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.     

'Being Martin': Saint and Successor in Sixth-Century Tours

Utilising the poetry of Venantius Fortunatus ( c . 530–600), this article explores the literary fashioning of an idealized episcopal identity for the sixth-century bishops of Tours as successors to Martin, the celebrated fourth-century saint of the city. It is argued that the poet's deployment of the model was of political use to his patron, Bishop Gregory of Tours, both in the establishment of his authority in the town and in dealings with the Frankish kings about matters of taxation. It is suggested that this crafting of an episcopal identity allowed the poet to put pressure on Gregory himself to be Martin and intervene in such matters as a legal case or the affairs of a diocese outside his jurisdiction as metropolitan. The legitimating Martinian model of episcopal behaviour is presented therefore as potentially coercive.     

The temptations of cult: Roman martyr piety in the age of Gregory the Great

Pope Gregory the Great (590–604) was arguably the most important Roman writer and civic leader of the early middle ages; the Roman martyrs were certainly the most important cult figures of the city. However modern scholarship on the relationship between Gregory and the Roman martyrs remains curiously underdeveloped, and has been principally devoted to comparison of the gesta martyrum with the stories of Italian holy men and women (in particular St Benedict) told by Gregory in his Dialogues; in the past generation the Dialogues have come to be understood as a polemic against the model of sanctity proposed by the Roman martyr narratives. This paper explores Gregory's role in the development of Roman martyr cult in the context of the immediate social world of Roman clerical politics of the sixth and seventh centuries. Gregory's authority as bishop of Rome was extremely precarious: the Roman clerical hierarchy with its well-developed protocols did not take kindly to the appearance of Gregory and his ascetic companions. In the conflict between Gregory and his followers, and their opponents, both sides used patronage of martyr cult to advance their cause. In spite of the political necessity of engaging in such 'competitive generosity', Gregory was also concerned to channel martyr devotion, urging contemplation on the moral achievements of the martyrs – which could be imitated in the present – as opposed to an aggressive and unrestrained piety focused on their death. Gregory's complex attitude to martyr cult needs to be differentiated from that which was developed over a century later, north of the Alps, by Carolingian readers and copyists of gesta martyrum and pilgrim guides, whose approach to the Roman martyrs was informed by Gregory's own posthumous reputation.     

The Venerable Bede and Gregory the Great: exegetical connections, spiritual departures

This article revisits the familiar comparison between the thought and writings of Bede and Gregory the Great. Bede was keen to foreground his debt to Gregory and past assessments have illuminated aspects of it, but this investigation offers a more searching analysis of the interface between biblical exegesis and spiritual teaching, a subject that highlights Bede's frequent reliance on Gregory as well as his calculated departures from him. Accordingly, the article first examines the different ways Bede in his commentaries could deploy Gregory's writings as a source, then discusses the more pragmatic, less mystical thrust of Bede's thought that sets him apart from Gregory.     

Gregory IX's attempted expeditions to the Latin Empire of Constantinople: the crusade for the union of the Latin and Greek churches

Gregory IX's crusade (1236–1240) to safeguard the Latin Empire was the last expedition sponsored by the papacy before the fall of the Latin state in 1261. Like his predecessors, Innocent III and Honorius III, Gregory believed that an expedition against his fellow Christians was necessary to safeguard the land route to the Holy Land and to protect the Latin Empire itself. Gregory also shared with Innocent and Honorius the belief that this was a divinely appointed policy, symbolized by God giving the Greek Empire into Latin hands in retribution for Greek schismstic beliefs. But Gregory's policy had another facet to its justification. He accused the supporters of the Greeks, in particular John II Asen, king of Bulgaria, of sheltering heretics and of allowing a climate in which heresy could flourish. Gregory evolved a method of justifying war against the Greeks and their supporters analogous to that used elsewhere in Europe against those who sheltered heretics. He threatened the guilty with the loss of their lands under the provisions of the Fourth Lateran Council canon, Excommunicamus. To make the theoretical concrete, Gregory tried to form two expeditions, one composed of Europeans, the other of Hungarians and even Bulgarians, against the emperor of Nicaea. But the expeditions failed and Gregory's rationale for warring against the Greeks was not utilized by his immediate successors to the pontifical throne.     

Gregory IX's attempted expeditions to the Latin Empire of Constantinople: the crusade for the union of the Latin and Greek churches

Gregory IX's crusade (1236–1240) to safeguard the Latin Empire was the last expedition sponsored by the papacy before the fall of the Latin state in 1261. Like his predecessors, Innocent III and Honorius III, Gregory believed that an expedition against his fellow Christians was necessary to safeguard the land route to the Holy Land and to protect the Latin Empire itself. Gregory also shared with Innocent and Honorius the belief that this was a divinely appointed policy, symbolized by God giving the Greek Empire into Latin hands in retribution for Greek schismstic beliefs. But Gregory's policy had another facet to its justification. He accused the supporters of the Greeks, in particular John II Asen, king of Bulgaria, of sheltering heretics and of allowing a climate in which heresy could flourish. Gregory evolved a method of justifying war against the Greeks and their supporters analogous to that used elsewhere in Europe against those who sheltered heretics. He threatened the guilty with the loss of their lands under the provisions of the Fourth Lateran Council canon, Excommunicamus. To make the theoretical concrete, Gregory tried to form two expeditions, one composed of Europeans, the other of Hungarians and even Bulgarians, against the emperor of Nicaea. But the expeditions failed and Gregory's rationale for warring against the Greeks was not utilized by his immediate successors to the pontifical throne.     

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.     

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.     

On Becoming Pope in Late Antiquity

To an extent unusual among holders of papal office in late antiquity, we know something of the family of Gregory the Great (590–604). His father, Gordianus, was a wealthy Roman who had married a lady named Silvia, who herself had a sister named Pateria, while he had another three aunts, Aemiliana, Gordiana, and Tarsilla, the sisters of his father.¹ He also seems to have had one, and possibly a second brother.² We know from his writings that his three aunts on his father's side adopted a religious life in common, but they attained very different levels, for Gregory reports that, whereas Gordiana disgraced herself by marrying a farmer on her estates, Tarsilla reached the highest level of holiness. He describes his great‐great‐grandfather Felix, a bishop of the Roman church, appearing to her in a vision in which he showed her a mansion of great brightness and told her to come, for he would receive her there; soon afterwards, she died of fever.³ While such details may appear sparse, they provide a basis on which we can make some general statements on the kinds of people who became pope in the period from the late fifth to the early seventh centuries; a table of these popes is appended to this paper. We shall suggest that there was a set of criteria which were met by new popes time and time again, and that these remained surprisingly constant across the period.     

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     

Charles of Anjou,Pope Gregory X and the crown of Jerusalem

This article seeks to dispel the popular myth that Pope Gregory X (1271–6) wanted to change the government of the kingdom of Jerusalem by putting Charles of Anjou on its throne through the purchase of the claim of Maria of Antioch. A study of the Angevin chancery records – little used by crusade historians – demonstrates that Charles had an interest and influence in the kingdom before Gregory became pope. An examination of Gregory's papal registers shows that he consistently treated Hugh of Lusignan as king of Jerusalem and that the pope had no desire for anything to disrupt the peace in Christendom that he deemed necessary for his crusade.     

Between two kings: Pope Honorius III and the seizure of the kingdom of Jerusalem by Frederick II in 1225

The consensus on Pope Honorius III (1216–27) is that he was a conciliatory politician who lacked the harder edge possessed by Innocent III, his immediate predecessor, and Gregory IX, his successor. Yet, using overlooked evidence regarding the role of Honorius in Frederick II's seizure of the kingdom of Jerusalem from John of Brienne in 1225, this article reveals that he was capable of acting in a ruthlessly pragmatic manner. It provides a rare case study of the duplicitous uses that could be made of the papal chancery by an early thirteenth-century pope while navigating a difficult diplomatic path between two kings.     

3. HISTORIOGRAPHY WITHOUT GOD: A REPLY TO GREGORY1

This reply aims both to respond to Gregory and to move forward the debate about God's place in historiography. The first section is devoted to the nature of science and God. Whereas Gregory thinks science is based on metaphysical naturalism with a methodological corollary of critical‐realist empiricism, I see critical, empiricist methodology as basic, and naturalism as a consequence. Gregory's exposition of his apophatic theology, in which univocity is eschewed, illustrates the fissure between religious and scientific worldviews—no matter which basic scientific theory one subscribes to. The second section is allotted to miracles. As I do, Gregory thinks no miracle occurred on Fox Lakes in 1652, but he restricts himself to understanding the actors and explaining change over time, and refuses to explain past or contemporary actions and events. Marc Bloch, in his book The Royal Touch: Sacred Monarchy and Scrofula in England and France, is willing to go much further than Gregory. Using his superior medical knowledge to substitute his own explanation of the phenomenon for that of the actors, Bloch dismisses the actors’ beliefs that they or others had been miraculously cured, and explains that they believed they saw miraculous healing because they were expecting to see it. In the third section, on historical explanation, I rephrase the question whether historians can accommodate both believers in God and naturalist scientists, asking whether God, acting miraculously or not, can be part of the ideal explanatory text. I reply in the negative, and explicate how the concept of a plural subject suggests how scientists can also be believers. This approach may be compatible with two options presented by Peter Lipton for resolving the tension between religion and science. The first is to see the truth claims of religious texts as untranslatable into scientific language (and vice versa); the other is to immerse oneself in religious texts by accepting them as a guide but not believing in their truth claims when these contradict science.     

A Florida Fiddler: The Life and Times of Richard Seaman

In A Florida Fiddler, Gregory Hansen has done a masterful jobof bringing to life a portrait of a traditional artist, placinghim in the context of his geography, time, and community. Throughthe use of interviews, transcribed public performances, andobservation, the author lets Richard Seaman speak for himself,in his own voice, to tell his own     

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.     

Exile and return in John Mauropous,Poem 47

Abstract

The author reads an epigram by John Mauropous as an engagement with epic and biblical traditions. Critical studies of exile and return from different eras of the Greek literary tradition by Émile Benveniste, Gregory Nagy and Nancy Sultan are used to provide a theoretical approach to the tradition with which Mauropous engages. It is suggested that Mauropous' wanderings in the territory of the xenos and return to the familiar world of the philos, and especially his personification of his home as a trophos (nurse), allude to Homer, and that epic language and motifs strengthen the poet's assertion of selfhood and make ancient literary themes relevant to Mauropous' life as a scholar and churchman.     

Letter-writing and literary culture in Merovingian Gaul

This essay discusses Gregory of Tours' claim that literary culture was in decline in light of the considerable quantity of poetry and letters composed by Merovingian authors. Scholars have come to appreciate the importance of letter-writing for historical inquiry, yet the contrast between Gregory's assessment and aristocratic literary activity remains under-explored. This essay discusses fifth-century precedents and examines the continuity and discontinuity that occurred in the literary transition from late Antique to early-medieval Gaul. It examines the place of literary culture within Merovingian elite friendship networks, focusing on the interconnected writings of three Merovingian authors. Venantius Fortunatus was an Italian-born poet who spent most of his career writing for Merovingian elites. The royal officials Dynamius and Gogo composed letters found in a compilation of sixth-century letters called the Epistolae Austrasicae. Using the letters and poetry of these three writers, this essay argues that literary skill facilitated the creation and maintenance of connections across distance and was a necessary part of elite identity. It shows that Gregory of Tours' dramatic rhetorical claim did not reflect the true state of literature in Gaul.     

Texts,topoi and the self: a reading of Alfredian spirituality*

Challenging the allegation that Alfred's spirituality as Asser presents it is no more than a string of textual fictions, this article outlines a context for understanding Alfred's spirituality as a functional process of living texts, or of ‘textualizing’ the self. The discussion first draws support for this view from the history of early medieval spirituality and then demonstrates the theme's relevance both to Asser's representation of Alfred and to the king's own writings. Attention is given especially to the congruence between Alfred's depiction in the Life and Gregory the Great's teachings on the ideal rector as propounded in the Pastoral Care, a text carefully read and famously translated by Alfred himself. The comparison suggests that the main spiritual models for Alfred's kingly piety may be understood to reside in, and to involve assimilation of, this work of Gregory, making it possible to conceptualize the king's self‐presentation in terms of a conscious project to ‘live’ Gregory's text by bringing the ideals of the Gregorian rector to life in his own person. Such an argument helps to explain Alfred's interest in Gregory, to account for his concern to translate the Pastoral Care, and to legitimize the predominant images associated with the king's spirituality as indicative of a kind of functional piety grounded in the reading of texts, rather than simply reflected, perhaps falsely, in Asser’s Life.     

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.     

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.