Gregory of Tours, the 'father of Frankish history,' was born about 540 at Arverna (now Clermont), the chief town of Auvergne, and belonged to one of the most distinguished Roman families of Gaul. Originally called Georgius Florentius, he assumed the name Gregory out of respect for his mother's grandfather, Gregory, Bishop of Langres. He was educated by his uncle, Gallus, Bishop of Clermont, and after his death by Avitus, a priest of his native town. His recovery from a severe sickness, through a pilgrimage to the grave of St Martin of Tours, led Gregory to devote himself to the service of the church, and by the choice of the clergy and people and favour of Sigbert, king of Austrasia, to whom Auvergne had fallen on the death of Clothar I. in 561, he became Bishop of Tours in 573. He gave himself zealously to his sacred office and the public good. In the struggles between Sigbert and his wife Brunhilda on the one side against Chilperic and his wife Fredegond on the other he took the side of the former, and in the vicissitudes of a conflict in which Tours frequently changed masters had to suffer many persecutions. After the death of Chilperic, whom Gregory calls 'the Nero and Herod of our time,' he enjoyed great influence over his successors, Guntram and Childebert II. He died 17th November 594. The fame of Gregory rests on his Historia sive Annalium Francorum libri x., the chief authority for the history of Gaul in the 6th century. It begins with a summary of universal history, but by the end of book i. reaches the Frankish conquest and the death of St Martin. From this point onwards the narrative is written with much greater fullness, the last seven years (585-91) extending to four books. Gregory himself laments his unskilfulness in writing—his wrong genders and cases, and misused prepositions. His ten books are the artless memoranda of a contemporary, bearing on their face the clear stamp of truth. It is entirely to him that we owe our exact knowledge of the dark and stormy times of the Merovingian kings.
Besides his History, he wrote Miraculorum libri vii., a hagiographical compilation, including four books on the innumerable miracles of St Martin. A critical edition of his works was published by Ruinart in 1699 (1 vol. folio), and in Migne's collection (vol. lxxi.). Of the History the best editions are by Guadet and Turanne (1836-38), and that in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (1884-85). French translations are by H. L. Bordier (2 vols. 1859-61) and that edited by Jacobs (2 vols. 1861); there is a German translation by W. Giesebrecht (1851; 9th ed. 1873). The historical material supplied by Gregory is reproduced in Thierry's Recit des Temps Merovingiens (Paris, 1840). A French translation of the Books of Miracles and lesser writings was published by H. L. Bordier (4 vols. 1857-64). See Löbell, Gregor von Tours und seine Zeit (1839; 2d ed. 1869); G. Monod, Études critiques sur les sources de l'Histoire Merovingienne (Paris, 1872); and vol. i. of Mark Pattison's Essays (1889).