The Chronicle of Fredegar (4.78) records how in 636 a delegation of Basques/Gascons sought sanctuary in the church of *Dionysius (bishop and martyr of Paris, S00349) (Saint-Denis, northern Gaul); there they swore oaths of fidelity to King Dagobert and his sons, which they later broke. Written in Latin in Gaul/Francia, 659/700.
E08385
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Chronicle of Fredegar, 4.78
[...] Anno quinto decimo regno Dagoberti Wascones omnes seniores terre illius cum Aiginane duci ad Dagobertum Clipiaco uenerunt; ibique in eclesia domni Dioninsis rigio temore perterriti confugium fecerunt. Clemenciam Dagoberti uitam habent indultam. Ibique sacramentis Wascones firmantes semul et promittentes se omni tempore Dagoberto eiusque filies regnumque Francorum esse fedilis; quod more soleto, sicut sepe fecirant post hac probauit aeuentus. Permissum Dagoberti Wascones regressi sunt in terra Wasconiae.
'... In the fifteenth year of Dagobert's reign, all the Gascon lords and their duke Aighyna came to seek Dagobert at Clichy; but fear of the king overcame them and they took refuge in the church of the Lord Dionysius. Dagobert, however, was merciful and spared their lives; and there they swore always to be faithful to the king, to his sons, and to the kingdom of the Franks. But this oath they kept in their usual manner, as events were to prove. The Gascons then went home, with Dagobert's leave.'
Text and translation: Wallace-Hadrill 1960, 67, lightly modified.
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityOath
Seeking asylum at church/shrine
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesForeigners (including Barbarians)
Monarchs and their family
Aristocrats
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
Dagobert I's special reverence for Dionysius and his cult site at Saint-Denis is well documented: see further E05939 (Fredegar, 4.79), E06133 (Merovingian royal diplomas, nos. 41, 72, 85) and E06301 (Life of Eligius, ch. 32).This passage is one of several in which the Fredegar chronicler reports oaths connected to saints' places (loca) or feast days which were subsequently broken: compare E08379 (Martin), E08384 (unspecified sites in Italy), E08386 (unspecified sites in Gaul).
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
01/02/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00349 | Dionysius/Denis, bishop and martyr of Paris, and his companions Rusticus and Eleutherius | Dioninsis | Certain |
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