Merovingian Society Research Articles

The pauperes in the ‘Libri Historiarum’ of Gregory of Tours

Abstract The paper focuses on specific case studies concerning the representation of the figure of the poor in bishop Gregory of Tours’ ‘Libri Historiarum’. The analysis of this source demonstrates how the needy, although on the edge of society, nevertheless constituted a significant spiritual resource for those who wanted to ensure the purification from their sins through alms, especially the richest. This constituted a dynamics of reciprocal remuneration through which, on the one hand, the suffering of the indigent was made less arduous by the charity of the divites; on the other hand, the pauperes themselves were believed to act in favour of their earthly benefactors in the afterlife. Although certainly marginal figures, the poor were not, therefore, completely excluded from Merovingian society in the sixth century. Rather, in the Gaul of the ‘Libri Historiarum’, an attempt was made to offer them adequate assistance thanks to the concrete measures taken by those who, whether lay or ecclesiastical, recognised, as Peter Brown has pointed out, the figure of Christ in every needy. Such benefactors were able to offer help to those who extended their hands to receive alms. At the same time, they earned a credit for the salvation of their souls to enter the kingdom of heaven. The different social function of the poor, as illustrated by Gregory of Tours, finds a full correspondence in the theological and social vision of other illustrious Christian authors of the sixth century, such as bishop Caesarius of Arles and, above all, Pope Gregory the Great. These maintained that, according to divine providence, the inferior pay respect to the superior and the superior show benevolence towards the inferior, thus creating a single concordant harmony. The paper, therefore, highlights the different social functions of pauperes both by studying some specific figures of indigents and by examining the ecclesiastical mentality concerning the general question of poverty and its effects on marginalisation.

East and West in the Early Middle Ages: The Merovingian Kingdoms in Mediterranean Perspective ed. by Stefan Esders et al.

Reviewed by: East and West in the Early Middle Ages: The Merovingian Kingdoms in Mediterranean Perspective ed. by Stefan Esders et al. Scott G. Bruce East and West in the Early Middle Ages: The Merovingian Kingdoms in Mediterranean Perspective Stefan Esders, Yaniv Fox, Yitzhak Hen, and Laury Sarti, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. xvi + 360. ISBN: 978-1107187153 This volume comprises twenty-one essays originally presented in 2014 as part of a joint German-Israeli project examining the Merovingian kingdoms in the context of the Mediterranean world. Like many conference proceedings, the contents of this collection range in quality and relevance to the volume's theme, but the arc and aggregate of the book suggests that the Merovingians had "complicated and multilayered social, cultural, and political relations with their eastern Mediterranean counterparts, that is, the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad Caliphate" (3). Far from isolated in their western European territories, the Merovingians benefitted from commerce of all kinds—material, personal, intellectual, and spiritual—that left its mark on the archaeological and literary record. The book has five parts. Part One ("Expanding Political Horizons") features three contributions. Jörg Drauschke surveys the archaeological evidence for material imports from the eastern Mediterranean in Merovingian graves from the sixth and seventh centuries, including textiles, jewelry, and silver items, which "points to patterns of continuous exchange and trade" (31), even when the historical record is otherwise mute about contact this period. Eastern connections are tangential in Yaniv Fox's article, which treats Burgundian foreign policy in the early sixth century, but they return in Helmut Reimitz's study of Frankish strategies of political legitimization, a process informed by interaction with other Mediterranean polities, especially Byzantium. Part Two ("Patterns of Intensification: The 580s") presents a potpourri of studies tethered to the notion that the late sixth century witnessed an intensification of contact between the Merovingian kingdoms and foreign polities. Phillip Wynn explores evidence for the importation to the west of a specific feature of the Christianized culture of war adopted by the Byzantines: the practice of carrying saints' relics into battle. Wolfram Drews and Benjamin Fourlas examine textual and archaological evidence for Merovingian military activity in Visigothic Spain and Greater Syria, respectively, while Andreas Fischer argues that the distribution [End Page 247] of Byzantine gold in the western kingdoms in the late sixth century was part of a strategy of political destabilization that "split the upper strata of Merovingian society in a rivalry between kings and magnates" (126). Part Three ("The Pope as a Mediterranean Player") features four papers on the bishop of Rome as a broker between east and west in this period. Papal letters are particularly revealing. Sebastian Scholz mines the Epistolae Arelatenses to uncover the networks of communication connecting the pope, the bishop of Arles, the Frankish king, and the Byzantine emperor during the Three Chapters Controversy, while a letter from Pope Martin to the missionary bishop Amandus allows Charles Mériaux to speculate about the channels through which the pontiff obtained information about eastern affairs on the eve of the Lateran Synod of 649. Hagiography also gives up its secrets in this section, as Laury Sarti examines a digression in the late seventh-century Life of Eligius of Noyon that preserves oral testimony from a traveller from the east concerning Pope Martin's detention in Constantinople and death in exile. Lastly, Rosamond McKitterick argues that the so-called Cononian epitome of the Liber pontificalis (up to Pope Conon, who died in 685) preserved in Paris BnF lat. 2123 synergized with conciliar texts in this manuscript to provide a framework "within which the statements of Eastern church councils as well as definitions of the bishops' diverse responsibilities … are to be understood" (183). Part Four ("Religious and Cultural Exchange") presents four articles, the standout of which is Yitzak Hen's recuperation of Defensor of Ligugé's often overlooked Liber scintillorum as a conduit for the transmission of snippets of Greek patristics to western Europe. Provocative but not conclusive are Galit Noga-Banai's article on the influence of eastern architecture on Radegund's chapel of the Holy Cross at Poitiers and Jamie Kreiner...

On Shaky Ground

On Shaky Ground

Gregory of Tours and the Paternity of Chlothar II: Strategies of Legitimation in the Merovingian Kingdoms

Taking the succession of the young Chlothar II as a case study, this article investigates the methods of legitimation and delegitimation available to a king’s supporters and detractors in the Merovingian kingdoms. Through a close reading of the Histories of Gregory of Tours, which is the principal source for these events, this study suggests that Gregory himself attempted to undermine Chlothar’s position by raising doubts about the boy’s paternity and by calling attention to the transparent efforts of his mother, Queen Fredegund, to establish her son’s legitimacy (as well as her own marital fidelity). These efforts included the appropriation of certain customs such as the naming, baptism, and baptismal sponsorship of heirs. The example of Chlothar II’s contested succession illustrates how elites within Merovingian society established or removed a king from the throne by arguing over membership to the ruling family—a process that left the family itself secure. Insights are then made into the political theory and system that enabled such stability, including the role of female agency therein.

De–gendering female violence: Merovingian female honour as an ‘exchange of violence’

The phenomenon of female violence in the Early Middle Ages has notbeen properly explored, largely because of a feminist ethic which correctlyfocuses on women as the victims, rather than as the perpetrators, ofviolence. The traditional gendered dividing line is transcended whenfemale violence, like male violence, is regarded as a class characteristic orstrategy, and when female practice can be explained by a code of behav–iour shared by both sexes. Several case studies from the early Merovingianperiod, drawn from the work of Gregory of Tours, are here analysed inorder to demonstrate how royal Merovingian women could preservehonour through the pursuit of violence. How far Gregory of Tours’saccount may be taken to depict social reality is a further issue discussedin relation to the case studies. These involve Clothild and Fredegund,and show female violence as a normal feature of Merovingian society,especially where single women had no immediate male protectors, but didhave a great deal of personal honour to defend. In the case of Fredegund,violence was the result of premeditated revenge which publicly restoredher honour and maintained her precedence in the social hierarchy. Itseems clear that Merovingian women, unlike women of later times, couldparticipate in the cycle of violence.

Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul, A.D. 481-751 by Yitzhak Hen

758book reviews Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul, A.D. 481-751. By Yitzhak Hen. [Cultures, BeUefs and Traditions: Medieval and Early Modern Peoples,Volume 1.] (Leiden: E. J. Brill. 1995. Pp. xiv, 308. $80.00.) Dr. Hen utilizes an impressive array of sources and modern studies to reconstruct the cultural and religious life of Merovingian Gaul.The aim is a comprehensive picture ofthe interacting reUgious and cultural forces that characterized a society once—perhaps in some circles still—regarded as the outstanding representative of "dark age" decline. Archaeological and anthropological findings supplement the reconstruction, but the bulk of evidence comes from the writings of churchmen, and so the picture cannot be complete.Yet there is stiU the possibUity of a synthetic treatment giving coherence to the pieces of Merovingian remains. Such an undertaking in English has been long awaited, with the few previous works of a similar breadth usuaUy coming from continental Europe . Hen perceptively discusses language and literacy before focusing on the Catholic liturgy (chapters 2-5) as a cultural expression of religious and social interaction. After mentioning the relevant liturgical sources and the monastic centers responsible for their production, he arranges his treatment of Merovingian worship under three subdivisions corresponding to the main kturgical cycles : the temporal, commemorating Christ's life; the sanctoral, honoring the holy dead; the personal, celebrating events in an individual's lifetime. The sources pertaining to the cycles reflect a people's committed participation in the Church's Life. The closely examined Uturgical texts and the reconstructed sanctoral calendars also show, respectively, a "certain detachment" f. 60) from Roman influences and much local flavor in the veneration of saints. Chapter 6 considers paganism's survival in the Merovingian kingdoms.The old belief system, he argues, was at best a marginal religion nearly dead by the sixth century. Sources mentioning pagan practice are regarded as having no "basis in reahty" (p. 177). This reader feels that here the evidence is not aUowed to speak; it seems forced to fit a narrow outlook. The book ends with an overview of secular entertainments.As alternatives to the vanishing pastimes of previous eras (like gladiatorial shows), the athletic played vigorous ball sports while the sedentary enjoyed a board game resembling backgammon. For males a socially defining leisure activity was heavy drinking . Hen has a deep sympathy for an era maligned since the Carolingians. He redresses the damnatio memoriae overshadowing the period's achievements. Indeed , he compeUingly shows how Merovingian cultural developments provided precedents for the Carolingians (though the latter suppressed the knowledge of Merovingian influence by claiming to be innovators rather than borrowers). But the coherent picture never emerges.The separate sketches of culture remain as parts not related to a whole. Colorful portions are also missing.With Arianism and Judaism hardly discussed and paganism dismissed as barely having a book reviews759 marginal place within society, Latin Christianity is the sole beUef system extensively treated (the title's inclusive "religion" misleads). Even this exclusive focus overlooks the varieties ofreligious expressions within the Church. For a scholar who chaUenges so many prevalent views, Hen accepts too readUy the opinion that a scarcity of living holy people marked this era. Hermits, widows, practitioners ofsecreta conversio, pauperes on a church's matricula, and other holy lay people who cluttered the religious landscape of Merovingian Gaul are not represented. Merovingian society itsetf is generically presented.WhUe specific entertainments are admirably discussed, individual social groups are overlooked . Their absence is noticeable. After aU, the sources say more about the poor than they do about backgammon. Certainly any investigation into the Merovingian past wUl be hindered by the nature of the evidence. But this evidence is so much richer than what Hen's study shows. John Kitchen Toronto, Ontario Late Merovingian France: History and Hagiography, 640-720. By Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding. [Manchester Medieval Sources Series .] (Manchester: Manchester University Press. Distributed by St. Martin's Press, Scholarly and Reference Division, NewYork. 1996. Pp. xi, 397. $69-95 clothbound; $24.95 paperback.) This splendid volume provides an important addition to the general studies of and translated sources from the Merovingian era which have appeared over the last decade from such Anglophone scholars...

Deathless Marriage and Spiritual Fecundity in Venantius Fortunatus'sDe Virginitate

The Latin poet Venantius Fortunatus (ca. 530–600) is known today for his Holy Cross hymns, for the classicizingepithalamiumthat he wrote for the wedding of the Frankish king Sigibert, and for his panegyrics of the royal and powerful in Merovingian society. Yet despite the attention that has been lavished on Fortunatus's other major works, his ambitious four hundred line poemDe Virginitate(8.3) has been noticeably neglected, perhaps because of its subject matter. A highly original work nevertheless, this poem was written in the late 560s for his patroness, the royal nun Radegund. Most probably, it was recited by the poet at the installation of Radegund's “spiritual daughter” Agnes as abbess of the Convent of the Holy Cross, which Radegund had founded at Poitiers. It is a work equal in importance to Fortunatus's episcopal panegyrics and other ceremonial poems for church occasions.

Senators and social mobility in sixth-century Gaul

In the historical and hagiographical writings of Gregory of Tours and in the poetry of Venantius Fortunatus we encounter a group of men who make the claim that they are descendants of the Roman senators of an earlier time. This paper sets out to examine the status of this group in the light of the suggestion by Frank D. Gilliard that in the imprecise Latin of Gregory of Tours the word senator was often used to denote someone who was merely a large landowner. Since Gilliard has suggested that the blanket term senator may mask the parvenus in sixth-century society, discussion of the status of sixth-century senators has here been set in the wider context of social mobility in Merovingian church and state. It is the suggestion of this paper that it was a claim to senatorial family background, rather than the possession of wealth or land, that qualified one, in Gregory's eyes as a senator. Further, there is such ample evidence of upward social mobility, to positions of power and prestige outside the senatorial ranks, and often in royal service, that the conclusion is drawn that for the ambitious in Merovingian society, the patronage of the Frankish kings may have come to mean more than the much vaunted illustrious descent of the senators.

The image of the Frankish kings in the poetry of Venantius Fortunatus

The poetry of Venantius Fortunatus is a sadly neglected historical source for sixth-century Gaul. Amongst the literary material that has survived from that age, the works of Gregory of Tours loom large. Since Gregory provides us with the sole narrative history of Gaul for much of this century, we are forced to see Merovingian society through his eyes. Venantius wrote panegyric, and an age such as ours, which values sincerity of expression, finds little that is attractive in that genre. Despite this, Venantius' poetry affords us a vantage point from which to view the Frankish kings. It also provides important evidence for the nature of the cultural fusion of Germanic, Roman and Christian elements that was taking place in the Gaul of Gregory of Tours and King Chilperic. The poems written for the Merovingian monarchs suggest that Venantius sensed a Frankish hankering after the trappings of Roman imperial authority. He wrote, perhaps with didactic intent, to give full exposition to the traditional Roman conception of the just ruler, coupled with the more recent ideal of the orthodox Christian monarch that was still current in the Byzantine Empire. When Venantius Fortunatus journeyed to the courts of the barbarian kings, he brought with him his cultural baggage from Byzantine Ravenna.

Women in Frankish Society: Marriage and the Cloister, 500 to 900

Women in Frankish Society is a careful and thorough study of women and their roles in the Merovingian and Carolingian periods of the Middle Ages. During the 5th through 9th centuries, Frankish society transformed from a relatively primitive tribal structure to a more complex hierarchical organization. Suzanne Fonay Wemple sets out to understand the forces at work in expanding and limiting women's sphere of activity and influence during this time. Her goal is to explain the gap between the ideals and laws on one hand and the social reality on the other. What effect did the administrative structures and social stratification in Merovingian society have on equality between the sexes? Did the emergence of the nuclear family and enforcement of monogamy in the Carolingian era enhance or erode the power and status of women? Wemple examines a wealth of primary sources, such deeds, testaments, formulae, genealogy, ecclesiastical and secular court records, letters, treatises, and poems in order to reveal the enduring German, Roman, and Christian cultural legacies in the Carolingian Empire. She attends to women in secular life and matters of law, economy, marriage, and inheritance, as well as chronicling the changes to women's experiences in religious life, from the waning influence of women in the Frankish church to the rise of female asceticism and monasticism.

Roses in January: a neglected dimension in Gregory of Tour's historiae

Gregory of Tours was a sixth-century bishop who wrote Ten books of histories, our only detailed source of information for that period in Gaul. A great deal of attention has been paid to his vivid portrayal of Merovingian society and politics. Apart from his often obscure Latin, the strictly chronological composition and the absence of clear co-ordinating statements give his work the appearance of a jumbled, if lively, mosaic. The following study is an attempt to follow one strand through the many-coloured texture of the Histories, that of extraordinary natural events and the context in which Gregory places them, since this seemed to reveal an up to now not so apparent dimension of his thinking about time and, history: his concept of contemporaneity.