This coin dates to the age of the Germanic ruler Clovis I (d 511 CE), and should immediately strike us with its mythological imagery — angels with swords aren’t things we actually see. We realize that the figure on the coin cannot correspond with a real-life person. A tricky thing about studying Early Medieval history, however, is that we must constantly remind ourselves that the written sources from this distant past are frequently just as mythological — they just hide it.
This is the case for the stories about King Clovis I. A Germanic leader who successfully expanded his territory, utilized the Catholic Church to promote his authority, and brokered a successful relationship with the Roman aristocrats still holding power in the region, Clovis comes across as a ruthless and conniving barbarian in the most well-known Medieval narratives.
And there is a great story that gets at this point, told by Gregory of Tours, a bishop writing about a half century after Clovis’ death. It goes this way: Clovis instructed a prince of a rival kingdom to murder his own father. After the parricide, Clovis denounced the murderer for his evil deeds and had him killed, which enabled an expansion of Clovis’ territory. Later in the narrative, Gregory goes on to write about how Clovis was lamenting that he had no living relatives, but tells the readers that this was an act: Clovis was not lonely, but was trying to ferret out any blood relations so he could have potential rivals killed.
We readers love these legends — the details lure us into feeling an understanding and connection with the past, and specifically with Clovis. But they are myths. In this case, historians examining Gregory of Tours recognize that the bishop had an agenda, which was to distinguish violent secular leaders from holy saints, and he told story after story to convince his readers of this worldview.
Training ourselves to understand the background and biases of the distant past is a valuable skill, one that can lead to a much more intelligent understanding of present times.
Source(s): William M. Daly, “Clovis: How Barbaric, How Pagan?” _Speculum_, vol 69, no 3, July 1994, pp. 619-664. Image from _History Today_, “Death of Clovis I of the Franks,” Richard Cavendish, vol 61 issue 11, Nov 2011.
