Venantius Fortunatus in the Preface to his Poems, tells how he decided to publish these after persuasion by Gregory of Tours, who invoked the miracles of *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050). Written in Latin, probably in Poitiers (western Gaul), about 576.
Evidence ID
E05556
Type of Evidence
Literary - Poems
Major author/Major anonymous work
Venantius Fortunatus
Venantius Fortunatus, Poems preface
From Fortunatus' long preface, which is addressed to Gregory of Tours:
Sed quoniam [me] humilem inpulsum alacriter, acrius renitentem, sub testificatione divini mysterii et splendore virtutum beatissimi Martini coniurans hortaris sedulo, ut contra pudorem meum deducar in publicum (...)
'But, though in my humility I vigorously resisted your [Gregory's of Tours] eager persuasion, since you insistently urge me, calling on the divine mystery and invoking the brilliance of the blessed Martin's miracles, to swallow my embarrassment and to appear in public (...).'
Text: Leo 1881, 2.
Translation: Roberts 2017, 7-9.
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
MiraclesMiracle after death
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Oral transmission of saint-related stories
Prayer/supplication/invocation
MiraclesMiracle after death
Miracle during lifetime
Unspecified miracle
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
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.
Discussion
The passage is quoted from the dedicatory letter that begins the collection of the poems of Venantius Fortunatus. The poet states that he decided to publish his poems at the urging of Gregory of Tours, who was the bishop from 573 until his death in 594, and promoted the cult of Martin. The first part of the collection included books 1-7 and was published abut AD 576.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).
Record Created By
Katarzyna Wojtalik
Date of Entry
27/05/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Katarzyna Wojtalik, Cult of Saints, E05556 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05556