of Gertrude, to meet the farmers, the poor and the sick. Many of the pilgrims participate in costume, as they accompany a cart bearing a reliquary containing Gertrude's relics. In May 2004, the Saint Gertrude Tour was proclaimed "Oral and Intangible Heritage Masterpiece of the French Community." The hundred years-old secondary school "Collège Sainte-Gertrude de Nivelles" founded by the Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier in the city owes its name to the saint. Gertrude of Nivelles in Literature Vita Sanctae Geretrudis and the Additamentum Nivialense de Fuilano The Vita was originally thought to have been written in the eleventh century, but this was later disproven with the discovery of a version dating from the eighth century. Bruno Krush argues that the work is written around the same time that the events it describes take place, and there is wide agreement that it was written before 670, and after 663. The time range is determined using a combination of Latin style, references by contemporary works, the accuracy of the events (indicating a close proximity to their occurrence), and references in the text to known events. The Vita is one of just a few sources dating from seventh century France, and one of only three from Austrasia (all of which deal with Gertrude). This makes the Vita very important as a source for Charlemagne's ancestry as well as placing the "Cradle of the Carolingians" in the middle Meuse in Brabant as opposed to Moselle in Luxembourg, where Pepin II and Plectrude had large tracts of land. The author of Vita writes as a first-hand witness to the events he describes. Although it is perfectly plausible that he could have been a monk or nun, and there some debate on this topic. Based on his reference to himself "with another brother," the author is most likely male. The Vita was originally written for Abbot Agnes, who succeeded Wulfetrud upon her death. Source integrity As indicated by Charlemagne's inclusion of Arnulf of Metz in his family tree (in a work by Paul the Deacon, a Lombard), there were incentives to being associated with saints in Carolingian times. Fouracre and Gerberding argue that there were large incentives to being associated with saints in the seventh century as well, casting doubt on the genealogy presented in many sources. However, these scholars argue that the close temporal relationship of the three Austrasian sources to the life of Gertrude as