The mind of Baddo: Assassination in Merovingian politics
One of the more repellent aspects of the Merovingian age is the apparent ease with which its society resorted to assassination. Ambition, dissimulation, and cupidity all too often found an outlet in political murder. But such behavior may be more than simply the upwelling of pure barbarism. Assassination in Merovingian politics may be the logical, if unhappy, byproduct of an altered world-view. 
 
The people of the Merovingian age were prone to take deeds as an accurate sign of inward intention, which brought the ultimate revelation of right and wrong forward to the present. And if the holiness of an action were readily apparent, even disgusting actions such as assassination may be seen, with proper exegesis of the Books of Judges, to produce right results. An examination of the implied conceptual circumstances surrounding assassination, the ‘mind’ of society to the deed, reveals a mixed attitude to these violent acts. 
 
The permissibility of assassination in qualified cases coupled with'the immediate establishment of it as holy or unholy, encouraged attempts on the lives of public figures. Once the full taboo had been broken, assassination became a dangerously routine solution to political grievances, and society's response to it became chillingly casual.
Evolution of medieval mentalities: a cognitive-structural approach.
IN BOOK II of the History of the Franks, Gregory of Tours recounted how Clovis annexed the kingdom belonging to his kinsman, Sigibert the Lame. Clovis began by promising his support to Sigibert's son Chloderic, if Chloderic would kill his father. After assassins murdered Sigibert while he slept, Chloderic informed Clovis of the deed and invited him to dispatch men to receive a portion of Sigibert's treasures. Clovis answered with assurances of his good wishes, but the men Clovis sent to Chloderic killed him as he bent over to display the coins in a treasure chest. Clovis then came to the district himself to address the populace. According to Gregory, Clovis in his speech disclaimed any knowledge of the affair. "I cannot," he explained, "shed the blood of my own kinsman, which it is shameful to do. " Clovis offered to place the lands of the slain kings under his protection. The populace answered Clovis's speech with great applause of "both voices and shields," raised him up on a shield, and acclaimed him their king.' The story itself is a bizarre enough tale of perfidy, but Gregory's conclusion is perhaps even stranger since he, Christian though he was, expressed no shock at or disapproval of the treacheries and lies he had just described. Instead, Gregory asserted that Clovis had succeeded because "God was laying low his enemies every day under his hand and was increasing his kingdom, because Clovis walked with an upright heart before God, and did what was pleasing in His eyes." To Gregory Clovis's very success may have been proof of his virtue, or Gregory may have believed Clovis was guiltless, since he shed no blood with his own hands but acted through agents. However Gregory's judgment is interpreted, it is evident that to him Clovis's actual motivation or intention had little bearing on the morality of his action. Nor was this the only episode for which Gregory showed little concern for the intentions of the individuals whose actions he narrated. When Gregory described the murder of Chilperic, for example, he recounted in considerable detail where the assassination occurred, at what time of day it happened, Chilperic's posture as he was stabbed, where the knife entered his body, how the blood spurted forth-everything, in fact, except who the assassin was and
Inequality trends in health and future health risk among English children and young people, 1999–2009
Objective To investigate trends in health inequality among children and young people between 1999 and 2009, using outcomes consistent with the current NHS reforms. Design/data Secondary analysis of participants aged 0–24 in the Health Surveys for England (HSE) undertaken in 1999, 2004, 2006 and 2009. Main outcome measures Changes in the absolute and relative risks of four health outcomes by deprivation tertiles, based on occupation of the head of household ▸ self/parent-reported general health, ▸ presence of a long-standing illness (LSI), ▸ obesity ▸ smoking. Results No indicator showed a reduction in relative or absolute inequality between 1999 and 2009. For children (0–12 years), the relative risk comparing the most and least deprived tertiles increased significantly for poor general health (1999:1.6 (95% CI 1.2 to 2.2); 2009:3.9 (2.4 to 6.2), while the absolute difference in LSI prevalence(%) increased from 1.3 (−2.9 to 5.5) to 7.4 (3.6 to 11.4). Among young people (13–24 years), the absolute difference in LSI prevalence increased from −5.9 (−10.9 to −1.1) to 3.1 (−4.1 to 10.7). Absolute inequality in having tried smoking among children aged 8–15(%) increased significantly in the first half of the decade before decreasing in the second half (1999:3.3 (−1.1 to 7.7); 2004:14.1 (9.6 to 18.8); 2009:4.1 (0.1 to 8.8)). However, the increase in absolute inequality for smoking prevalence among young adults (16–24 years) was maintained throughout the decade (1999:−7.0 (−15.6 to 1.3); 2004:11.6 (3.7 to 20.0); 2009:8.2 (−0.3 to 16.9)). Conclusions The national programme between 1999 and 2009 was not successful in reducing inequality in four key indicators of health status and future health risk among children and young people. Some inequality measures for general health, LSI prevalence and smoking increased over this time.