Gregory of Tours, in his Histories (10.16), reports that during the revolt in 590 by nuns at the convent founded by *Radegund (former queen and monastic founder, ob. 587, S00182) in Poitiers, the rebellious nuns had assembled in the church in the city of *Hilary (bishop of Poitiers, ob. 367, S00183), while a servant of the convent had been killed while taking refuge at Radegund's tomb. Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 590/594.
Evidence ID
E07785
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Major author/Major anonymous work
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours, Histories (Historiae) 10.16
[Episcopi] ad beati Helari confessoris basilicam, quo ipsae commorabantur, accedentes, ut condecet pastorum sollicitudine, dum commonerentur, facta seditione, fustebus tam pontifices quam ministros adfecerunt et intra basilica fuderunt sanguinem levitarum. [...] quod additur crudelitate, ad sepulchrum beatae Radegundis fugientem servum monasterii sui occiderent [...]
'When the Bishops went to the church of the blessed confessor Hilary, where the nuns had taken up residence, and remonstrated with them there, thus carrying out their pastoral duty, they had again started a riot, belabouring the Bishops and their attendants with sticks and shedding the blood of deacons inside the church. ... Furthermore they had most cruelly done to death one of the nunnery servants, who had sought refuge at the tomb of Saint Radegund.'
Text: Krusch and Levison 1951, 507-8.
Translation: Thorpe 1974, 573-4, slightly adapted.
Cult PlacesSlaves/ servants
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Non Liturgical ActivitySeeking asylum at church/shrine
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesSlaves/ servants
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Women
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
These events are alleged to have taken place in 590 during the revolt by a group of nuns in the convent at Poitiers founded by Radegund (see also E02385). The claims are made in the report by the group of bishops, including Gregory, appointed by Kings Childebert and Guntram to investigate the revolt, which is quoted in its entirety by Gregory (= Histories 10.16). The killing of a servant at Radegund's tomb was supposedly carried out by the group of male henchmen assembled by Clotild, the leader of the revolt, to enforce her will.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.
Vieillard-Troiekouroff, M., Les monuments religieux de la Gaule d'après les œuvres de Grégoire de Tours (Paris, 1976).
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
24/10/2019
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00182 | Radegund, former queen of the Franks and monastic founder, ob. 587 | Radegundis | Certain | S00183 | Hilarius/Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, ob. 367 | Helarius | Certain |
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David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E07785 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07785