35. Now when Alaric, king of the Goths, saw that Clovis was conquering many nations, he sent messengers to him, saying, "If it please my brother, let us, with the favor of God, enter into an alliance." Clovis at once declared his willingness to do as Alaric suggested and the two kings met on an island in the Loire, near the town of Amboise in the vicinity of Tours.[49] There they talked, ate, and drank together, and after making mutual promises of friendship they departed in peace.
37. But Clovis said to his soldiers: "It is with regret that I see the Arian heretics in possession of any part of Gaul. Let us, with the help of God, march against them and, after having conquered them, bring their country under our own control." This proposal was received with favor by all the warriors and the army started on the campaign, going towards Poitiers, where Clovis resolves to take the Visigoths' lands in Gaul Alaric was then staying. As a portion of the troops passed through the territory about Tours, Clovis, out of respect for the holy St. Martin, forbade his soldiers to take anything from the country except grass for the horses. One soldier, having come across some hay which belonged to a poor man said, "Has, then, the king given us permission to take only grass? O well! hay is grass. To take it would not be to violate the command." And by force he took the hay away from the poor man. When, however, the matter was brought to the king's attention he struck the offender with his sword and killed him, saying, "How, indeed, may we hope for victory if we give offense to St. Martin?" This was enough thereafter to prevent the army from plundering in that country.
When Clovis arrived with his forces at the banks of the Vienne he was at a loss to know where to cross, because the heavy rains Miraculous incidents of the campaign had swollen the stream. During the night he prayed that the Lord would reveal to him a passage. The following morning, under the guidance of God, a doe of wondrous size entered the river in plain sight of the army and crossed by a ford, thus pointing out the way for the soldiers to get over. When they were in the neighborhood of Poitiers the king saw at some distance from his tent a ball of fire, which proceeded from the steeple of the church of St. Hilary[50] and seemed to him to advance in his direction, as if to show that by the aid of the light of the holy St. Hilary he would triumph the more easily over the heretics against whom the pious priest had himself often fought for the faith. Clovis then forbade his army to molest any one or to pillage any property in that part of the country.
Clovis at length engaged in battle with Alaric, king of the Goths, in the plain of Vouillé at the tenth mile-stone from Poitiers.[51] The Goths fought with javelins, but the Franks charged upon them with lances. Then the Goths took to flight, as is their custom,[52] and the victory, with the aid of God, fell to Clovis. He had put the Goths to flight and killed their king, The Visigoths defeated by Clovis (507) Alaric, when all at once two soldiers bore down upon him and struck him with lances on both sides at once; but, owing to the strength of his armor and the swiftness of his horse, he escaped death. After the battle Amalaric, son of Alaric, took refuge in Spain and ruled wisely over the kingdom of his father.[53] Alaric had reigned twenty-two years. Clovis, after spending the winter at Bordeaux and carrying from Toulouse all the treasure of the king, advanced on Angoulême. There the Lord showed him such favor that at his very approach the walls of the city fell down of their own accord.[54] After driving out the Goths he brought the place under his own authority. Thus, crowned with victory, he returned to Tours and bestowed a great number of presents upon the holy church of the blessed Martin.[55]
40. Now while Clovis was living at Paris he sent secretly to the son of Sigibert,[56] saying: "Behold now your father is old and lame. If he should die his kingdom would come to you and my friendship with it." So the son of Sigibert, impelled by his ambition, planned to slay his father. And when Sigibert set out from Cologne and crossed the Rhine to go through the Buchonian forest,[57] his son had him slain by assassins while he was sleeping in his tent, in order that he might gain the kingdom for himself. But by the judgment of God he fell into the pit which he had digged for his father. He sent messengers to Clovis to announce the death of his father and to say: "My father is dead and I have his treasures, and likewise the kingdom. Now send trusted men to me, that I may give them for you whatever you would like out of his treasury." Clovis replied: "I thank you for your kindness and will ask you merely to show my messengers all your treasures, after which you may keep them yourself." And when the messengers of Clovis came, the son of Sigibert showed them the treasures which his father had collected. And while they were looking at various things, he said: "My father used to keep his gold coins in this little chest." And Other means by which Clovis extended his power they said, "Put your hand down to the bottom, that you may show us everything." But when he stooped to do this, one of the messengers struck him on the head with his battle-ax, and thus he met the fate which he had visited upon his father.
Now when Clovis heard that both Sigibert and his son were dead, he came to that place and called the people together and said to them: "Hear what has happened. While I was sailing on the Scheldt River, Cloderic, son of Sigibert, my relative, attacked his father, pretending that I had wished him to slay him. And so when his father fled through the Buchonian forest, the assassins of Cloderic set upon him and slew him. But while Cloderic was opening his father's treasure chest, some man unknown to me struck him down. I am in no way guilty of these things, for I could not shed the blood of my relatives, which is very wicked. But since these things have happened, if it seems best to you, I advise you to unite with me and come under my protection." And those who heard him applauded his speech, and, raising him on a shield, acknowledged him as their king. Thus Clovis gained the kingdom of Sigibert and his treasures, and won over his subjects to his own rule. For God daily confounded his enemies and increased his kingdom, because he walked uprightly before Him and did that which was pleasing in His sight.
42. Then Clovis made war on his relative Ragnachar.[58] And when the latter saw that his army was defeated, he attempted to flee; but his own men seized him and his brother Richar and brought them bound before Clovis. Then Clovis said: "Why The removal of remaining rivals have you disgraced our family by allowing yourself to be taken prisoner? It would have been better for you had you been slain." And, raising his battle-ax, he slew him. Then, turning to Richar, he said, "If you had aided your brother he would not have been taken;" and he slew him with the ax also. Thus by their death Clovis took their kingdom and treasures. And many other kings and relatives of his, who he feared might take his kingdom from him, were slain, and his dominion was extended over all Gaul.
43. And after these things he died at Paris and was buried in the basilica of the holy saints which he and his queen, Clotilde, had built. He passed away in the fifth year The death of Clovis (511) after the battle of Vouillé, and all the days of his reign were thirty years.
7. The Law of the Salian Franks
When the Visigoths, Lombards, and other Germanic peoples settled within the bounds of the Roman Empire they had no such thing as written law. They had laws, and a goodly number of them, but these laws were handed down from generation to generation orally, having never been enacted by a legislative body or decreed by a monarch in the way that laws are generally made among the civilized peoples of to-day. In other words, early Germanic law consisted simply of an accumulation of the immemorial custom of the tribe. When, for example, a certain penalty had been paid on several occasions by persons who had committed a particular crime, men came naturally to regard that penalty as the one regularly to be paid by any one proved guilty of the same offense; so that what was at first only habit gradually became hardened into law—unwritten indeed, but none the less binding. The law thus made up, moreover, was personal rather than territorial like that of the Romans and like ours to-day. That is, the same laws did not apply to all the people throughout any particular country or region. If a man were born a Visigoth he would be subject to Visigothic law throughout life, no matter where he might go to live. So the Burgundian would always have the right to be judged by Burgundian law, and the Lombard by the Lombard law. Obviously, in regions where several peoples dwelt side by side, as in large portions of Gaul, Spain, and northern Italy, there was no small amount of confusion and the courts had to be conducted in a good many different ways.