Remigius
The bishop of Reims who, according to Gregory of Tours, instructed Clovis in the faith and baptised him with more than three thousand of his warriors.
Gregory of Tours says that Queen Clotilde asked Remigius, bishop of Reims, to instruct Clovis in secret, and that he then baptised the king, telling him to worship what he had burned and to burn what he had worshipped. Gregory calls him a man of great learning, trained in rhetoric, and mentions a written Life that credited him with raising a dead man. He also quotes the opening of a letter in which Remigius consoled the king on the death of his sister Albofled, who had been baptised with him (Gregory of Tours, Histories 2.31).
In the timeline
- c. AD 496–508, estimated dateThe Baptism of Clovis
Clovis, king of the Franks, is baptised a Catholic Christian by Bishop Remigius of Reims, with many of his warriors. Unlike the Burgundian and Visigothic kings, who were Arians, he shares the faith of his Gallo-Roman subjects and their bishops.
Primary sources
Histories (History of the Franks)
- Gregory of Tours, Histories 2.31sourcebooks.fordham.edu