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E02418: Gregory of Tours, in his Histories (10.31), recounts how Eufronius, the eighteenth bishop of Tours (bishop 555-573), restored the church of Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050) in Tours, which had been burnt after Willichar sought sanctuary there. In Eufronius' time the church of Vincent (deacon and martyr of Saragossa and Valencia, S00290) was built in Tours, and on his death he was buried in Martin's church. Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 591/594.

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posted on 2017-02-22, 00:00 authored by kwojtalik

Gregory of Tours, Histories (Historiae) 10.31

Huius tempore civitas Turonica cum omnibus ecclesiis magno incendio concremata est; de quibus ipse postea duas reparavit, tertiam seniorem relinquens desertam. Postea vero basilica sancti Martini et ipsa incendio est adusta per Wiliacharium, cum ibi confugium pro Chramni quondam circumventione fecisset; quam postea idem pontifex texit stagno, opitulante rege Chlothario. Huius tempore basilica sancti Vincentio aedificata est.

'In his day much of the city of Tours was burnt down and all the churches with it. He managed to restore two of them, but the third, which was the oldest, he left derelict. Later on Saint Martin’s church was burnt by Willichar, when he took refuge there after Chramn’s revolt. Eufronius roofed it in with tin, being helped financially in this by King Chlothar. Saint Vincent’s church was built in his time.'

...

Sedit autem annos XVII obiitque aetate septuagenaria et sepultus est in basilica sancti Martini.

'Eufronius occupied the see for seventeen years, died at the age of seventy, and was buried in Saint Martin’s church.'

Text: Krusch and Levison 1951, 534. Translation: Thorpe 1974, 600-601, lightly modified.

History

Evidence ID

E02418

Saint Name

Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours (Gaul), ob. 397 : S00050 Vincent, deacon and martyr of Saragossa and Valencia, ob. c. 305 : S00290

Saint Name in Source

Martinus Vincentius

Related Saint Records

Type of Evidence

Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

575

Evidence not after

594

Activity not before

555

Activity not after

573

Place of Evidence - Region

Gaul and Frankish kingdoms

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Tours

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Tours Tours Tours Toronica urbs Prisciniacensim vicus Pressigny Turonorum civitas Ceratensis vicus Céré

Major author/Major anonymous work

Gregory of Tours

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Seeking asylum at church/shrine

Cult activities - Rejection, Condemnation, Scepticism

Destruction/desecration of saint's shrine

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - bishops

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

It is probable that Germanus, bishop of Paris, who several times visited the tomb of Martin in Tours, gave relics of Vincent to Eufronius (Vieillard-Troiekouroff 1976, 326; Pietri 1987, 37).

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. Pietri, L., "Tours," in: N. Gauthier and J.-Ch. Picard (eds.), Topographie chrétienne des cités de la Gaule des origines au milieu du VIIIe siècle, vol. 5: Province ecclésiastique de Tours (Lugdunensis Tertia) (Paris, 1987), 19-39. Vieillard-Troiekouroff, M., Les monuments religieux de la Gaule d'après les œuvres de Grégoire de Tours (Paris, 1976).

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Keywords

S00050 S00290 History

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