The nearest seventh-century counterpart to Gregory of Tours’ Histories is the Chronicle of Fredegar, and as such these two sources are frequently compared. The chronicler(s) that a later editor named Fredegar wrote in Burgundy and Austrasia between 613 and the 660s. His Chronicle is really a ‘chain of chronicles’, with book one deriving largely from an anonymous Liber generationis, book two excerpting from Jerome and Hydatius’ chronicles, book three adapting the six-book recension of Gregory's Histories, and book four his own work bringing Gregory's story up to 642. That Fredegar's Chronicle incorporates excerpts from the Histories makes the task of comparison easier and permits us to see that the changes and additions the chronicler made to Gregory's text – or, more precisely, the recension – reflect their different goals in writing. Helmut Reimitz's recent work uses these changes to argue convincingly that greater emphasis on ethnic identities in the Chronicle indicates a different vision for the future of the Merovingian kingdoms on the part of its author – a redefinition of the world in ethnic rather than religious terms in order to promote Frankish identity as a unifying force for society. He assumes that Fredegar consciously and deliberately elected to attempt to alter people's perceptions and identities through his language, which is in all likelihood true. However, it is important not to forget that Fredegar did not create this vision in a vacuum; what he could believably create depended on currents already existing in his society – his ‘literary Spielräume’ – that he drew and expanded upon. Thus, his work not only shaped but also reflected the views and trends of his time.

Gregory wrote in a sixth-century society that was in many ways still recognizably Roman. As a senatorial southerner and a bishop (and writing mostly for others like him), his horizons predisposed him to see a society of local connections – between cities, church leaders, and families of status. Connections to the ancient past, whether an old Roman family or a longrevered saint, remained central concerns. Fredegar wrote between 613 and the 660s in Burgundy and Austrasia, so naturally he and his protagonists experienced a different society. The notable people in his Chronicle came from families that counted among their number both secular officials and episcopal or monastic magnates.