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, November 17, 2024

Gregory of Tours dies – Nov. 17, 594

St. Gregory of Tours (538-594), a prominent early Medieval bishop and historian, meeting with Frankish King Chilperic I. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when St. Gregory of Tours, a notable early Medieval bishop and historian of the Merovingian kingdom of the Franks, died.

Born to a prominent Gallo-Roman family in what is now France, Gregory was active in both political and church matters while serving as bishop of Tours.

Perhaps his most famous written work was the Ten Books of Histories, which is also commonly known as The History of the Franks, in which Gregory documented the history of early Medieval France, centered on much of the religious and political upheavals of the times.

“Gregory is best remembered for his writings, especially his Histories, on which he worked until shortly before his death. Although he insisted that all 10 books be transmitted together, an abridged version of the first six circulated in the seventh century,” noted Britannica.

“Gregory is a vivid teller of tales, but his writings are far from artless. Beneath their idiosyncratic grammar and style, Gregory’s works are carefully constructed and rhetorically sophisticated, conveying profound religious and spiritual messages.”