Decem Libri Historiarum is considered a primary source for the study of Merovingian history and chronicles the accounts of the Franks during the period.

Their deputies overtook him at the court of King Sigebert of Austrasia, and being compelled to acquiesce, though much against his will, Gregory was consecrated by Giles, bishop of Rheims, on 22 August 573, at the age of 34.

Tours was situated on the Loire, five Roman roads radiated from it, and it was on the main route between the Frankish north and Aquitania, with Spain beyond.

Gregory wrote in Late Latin, which frequently departed from Classical usage in both syntax and spelling, although with relatively few changes in inflection.

It contains Christian tales of miracles, descriptions of omens and natural events, stories of Christian martyrs, dialogues of church debates, discussions of the lives of holy men, nobility, and eccentric peasants, frequent Bible verses and references, and explorations of the complex international relations between numerous tribes and nations including the Lombards, Visigoths, Ostrogoths and Huns, also Gregory's biography and interpretation of events.

Book Two covers the beginnings of the Merovingian dynasty, including King Clovis I's conversion to Christianity by his wife Clotilde, and ending with his death in 511, after his conquest of large tracts of land in modern-day France.

At the time of his demise in 561 (as under Clovis before him), the kingdom is divided equally between four sons of Clothar: Charibert I, Sigebert I, Guntram, and Chilperic I; they quarrel for control of the entire realm.

Books I to IV initially recount the world's history from the Creation (as was traditional for such works);[6] but move quickly on to the Christianization of Gaul, the life and times of Saint Martin of Tours, the conversion of the Franks and the conquest of Gaul under Clovis I,[7] and the more detailed history of the Frankish kings down to the death of Sigebert I in 575.

[2] The most eloquent passage in the Historia is the closing chapter of Book VI, in which Chilperic's character is summed up unsympathetically through the use of an invective: Herod and Nero are among the comparisons employed.

[9] The third part, comprising Books VII to X, takes his increasingly personal account to the year 591, and concludes with a plea for further chroniclers to preserve his work in entirety (as indeed would be done).

His views on perceived dangers of Arianism, still strong among the Visigoths,[11] led him to preface the Historia with a detailed expression of his orthodoxy on the nature of Christ.

Gregory's education was the standard Latin one of Late Antiquity, focusing on Virgil's Aeneid and Martianus Capella's Liber de Nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae, but also other key texts such as Orosius's Chronicles, which his Historia continues, and Sallust; he referred to all these works in his own.

Though he had read Virgil, considered the greatest Latin stylist, he cautioned: "We ought not to relate their lying fables, lest we fall under sentence of eternal death."

By contrast, he seems to have thoroughly studied the lengthy and complex Vulgate Bible, as well as numerous religious works and historical treatises, which he frequently quoted, particularly in the earlier books of the Historia.

Recent scholarship have concluded that Gregory's underlying purpose was to highlight the vanity of secular life and contrast it with the miracles of the saints.

[16] Though Gregory conveys political and other messages through the Historia, and these are studied very closely, historians now generally agree that this contrast itself is the central and ever-present narrative device.

He praised St. Illidius for purity of heart, St. Brachio the abbot for discipline and determination in study of the scriptures, St Patroclus for unwavering faith in the face of weakness, and St. Nicetius bishop of Lyon for justice.

[2] But it also tells the story of one Theodore who made a pilgrimage to India and reported the existence of a large monastery where the body of Thomas the Apostle was first interred and where miracles took place.

[18] Gregory's avowed aim in writing this book was to "fire others with that enthusiasm by which the saints deservedly climbed to heaven", though this was not his sole purpose, and he most surely did not expect his entire audience to show promise of such piety as to witness the power of God flowing through them in the way that it did for the fathers.

Often, the scenes which expose the weaknesses of heresy[19] focused on images of fire and burning, whilst the Catholics were proved right by the protection lavished on them by God, in Gregory's view.

This was of great relevance to Gregory himself as he presided over the important see of Tours, where extensive use was made of the cult of St. Martin in establishing the authority of the bishopric with the congregation and in the context of the Frankish church.

However, this should not be seen as a selfish grab for power on behalf of the bishops who emerge so triumphantly from the Life of the Fathers, but rather as a bid for hegemony of doctrine and control over the practice of worship, which they believed to be in the best interests of their congregation and the wider church.

But as for those who say: "There was a time when he was not", [note: a leading belief of Arian Christology] I reject them with curses, and call men to witness that they are separated from the church.

I believe that he rose again on the third day, that he freed sinful man, that he ascended to heaven, that he sits on the right hand of the Father, that he will come to judge the living and the dead.

But our end is Christ himself, who will graciously bestow eternal life on us if we turn to him.Gregory's writings make ample references to wine and vineyards.

[26] According to Robert Win's analysis:[27][full citation needed] There can be no argument that Gregory deliberately structured his narrative to protect himself from any political attacks and that it was the political circumstances around him that governed what he could and could not write.Gregory's Latin was relatively poor in comparison with earlier centuries when writers were educated at secular Roman grammar and rhetoric schools.

He was self-aware of this and apologized for his poor Latin in his introduction: Ista etenim atque et his similia iugiter intuens dici, pro commemoratione praeteritorum, ut notitiam adtingerint venientum, etsi incultu effatu, nequivi tamen obtegere vel certamena flagitiosorum vel vitam recte viventium; et praesertim his inlicitus stimulis, quod a nostris fari plerumque miratus sum, quia: "Philosophantem rethorem intellegunt pauci, loquentem rusticum multi".

Hearing continually these complaints and others like them I have undertaken to commemorate the past, in order that it may come to the knowledge of the future; and although my speech is rude, I have been unable to be silent as to the struggles between the wicked and the upright; and I have been especially encouraged because, to my surprise, it has often been said by men of our day: "few understand the rhetorician but many the rustic speaker".Win further observed:[27] The Historia Francorum is the only source of that period covering the beginning of the Franks in the decaying Roman Empire from around 397 (the death of Martin of Tours) to 590 (the early reign of king Chlothar II).

Alongside the most outstanding poet Venantius Fortunatus in his lifetime, Gregory of Tours is the unique historian from the 6th-century Merovingian world;[28] and his extensive literary output is itself a testimony to the preservation of learning and to the lingering continuity of Gallo-Roman civic culture through the early Middle Ages.

While Lewis Thorpe's translation of The History of the Franks is more accessible than Brehaut's, his introduction and commentary are not well regarded by contemporary historians (see "Secondary sources", below).