E07868: Gregory of Tours, in his Life of *Quintianus (bishop of Rodez and Clermont, ob. 525, S00028), recounts how Clermont (central Gaul), under siege by King Theuderic in c. 525, was saved by the prayers of Quintianus and the presence of the saints around its walls. From Gregory's Life of the Fathers, written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 573/594.

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posted on 2020-03-31, 00:00 authored by CSLA Admin

Gregory of Tours, Life of the Fathers 4.2

King Theuderic besieged Clermont; Quintianus prayed for its deliverance, and walked round the walls at night singing psalms. When Theuderic was about to breach the walls, he was suddenly struck by terror in the night, and temporarily lost his senses.

Tunc Hilpingus dux eius accedens propius ad regem, ait: "Audi, gloriosissime rex, consilium parvitatis meae. Ecce muri civitatis istius fortissimi sunt, eamque propugnacula ingentia vallant. Quod ut plenius magnificentia vestra cognoscat, de sanctis, quorum basilicae muros [illius] urbis ambiunt, haec loquor; sed et antestis loci illius magnus apud Deum habetur. Noli facere quod cogitas; noli episcopo iniuriam inferre aut urbem evertere". Cuius consilium rex clementer accipiens, praeceptum posuit, ne ullus ab octavo urbis miliario laederetur. Quod obtentu sacerdotis praestitum nullus ambigat.

'Then Hilping, his duke, came close to the king and said,"Listen, glorious king to the advice of this humble person. The walls of this town are very strong, and it is defended by great fortifications. And in order that your magnificence might recognise this, he has only to consider the saints, whose churches surround the walls of this town, and the bishop of this place, who is great in the eyes of God. Do not do what you are planning: do not do evil to the bishop, and do not destroy the town." The king received this counsel favourably, and forbade anyone to be harmed within eight miles of the town. Nobody doubted that this was due to the prayers of the holy bishop.'

Krusch 1969, 225. Translation: James 1991, 23-24.

History

Evidence ID

E07868

Type of Evidence

Literary - Hagiographical - Lives

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

573

Evidence not after

594

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 - Liturgical Activity

Procession

Cult Activities - Miracles

Miracle during lifetime Miracle after death Miraculous protection - of communities, towns, armies

Source

Gregory, bishop of Tours from 573 until his death (probably in 594), was the most prolific hagiographer of all Late Antiquity. He wrote four books on the miracles of Martin of Tours, one on those of Julian of Brioude, and two on the miracles of other saints (the Glory of the Martyrs and Glory of the Confessors), as well as a collection of twenty short Lives of sixth-century Gallic saints (the Life of the Fathers). He also included a mass of material on saints in his long and detailed Histories, and produced two independent short works: a Latin version of the Acts of Andrew and a Latin translation of the story of The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. The Life of the Fathers by Gregory of Tours is different from his other hagiographical works (Miracles of Julian, Miracles of Martin, Glory of the Confessors and Glory of the Martyrs), which all concentrate on posthumous miracles of the saints. The Life of the Fathers, by contrast, describes the exemplary behaviour in life of twenty Gallic saints (for a list of the Lives, see E05870). Gregory himself draws this contrast in the opening words of his preface: 'I had decided to write only about what has been achieved with divine help at the tombs of the blessed martyrs and confessors; but I have recently discovered information about those who have been raised to heaven by the merit of their blessed conduct here below, and I thought that their way of life, which is known to us through reliable sources, could strengthen the Church' (trans. James 1991, 1). In this preface Gregory also explains why he chose to call the book Life of the Fathers, not Lives of the Fathers: because they all lived the same bodily life. The nineteen Lives of men, and the single Life of a woman (Life 19), all relate to holy people of Gaul, the majority living in the mid to later sixth century. Although this agenda is unspoken, there can be little doubt that Gregory wrote these Lives partly to show that holiness, and the miraculous, were not just things of the past, but very much present within the Gaul of his day (a message that he expressed explicitly in his Histories). Almost all the saints he describes were active within one or other of the two dioceses with which Gregory was most familiar (his native Clermont, and Tours, the city of his episcopate), or indeed were his relatives (all bishops - Life 6 is of an uncle, Life 7 of a great-grandfather, and Life 8 of a great-uncle). Although Gregory says in his preface that they all shared one bodily life, in reality his saints fall into one of two distinct categories: holy bishops who are effective leaders of their flocks but only moderately ascetic (Lives 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 17), and holy ascetics who have withdrawn from the world and sometimes engage in extreme mortification of the body (Lives 1, 3, 5, 9-16, and 18-20). Gregory's work was unquestionably didactic in purpose - teaching the correct way to lead a good Christian life, and it is notable, for instance, how, in this work written by a bishop, his ascetics accept episcopal correction when necessary (Lives 15.2 and 20.3, in both cases from Gregory himself), and might even delay their death to suit the timetable of a bishop (Life 10.4). Because the focus is on the lives of these holy people, there is much less emphasis on their cult after death than in Gregory's other hagiographical works; however, all the Lives close with an account of the burial of the saint, and in almost all cases with reference to posthumous miracles recorded there (the exceptions are Lives 10, 11 and 20, which have no reference to miracles at the tomb). Gregory probably collected material for the Life of the Fathers (and perhaps wrote individual Lives) over a long period of time. However, from the words of his preface (quoted above) and from other references within the text, it is evident that he assembled his material into the polished work we have today only towards the very end of his life, after he had already written much of his extensive hagiography recording the miracles of saints lying in their graves. Because Gregory's views on saints do not seem to have changed during his writing life, we have not here expended energy in exploring the possible dating of individual lives, merely recording them all as written some time between 573 and 594. For more on the text, and on its dating: James 1991, xiii-xix; Shaw 2015, particularly 117-120.

Discussion

For an overview of the Life of Quintianus, see E00036. Theuderic's invasion of the Auvergne is repeatedly mentioned in Gregory's works as a traumatic event; there is some uncertainty over when precisely it happened (see James 1991, 23-24, n. 9 for a good discussion). For a similar story of a saintly bishop within the town, aided by the saints buried around it, saving the community, see Life of the Fathers 17.4 (E05472).

Bibliography

Edition: Krusch, B., Gregorii Turonensis Opera. 2: Miracula et opera minora (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum I.2; 2nd ed.; Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 1969). Translation: James, E., Gregory of Tours. Life of the Fathers (Translated Texts for Historians 1; 2nd ed.; Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1991). de Nie, G., Gregory of Tours, Lives and Miracles (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 39; Cambridge MA, 2015). Further reading: Shaw, R., "Chronology, Composition, and Authorial Conception in the Miracula", in: A.C. Murray (ed.), A Companion to Gregory of Tours (Leiden-Boston 2015), 102-140.

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