John S. Ott
HST 354U - Early Medieval Europe
Portland State University
(c) John Ott, 2020, 2021


  Reading Guide 4:

Weeks IV and V: Gregory of Tours, The Histories (aka History of the Franks);
Venantius Fortunatus, Life of St Radegund of Poitiers; Letter of Abbess Caesaria to Radegund of Poitiers

Gregory of Tours, Histories (History of the Franks)

This week we will be reading extracts from Gregory of Tours' Histories (in our translation called The History of the Franks, but this was not the title he gave it). Gregory, like his predecessor Martin, was bishop of Tours (on the Loire River, in central France), from 573-594 C.E. He was born to a prominent aristocratic family from the Auvergne region of south-central France, and was one of many bishops in his family (which included numerous saints among its members). He grew up in the households of relatives who were bishops, where he would have been educated and prepared from youth for a life in the clergy. For Gallo-Roman aristocrats like Gregory and his (male) kin, to become bishop was a prized office, combining religious guidance with civic administration and involvement in secular politics. Gregory moved in the highest circles of sixth-century politics, and traveled widely within the Frankish kingdoms.

Sixth-century politics meant kings and queens, counts and dukes, bishops and saints, and Gregory served, knew personally, and/or observed a great many during his lifetime and professional career. Gaul in Gregory's day, after its unification under its King Clovis (ruled 486-511), was the scene of bitter fratricidal warfare among his grandsons (especially the sons of Chlothar I, who ruled from 511-561). Tours, Gregory's city, was subject to the authority of four different kings between 573-594, as well as a series of counts, secular officials appointed by the kings to exercise political authority in the cities of the realm.

Gregory's Histories is the most complete written source we have for this period of Frankish history. He composed it in 10 books, which cover human history from Creation down to the year of his death in 594. He was essentially finished with the work by the time he died, at the age of 56. The periods covered in each book vary widely. The first book, for example, begins with Creation and continues down to the death of St Martin of Tours in 397, a span of nearly 5600 years. The second book runs from the death of Martin in 397 C.E. to the death of the Frankish king Clovis I in 511 (114 years).  As the Histories progresses, the books cover shorter periods of time, and the overall focus of the work turns to the events of the last twenty years of Gregory's life.

As you read, you will be confronted with an at-times dizzying array of names and places. Keep in mind two things:

Questions:

(1) How does Gregory's recapitulation of the ancient history of the Old and New Testaments function within the overall context of the Histories?  Why did he begin his history with Creation? What sorts of events does he highlight from biblical and Roman history?
(2) What sort of people is Gregory primarily interested in?  To what groups do they belong?  What is his stated (unstated?) purpose in recording the Franks' turbulent history?
(3) What role do women play in Gregory's narrative?  Which women are vilified, which are exalted, and why?
(4) What resources or qualities were indispensable for achieving success in the Merovingian world?  Are particular kinds of behavior praised? rewarded? punished?  Can you discern broader patterns at work?
(5) Assess the role of magic, miracles, and religious conversion in the Histories. How might a historian interpret Clovis's conversion, for example?  Is it "genuine"? Does it matter whether it was, or wasn't?  What about the conversion of his followers?
Letter of Caesaria, abbess of Arles, to Radegund of Thuringia (c. 558-559)

This letter to Radegund appears to have been written shortly after she established her convent of Holy Cross at Poitiers. The author, Caesaria of Arles (d. 559), was also an abbess, and connected with Caesarius of Arles (d. 542), a famous ascetic and bishop who composed a rule for monastic life for women, the first in western Europe, in 512 (the Regula virginum, or Rule for Virgins). Caesaria's letter to Radegund is structured as a series of aphorisms and guidance on how to live a holy and cloistered life. It is one of relatively few such letters to or from Radegund to have survived. Radegund adopted Caesarius' strict rule for women as the guiding plan for Holy Cross.

Venantius Fortunatus, Life of St Radegund of Poitiers (to be read alongside excerpts from Books IX and X of Gregory of Tours)

Alongside Gregory's famous history of the Franks, we will be reading the work of one of his contemporaries and friends, Venenatius Fortunatus, on the figure of Radegund of Poitiers. Born near Treviso in northern Italy c. 540; educated in classical (and Christian) tradition at Ravenna, Venantius traveled north into Gaul during the time of the kingdoms of Clovis’ sons (511-561). He broke onto the Merovingian scene by delivering a panegyric and epithalamium (marriage poem) at the wedding of Sigibert and the Visigothic Brunhild (c. 534-613), daughter of Athanagild, in Metz in 566. From there he traveled to the courts of the kings and as far as Toulouse. He was introduced to Radegund at Poitiers through Bishop Eufronius of Tours, and helped her by writing letters on her behalf to the Byzantine emperor Justin II (565-574, nephew of Justinian) and empress Sophia (d. c. 601, niece of Theodora) in her quest for relics. He then wrote the Pange lingua [Sing o lips!] and Vexilla regis to celebrate the arrival of the true cross and other relics. He remained thereafter at Poitiers, and worked on Radegund’s behalf to end feuding between the royal families. He eventually became bishop around 599/600.

Venantius collected his poems and dedicated the first volume (poems to 576) to Gregory. He wrote for/to correspondents in Iberia (Martin of Braga), Marseilles, and throughout Francia. He also wrote a lengthy defense of Gregory when the latter was accused of treason at Chilperic’s court. Radegund (518-587), the daughter of the Burgundian king Bertachar, was raised as a child in the household of her uncle Hermanfrid, who had killed him. In 531 she was taken as war booty by Lothar I, apparently after winning her in a dispute with his brother Theuderic, after their allied defeat of the Thuringian king Berthar. She was still quite young (12 or 13), and she was sent to a villa to be educated until she reached a marriageable age. They married in 540. Lothar later killed her brother in 550, leading Radegund to revolt and found the abbey of Holy Cross outside Poitiers in c. 558/60. In 584, she began her campaign to recover relics from the holy land. The scandal at Poitiers and Clotild’s revolt against the abbess Leubovera occurred between 587-590, shortly after Radegund’s death. In addition to Venantius and Gregory’s accounts, another vita, that of Baudonivia, was written c. 620, at the request of her abbess and community. It both tells of additional posthumous miracles but also revisits Radegund’s life. Baudonivia does not really emphasize Radegund’s ascetic impulses and does not hide her role as queen, noting in a new story that she ordered a fane destroyed where non-Christian Franks worshipped. She also noted Radegund’s letters to kings, likened her to Helena for the recovery of the holy cross, and exemplifies her devotion to the nun’s life of prayer, vigils, etc.