Gregory of Tours, in his Histories (10.31), recounts how Eufronius, the eighteenth bishop of Tours (bishop 555-573), restored the church of *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050) in Tours, which had been burnt after Willichar sought sanctuary there. In Eufronius' time the church of *Vincent (deacon and martyr of Zaragoza and Valencia, S00290) was built in Tours, and on his death he was buried in Martin's church. Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 591/594.
Evidence ID
E02418
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Major author/Major anonymous work
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours, Histories (Historiae) 10.31
Huius tempore civitas Turonica cum omnibus ecclesiis magno incendio concremata est; de quibus ipse postea duas reparavit, tertiam seniorem relinquens desertam. Postea vero basilica sancti Martini et ipsa incendio est adusta per Wiliacharium, cum ibi confugium pro Chramni quondam circumventione fecisset; quam postea idem pontifex texit stagno, opitulante rege Chlothario. Huius tempore basilica sancti Vincentio aedificata est.
'In his day much of the city of Tours was burnt down and all the churches with it. He managed to restore two of them, but the third, which was the oldest, he left derelict. Later on Saint Martin’s church was burnt by Willichar, when he took refuge there after Chramn’s revolt. Eufronius roofed it in with tin, being helped financially in this by King Chlothar. Saint Vincent’s church was built in his time.'
...
Sedit autem annos XVII obiitque aetate septuagenaria et sepultus est in basilica sancti Martini.
'Eufronius occupied the see for seventeen years, died at the age of seventy, and was buried in Saint Martin’s church.'
Text: Krusch and Levison 1951, 534.
Translation: Thorpe 1974, 600-601, lightly modified.
Cult PlacesSeeking asylum at church/shrine
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Cult building - independent (church)
Rejection, Condemnation, SceptisismDestruction/desecration of saint's shrine
Non Liturgical ActivitySeeking asylum at church/shrine
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Construction of cult buildings
Burial ad sanctos
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
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
It is possible that Germanus, bishop of Paris, who several times visited the tomb of Martin in Tours, gave relics of Vincent to Eufronius: for this hypothesis and for Eufronius' church of Vincent, see Vieillard-Troiekouroff 1976, 326, Pietri 1983, 416-417 and Pietri 1987, 37.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.
Pietri, L., La ville de Tours du IVe au VIe siècle: naissance d’une cite chrétienne (Collection de l’École française de Rome 69; Rome 1983).
Pietri, L., "Tours," in: N. Gauthier and J.-Ch. Picard (eds.), Topographie chrétienne des cités de la Gaule des origines au milieu du VIIIe siècle, vol. 5: Province ecclésiastique de Tours (Lugdunensis Tertia) (Paris, 1987), 19-39.
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
26/02/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain | S00290 | Vincentius/Vincent, deacon and martyr of Zaragoza and Valencia | Vincentius | Certain |
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