ABSTRACT
In November 567, nine Gallic bishops assembled in the civitas of Tours with the permission of King Charibert I (r. 561–567). 1 Tensions between the king and the episcopate of the Merovingian Kingdom of Paris had been worsening in recent months. First, Charibert had a falling out with the influential Bishop Eufronius of Tours over the villa of Nazelles, claimed by both the king and the Church of St Martin. 2 Then, even more seriously, Charibert took as his latest wife a former nun named Marcovefa. In council, the bishops attempted to use both moral and legal persuasion to convince Charibert to abandon his wife, but to no avail. Shortly after the council concluded its business, an exacerbated Bishop Germanus of Paris excommunicated the king and queen. 3
