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585-586] of the Papacy it would be impossible to say. Tyrannous and fratricidal, the Merovingian kings lived their evil lives unchecked by more than a nominal regard for the teaching of Christian moralists. But Gregory's continual interest in the Frankish Church was not in vain. He had established a personal relation with the barbarous kings: he had created a papal vicar in the kingdom of the South: in granting the pallium to the bishop of Autun he had at least suggested a very special authority over the lands of the Gauls: he had claimed that the Roman Church was their mother to whom they applied in time of need. If the practical result was small; if the Frankish Church maintained a real independence of Rome, and Arles never became a papal vicariate; yet Frankish monks, priests, poets, as well as bishops and kings, began to look to Rome as patron and guide. Venantius Fortunatus, Columbanus, Gregory of Tours, in their different ways, shew how close was the relation of Gregory the Great to the religion of the Franks.

Brighter was the prospect when Gregory turned from the moral chaos of Gaul to the growing unity of Spain. The Visigothic race had produced a great warrior in Leovigild, whose power, as king of all the Goths, extended from Seville to Nîmes. He obtained for his son Hermenegild Ingundis the daughter of Brunhild (herself the child of Athanagild, Leovigild's predecessor as Visigothic king) and the Frankish king Sigebert. From Gregory's letters we learn a story of martyrdom as to which there is no reason to believe that he was deceived. Ingundis, beset by Arian teachers who had obtained influence over Leovigild, not naturally a persecutor, a tyrant, or a fanatic, remained firm in her faith, and when her husband was given rule at Seville she succeeded with the aid of his kinsman Leander, bishop of Seville and friend of Gregory, in converting him to the Catholic belief. War was the result. Leovigild attacked his son, says John of Biclar, for rebellion and tyranny. Hermenegild sought the aid of the Catholic Sueves and "the Greeks" — the imperial garrisons which had remained since the partial reconquest of Spain by Justinian. But Leovigild proved the victor: the Suevic kingdom was extinguished, and Hermenegild was thrown into prison. Ingundis escaped with the Greeks and died at Carthage on her way to Constantinople. "Hermenegild was killed at Tarragona by Sigisbert" is the simple statement of John of Biclar, Catholic bishop of Gerona. Gregory in his Dialogues tells the tale more fully. On Easter Eve 585 he was offered communion by an Arian bishop, and when he refused to receive it at his hands he was murdered by the order of his father. He was regarded as a martyr and 13 April was observed throughout all Spain. His blood proved the seed of the faith.

A year later his brother Recared became king and accepted Catholicism. "No wonder," says Gregory, "that he became a preacher of the true faith, for his brother was a martyr, by whose merits he is aided in bringing back many souls to the bosom of God." Nor could this have happened had