Saint Gregory of Tours summary

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Saint Gregory of Tours, 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.

Roman Catholicism Summary

Roman Catholicism, Christian church that has been the decisive spiritual force in the history of Western civilization. Along with Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism, it is one of the three major branches of Christianity. It is led by the pope, as the bishop of Rome, and the Holy See forms the

Tours Summary

Tours, city, capital of Indre-et-Loire département, Centre région, west-central France, on the Loire River. It is the chief tourist centre for the Loire valley and its historic châteaus. Early records show that the Turones, a pre-Roman Gallic people, settled on the right bank of the Loire River.

saint Summary

Saint, holy person, believed to have a special relationship to the sacred as well as moral perfection or exceptional teaching abilities. The phenomenon is widespread in the religions of the world, both ancient and contemporary. Various types of religious personages have been recognized as saints,

Frank Summary

Frank, member of a Germanic-speaking people who invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Dominating present-day northern France, Belgium, and western Germany, the Franks established the most powerful Christian kingdom of early medieval western Europe. The name France (Francia) is