In America, every child in school learns the tale of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas. In England, King Arthur and Robin Hood hold the imaginations of the young captive. In France, though, they have a different set of national heroes to inspire their youth. One of these heroes is Clovis, King of the Franks, and of the tales told of him none is perhaps more famous than that of the Soissons Vase.
According to legend, the vase was stolen along with many other items from a church after the Battle of Soissons in 486. Evidently the vase was large, beautiful and highly prized, because the Bishop of Rheims sent a message to Clovis politely asking for it to be returned. The king agreed if the vase should happen to be included in his portion of the plunder when it was divided. Sure enough, once the stolen treasures were placed in a large pile to be distributed among the conquerors, Clovis spotted the vase and asked if it would be given to him in addition to his normal share. Everyone agreed. After all, who is going to argue that King Clovis shouldn’t get something extra? Then one warrior, to the shock of all those assembled, took his axe and shattered the vase, telling Clovis, in effect, that he should only get his fair share like everyone else.
Clovis took the pieces of the vase and returned them by messenger to the bishop. He didn’t even punish the soldier who had dared defy him, at least not then. Rather, Clovis waited a full year and until he was inspecting his troops again to take action. On recognizing the willful warrior who had defied him in the past, he berated him publicly for the sloppiness of his weaponry, knocking the man’s axe to the ground. As the soldier bent over to pick it up, the king raised his own axe and crushed the man’s head in, saying, “Thus didst thou to the vase at Soissons.”
As with most tales told to the young, this one has a teaching or two attached that, while hopefully different from our own views regarding justice, reflect some of the cultural values of the time period. The first is that a king is always right. The second is that a king never forgets.
For further reading:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/gregtours1.html
http://www.understandfrance.org/France/History.html
http://history-world.org/franks.htm
According to legend, the vase was stolen along with many other items from a church after the Battle of Soissons in 486. Evidently the vase was large, beautiful and highly prized, because the Bishop of Rheims sent a message to Clovis politely asking for it to be returned. The king agreed if the vase should happen to be included in his portion of the plunder when it was divided. Sure enough, once the stolen treasures were placed in a large pile to be distributed among the conquerors, Clovis spotted the vase and asked if it would be given to him in addition to his normal share. Everyone agreed. After all, who is going to argue that King Clovis shouldn’t get something extra? Then one warrior, to the shock of all those assembled, took his axe and shattered the vase, telling Clovis, in effect, that he should only get his fair share like everyone else.
Clovis took the pieces of the vase and returned them by messenger to the bishop. He didn’t even punish the soldier who had dared defy him, at least not then. Rather, Clovis waited a full year and until he was inspecting his troops again to take action. On recognizing the willful warrior who had defied him in the past, he berated him publicly for the sloppiness of his weaponry, knocking the man’s axe to the ground. As the soldier bent over to pick it up, the king raised his own axe and crushed the man’s head in, saying, “Thus didst thou to the vase at Soissons.”
As with most tales told to the young, this one has a teaching or two attached that, while hopefully different from our own views regarding justice, reflect some of the cultural values of the time period. The first is that a king is always right. The second is that a king never forgets.
For further reading:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/gregtours1.html
http://www.understandfrance.org/France/History.html
http://history-world.org/franks.htm
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