Gregory of Tours History of the Franks - Book Report/Review Example

According to Earnest Brehaut, the text is one of the historical records of great importance and the events in the text describe about the perishing of the Roman Empire and the commencement of a great modern state. Although the text deals mainly with the contemporary history of the writer, it has great relevance and value in the modern age as an unconscious revelation. "The language and style, the intellectual attitude with which it was conceived and written, and the vivid and realistic picture, unintentionally given, of a primitive society, all combine to make the History of the Franks a landmark in European culture.

" (Brehaut) Therefore, this paper intends to undertake an integrated analysis of the text, the History of the Franks, in order to determine its specific characteristics, the purposes of the writer in writing this text, and the particular readers to whom the author conveyed the main ideas of his work. Although the book mainly covers the history contemporaneous to the writer, including the events such as the expiration of the Roman Empire and the commencement of a great modern state, it is of exceptional value to the modern readers as an unconscious revelation of the history. . The great Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, Saint Gregory, had an unambiguous purpose in writing one of the most celebrated historical works of humanity.

"In the Histories, he constantly faced the double task of relating history in as 'objective' a way as possible, while at the same time selecting and arranging historical episodes so that they would be commensurate with his didactic aims." (Heinzelmann and Carroll, 36) A careful reader of the text can easily understand this specific intention of the writer and the author himself is vigilant about providing his clear-cut meaning to the readers. In fact, Gregory of Tours did not write the text for all the readers of the world as he did it for the special category of readers who would exactly understand his words.

Thus, the writer suggests in his Preface to the work, "I have been especially encouraged because, to my surprise, it has often been said by men of our day, that few understand the learned words of the rhetorician but many, the rude language of the common people." (Gregory) Evidently, Gregory intended it for the few readers who understand the learned words of the rhetorician and, in fact, all could not comprehend the words by this great historian. The author introduces the real purpose and the intended audience of the text in his Preface which states that there existed in the Gallic cities deeds that were both good and evil when the liberal culture was on its wane.

At this particular period, the author noticed that there were threats to the land by the heathen who were raging ferociously, the kings who were growing crueler, and the heretics, who attacked the church fiercely. It was the duty of the Catholics to defend faith among all these hazards of human culture.