Negotiating episcopal support in the Merovingian kingdom of R eims ( ad 561–75)

Minimal scholarly attention has been paid to the ecclesiastical policies of K ing S igibert I of R eims (r. 561–75). An examination of Sigibert's policies suggests the lengths to which the king went to attract and maintain episcopal allies in strategic and politically divided civitates . While G regory of T ours in his D ecem L ibri H istoriarum blamed S igibert's death on his stubborn refusal to heed episcopal counsel, the bishop of T ours recognized that the king of R eims was not consistently hostile to the church and its bishops, and saw the circumstances of S igibert's untimely death as ultimately tragic.