Gregory of Tours, in his Histories (2.17), tells of narrative frescoes in the church of *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030), constructed in the suburbs of Clermont (central Gaul) by the wife of Namatius, bishop of Clermont (c. 446-462). Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 575/594.
Evidence ID
E02026
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Major author/Major anonymous work
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours, Histories (Historiae) 2.17
Cuius coniux basilicam sancti Stephani suburbano murorum aedificavit. Quam cum fucis colorum adornare velit, tenebat librum in sinum suum, legens historias actionis antiquae, pictoribus indicans, quae in parietibus fingere deberent.
'The wife of Namatius built the church of Saint Stephen in the suburb outside the walls of Clermont. She wanted it to be decorated with coloured frescoes (fucis colorum). She used to hold in her lap a book from which she would read stories of events which happened long ago (historiae actionis antiquae), and tell the workmen what she wanted painted on the walls.'
Text: Krusch and Levison 1951, 64-65.
Translation: Thorpe 1974, 131-132.
Cult PlacesCommissioning/producing an image
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Cult building - independent (church)
Use of ImagesCommissioning/producing an image
Public display of an image
Descriptions of images of saints
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Source
Gregory of Tours wrote the Histories (Historiae) during his episcopate in Tours (573–594). They constitute the longest and most detailed historical work of the post-Roman West. Gregory's focus is Gaul under its Frankish kings, above all the territories of Tours and (to a lesser extent) Clermont, where he had been born and brought up. Much of his work tells of the years when, as bishop of an important see, he was himself centrally involved in Frankish politics. The Histories are often wrongly referred to as a History of the Franks. Although the work does contain a history of the rulers of Francia, it also includes much hagiographical material, and Gregory himself gave it the simple title the 'ten books of Histories' (decem libri historiarum), when he produced a list of his own writings (Histories 10.31).The Histories consist of ten books whose scope and contents differ considerably. Book 1 skims rapidly through world history, with biblical and secular material from the Creation to the death in AD 397 of Martin of Tours (Gregory’s hero and predecessor as bishop). It covers 5596 years. In Book 2, which covers 114 years, the focus moves firmly into Gaul, covering the years up to the death of Clovis in 511. Books 3 and 4, which cover 37 and 27 years respectively, then move fairly swiftly on, closing with the death of king Sigibert in 575. With Book 5, through to the final Book 10, the pace slows markedly, and the detail swells, with only between two and four years covered in each of the last six books, breaking off in 591. These books are organised in annual form, based on the regnal years of Childebert II (r. 575-595/6).
There continues to be much discussion over when precisely Gregory wrote specific parts of the Histories, though there is general agreement that none of it was written before 575 and, of course, none of it after Gregory's death, which is believed to have occurred in 594. Essentially, scholars are divided over whether Gregory wrote the Histories sequentially as the years from 575 unfolded, with little or no revision thereafter, or whether he composed the whole work over the space of a few years shortly before his death and after 585 (see Murray 2015 for the arguments on both sides). For an understanding of the political history of the time, and Gregory's attitude to it, precisely when the various books were written is of great importance; but for what he wrote about the saints, the precise date of composition is of little significance, because Gregory's attitude to saints, their relics and their miracles did not change significantly during his writing-life. We have therefore chosen to date Gregory's writing of our entries only within the broadest possible parameters: with a terminus post quem of 575 for the early books of the Histories, and thereafter the year of the events described, and a terminus ante quem of 594, set by Gregory's death.
(Bryan Ward-Perkins, David Lambert)
For general discussions of the Histories see:
Goffart, W., The Narrators of Barbarian History (A.D. 550–800): Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Bede, and Paul the Deacon (Princeton, 1988), 119–127.
Murray, A.C., "The Composition of the Histories of Gregory of Tours and Its Bearing on the Political Narrative," in: A.C. Murray (ed.), A Companion to Gregory of Tours (Leiden and Boston, 2015), 63–101.
Pizarro, J.M., "Gregory of Tours and the Literary Imagination: Genre, Narrative Style, Sources, and Models in the Histories," in: Murray, A Companion to Gregory of Tours, 337–374.
Discussion
Although Gregory is not explicit about this, it seems probable that these frescoes (which as a native of Clermont he will have known) depicted scenes from the life and martyrdom of Saint Stephen.Gregory uses in his description the words fucis colorum, that mean coloured frescoes. This phrase is not original and Gregory almost certainly copied it from a letter of Ruricius, bishop of Limoges between c. 485 and 510 (Ruricius, Letters 2.15). The letter was sent after Namatius' death to his wife Ceraunia (who is not named by Gregory), and announced that Ruricius had sent her a painter who covered walls with colorum fucis (coloured frescoes). Ruricius does not mention that the place to be decorated was a church. See Vieillard-Troiekouroff 1976, 97-98; Prévot 1989, 36.
Bibliography
Edition:Krusch, B., and Levison, W., Gregorii episcopi Turonensis Libri historiarum X (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum I.1; 2nd ed.; Hannover, 1951).
Translation:
Thorpe, L., Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks (Penguin Classics; London, 1974).
Further reading:
Murray, A.C., "The Composition of the Histories of Gregory of Tours and Its Bearing on the Political Narrative", in: A.C. Murray (ed.), A Companion to Gregory of Tours (Leiden-Boston 2015), 63-101.
Prévot, F., "Clermont," in N. Gauthier and J.-Ch. Picard (eds.), Topographie chrétienne des cités de la Gaule des origines au milieu du VIIIe siècle, vol. 6: Provinces ecclésiastique de Bourges (Aquitania Prima) (Paris, 1989), 27-40.
Vieillard-Troiekouroff, M., Les monuments religieux de la Gaule d'après les œuvres de Grégoire de Tours (Paris, 1976).
Record Created By
Katarzyna Wojtalik
Date of Entry
14/12/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Stephanus | Certain |
|---|
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