Negotiating episcopal support in the Merovingian kingdom of Reims (ad 561–75)

Minimal scholarly attention has been paid to the ecclesiastical policies of King Sigibert I of Reims (r. 561–75). An examination of Sigibert's policies suggests the lengths to which the king went to attract and maintain episcopal allies in strategic and politically divided civitates. While Gregory of Tours in his Decem Libri Historiarum blamed Sigibert's death on his stubborn refusal to heed episcopal counsel, the bishop of Tours recognized that the king of Reims was not consistently hostile to the church and its bishops, and saw the circumstances of Sigibert's untimely death as ultimately tragic.     

Proof and reproof: the judicial component of episcopal confrontation

Nicetius of Trier was one of the most temperamental bishops to have a place in the writings of Gregory of Tours. In the tradition of St Martin, Nicetius represented one extreme of the relationship between ecclesiastical and secular authority in sixth-century Gaul. He stands out as an example of conflict between those two spheres, in both contemporary and modern portraits. This article attempts to place Nicetius within a tradition of episcopal behaviour that undermines the element of conflict. By focusing on the judicial functions that Nicetius fulfilled in the context of penance and oath swearing, it argues that Nicetius was less an extreme example of spiritual audacity than he was an exceptional model for commonplace virtues of the ideal bishop. This article is, therefore, a case-study for a larger project.     

Proof and reproof: the judicial component of episcopal confrontation

Nicetius of Trier was one of the most temperamental bishops to have a place in the writings of Gregory of Tours. In the tradition of St Martin, Nicetius represented one extreme of the relationship between ecclesiastical and secular authority in sixth-century Gaul. He stands out as an example of conflict between those two spheres, in both contemporary and modern portraits. This article attempts to place Nicetius within a tradition of episcopal behaviour that undermines the element of conflict. By focusing on the judicial functions that Nicetius fulfilled in the context of penance and oath swearing, it argues that Nicetius was less an extreme example of spiritual audacity than he was an exceptional model for commonplace virtues of the ideal bishop. This article is, therefore, a case-study for a larger project.     

The saint as patron in the work of Gregory of Tours

Gregory of Tours and his world have long been out of fashion; but despite modern neglect of his works, Gregory gives us access to an understanding of many important aspects of late antiquity, among which is the role of the saint as patron. Saints appear as patrons throughout Gregory's works; the focus of this study is his account of the miraculous deeds of St. Martin. The role of the saint as patron is best understood against the background of the recent work of Peter Brown on holy men in late antiquity; several other scholars have also emphasized the importance of patrons in the Roman world. Appeals to the saints in Gregory's world are to be understood as one manifestation of the Roman ritual of appeal to a patron. More important than their afflictions are the social circumstances of those who appeal to St. Martin and analyzing some others in detail, we can demonstrate that the most important elements in those appeals are the social weakness of the appellants, their need for a saintly patron, and Martin's role as a model saintly patron in Gregory's world     

Familia Sancti Martini: Domus ecclesiae on earth as it is in heaven

In the post-imperial world of sixth-century Gaul, the Church found itself competing for allegiance with strengthened local family groupings as well as royal households. In this milieu the fragmentation of power and the propensity for spoliation of church lands posed a severe problem for ecclesiastical survival. An answer might be found in a competing kindred structure: the family of the saint. Such an entity would have the benefit of building a support group for the Church that could cut across the existing family lines and thereby weaken their impact. As a voluntary association based on the celestial it would have the added benefit of being a familia everlasting, and endlessly elastic. The works of Gregory of Tours contain such an idea built around his patronus, St Martin. Gregory's preface to Book 5 of his History, and his frequent pleas against feuding, show his concern as to how the familia Sancti Martini could perform an annealing function for society, mitigate the more rebarbative elements of the feud, and leave the Church in a strengthened position in society.     

After Gundovald,before Pseudo‐Isidore: episcopal jurisdiction,clerical privilege and the uses of Roman law in the Frankish kingdoms

The article focuses on the mobilization and reconfiguration of Roman law in the Merovingian kingdoms. It pays particular attention to a collection of legal texts first compiled in the late sixth century, in preparation for the Second synod of Mâcon in 585. Drawing heavily on an extraordinary collection of late Roman imperial laws, the so‐called Sirmondian Constitutions, the bishops sought to declare themselves untouchably sacrosanct. A close analysis of the synodal canons shows that the bishops adapted these imperial rulings to legitimate their position in ways that had no basis in the original laws themselves. The study closes by linking the synod of Mâcon with a debate over episcopal privilege as reflected in the writings of Gregory of Tours, and with a brief look at the further history of the debate in the Carolingian period.     

The image of the Frankish kings in the poetry of Venantius Fortunatus

The poetry of Venantius Fortunatus is a sadly neglected historical source for sixth-century Gaul. Amongst the literary material that has survived from that age, the works of Gregory of Tours loom large. Since Gregory provides us with the sole narrative history of Gaul for much of this century, we are forced to see Merovingian society through his eyes. Venantius wrote panegyric, and an age such as ours, which values sincerity of expression, finds little that is attractive in that genre. Despite this, Venantius' poetry affords us a vantage point from which to view the Frankish kings. It also provides important evidence for the nature of the cultural fusion of Germanic, Roman and Christian elements that was taking place in the Gaul of Gregory of Tours and King Chilperic. The poems written for the Merovingian monarchs suggest that Venantius sensed a Frankish hankering after the trappings of Roman imperial authority. He wrote, perhaps with didactic intent, to give full exposition to the traditional Roman conception of the just ruler, coupled with the more recent ideal of the orthodox Christian monarch that was still current in the Byzantine Empire. When Venantius Fortunatus journeyed to the courts of the barbarian kings, he brought with him his cultural baggage from Byzantine Ravenna.     

Roses in January: a neglected dimension in Gregory of Tour's historiae

Gregory of Tours was a sixth-century bishop who wrote Ten books of histories, our only detailed source of information for that period in Gaul. A great deal of attention has been paid to his vivid portrayal of Merovingian society and politics. Apart from his often obscure Latin, the strictly chronological composition and the absence of clear co-ordinating statements give his work the appearance of a jumbled, if lively, mosaic. The following study is an attempt to follow one strand through the many-coloured texture of the Histories, that of extraordinary natural events and the context in which Gregory places them, since this seemed to reveal an up to now not so apparent dimension of his thinking about time and, history: his concept of contemporaneity.     

Familia Sancti Martini: Domus ecclesiae on earth as it is in heaven

In the post-imperial world of sixth-century Gaul, the Church found itself competing for allegiance with strengthened local family groupings as well as royal households. In this milieu the fragmentation of power and the propensity for spoliation of church lands posed a severe problem for ecclesiastical survival. An answer might be found in a competing kindred structure: the family of the saint. Such an entity would have the benefit of building a support group for the Church that could cut across the existing family lines and thereby weaken their impact. As a voluntary association based on the celestial it would have the added benefit of being a familia everlasting, and endlessly elastic.The works of Gregory of Tours contain such an idea built around his patronus, St Martin. Gregory's preface to Book 5 of his History, and his frequent pleas against feuding, show his concern as to how the familia Sancti Martini could perform an annealing function for society, mitigate the more rebarbative elements of the feud, and leave the Church in a strengthened position in society.     

Roses in January: a neglected dimension in Gregory of Tour's historiae

Gregory of Tours was a sixth-century bishop who wrote Ten books of histories, our only detailed source of information for that period in Gaul. A great deal of attention has been paid to his vivid portrayal of Merovingian society and politics. Apart from his often obscure Latin, the strictly chronological composition and the absence of clear co-ordinating statements give his work the appearance of a jumbled, if lively, mosaic. The following study is an attempt to follow one strand through the many-coloured texture of the Histories, that of extraordinary natural events and the context in which Gregory places them, since this seemed to reveal an up to now not so apparent dimension of his thinking about time and, history: his concept of contemporaneity.     

Dead or alive? The holy man as healer in East and West in the late sixth century

A rigid distinction cannot be drawn between the living holy man as healer in Eastern Christendom and the dead man healing from his tomb in the West, since examples of both kinds of healing are found throughout the Mediterranean area. As examples of dead holy men working miracles from their tombs, a comparison is made between Martin, as described in the writings of Gregory of Tours, and Demetrius of Thessalonica. Nevertheless the dead holy man as cult-figure is more common in the West than in the East, because of certain differences between the pre-Christian religious in East and West. Roman law attached great importance of the sacrosanctity of a corpse, whereas in the East there was not always the same distaste for the dismemberment of bodies, though there are many exceptions to this general principle. The cult of the living holy man in the East may be a Christianization of the Greek notion of the hero. At any rate the cultural and spiritual unity of the Mediterranean area was such that the idea of the living holy man as healer could penetrate to Western Christendom.     

Dead or alive? The holy man as healer in East and West in the late sixth century

A rigid distinction cannot be drawn between the living holy man as healer in Eastern Christendom and the dead man healing from his tomb in the West, since examples of both kinds of healing are found throughout the Mediterranean area. As examples of dead holy men working miracles from their tombs, a comparison is made between Martin, as described in the writings of Gregory of Tours, and Demetrius of Thessalonica. Nevertheless the dead holy man as cult-figure is more common in the West than in the East, because of certain differences between the pre-Christian religious in East and West. Roman law attached great importance of the sacrosanctity of a corpse, whereas in the East there was not always the same distaste for the dismemberment of bodies, though there are many exceptions to this general principle. The cult of the living holy man in the East may be a Christianization of the Greek notion of the hero. At any rate the cultural and spiritual unity of the Mediterranean area was such that the idea of the living holy man as healer could penetrate to Western Christendom.     

Poet as politician: Venantius Fortunatus' panegyric to King Chilperic

In August 580 the Italian poet, Venantius Fortunatus, delivered a panegyric before King Chilperic and a synod of bishops assembled at Berny-Rivière to hear the poet's friend and patron, Bishop Gregory of Tours, arraigned on a charge of treason. The poem has long and widely been interpreted as a dishonourable and opportunistic betrayal of the bishop, as the poet looked for more convenient patronage. This article argues that the poem must be analysed in its historical context and in its place in the poet's development of the genre of addressing the Merovingian kings. Such an analysis shows that the poet is using the panegyric with subtlety and political acumen to offer a formula for rapprochement between the king and his bishops, thus protecting his friend Gregory; and that more generally he is playing the traditional active role of a panegyrist in mediating between the ruler and his people, developing a distinctive image of Merovingian kingship as he does so.     

Senators and social mobility in sixth-century Gaul

In the historical and hagiographical writings of Gregory of Tours and in the poetry of Venantius Fortunatus we encounter a group of men who make the claim that they are descendants of the Roman senators of an earlier time. This paper sets out to examine the status of this group in the light of the suggestion by Frank D. Gilliard that in the imprecise Latin of Gregory of Tours the word senator was often used to denote someone who was merely a large landowner. Since Gilliard has suggested that the blanket term senator may mask the parvenus in sixth-century society, discussion of the status of sixth-century senators has here been set in the wider context of social mobility in Merovingian church and state. It is the suggestion of this paper that it was a claim to senatorial family background, rather than the possession of wealth or land, that qualified one, in Gregory's eyes as a senator. Further, there is such ample evidence of upward social mobility, to positions of power and prestige outside the senatorial ranks, and often in royal service, that the conclusion is drawn that for the ambitious in Merovingian society, the patronage of the Frankish kings may have come to mean more than the much vaunted illustrious descent of the senators.     

De–gendering female violence: Merovingian female honour as an ‘exchange of violence’

The phenomenon of female violence in the Early Middle Ages has notbeen properly explored, largely because of a feminist ethic which correctlyfocuses on women as the victims, rather than as the perpetrators, ofviolence. The traditional gendered dividing line is transcended whenfemale violence, like male violence, is regarded as a class characteristic orstrategy, and when female practice can be explained by a code of behav–iour shared by both sexes. Several case studies from the early Merovingianperiod, drawn from the work of Gregory of Tours, are here analysed inorder to demonstrate how royal Merovingian women could preservehonour through the pursuit of violence. How far Gregory of Tours’saccount may be taken to depict social reality is a further issue discussedin relation to the case studies. These involve Clothild and Fredegund,and show female violence as a normal feature of Merovingian society,especially where single women had no immediate male protectors, but didhave a great deal of personal honour to defend. In the case of Fredegund,violence was the result of premeditated revenge which publicly restoredher honour and maintained her precedence in the social hierarchy. Itseems clear that Merovingian women, unlike women of later times, couldparticipate in the cycle of violence.     

Portraits of two merovingian bishops in the poetry of Venantius Fortunatus

The poetry of Venantius Fortunatus is frequently used as source material for prosopographical data, for the roles and images of certain categories of individuals, and for details of buildings and topography. His poetry, however, can be used further to provide detailed personal portraits in some cases. There are several groups of poems to individuals which use a range ofgenres and arise from a variety of occasions, illuminating several aspects of the patron and his way of life. Two such clusters are to the bishops Leontius of Bordeaux and Gregory of Tours. The poet works from traditional genres but varies the structure and wording of these poems to respond sensitively to each bishop in his particular circumstances. Comparison of the two groups of poems, and especially of the formal panegyrics, builds up internally consistent and vivid pictures of the attitudes, ambitions and characters of two very different men. Fortunatus' poetry thus enables us to supplement bald prosopogrophical details and generalities about social roles, in a way unique in this period.     

Merovingian partitions: a ‘genealogical charter’?

This paper considers the classic accounts of Frankish partitions in 511 and 561 in light of the agenda of Gregory of Tours in the later 580s. While the partitions' political origins have long been emphasized, the concern here is with the political motivations of the source on which we depend, almost exclusively, for our knowledge. This discussion questions whether there were ever actually definite agreements to divide the kingdom, and suggests claims about shared inheritance supplied a 'genealogical charter' that justified and deflected attention from the interests of people like Gregory, in what was a continuously contested, evolutionary process.     

Portraits of two merovingian bishops in the poetry of Venantius Fortunatus

The poetry of Venantius Fortunatus is frequently used as source material for prosopographical data, for the roles and images of certain categories of individuals, and for details of buildings and topography. His poetry, however, can be used further to provide detailed personal portraits in some cases. There are several groups of poems to individuals which use a range ofgenres and arise from a variety of occasions, illuminating several aspects of the patron and his way of life. Two such clusters are to the bishops Leontius of Bordeaux and Gregory of Tours. The poet works from traditional genres but varies the structure and wording of these poems to respond sensitively to each bishop in his particular circumstances. Comparison of the two groups of poems, and especially of the formal panegyrics, builds up internally consistent and vivid pictures of the attitudes, ambitions and characters of two very different men. Fortunatus' poetry thus enables us to supplement bald prosopogrophical details and generalities about social roles, in a way unique in this period.     

Aspects of continuity and change in the Italian placitum, 962-72

In the preface to his liturgical calendar The reckoning of the course of the stars Bishop Gregory of Tours (538–594) — author also of Ten books of histories and Eight books of miracles as well as of a Commentary on the understanding of the Psalter (of which, however, only fragments are preserved) — declares God's “wonders” of the natural world to be superior to the seven ancient wonders of the world. The reason for this is that the latter, being works of men, are subject to decay and destruction, while the former, as miraculous works of God, are divinely sustained and renewed daily or annually, thereby becoming imperishable. An examination of the associative contexts in which two of these wonders — the sea (enlarged to include water in its various forms) and plant life — occur in the rest of Gregory's works reveals several essential themes of his thinking not only about nature, but also about God, man and society. Thought, for him, nature as a (divinely sustained) system of regularities does exist as a kind of backdrop, sudden unpredictable divine — and sometimes diabolic — action in and through phenomena occupies the center of the stage. Gregory tends to see this action in the shape of what he regards as pre-existing images or patterns of invisible spiritual truth, to which the visible, even material, structure of events must necessarily conform. He shows, too, how this action could reflect as well as meet various needs of the individual and of society as a whole. An association which recurs almost constantly in his treatment of divine action in these natural phenomena, which he sometimes describes as analogous to that in man, is precisely that with the cluster of closely related concepts of renewal, rebirth and creation ex nihilo. Together with what appears as an extreme, as it were ‘poetical’, sensitivity to sudden perceptions and intuitions, something like a longing for and surrender to what he describes as “astonished admiration” may have helped to make possible his recognition of that which he designated as divine creative power in the world of visible reality as well as in man's inner experience. His seeing this as an essential dynamic of the holy may mean that he felt it to be a fundamental need and concern not only of the individual personality but also, more obscurely, of the society in which he found himself.     

“Soldiers of Christ” from the Byzantine Perspective: Monks,Emperors, and Conflict in the Early Byzantine Empire

This article is an exploration of concept of monks as “soldiers of Christ” in Byzantine Anatolia during the late sixth and early seventh centuries CE. Through a case study of Theodore of Sykeon, this article will explore monks as agents of continuity in the Byzantine Anatolia of the late sixth and early seventh centuries through Theodore's conflicts with the emperors, imperial authorities, and the regional episcopal hierarchy. The conflicts Theodore had with various authority figures of his time were about helping them see the right path of supporting Catholic orthodoxy as the normative belief system of Byzantine society and integrating his rural community of Sykeon into the wider web of imperial and episcopal urban patronage. Thus, conflict in this context was a catalyst for social order and stability rather than a symptom of social collapse. This article also fits into the historiography of the holy man as local patron in Late Antiquity, suggesting an alternate interpretation of this phenomenon as first put forward in Peter Brown's seminal works on this subject.