The Work of Gregory of Tours in the Light of Modern Research

J. M. Wallace-Hadrill

doi:10.2307/3678561

The Work of Gregory of Tours in the Light of Modern Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009

J. M. Wallace-Hadrill

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It is now three years since Wilhelm Levison, one of the last of the great Monumenta editors, died at Durham. Among the tasks he left unfinished were two of major importance to those whose concern is with Frankish studies. The first, a much-needed edition of the Lex Salica, he seems to have brought no nearer completion than had his predecessor, Bruno Krusch, or any other of the long line of Monumenta scholars who broke their hearts in the attempt to unravel it. The second, the completion of the new Monumenta edition of the Historia Francorum of Gregory of Tours, to supersede that of Arndt and Krusch, was a good deal further advanced. In fact, the text itself had already appeared in print under the name of Bruno Krusch alone, although it was an open secret that a great part of the burden of editing had fallen on Levison's shoulders. What remained—and still remains—to be published is the critical introduction, w*here Levison is under-stood to have developed views on the manuscript tradition that owed less to Krusch than to Krusch's own master, Wilhelm Arndt. While this introduction remains unpublished it is hazardous for others to proceed very far with work based on the text of the Historia Francorum. My own intention here is to do no more than to present an interim report on some of the ways in which historians have been using Gregory in the twenty years since the publication of Dill's and Dalton's books; for they were the last English scholars to whom Frankish studies seemed important for themselves. My debt to them is great.

Type: Research Article
Information: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 1 , December 1951 , pp. 25 - 45

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3678561 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1951

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^{page 25 note 1} See Holtzmann's, W. preface to Aus Rheinischer und Fränkischer Frkühzeit (Düsseldorf, 1948)Google Scholar, which is a memorial collection of Levison's papers; and Stein, S., ‘Lex Salica 1’, Speculum, xxii (1947), 113–34CrossRef Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 2} M[onumenta] G[ermaniae] H[istorica], S[criptores] R[erum] M[erovingicarum], fasc. 1 (Books i–vi. 29), 1937; and fasc. 2 (Books vi. 30–x), 1942. Copies are still so rare in this country that it has been thought best to give references in this paper to the edition of H. Omont and G. Collon, revised by R. Poupardin (Paris, 1913).

^{page 25 note 3} Professor Holtzmann is preparing the work for publication.

^{page 26 note 1} Dill, S., Roman Society in Gaul in the Merovingian Age (1926)Google Scholar.

^{page 26 note 2} Dalton, O. M., The History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours, translated with an introduction, 2 vols. (1927)Google Scholar.

^{page 26 note 3} Historia Ecclesiastica, v. 24 (ed. Plummer, C., i. 357)Google Scholar.

^{page 26 note 4} Hist. Franc., x. 31 (pp. 463–5); I have used Dalton's translation. Levison, (SRM, iv. 781)Google Scholar drew attention to the subscription of Irenaeus of Lyon, in Rufinus, Hist. Eccl., v. 20, 2(ed. Mommsen, p.483)Google Scholar; ‘adiuro te, inquit, qui transcripseris librum hunc… ut conferas haec quae scribis et emendes diligenter ad exemplaria'.

^{page 26 note 5} Historische Vierteljahrschrift, xxviii (1934), p. 678Google Scholar.

^{page 27 note 1} See Lesne, E., Histoire de la propriété ecclésiastique en France: iv; Scriptoria (1938), pp. 567–8Google Scholar.

^{page 27 note 2} Vinay, G., San Gregorio di Tours (Turin, 1940), pp. 173 and 190Google Scholar, argues that the longer version is older than the shorter.

^{page 27 note 3} As, for example, the sermon in Hist. Franc., x. 1. See the arguments of Chadwick, O., ‘Gregory of Tours and Gregory the Great’, Journal of Theological Studies, 1 (1949), pp. 38–49CrossRef Google Scholar.

^{page 27 note 4} In so far as this is possible without a critical edition of the works of Bede, ‘probably the greatest lack in the whole field of English ecclesiastical history’ (Colgrave, B., Two Lives of Saint Cuthbert, p. vii)Google Scholar.

^{page 28 note 1} The De Virtutibus Sancti Martini is edited by Krusch in the MGH edition of Gregory's works (1885), pp. 584–661Google Scholar.

^{page 28 note 2} Ibid., p. 630.

^{page 28 note 3} See Meunier, R. A., Grǵoire de Tours et I'histoire morale du centreouest de la France (Poitiers, 1946), pp. 27–36Google Scholar, for a summary of Gregory's use of earlier writings on St. Martin (Sulpicius Severus, Paulinus of Nola and Paulinus of Périgueux). The book is not otherwise helpful.

^{page 28 note 4} Griffe, É., La Gaule Chretienne á I'époque romaine, i (1947)Google Scholar, chap, vi, is the best modern account of the career of St. Martin.

^{page 28 note 5} This point is well made by Gorce, M. M., Clovis (1935), p. 168Google Scholar. St. Martin was the disciple of St. Hilary, the greatest opponent of Arianism.

^{page 28 note 6} Dialogi, ii. 5. (Sulpicius has been excellently translated by Paul Monceaux Saint Martin. Récits de Sulpice Sévère mis en français, avec une introduction, 1927.)

^{page 28 note 7} See Marignan, A., Le culte des saints sous les mérovingiens (1899)Google Scholar, passim, and Muller, H. F., L'époque mérovingienne (New York, 1945), p. 82Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 1} Hist. Franc., x. 31 (p. 463).

^{page 29 note 2} Carmina, x. 6 (ed. Leo, F., MGH, Auct. Antiq., iv. 234–8)Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 3} Cf. the Libellus alter de consecration* ecclesiae Sancti Dionysii (Panofsky, E., Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of St. Denis, Princeton, 1946)Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 4} Liber in Gloria Martyrum, 32, 57 (ed. Arndt, and Krusch, , pp. 507, 527)Google Scholar, on commercial activity in Tours during the feast of St. Martin.

^{page 29 note 5} Levillain, L., ‘La crise des années 507–508 et les rivalités d'influence en Gaule de 508 à 613’, Melanges Iorga, pp. 564 ffGoogle Scholar. On the cult of St. Denis in the fifth and sixth centuries, see also Crosby, S. M., The Abbey of St. Denis, 475–1122, i (Yale, 1942), chaps. 1 and 2Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 6} Deanesly, Margaret, ‘Canterbury and Paris in the reign of Aethelberht’, History, xxvi (1941), p. 98Google Scholar, does not consider St. Denis a serious rival to St. Martin earlier than the reign of Dagobert.

^{page 30 note 1} Kemp, E. W., Canonization and Authority in the Western Church (Oxford, 1948), p. 31Google Scholar.

^{page 30 note 2} This is not to deny to Gregory a certain culture. His language can no longer be studied, as by Bonnet, Max (Le Latin de Grégoire de Tours, 1890)Google Scholar, without regard to the problems raised by manuscript transmission. Cf. Vielliard, Jeanne, Le Latin des diplômes royaux et chartes privées de l'époque mérovingienne (1927), p. viiiGoogle Scholar, and Vinay, , op. cit., p. 42Google Scholar.

^{page 30 note 3} Liber in Gloria Confessorum, pref. (ed. Arndt, and Krusch, , p. 748)Google Scholar.

^{page 30 note 4} Op. cit., p. 98.

^{page 30 note 5} Glor. Conf., pref. (p. 747).

^{page 31 note 1} As in Glor. Mart., 34, 35, 37, 47, 56, 85, 103, 104, and Glor. Conf., 76; cf. discussion in Vinay, , op. cit., p. 147Google Scholar.

^{page 31 note 2} Virt. S. Juliani, 2 (p. 564).

^{page 31 note 3} Virt. S. Martini, iii. 51 (p. 644); iv. 31 (p. 657).

^{page 31 note 4} Glor. Conf., 44 (p. 775).

^{page 31 note 5} Chronicles and Annals (Oxford, 1926), p. 8Google Scholar.

^{page 31 note 6} Pierre Courcelle has quite plausibly suggested, thinking along similar lines, that Commodian, hitherto regarded as living in the third century, probably belonged to the fifth, and does this by revealing the poet's reliance upon Orosius. (‘Commodien et les invasions du Ve siècle', Revue des Études Latines, xxiv, 1946Google Scholar.)

^{page 32 note 1} Vinay, , op. cit., pp. 76 ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 32 note 2} ‘Grégoire de Tours, historien de Clovis‘, Mélanges Ferdinand Lot (1925), p. 240.

^{page 32 note 3} Cf. Thompson, E. A., The historical work of Ammianus Marcellinus (Cambridge, 1947), p. 5Google Scholar.

^{page 33 note 1} De Civ. Dei, xii. 18–20.

^{page 33 note 2} Op. cit., 197–200.

^{page 33 note 3} Ed. Zangemeister, , Corpus Script. Eccles. Lat., v (1882), p. 3Google Scholar.

^{page 34 note 1} See the remarks of Latouche, R., Les grandes invasions et la crise de l'occident au V^e siécle (1946), p. 282Google Scholar.

^{page 34 note 2} Hist. Franc., v. 32 (44) (pp. 198 ff.).

^{page 34 note 3} Vinay, , op. cit., p. 22Google Scholar.

^{page 35 note 1} Roman Society, p. 306. Dill's book was published, posthumously, only in 1926.

^{page 35 note 2} La Gaule mérovingienne (1897), pp. 179 and 235.

^{page 35 note 3} Les destinées de l'Empire en Occident de 395 à 888, p. 383.

^{page 35 note 4} Hoyoux, J., ‘Reges criniti: chevelures, tonsures et scalps chez les Mérovingiens’, Rev. beige dephilol. et d'hist., xxvi. 479–508Google Scholar.

^{page 36 note 1} I have not been able to take account of Salin, Éidouard, La civilisation mérovingienne d'aprés les sépultures, les textes et le laboratoire, pt. i (Paris, 1950)Google Scholar.

^{page 36 note 2} ‘The Settlement and Colonisation of Europe’, Camb. Econ. Hist., i (1942), p. 35.

^{page 36 note 3} Hist. Franc., ii. 27 (p. 71). Yet Athaulf, according to Orosius, planned to restore Roman prestige Gothorum viribus (ed. Zangemeister, , vii. 43Google Scholar; p. 560).

^{page 36 note 4} Ibid., iii. 12 (p. 87).

^{page 37 note 1} Ibid., iii. 14 (pp. 89–90).

^{page 37 note 2} Hist, adversum paganos, v. 8 (ed. Zangemeister, , p. 296)Google Scholar.

^{page 37 note 3} Hist. Franc., v (p. 153).

^{page 37 note 4} Hist. Eccles., i. 34 (ed. Plummer, , p. 71)Google Scholar.

^{page 37 note 5} Hist. Franc., ii. 11 (12) (p. 51).

^{page 38 note 1} A History of Attila and the Huns (Oxford, 1948), p. 149Google Scholar.

^{page 38 note 2} ’Anglo-Saxon Poetry and the Historian’, Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc., 4th ser., xxxi (1949), p. 84Google Scholar.

^{page 38 note 3} The real cultural decline in Gaul started in the seventh century. Cf. Levison, W., England and the Continent in the Eighth Century (Oxford, 1946), pp. 150 ffGoogle Scholar. and Appendix x.

^{page 38 note 4} ‘Les Origines et la formation de la littérature courtoise en Occident’, i (1944), chap. 4Google Scholar.

^{page 39 note 1} Times Lit. Suppl., 6 January 1950.

^{page 39 note 2} Hist. Franc, ii. 11 (12) (p. 52).

^{page 39 note 3} Cf. Brady, Caroline, The Legends of Ermanaric (Berkeley, 1943)Google Scholar.

^{page 39 note 4} Grierson, P., ‘Election and Inheritance in early Germanic Kingship’, Camb. Hist. Journ., vii (1941)Google Scholar.

^{page 39 note 5} Chaume, M. offers criticism of details in ‘Francs et Burgondes au cours du Vl^e siècle’, Recherches d'histoire chrétienne et médievale (Dijon, 1947), pp. 147–62Google Scholar (reprinted fromMém. de l'Acad. de Dijon, 1940–2).

^{page 39 note 6} ‘Clovis et la politique méditerranéenne’, Études d' histoire dédiées à la mémoire de Henri Pirenne (Brussels, 1937)Google Scholar; ‘La victoire contre les Alamans et la conversion de Clovis’, Rev. beige dephilol. et d'hist., xvi (1937)Google Scholar; ‘L'unique victoire contre les Alamans et la conversion de Clovis en 506’, ibid., xvii (1938). The last article is a rebuttal of criticisms advanced by M. Lot.

^{page 41 note 1} Hist. Franc., ii. 26 (35) (p. 68).

^{page 41 note 2} Ibid., ii, 28 (38) (p. 72); cf. editorial note on codecillos in the KruschLevison, edn., fasc. 1, p. 88Google Scholar.

^{page 41 note 3} Lot, , Pfister, and Ganshof, , op. cit., p. 193Google Scholar.

^{page 41 note 4} Cf. Bloch, Marc, ‘Observations sur la conquête de la Gaule romaine par les rois francs’, Rev. hist., cliv (1927), p. 178Google Scholar.

^{page 41 note 5} To Ennodius, for example, Theodoric exercised ‘imperialis auctoritas’ (Libelluspro synodo, ed. Hartel, , Corp. Script. Eccles. Lat., vi (1882), p. 298)Google Scholar.

^{page 41 note 6} Histoire littéraire des grandes invasions germaniques (1948), p. 204Google Scholar.

^{page 42 note 1} Hist. Franc., ii. 22 (31), (p. 63). Vyver, Van der, ‘La victoire contre les Alamans’, p. 79Google Scholar, seems unduly sceptical of the possibility that Eusebius (Eccl. Hist., ix. 9) on the conversion of Constantine could have had some part in shaping events in Gaul.

^{page 42 note 2} L' impôt foncier et la capitation personnelle sous le Bas-Empire et à l'époque franque (Bibl. de l'école des hautes études, fasc. 253).

^{page 42 note 3} Lib. de mart, persec., 23; cf. Lot, , op. cit., p. 21Google Scholar.

^{page 42 note 4} Hist. Franc., ix. 30 (pp. 380–2).

^{page 42 note 5} Ibid., v. 26 (34) (pp. 187–9).

^{page 42 note 6} Ibid., v. 21 (28) (p. 184).

^{page 43 note 1} Cf. Hellmann, S., ‘Studien zur mittelalterlichen Geschichtsschreibung: i, Gregor von Tours’, Hist. Zeitschr, cvii (1911), p. 5Google Scholar, and the recent article of Doehaerd, Madame R., ‘La richesse des Mérovingiens’, Studi in onore di Gino Luzzatto (Milan, 1949), pp. 30–46Google Scholar.

^{page 43 note 2} Dalton completely misunderstood the situation when he wrote: ‘prodigality was seldom absent, and all the easy chances of a surplus thrown away’ (op. cit., i. 219).

^{page 43 note 3} Hist. Franc., vi. 33 (46) (p. 249).

^{page 43 note 4} Lot, , Pfister, and Ganshof, , op. cit., p. 365Google Scholar.

^{page 43 note 5} Hist. Franc., vi. 28 (42) (p. 244).

^{page 43 note 6} Ibid., vi. 2 (p. 208).

^{page 44 note 1} Sutherland, C. H. V., Anglo-Saxon gold coinage in the light of the Crondall hoard (Oxford, 1948), p. 21Google Scholar, and chap. 3, passim.

^{page 44 note 2} Journ. Rom. Studies, xix (1929), pp. 231–4Google Scholar.

^{page 44 note 3} The Occident and the Orient in the Art of the Seventh Century, iii (Stockholm, 1947), p. 19Google Scholar.

^{page 45 note 1} Lesne, , op. cit., iv. 30–2Google Scholar.

^{page 45 note 2} ‘Bede as Historian’, in Bede, His Life, Times and Writings (Oxford, 1935), p. 132Google Scholar. This article is reprinted in Aus Rheiniscker und Fränkischer Frühzeit.

^{page 45 note 3} Op. cit., i. 30.

^{page 45 note 4} Hist. Franc., x. 31 (p. 464).

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