Venantius Fortunatus writes eleven books of Poems in Latin, mainly in western and north-western Gaul, 565/600; many of them with reference to saints. Overview entry.
E05555
Literary - Poems
Venantius Fortunatus
Venantius Fortunatus, Poems
Here are listed only those poems that include references to saints.
Preface - Dedicatory letter to Gregory of Tours - E05556.
Book 1
1 - To Vitalis, bishop of Ravenna - see E05560.
2 - Verses on the church of the Lord Andrew - see E05563.
3 - On a church of the Lord Stephen - see E05564.
4 - On a church of Saint Martin - see E05565.
5 - For the cell of Saint Martin where he clothed a poor man - see E05566.
6 - On a church of Saint Martin - see E05584.
7 - In honour of a church of Saint Martin that Basil and Baudegund built - see E05585.
8 - On a church of Saint Vincent beyond the Garonne - see E05586.
9 - Again on the church of Saint Vincent at Vernemet - see E05611.
10 - On the Lord Nazarius - see E05612.
11 - On a church of the Lord Dionysius - see E05632.
12 - On the church of Saint Bibianus - see E05633.
13 - On the church of Saint Eutropis - see E05634.
15 - On bishop Leontius - see E05635.
Book 2
7 - On Lord Saturninus - see E05636.
8 - On Launebod, who built the church of Saint Saturninus - see E05637.
12 - On the church of Saint George - see E05638.
13 - On the chapel of Trasaricus - see E05639.
14 - On the saints of Agaune - see E05.640
16 - On Saint Medard - see E05641.
Book 3
1 - To Eufronius, bishop of Tours (prose letter) - see E07842.
2 - To Eufronius, bishop of Tours (prose letter) - see E05642.
3 - To Eufronius, bishop of Tours - see E05682.
7 - In honour of those whose relics are contained in the cathedral in Nantes - see E05683.
12 - Again on the castle of the bishop Nicetius of Trier above the Moselle - see E05686.
Book 4
2 - Epitaph of Lord Gregory, bishop of the city of Langres - see $E05687.
5 - Epitaph of the Ruricii, bishops of the city of Limoges - see $E05690.
11 - Epitaph of Victorianus, abbot of the monastery of Asan - see $E05692.
26 - Epitaph of Vilithuta - see $E07844.
Book 5
1 - To Martin, bishop of Galicia (prose letter) - see $E07845.
3 - On bishop Gregory, to the citizens of Tours - see $E07846.
11 - To Gregory, bishop of Tours, on his journey - see $E05751.
14 - To Gregory, bishop of Tours, in recommendation of a girl - see $E05752.
Book 8
3 - In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the lady Mary his mother, on virginity - see $E06237 and $E06245.
11 - To Bishop Gregory on his own sickness - see $E05753.
12 - To Bishop Gregory in the interests of the abbess - see $E05754.
Book 9
14 - On a beam of the church of Saint Laurence - see $E05755.
Book 10
5 - In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, verses here begin on the oratory of Artannes - see $E05756.
6 - In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, verses for the Cathedral of Tours - see $E05757.
7 - To King Childebert and Queen Brunhild, on the feast day of Saint Martin, bishop of Tours - see $E05758 and $E07847.
10 - Verses on the oratory of Artannes - see $E05759.
11 - Verses composed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ at table in a villa of Saint Martin in the presence of assessors of taxes - see $E05760.
12a - On a girl held captive by the judges - $E07848.
17 - To Count Sigoald, for having fed the poor on behalf of the king - see $E05761.
Book 11
25 - To Radegund and Agnes, about his journey - see $E05832.
Appendix
19 - Again another poem - see $E07849.
21 - Again another poem - see $E05833.
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Source
Venantius Fortunatus was born in northern Italy, near Treviso, and educated at Ravenna. In the early 560s he crossed the Alps into Merovingian Gaul, where he spent the rest of his life, making his living primarily through writing Latin poetry for the aristocracy of northern Gaul, both secular and ecclesiastical. His first datable commission in Gaul is a poem to celebrate the wedding in 566 of the Austrasian royal couple, Sigibert and Brunhild. His principal patrons were Radegund and Agnes, the royal founder and the first abbess of the monastery of the Holy Cross at Poitiers, as well as Gregory, the historian and bishop of Tours, Leontius, bishop of Bordeaux, and Felix, bishop of Nantes, but he also wrote poems for several kings and for many other members of the aristocracy. In addition to occasional poems for his patrons, Fortunatus wrote a four-book epic poem about Martin of Tours, and several works of prose and verse hagiography. The latter part of his life was spent in Poitiers, and in the 590s he became bishop of the city; he is presumed to have died early in the 7th century. For Fortunatus' life, see Brennan 1985; George 1992, 18-34; Reydellet 1994-2004, vol. 1, vii-xxviii; Pietri and Heijmans 2013, 801-22, 'Fortunatus'.The eleven books of Poems (Carmina) by Fortunatus were almost certainly collected and published at three different times: Books 1 to 7, which are dedicated to Gregory of Tours, in 576; Books 8 and 9 after 584, probably in 590/591; and Books 10-11 only after their author's death. A further group of poems, outside the structure of the books, and known from only one manuscript, has been published in modern editions as an Appendix to the eleven books. For further discussion, see Reydellet 1994-2004, vol. 1, lxviii-lxxi; George 1992, 208-211.
Almost all of Fortunatus' poems are in elegiac couplets: one hexameter line followed by one pentameter line.
For the cult of saints, Fortunatus' poems are primarily interesting for the evidence they provide of the saints venerated in western Gaul (where most of his patrons were based), since many were written to celebrate the completion of new churches and oratories, and some to celebrate collections of relics. For an overview of his treatment of the cult of saints, see Roberts 2009, 165-243.
Bibliography
Editions and translations:Leo, F., Venanti Honori Clementiani Fortunati presbyteri Italici opera poetica (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi 4.1; Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1881).
Roberts, M., Poems: Venantius Fortunatus (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 46; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017).
George, J., Venantius Fortunatus, Personal and Political Poems (Translated Texts for Historians 23; Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1995).
Reydellet, M., Venance Fortunat, Poèmes, 3 vols. (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1994-2004).
Further reading:
Brennan, B., "The Career of Venantius Fortunatus," Traditio 41 (1985), 49-78.
George, J., Venantius Fortunatus: A Latin Poet in Merovingian Gaul (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992).
Pietri, L. and Heijmans, M., Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, 4 Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne (314-614), 2 vols. (Paris 2013).
Roberts, M., The Humblest Sparrow: The Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2009).
Roberts, M., "Venantius Fortunatus and Gregory of Tours: Poetry and Patronage," in: A.C. Murray (ed.), A Companion to Gregory of Tours (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2015), 35-59.
Katarzyna Wojtalik
27/05/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00008 | Paul, the Apostle | Paulus | Certain | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Stephanus | Certain | S00033 | Mary, Mother of Christ | Maria | Certain | S00035 | Julian, martyr of Brioude (southern Gaul) | Iulianus | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Peter | Certain | S00037 | Laurence/Laurentius, deacon and martyr of Rome | Laurentius | Certain | S00038 | Gregory, bishop of Langres, ob. 539/540 | Gregorius | Certain | S00049 | Nicetius, bishop of Lyon, ob. 573 | Nicetius | Certain | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain | S00077 | Augustine, bishop of Hippo, ob. 430 | Augustinus | Certain | S00092 | Thekla, follower of the Apostle Paul | Tecla | Certain | S00097 | Agnes, virgin and martyr of Rome | Agnes | Certain | S00146 | Caecilia, virgin and martyr of Rome | Caecilia | Certain | S00168 | Medard, bishop of Vermand buried at Soissons, ob. c. 560 | Medardus | Certain | S00182 | Radegund, former queen of the Franks and monastic founder, ob. 587 | Radegundis | Certain | S00183 | Hilarius/Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, ob. 367 | Hilarius | Certain | S00192 | Gabriel, the Archangel | Gabriel | Certain | S00217 | Elijah/Elias, Old Testament prophet | Helias | Certain | S00259 | George, soldier and martyr, and Companions | Georgius | Certain | S00281 | Nazarius and Celsus, companion martyrs of Milan | Nazarius | Certain | S00288 | Andrew, the Apostle | Andreas | Certain | S00289 | Saturninus, bishop and martyr of Toulouse | Saturninus | Certain | S00332 | Eutropis/Eutropius, bishop and martyr of Saintes | Eutropis | Certain | S00339 | Theban Legion, commanded by Maurice, martyrs of Agaune, Gaul | Mauricius | Certain | S00349 | Dionysius/Denis, bishop and martyr of Paris, and his companions Rusticus and Eleutherius | Dionisius | Certain | S00385 | Kosmas and Damianos, brothers, physician martyrs of Syria | Cosmas, Damianus | Certain | S00401 | Eugenia, virgin and martyr of Rome, buried on the via Latina, and companions | Eugenia | Certain | S00432 | Vincentius, martyr of Agen | Vincentius | Certain | S00456 | Remigius, bishop of Reims, ob. c. 533 | Remegius | Certain | S00518 | Saints, unnamed | Certain | S00605 | Anaunian Martyrs (Sisinnius, Martyrius, Alexander), ob. c. 397 | Certain | S00762 | Enoch, Old Testament patriarch | Enoch | Certain | S00794 | Agatha, virgin and martyr of Catania | Agatha | Certain | S01181 | Albinus, monk and bishop of Angers, ob. c. 550 | Albinus | Certain | S01282 | Vivianus/Bibianus, mid-5th c. bishop of Saintes | Bibianus | Certain | S01407 | Vigilius, bishop and martyr of Trento | Vigilius | Certain | S01893 | Ferreolus, soldier and martyr of Vienne | Ferreolus | Certain | S02108 | Victorianus, abbot of Asán, ob. 558 | Victorianus | Certain | S02826 | Vitalis, soldier and martyr of Ravenna | Vitalis | Certain |
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