Gregory of Tours and Miracles/Wonders

In the readings this week, I had the good fortune of reading of all the miracles and wonders that Gregory of Tours is said to have witnessed. All of the miracles/wonders are narrated by Gregory, in some he is directly involved, and almost always it comes coupled with a religious message that is meant to encourage or rekindle belief in the faith. But this raises a plentiful number of questions about the validity Gregory’s writings as a historian.
Consider the following miracle outlined in Glory of the Confessors, chapter 109. This is the story of an old man who asks for some charity, and a wealthy merchant greedily explains that his stores contain nothing but stones. Behold, all of the mans stores are turned to stone, the man asks for repentance but is unable to find any. The morale here being: do not be greedy! All miracles are equally as unbelievable (by today's standards), and all contain the same morals found in Aesop’s fables. So at what point are these recounts of miracles witnessed meant to be taken as fact, or do they exist simply to justify the moral, or religious belief?
It is here that I would like to comment on my shifting opinions on Gregory of Tours as a historian. I feel the need to compare him to the personage of Sulpitius Severus, and the genuine authenticity I felt reading his work describing “The Life of St. Martin”. Even though the events that surrounded the life of St. Martin at times strained credulity, the voice was authentic and one suspected that the author was a smart man. I do not get the same feeling about Gregory of Tours. Perhaps Gregory is a smart man, but one cannot help but notice that he is fibbing, and that his writing is extremely biased in favour of Christianity. To his defense, who can blame him? Consider is role in the time, a prominent religious figure trying to keep the people on a righteous path. Gregory is not attempting to write an subjective free, objective history that will stand the test of time. This is clearly written for his contemporaries, and he is trying to educate and en-shrew/keep/rekindle faith, and the morals that go along with it. We therefore can not give him a positive rating as a historian, but we can read this critically with the understanding that he was a politician and a bishop, and then glean some understanding about the times he was living.
One can guess that Gregory is writing out of need. One can assume that Gregory of Tours is living in a society that needs a constant reminder of the religious faith and the ways of living that it suggests. In conclusion, consider the following miracle outlined in The Glory of the Martyrs, chapter 10 which explains that an old mans cottage is on fire. This fire has been fought with no avail by the is old man and his family by throwing water on it. Gregory who just so happens to be walking by, notices the fire and holds up his cross. Upon doing so, the fire immediately stops. Any person would be skeptical of the validity of the event, but the message is very clear.