Evidence ID
E07840Saint Name
John, the Apostle and Evangelist : S00042Saint Name in Source
Iohannes apostolus et euangelistaType of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)Evidence not before
575Evidence not after
594Activity not before
300Activity not after
594Place of Evidence - Region
Gaul and Frankish kingdomsPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
ToursPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Tours
Tours
Tours
Toronica urbs
Prisciniacensim vicus
Pressigny
Turonorum civitas
Ceratensis vicus
CéréMajor author/Major anonymous work
Gregory of ToursCult activities - Places
Burial site of a saint - tomb/graveCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Oral transmission of saint-related storiesCult Activities - Miracles
Miracle during lifetime
Miracles experienced by the saint
Changing abilities and properties of the bodySource
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
The tradition that John had not died but merely rested in his tomb until the second coming of Christ, together with its biblical justification by reference to Jesus' words If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? (John 21:23) was established by at least the early 5th century, when it is discussed by Augustine in Tractates on the Gospel of John 124 (E07861). According to Augustine, it was believed that John's breathing caused dust to rise from his tomb.
Gregory mentions the tradition abut John twice: in Glory of the Martyrs 29 (E00498), he states that John entered his tomb while alive, and, without explicitly stating that John still lived, says that 'manna' (presumably the dust mentioned by Augustine) rose from the tomb and performed healing miracles. In this passage from the Histories, he says that John entered his tomb while alive, this time adding that 'it is said' (fertur) that John would not experience death until the second coming of Christ, and quoting John 21:23. He does not mention the miraculous dust.
For a general account of John at Ephesus, see Finegan 1981, 36-49; on the tradition about John's tomb see Burnet 2014, 400, and on cult of John in late antique and medieval Ephesus, of which the traditions mentioned by Gregory remained a major feature, see Foss 1979, 36 and 126-7.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.
Burnet, R., Les Douze Apôtres: Histoire de la réception des figures apostoliques dans le christianisme ancien (Turnhout, 2014).
Finegan, J., The Archeology of the New Testament: The Mediterranean World of the Early Christian Apostles (Boulder, Colorado, 1981).
Foss, C., Ephesus after Antiquity: A Late Antique, Byzantine and Turkish City (Cambridge, 1979).
