Reviews for The History of the Franks

The average rating for The History of the Franks based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-01-29 00:00:00 Summer Johansen [ named after George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham from The Three Musketeers (hide spoiler)]

Review # 2 was written on 2019-06-22 00:00:00 Matt Gemlo Histoire des Francs By Grégoire de Tours (538-594) The 5th and 6th Century was the darkest of the dark middle ages in the land of Gaul. The Roman Empire was crumbling, and the void after the Roman Rule gave place for invading barbarian populations from the east and north. Vandals, Aleman’s, Goths, Saxons, Thuringia’s, Huns and others raided the cities and their surrounding countries brutally and violently, killing or enslaving the populations, burning homes and churches and stealing and robbing anything they could get hold of. One of these roaming populations were the Francs. Gregory of Tours was a Catholic bishop who recorded the historical events as he saw them as an eyewitness. These reports are the only remaining writings from the period. He wrote in the Latin language which was also his native tongue. He lived at the time of the Christening and (self) crowning of CLOVIS, the first Franc King who had succeeded to submit almost all the French Cities to his rule. He was simply the most ruthless of all the warriors; he had killed all the rival kings and even sons and other close family members as soon as he saw them dangerous to his tyrannic dominance. After his death, his sons, grandsons and descendants continued in the same way and established over time what has become France today. Bishop Gregory objectively describes the ambiguous implication of the Christian religion in bringing these barbaric rulers to accept the Christian way of legislation and to live by its rules. This was an almost impossible task and cost countless innocent lives and turned hundreds if not thousands, religious men and women into martyrs. It seems today surprising that so many miracles had been attributed to Gods Will and intervention It must also seem to have been a necessity to produce some pretended, if not always tangible proof of Gods Power to convince such a brutal, ruthless population to turn to a more civilized way of interaction and social behaviour. In the first chapters, the book appears to be excessively bent on religious history and matters, but as from chapter five, actual historical events appear and follow page after page in a rapid manner. Battles, fights, murders, intrigues, betrayals, tortures, rape and incest are the ordinary every day in those times. Historical reality proves to be well beyond anything a modern author of fiction could imagine.