bishop gregory’s fact and fable

 

I think I may have found  a solution to a problem which has vexed me for more than forty years.

 

In the mid 1970s, when I was involved with Medieval Studies at the University of Sydney, I read an English translation of a classical text dating from the 6th century of our era. It is usually called History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours. It is a long compendious book. Most of it appears to be reliable history. So reliable that parts of it have been repeated ad infinitum by successive generations of history writers. But other parts are so far removed from everyday credibility that I’ve continually wondered why they are there.

 

They set me a problem. If most of the account is good factual history, are these supernatural episodes to be regarded as equally factual? On the other hand, if some of the episodes are no more than products of the imagination, how much reliance can I place on the rest of the content?

 

With my own background, I’m quite prepared to accept that Gregory is writing of a time when the veil between the worlds was so intangible, sensitive people on this earth walked hand in hand with those from the Other Side. But this proposition simply won’t wash in the academic world. So I must look for an alternative explanation.

 

It struck me only last night. For the most part Gregory sets down the actual physical facts as he is aware of them. But now and then he moves into parable. Those who perused copies of his manuscript would know the difference. They would know how to peel away the surface layers and reveal the messages hidden from unenlightened eyes.

 

Then my thoughts took me a step further. Of course! Every day at mass, there were readings from the Gospels of the New Testament. They record how parables were used to provoke public curiosity. Then, in private séances, the Inner Circle, the ‘Twelve’ of tradition, were taken over the border into the realities of the esoteric.

 

Really, it’s no surprise to find a similar technique used in History of the Franks. Why didn’t I think of it before? More to the point. Why did all those I questioned fail to come up with any explanation at all?

 

francis cameron, oxford, eostre 8 april 2012

 

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