June 13 -- Feast of Saint Rambert

Saint Rambert-en-Bugey: nice country for an oratory if it weren't for pesky assassins

Poor Rambert is barely a footnote in the tales of villainy that spring from the career of Ebroin, Mayor of the Palace in Neustria.  There is more to be said about Ebroin on October 2; for now, we need only to understand that the Mayor was desperate to be in control of Austrasia and Burgundy as well as Neustria.   These were all Frankish kingdoms - their unification made sense, but was thwarted by the ambitions of kings, mayors, and bishops.

Bede described the Mayor's paranoid streak in a brief anecdote.  An English pilgrim to Rome was busted in Neustria on his way home.  Although he was a simple pilgrim, just passing through, Ebroin was convinced that he was an agent for the Byzantine Emperor, scoping out the defenses in advance of an assault.  It was the seventh century, when the Byzantines still harbored ambitions of reuniting the whole Roman Empire, but with Islam rapidly spreading through the southern Empire, Constantinople had its hands full.  Plainly, Ebroin's fears exceeded his intelligence.


Anyway, the Mayor accused Rambert, a courtier of King Thierry III, of treason.  They held a trial, which was decent of them, and thought it best to exile Rambert in spite of the flimsy nature of the evidence.  Rambert took it better than one might expect; he headed into the Jura Mountains, built a little oratory, and lived as a hermit.  Well, he lived until Ebroin's assassins arrived.  Then he died as a martyr.