Gregory of Tours, Saint

Gregory of Tours, Saint, 538–94, French historian, bishop of Tours (from 573), b. Clermont-Ferrand, of a prominent family. He had a distinguished and successful career as bishop. Gregory wrote accounts of miracles of the saints, an astronomical work to determine movable feasts, and a commentary on the Psalms. His masterpiece, Historia Francorum [history of the Franks], in 10 books, is a universal history; its account of contemporary events is of great importance. Gregory's Late Latin is of linguistic interest. Feast: Nov. 17.

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Gregory of Tours, Saint

 orig. Georgius Florentius

(born Nov. 30?, 538/539, Clermont, Aquitaine?—died Nov. 17, 594?, Tours, Neustria) Frankish bishop and writer. Born into an aristocratic family that had produced several bishops of what is today central France, Gregory succeeded his cousin as bishop of Tours in 573. He was involved in numerous political events and in open dispute with the king, Chilperic I. His fame rests on his History of the Franks, a chief source for knowledge of the 6th-century Franco-Roman kingdom. His other writings, including Lives of the Fathers, on the lives of saints, and seven books of miracles, afford unique evidence of religious and social life in Merovingian France.