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Early Merovingian Devotion in Town and Country

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

I. N. Wood
I. N. Wood*
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
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Extract

Although Merovingian cities were not prepossessing they were important. Physically they straggled outside the Roman walls of the third century and divided increasingly into suburbs dependant on the great basilicas. Dijon, technically a castrum, was thought to be worthy of higher status, but its aspect was one of walls, fields, streams and mills. To be fair, urban centres throughout the middle ages possessed equally bucolic attributes. More important, the civitates were secular and ecclesiastical centres. The greatest of them could boast strong associations with the royal court, but even those with no such cachet were distinguished by the presence of a bishop. This last figure has attained considerable eminence in the eyes of historians and perhaps his authority has been exaggerated, nevertheless if his position was weaker than we have been taught, it was because of the strength and vigour of urban society; the reputation of the cities is not diminished. Not surprisingly they provided the backcloth for many of the dramas of sanctity and martyrdom recorded by the hagiographers.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 16: The Church in Town and Countryside , 1979 , pp. 61 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1979

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References

1 Lestocquoy, J., ‘De l’unité à la pluralité; le paysage urbain en Gaule du Ve au IXe siècle,’ Annales 8 (1953) pp 159-72CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Gregory [of Tours], [Decent Libri] Hist [oriarum], ed Krusch, [B.] and Levison, [W.] MGH SRM 11 (1951) bk 3 cap 19 Google Scholar.

3 For example London, London Assize of Nuisance 1301-1431, ed Chew, H.M. and Kellaway, W., London Record Society 10 (1973) for example pp 177-8Google Scholar. I owe this comparison to Dr W. R. Childs.

4 Ewig, [E.], ‘Residence et capitale pendant le haut moyen âge’, RH 230 (1963) pp 25–72 Google Scholar; Brühl, [C. R.], ‘Remarques sur les notions de “capitale” et de “résidence” pendant le haut Moyen Age’, Journal des Savants (Paris 1967) pp 193–215 Google Scholar; Briihl, , Palatium und Civitas (Cologne 1975)Google Scholar.

5 Prinz, F., ‘Die bischöfliche Stadtherrschaft im Frankenreich’ HZ 217 (1973) pp 1–35 Google Scholar and the criticisms by Brown, [P. R. L.], ‘Relics [and Social Status in the Age of Gregory of Tours]’, Stenton Lecture 1976 (Reading 1977) pp 19–20 Google Scholar.

6 Especially Passiones Leudegarii and Passio Praeiecti, ed Krusch, and Levison, , MGH SRM 5 (1910) pp 282–356 Google Scholar, 225-48.

7 Ewig, , Trier im Merowingerreich (Trier 1954)Google Scholar; Kaiser, R., Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Civitas und Diözese Soissons in Römischer und Merowingischer Zeit (Bonn 1973)Google Scholar; Robiin, M., Le Terroir de Paris (2 ed Paris 1971)Google Scholar.

8 MGH SRM 1 (2), ed Arndt, W. and Krusch, (1885)Google Scholar; [Gregory of Tours] L[iber in] G[loria] M[artyrum]; L[iber de Passione et] V[irtutibus sancti] J[uliani Martyris]; L[ibri de] V[irtutibus sancti] M[artini episcopi]; L[iber] V[itae] P[atrum]; L[iber in] G[loria] C[onfessorum].

9 Gregory LGM 15; LVJ 11; LVM bk 2 cap 24; LVM bk 3 caps 7, 29, 31, 38, 45, 55; LVM bk 4 cap 45; LVP bk 7 cap 5. Also the slightly different case of Sisulfus, LVM bk 2 cap 40.

10 LVM bk 2 cap 13; LVM bk 3 caps 3, 56; LVP bk 15 cap 3.

11 LGC 5.

12 LVM bk 2 cap 57.

13 LGC 80, 97.

14 LGM 15; LVM bk 2 caps 24, 40, 57; LVM bk 3 caps 7, 29, 55.

15 LVM 2, 24. Theis, L., ‘Saints sans famille?’, RH 255 (1976) p 15 Google Scholar. Compare the English tradition that redheads are conceived on Sundays.

16 Gregory LVM bk 3 cap 55.

17 Concilia Galline, CC 148, ed C. Munier, and CC 148A, ed C. de Clercq (1963); Agde (596) 47. Orleans (538) 31, Mâcon (585) 1, Chalon-sur-Saône (647-53) 181 Auxerre (561-605) 16.

18 Gregory, Hist bk 8 caps 12, 20 and less certainly bk 8 cap 7.

19 For this dating Monod, G. ‘Études Critiques sur les sources de l’histoire mérovingienne’, 1, BEHE 8 (1872) pp 41-5Google Scholar and more precisely Schlick, J., ‘Composition et chronologie des De virtutibus sancti Martini de Grégoire de Tours’, TU (1966) = Studia Patristica 7, pp 278-86Google Scholar, esp p 286. I owe this referenceto Dr R. Van Dam.

20 Gregory, Hist bk 1 cap 23.

21 S[tatuta] E[cclesiae] A[ntiqua] 77 (CC 148), Agde (506) 12, Orleans (541) 2, Mâcon (581-3) 9.

22 LVM bk cap 31.

23 Gregory, Hist bk 6 cap 17.

24 Pactus Legis Salicae 9, ed Eckhardt, [K. A.] MGH LNG 4 (1) (1962)Google Scholar; Lex Salica 10, ed Eckhardt, MGH LNG 4 (2) (1969)Google Scholar.

25 Mark 2, 27.

26 The story of the two boys and the witches of Voultegon (LVM 2, 45) suggests regular attendance from childhood onwards.

27 Festivals of saints Julian and Martin can be deduced for the following; LVJ 10, 16, 18, 20, 23–5, 28, 34. LVM bk 2 caps 12, 14, 15, 29, 31, 34, 35, 44, 46, 47, 49, 50, 54–6; LVM bk 3 caps 4, 5, 14, 19, 24, 39, 41, 48–50, 57, 58; LVM bk 4 caps 4–6, 13, 17–19, 22, 23, 27, 38, 41, 45. Doubtless there are other cases and often when there is no such indication the occasion was probably a festival.

28 The laity might have a different view, Sidonius Apollinaris, Epistulae 5, 17.

29 Brown, ‘Relics’ p 13.

30 LVP bk 3 cap 1.

31 LVJ 16, 23-5, 34. Does LVJ 46a suggest that Gregory’s family had a house there?

32 The journeys of Aridius of Limoges to Brioude and Tours provide an illustration. Gregory LVJ 28, 41; LVM bk 2 cap 30; LVM bk 3 cap 24; LVM bk 4 cap 6.

33 LVJ 11; LVM bk 2 caps 24, 40; LVM bk 3 caps 3, 7, 31, 38, 45; LGM bk 4 cap 45.

34 Avitus of Vienne, ed Peiper, R. MGH AA 6 (2) (1883) epp 32 Google Scholar, 59, 60, 61, 62, 79-85.

35 Lex Burgundionum 52 (4), ed de Salis, L. R. MGH LNG 2, 1 (1892)Google Scholar.

36 LGM 36.

37 Avitus Homily 6.

38 Sidonius Apollinaris ep 7, 1.

39 Avitus Homily 7, Ecce hodie ad ecclesiam conveniunt multi.

40 Sidonius ep 7, 1 (2) for a comparison of Clermont and Vienne; ep 5, 14 for his request to Aper.

41 For the Litaniae minores at Clermont in the sixth century LVP bk 4 cap 4; for Gallus’s lenten rogations, LVP bk 5 cap 6; Hist bk 4 cap 5. For Litaniae minores in Paris Hist 9, 6, compare Orleans (511) 27; Lyons (567-70) 6; for occasional rogations bk 9 cap 21 (ordered by Guntram), bk 10 cap 30.

42 Caesarius Sermons 55, 74, ed Morin, D. G., CC 103 (1953)Google Scholar, compare Gregory asleep in a service LGM 86.

43 Agde (506) 21.

44 Clermont (535) 15.

45 Orleans (511) 25; Epaon (517) 35; Orleans (511) 31 merely tells us that a bishop had to attend the nearest church on Sunday. Avitus epp 27, 63, 78 shows bishops attending festivals outside their own civitates on major festivals. It is not clear from Epaon 35 whether the citizens or the bishops are referred to in nec interest in quibus civitatibus positos. For a later example of this tradition compare The Chartulary of the High Church of Chichester, ed Peckham, W. D., Sussex Record Society, 46 (Lewes 1942-3) p 20 Google Scholar. I owe this reference to Mr J. W. Cox.

46 Orleans (541) 3.

47 Ausonius Epistulae 4 6 See Van Dam, R. Heretics, Bishops and Bandits, unpublished Cambridge PhD thesis (1977) pp 20-1Google Scholar.

48 Mâcon (585) 3; Auxerre (561-005) 18.

49 SEA 87; Auxerre (561-605) 6.

50 SEA 9; Agde (506) 49; Orleans (533) 2; Orleans (538) 1; Orleans (549) 18. Most sixth-century Councils took place in diocesan centres; Epaon is an exception.

51 Brown, ‘Relics’ pp 18-19.

52 No cult and no vita; Gregory LVP bk 2; LGC 29. Cult, no vita; LGM 52. Vita discovered after cult starts; LGM 50.

53 LGC 35. By contrast, cults starting after Passio discovered, LGM 63, after inscription read LGC 103. Gregory also mentions documents or lack of them LGM 39, 43, 56, 57, 73, 85, 103, 104; LVM bk 2 cap 49, LVM bk 3 cap 42, LVP bk 8; LGC 76, 93, 94. See also Vieillard-Troiekouroff, [M.], [Les Monuments Religieux de la Gaule J’aprés les oeuvres de Gregoire de Tours] (Paris 1976) p 17 n 58 Google Scholar.

54 LGC 80; LVP bk 10 cap 1; Brown ‘Relics’ p 10.

55 LGM 55.

56 Brown, ‘Relics’ pp 3, 8, 15. Evidence of robbers in Gregory’s Miracula; LGM 43, 58, 65, 71, 89, 91, 96; LVJ 7, 8, 20, 44; LVM bk 1 cap 2; LGC 61; of men acting irreverently against a church and its possessions; LGM 60, 78, 84; LVJ 14, 15, 17, 31; LVM bk 1 cap 29; LVP bk 8 cap 11; bk 14 cap 2; bk 18 cap 2; LGC 3, 62, 64, 78, 81; irreverence towards clergy or saints; LVP bk 6 cap 4; bk 8 cap 5; bk 19 cap 1; LGC 6, 12, 26, 79; compare Hist bk 2 caps 23, 37; perjurers LGM 19, 52, 102; LVM bk 1 cap 31; LVP bk 8 cap 9; LGC 67, 70, 91, 92; sanctuary breakers; LGM 104; LVJ 10, 13, LVM bk 1 cap 23; LVM bk 2 caps 27, 58.

57 Brown, ‘Relics’ passim.

58 LCM 13. Brown, ‘Relics’ p 15.

59 LGM 54.

60 Gregory, Hist bk 7 cap 31. Brown, ‘Relics’ pp 10-12.

61 LVM bk 1 cap 35.

62 LVP bk 13 cap 13.

63 LCC 40.

64 LVP bk 4 cap 1.

65 LGM 64. Compare Gregory’s other comments on these ladies, Hist bk 3 caps 2, 12.

66 LVP bk 2 cap 3.

67 LGM 47 but compare LGM 89.

68 LGM 46.

69 Epaon (517) 25.

70 Gregory’s family in particular collected relics LGM 83 and LVM bk 3 cap 17 licet temerario ordine. Some when they travelled with relics did place them on an altar overnight; LGC 38.

71 LGC 85. Compare St Patroclus, whom the archipresbiter of Néris failed to snatch; LVP bk 9 can 3.

72 Vita Balthildis 9 ed Krusch, MGH SRM 2 (1888) p 493 Google Scholar. On this text see Ewig, , ‘Das Privileg des Bischofs Berthefrid von Amiens für Corbie von 664 und die Klosterpolitik der Königin Balthild’, Francia 1 (Munich 1973) pp 62–114 Google Scholar esp pp 106 seq and Nelson, Janet L. ‘Queens as Jezebels: the careers of Brunhild and Balthild in Merovingian history’. Medieval Women, SCH subsidia 1 (1978) pp 34–77 Google Scholar.

73 Vita Eligii bk 2 cap 6, ed Krusch, MGH SRM 4 (1902) p 697 Google Scholar. But see Gregory LGC 72.

74 Apart from those seeking cures, LVJ 2; LVP bk 6 caps 4, 7; LVP bk 17 cap 4; LGC 4, 5, 58, 61, 72 shows pious men visiting the holy places, to these should be added the pilgrim. But for Theodebert and the holy sites of Trier, LGC 91. See Vieillard-Troiekouroff pp 387-9.

75 Hilary of Arles Sermon, De Vita Sancti Honorati, caps 31, 39, PL 50 (1865) cols 1266 Google Scholar, 1272. Martin’s patronage of Tours becomes most apparent in Paulinus of Perigueux, De Vita Sancti Martini Episcopi bk 6 1. 506, ed Petschenig, M., CSEL 16 (1888) pp 17–159 Google Scholar and later in LVM bk 2 cap 25. It may be significant that Sulpicius Severus wrote much of his work before 406 but he was not writing primarily from the point of view of Tours. Constantius’s Vita Germani, ed Levison, , MGH SRM 7 (1920) pp 247-83Google Scholar was commissioned by Patiens of Lyons and paints Germanus as a patron of the whole of Gaul (cap 46) and therefore it does not illuminate the origins of the saint’s patronage of Auxerre.

76 LGC 78.

77 Wattenbach-Levison, W., Deutschlands Geschichtquellen im Mittelalter (1952) p 113 n 254 Google Scholar; also LGC 89.

78 For the cult of Vincent of Saragossa, Avitus of Vienne epp 76, 79. On Guntram and Chalon-sur-Saône, Fredegar bk 4 cap 1, ed Krusch, , MGH SRM 2 p 124 Google Scholar. One of the Passiones Marcelli ASB September 2 (1868) pp 196-200 (4 September) might easily belong to the sixth century, especially when taken together with the Passio Valeriani ASB September 5 (1866) pp 26-7 (15 September). There are several other examples of parallel vitae originating in the fifth and sixth centuries, relating to the evangelisation of the Rhône-Saône complex during the early persecutions; Straeten, J. van der ‘Les actes des martyrs d’Aurelien en Bourgogne. Étude littéraire’, An Bol 79 (1961) pp 115-44Google Scholar. The cult of saints Marcellus and Valerian however, is certainly older; see the Bagnols inscription, ASB September 2 p 191; 5 p 21.

79 Vita Eutropii, Bulletin du Comité Historique des Monuments Écrits de l’Histoire de France 1 (Paris 1849) pp 52-64. See Wallace-Hadrill, J. M., Early Medieval History (Oxford 1975) p 3 Google Scholar.

80 Eusebius Gallicanus, ed Leroy, J. and Glorie, F., CC 101 (1970)Google Scholar Homily 11 (2).

81 Contra the identification by Perrat, C. and Audin, A., ‘Alcimi Ecdicii Aviti Viennensis Episcopi Homilia dicta in dedicatione superioris basilicae’, Studi in Onore di A. Calderini e R. Paribeni (Milan 1957) 2 pp 533-46Google Scholar. Avitus Homilies 24 (p 145), 28-9 (p 150). Compare LVP bk 4 cap 2. See Vieillard-Troiekouroff pp 143, 369.

82 Avitus Homily 24.

83 Eusebius Gallicanus Homily 11; Ermodius Vita Epifani 110, ed Vogel, F., MGH AA 7 (1885) p 98 Google Scholar; LVP bk 17 cap 4; LGC 78; and by implication LGM 59. Passio Marcelli Altera 1, ASB 2 September p 199.

84 Mamertus showed interest in the cult, Sidonius Apollinaris ep 7 1 (7); Avitus appears not to have done so. Gregory of Tours’s interest was based on the fact that Ferreolus was the master of Julian, Gregory’s own patron saint; LVJ 2.

85 For the episcopal forces behind Sigismund’s foundation at Agaune, Vita Abbatum Acaunensium 3, ed Krusch, , MGH SRM 3 (1896) p 176 Google Scholar.

86 LGC 31-6; for a much later list of cults in Clermont, most of which have their origins in this period, Libellus de ecclesiis Claromontanis, ed Levison, , MGH SRM 7 pp 456-67Google Scholar.

87 LVJ 2; Venantius Fortunatus Carm 5, 3, ed Leo, F., MGH AA 4, i (1881) pp 106-7Google Scholar.

88 MGH SRM 1, 2 pp 428-31.

89 For Brioude, Fournier, G., Le Peuplement Rural en Basse Auvergne durant le Haut Moyen Age (Clermont-Ferrand 1962) pp 160-9Google Scholar. LVJ 31.

90 LVJ 17. The Limagne was a corn producing region; it is possible that St Julian’s day, 28 August, fell conveniently close to the harvest.

91 LVP bk 5 cap 6; Gregory, Hist bk 4 caps 5, 13.

92 LVJ 30 suggests this.

93 Gregory, Hist bk 3 cap 19. What Gregory means by civitas here is unclear; he might have felt that Dijon should become a cathedral or administrative city instead of or in addition to Langres.

94 LVP bk 7 cap 2; that Gregory travelled to Langres for epiphany (LVP bk 7 cap 3) might suggest that he still regarded Langres as the liturgical centre of the diocese. The 74 evidence for the importance of Dijon is overstated by Lejay, P., ‘Saint-Benigne de Dijon’, Revue d’Histoire et de littérature religieuses, 7 (Paris 1902) pp 71–96 Google Scholar.

95 LGM 50.

96 Historia Abbatum alidore Baeda cap 23; Historia Abbatum auctore anonymo cap 36, ed Plummer, C., Baedae Opera Historica (Oxford 1896) pp 386 Google Scholar, 402.

97 The Classic case is Windisch-Avenches-Lausanne. Duchesne, L., Fastes Épiscopaux de l’Ancienne Gaule, 3 (Paris 1915) pp 21-2Google Scholar. For a new see, Maurienne, , Vita Tigris 3, MGH SRM 3 pp 533-4Google Scholar. For change in a town’s secular status, see the addition of Mâcon to the Notitia Galliarum, ed Mommsen, T., MGH AA 9 (1892) p 585 Google Scholar.

98 LGM 50.

99 LVP bk 7 cap 3.

100 Brown, ‘Relics’ p 9 and n 40.

101 See the discussion of rusticitas in ibid pp 8-9, though it should be remembered that Gregory still used the word in its stylistic sense as well; LVM bk 1 Praefatio; De Miraculis B Andreae Apostoli 38; Hist bk 9 cap 6. The importance of cities as centres of orthodoxy would have been emphasised by the urban canon-collections; Mordek, H., Kirchenrecht und Reform im Frankenreich, Beiträge zur Geschichte und Quellenkunde des Mittelalters 1 (Berlin 1975) pp 70-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.