Site logo

The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Gregory of Tours, in his Histories (4.49), attributes to *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050) a miraculous role in the signing of a peace treaty between the Frankish kings Guntram, Sigibert and Chilperic in 574. Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 575/594.

Evidence ID

E07757

Type of Evidence

Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)

Major author/Major anonymous work

Gregory of Tours

Gregory of Tours, Histories (Historiae) 4.49

Gregory describes the civil war between Guntram, Sigibert and Chilperic, and in particular the destruction caused by warriors from across the Rhine, who were employed by Sigibert but whom he was barely able to control. He remarks:

Sed nec hoc sine beati Martini fuisse vertutem ambigitur, ut hi sine bello pacificarentur; nam in ipsa die, qua hi pacem fecerunt, tres paralitici ad beati basilicam sunt directi. Quod in sequentibus libris, Domino iubente, desseruemus.

'It is clear that these people could never have been induced to make peace and abjure battle had it not been arranged by the miraculous power of Saint Martin. On the very day when they agreed to a peace-treaty, three paralytics stood up in the Saint’s church. With God’s help, I have described this in some of my other books.'


Text: Krusch and Levison 1951, 186.
Translation: Thorpe 1974, 246.

Non Liturgical Activity

Composing and translating saint-related texts

Miracles

Miracle after death
Miraculous interventions in war
Healing diseases and disabilities

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

For the corresponding passage in the Miracles of Martin, to which Gregory refers, see E03005.


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.



Record Created By

David Lambert

Date of Entry

24/10/2019

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00050Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397MartinusCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E07757 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07757