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156 and in the time of Gregory of Tours the wealth of these merchants was renowned. But commerce was chiefly in the hands of Byzantines and Jews. The Byzantines, who were generally known by the name of Syrians, whether they came from Asia or from Europe, had important trading- stations at Marseilles, at Bordeaux, at Orleans. When in 585 Guntram made his entry into the last-named city he was welcomed with cries of acclamation in the Syriac language. Simeon Stylites conversed with Syrian merchants who had seen Ste Genevieve at Paris. In 591 a Syrian named Eusebius was even appointed bishop of Paris, and gave offices in the Church to his compatriots. The Jews, on their part, formed prosperous colonies. Maintaining friendly relations with their co-religionists in Italy, Spain, and the East, they were able to give a wide extension to their business, and, as the Christian Church forbade the lending of money at interest, all dealing in money, all banking business, was soon in their hands. Five hundred Jews were settled at Clermont-Ferrand; at Marseilles and Narbonne they were more numerous still. The Jew Priscus acted as agent in purchases made by King Chilperic, who held disputations with him concerning the Holy Trinity.

Intellectual culture naturally declined during the Merovingian period. Nevertheless in the sixth century there are still two names which are celebrated in the history of literature, those of the poet Fortunatus and the historian Gregory of Tours. Fortunatus, it is true, was born in Italy and educated in the Schools of Ravenna; but his verses, with their wealth of mythological allusions, pleased the taste of the Frankish lords and the Merovingian kings, of whom he was to some extent a flatterer. He sang the praises of all the monarchs of his period, Charibert, Sigebert, and Chilperic; he even lavished on Fredegund his paid panegyrics:

Omnibus excellens meritis Fredegundis opima.

Becoming the adviser of Queen Radegund he settled in her neighbourhood at Poitiers. He there became first priest, and then bishop. It was at this period that he wrote those charming notes in verse, thanking Radegund for the delicacies which she sent him and describing, with a slightly sensual gourmandise, the pleasure he derived from a good dinner; but at the same time he finds a more energetic strain in which to deplore the sorrows of Thuringia. And, also doubtless at the request of his patroness, he wrote the fine hymns which the Church still uses in the Vexilla regis prodeunt and the Pange lingua.

If Fortunatus was the sole poet of the Merovingian period Gregory of Tours is almost the sole historian. In his work, the History of the Franks, this troublous period lives again, with its vices, crimes, and passions. The portraits which he gives us of Chilperic, Guntram, and Brunhild are painted with extraordinary vividness. His work manifests real literary power. Critics sometimes speak of the naïveté of Gregory,