The Chronicle of Fredegar (4.25-6) records an agreement to a duel sworn by the aristocrats Landri and Bertoald at Orléans (north-west Gaul) on the feast day of *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050), 604. Written in Latin in Gaul/Francia, 659/700.
E08379
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Chronicle of Fredegar, 4.25-6
25. [...] Bertoaldus haec audiens, cum sustenere non preualebat, terga uertens Aurilianes ingreditur ibique a uiro beatissimo Austrno episcopo susceptur. Landericus cum exercito Aurilianes circumdans, uocabat Bertoaldum ut exiret ad prilium. Bertoaldus de muro respondens: 'Nos duo singulare certamen, si me expectare deliberas, reliqua multetudine procul suspinsa, ungamus ad prilum, a Domino iudecemur.' Sed haec Landericus facere distulit. Addens Bertoaldus dixit: 'Dum facre non audes, proximum temporis domini nostri pro ea que facetis iungent ad prilio. Induamur uterque ego et tu uestibus uermiclis, precedamus chetheris ubi congressus erit certamenis; ibique tua et mea utilitas adparebit, promittentes ante Deum ab inuicem, promissionis huius ueritatem subsistere.'
26. Cumque haec in diem festi sancti Martini antestites actum fuisset, Theudericus cum haec conperisset quod a Chlothario pars regni sui contra pactum fuerat persuasum, natiuitate Domini protinus cum exercitum Stampas super fluuio Loa peruenit [...] Vbique Bertoaldus secundum placetum adgreditur, uocetans Landericum, sed Landericus non est ausus, ut promiserat, tantum huius certaminis congressionem adire. Ibique Bertoaldus cum nimis citeris precessisset ab exercito Clothariae cum suis interficetur [...]
'25. ... On receiving this news, Bertoald fled to Orléans, for he lacked the means to resist. He was received at Orléans by the blessed Bishop Austrenus. Landri then invested the town with his men and called on Bertoald to come out and fight, to which Bertoald replied from the ramparts: 'If you are prepared to await me and send your men some distance off, I will come and do single combat with you and God shall be judge.' But Landri declined, and Bertoald added: 'You dare not! But our masters will at once go to war for what you have done. When the fighting starts, let us both wear red and be well out to the fore of our men. Then we shall see what the two of us are made of! Swear with me before God to keep this promise.'
26. This challenge was made on the feast of the blessed Bishop Martin. When Theuderic heard that Chlothar had entered the territory contrary to their agreement, he at once set out at Christmas with an army for Étampes on the river Louet... Bertoald kept his promise and advanced, calling on Landri, who dared not thus face the duel to which on the day of the battle he was committed by oath. But Bertoald had advanced too far. He and his men were killed by Chlothar's force.'
Text and translation: Wallace-Hadrill 1960, 16-17.
Saint’s feast
Dating by saint’s festival
Non Liturgical ActivityOath
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesMonarchs and their family
Aristocrats
Soldiers
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Source
The work known as the Chronicle of Fredegar dates from the second half of the 7th century. There is a long history of controversy over the questions of how many authors were involved in its compilation and precisely when they worked, but the current consensus is that it was produced by a single author working in one of the Frankish kingdoms at some point after 659 (Collins 1996, 83, 91-96).While the first three books of the chronicle largely reproduce earlier sources, Book 4 is mostly an original composition, covering events from 584 to 642.
Discussion
It is unclear whether the Fredegar chronicler deemed the dating of this oath to the feast of Martin (11 November) as significant. Note that the saint's role is apparently passive in this account: the oath is broken by Landri, but it is Bertoald who is killed. For further incidents involving broken oaths in Fredegar, see E08384, E08385, and E08386.The story is set during the period of civil conflict in the Merovingian kingdoms around the turn of the seventh century. The two kings in the passage are Chlothar II (584-623) and Theuderic II (595-613).
Bibliography
Edition and translation:Wallace-Hadrill, J.M., The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar (London, 1960).
Further reading:
Collins, R., "Fredegar," in: P.J. Geary (ed.), Authors of the Middle Ages: Historical and Religious Writers of the Latin West, vol. 4, nos. 12-13 (Aldershot, 1996), 73-138.
Collins, R., Die Fredegar-Chroniken (Hannover, 2007).
David Lambert and Benjamin Savill
31/01/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain |
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