Roberts, WalterAdjunct Professor of HistoryUniversity of Arizona (USA)

Introduction

The development of a Christian ideology of leadershipand community during the period of Late Antiquity in theMediterranean world has been viewed by modern scholars asthe crucial passing of the Classical world and thebeginnings of a Medieval milieu. But this transition hasbeen viewed too often as a sudden rupture, a severing ofties with the hundreds of years that preceded the fourthcentury CE. In recent years, scholarship has begun topay attention to the period from ca. 300 to ca. 800 as anage of a more gradual historical development. One areawhere the imagery of rupture remains with a certaintenacity is in the interpretation of religious belief andpractice in this era.1 The popular picture remains of aworld suddenly transformed from a Classical pagan past toa glorious Christian one. If one reads the sources atface value or looks at sources for a specific period assnapshots frozen in time, then this view is tenable. Ifwe take a longer view, however, and examine the evolutionof historical phenomena over a wider period and probe oursources a bit more carefully, then we see a picture of amore gradual development of a Christian identity, onethat is very much influenced by its past as well ascontemporary contexts. I will illustrate thismethodology by looking at the issue of leadership andcommunity from an ideological level as seen in theworking of episcopal power in Late Antique Gaul.Specifically, my argument is that the combination ofepiscopal authority and monastic power as seen in thelate sixth century was a gradual development from Greco-Roman notions of patronage and virtus (power) and not the1 Marta Sordi, The Christians and the Roman Empire (Norman, 1986), 133-143; John H. Corbett, “Changing Perceptions in Late Antiquity: Martin of Tours,” Toronto Journal of Theology 3 no. 2 (Fall 1987): 249; R. A. Markus, The End of Ancient Christianity (Cambridge, 1990), 20; Timothy D. Barnes, “The Constantinian Reformation,” in From Eusebius to Augustine: Selected Papers 1982-1993, ed. Timothy D. Barnes (Aldershot, 1994), 39-57; H. A. Drake, Constantine and the Bishops: The Politics of Intolerance (Baltimore, 2000), 3-34.

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grand fulfillment of Christian identity as put forth bysixth century and later sources. The best examples for this evolution are theinterpretations of Martin of Tours and Germanus ofAuxerre. The careers of these men, Martin in the late 4th

century and Germanus in the early to mid 5th century, andtheir subsequent interpretations illustrate how notionsof episcopal authority changed from 400-600 CE in LateAntique Gaul. This change, however, was not somemiraculous superceding of old Greco-Roman traditions by anew Christian culture; rather it was a process ofassimilation that melded Greco-Roman with Christianideals of leadership and community. Our best sources for conceptions of Martin in the 6th

century are Gregory, Bishop of Tours and the poetVenantius Fortunatus, but we are also fortunate to havethe career of Martin written by a contemporary follower,Sulpicius Severus. Furthermore we have a 5th centuryaccount of another influential Gallic bishop, Germanus,who lived about a generation after Martin. Thus we cansee how notions of bishops and their role as communalleaders developed over a two century period, and thesources will show that the process of Christianizationwas much more nuanced and subject to contemporaryhistorical contexts than has previously been shown.

Sulpicius Severus and Notions of Episcopal Power inEarly Fifth Century Gaul

The quintessential paradigm for Gallo-Roman episcopalauthority in Late Antiquity was Martin of Tours (316/7-397). Martin’s depiction, however, by 5th centurycontemporaries as a new type of Christian leader wasquite different from the emphasis given by Gregory andVenantius, who were writing in the sixth century. Tocombat the later distortions of these latter two sources,it is fortunate that we have a contemporary account ofthe saint’s career written by his protégé SulpiciusSeverus in the early 5th century. Despite Sulpicius’sattempt to frame Martin in much the same way as Gregoryand Venantius later would--that is as a patron who servedas an intercessor for the community with God and usedspiritual powers for healing and who did not depend on

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the use of secular violence—we see a different picture ofMartin in his role as a patron to the community of Tourswhen we analyze Severus’s account of the bishop’s life abit more closely.1

A deeper reading of Sulpicius shows Martin taking avery active role in his community, exercising all of thetraditional traits of Greco-Roman leadership in a veryreal and visible way, not just in the realm of thespiritual. According to Severus, Martin’s father was asoldier stationed near Savaria in the province ofPannonia Secunda. The father worked his way up toTribune and gained a station at Ticinum (Pavia) innorthern Italy. Because of the laws of the time, Martinwas obligated to enter the military, but even at a youngage he wanted to become a Christian and lead an asceticlifestyle.2 So hear we see a contemporary trying toreconcile Martin’s military service with the Christiantenet of non-violence. Note, however, that the theme ofviolence and martial conflict rages throughoutSulpicius’s account, and he continues to try and put aChristian spin on it by making it a symbolic, spiritualstruggle, which hearkens back to the budding monasticmovements of the East. That Martin’s career is modeled on the great Desertfathers is explicitly stated in a series of dialoguesthat Severus wrote for his audience. The first dialogueis an analysis of the current state of Christian beliefand practice from his friend Postumianus, who has justreturned from a visit to many of the holy sites andmonasteries of the eastern Mediterranean. Hisdescription of the never-ending theological quarrels,such as the controversy over the teachings of Origen inAlexandria, leads Postumianus to conclude, following thearguments of Jerome, that the great thinkers in the easthave moved away from the teachings of the earliest desertfathers of unity in a Christian society.3 Then,Postumianus related how he took a copy of the Vita SanctiMartini with him, and that when they had read this work,1 For the similarity in themes between Severus and the 6th century sources see Corbett, “Martin of Tours,” 241-2.2 Sulpicius Severus, Vita sancti Martini, 2 in Sulpice Sévère Vie de Saint Martin, ed. Jacques Fontaine, Tome 1. Sources Chrétiennes 133 (Paris, 1967).3 Severus, Dialogus 1.6-7; 21, in Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Vol. 1, ed. C. Halm (Vienna, 1866).

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many in the east were moved to reject the world and leada life of asceticism dedicated to Christ. Furthermore,Postumianus asserted that Martin was more powerful thanhis eastern contemporaries because he was able to bringunity in a time of chaos brought about by greedy secularofficials and quarreling bishops. Finally, Postumianuspromoted the martial imagery of Martin as a soldier forChrist conquering the enemy.1 Thus Martin is spreadingthe pure version of early eastern monasticism to thewest. This is a statement of the west’s superiority inmatters of Christian faith and practice. Sulpicius made this rejection of the non-Christiannotion of martial prowess as a marker of leadershipexplicit in his biography of the saint. Shortly beforethe battle of Worms, according to the hagiographer, theemperor of Julian gave his soldiers a donative. Martinrejected this payment and announced that he was leavingthe military because of his Christian beliefs, and thathe is actually miles Christi. The emperor calls him out as acoward, and to prove his beliefs, Martin enters thebattle unarmed. Miraculously, the barbarians surrenderwithout bloodshed, thus proving that the power of God wasworking through Martin.2 Although a specific battleoutside of Worms is not recorded, Ammianus Marcellinusdoes record that Julian was on campaign in the regionfrom 356-359 when he was a Caesar for Constantius II, andthat Julian did give his soldiers a donative andsuccessfully negotiate a peaceful surrender with someAlamanni who had been harassing the area.3 The importantthing to see about Sulpicius’s account is that it is anattempt to redefine the principal of virtus in a Christiancontext; it is not about fighting physical battles tosave the bodies of his clients, but rather conducting aspiritual battle to save the souls of believers from thesin of embracing a traditional Greco-Roman worldview. Sulpicius’s aim became even more apparent in hisdescriptions of Martin’s use of virtus after he had leftthe army. While working at the church in Poitiers underthe tutelage of the bishop Hilary, Martin received a

1 Severus, Dialogus, 1.23-24.2 Severus, Vita Martini, 4.3 Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum gestarum libri qui supersunt, 17.9.1-7; 17.10.1-11; 18.2.1-19, ed. W. Seyfarth, 2 vols., Teubner edition (Leipzig, 1978).

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divine vision to return to Pavia and perform missionarywork to convert his family and other pagans. As he wascrossing the Alps, he was attacked by bandits andcaptured. During this time he convinced them to convertand release him. They subsequently were great tools forGod as they in turn converted many people on theirjourneys.1 Here, Martin’s virtus is put to the task ofconversion; it is a completely different emphasis fromthat of Gregory. Sulpicius continued to make the connection betweenMartin’s virtus and the conversion of pagans and heretics.The holy man converted his mother, but not his father.Then he was off to Illyria, where he preached against theArian heresy that dominated this region. Severusreported that Martin was often beaten and expelled fromtowns throughout the area, and that eventually he takesup the ascetic life with a companion on a small islanduntil the turmoil that had arisen in Gaul during hisabsence quieted down.2 In addition to tying virtus intoconversion, this passage also ties Martin into theheritage of martyrdom—a soldier of Christ suffering towitness his belief to an unbelieving society. After he became Bishop of Tours, Martin was able touse his office to travel the Gallic countrysidedestroying remnants of paganism and converting people.Severus stated that before Martin, most people of theregion were still pagans, and that Martin changed this.He used his virtus to perform many miracles that led toconversions. For example, he was about to destroy a pinetree that was associated with a pagan shrine. When thelocals protested and threatened him, he replied that hewould be glad to die to prove the power of his faith. Hesuggested a contest—the power of God against the power ofthe pagan deities. He told the angry mob that theyshould cut down the tree in such a way that it would fallon him and crush him. If they succeeded then obviouslytheir deities were more powerful; if he survived then itwould prove the power of God. As the tree fell, Martinmade a gesture and stopped the tree from falling uponhim; the locals were suitably impressed and converted onthe spot.3 Implicit here is a melding of episcopal and

1 Sulpicius, Vita Martini, 5.2 Ibid, 6.3 Sulpicius, Vita Martini, 13.

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monastic patronage; Martin made a connection with thepopulace in the countryside because of his monasticroots. Even when threatened, however, directly with violencefrom pagans, Martin did not use physical violence againstthem. In one notable scene in the Vita, Martin wasassaulted while preaching at and destroying pagan shrinesnear the village of Leprosum. He retreated and prayedand fasted for three days. Then God sent two angelsgirded with martial equipment who agreed to protect himwhile he carried out his divine duty. These angels thenheld back the angry mob while Martin destroyed theirplaces of worship.1 Similarly, when he was preaching ina nearby Aeduian village, he was assaulted and threatenedwith death. He stuck out his neck and dared hisattackers to slay him. As the attacker swung his sword,he was knocked back by divine force. This display ofGod’s power caused the immediate conversion of Martin’sassailants.2 These two incidents are yet more examplesof how Sulpicius was moving violence into the realm ofthe spiritual and downplaying Martin’s very real, oftenviolent, interactions with his community. It is thismodel of virtus that will be picked up by Venantius andGregory and imposed upon the ideology of Christianleadership in the sixth century. In the later part of the Vita, Sulpicius reinforced thischanging notion of virtus by emphasizing Martin’s victoryover the demons roaming the cities and countryside.Sulpicius’s accounts of Martin are full of examples whereMartin displayed his virtus against the demons thatthreatened this world. In fact, Martin often used hisability to drive demons away as a bargaining tool to getpeople to convert, such as when he initially refused toheal the servant of Tetradius, who was probably a Romanprovincial governor. The price for driving the demon outof the servant was the conversion of Tetradius and hisfamily. When Tetradius agreed to this Martin used hisvirtus to cast out the demon. Martin then encounteredanother demon haunting the home of a family in the sametown. He proceeded to defeat this creature through abrutal display of raw divine power.3

1 Ibid, 14.2 Ibid, 15.3 Ibid, 17.

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At the same time, Sulpicius played down the very realphysical threats of the day. In one example, rumors of abarbarian invasion swept the Gallic region. Martinsought out one of the people spreading this rumor anddiscovered that the man was possessed by a demon. Thenusing his power to drive the demon away, Martin forcedthe man to confess that the rumors were false, and thatin fact there were sixteen other individuals runningaround doing the same thing he had done. The people ofTours, seeing this display of Godly power, were thenrelieved of their fear.1 The notable thing here is thatMartin defeated a barbarian threat without actuallyexercising violence. This interpretation is in keepingwith what we have already seen of Severus’s intentions. Another area where we can measure Severus’sunderstanding of Martin and his use of violence againstcontemporary realities in a Christian context is in hisdealings with the usurper Magnus Maximus. Severusmentioned that Martin was on good relations with Maximusbecause he was one of the few bishops that would stand upto the would-be emperor. All of the other bishops werefawning pawns who participated in the more unseemlyaffairs of Maximus’s reign.2 What these affairs were isspecified by other contemporary sources; specifically,Maximus was notorious as one of the first imperialauthorities to invoke the death penalty in a dispute overorthodox theology and practice when he sentenced therogue Spanish bishop Priscillian to death on charges ofheresy.3 For Sulpicius to admit that Martin was a partyto this decision would have undermined the holy man’scredibility. Either Martin sanctioned this action or hewas powerless to stop it; in either case this would nothave been a positive image of Martin and his virtus. Thus, even though Sulpicius was a contemporary ofMartin, his accounts of the bishop’s career were alreadydistorting the fact that Martin, even though he was aChristian bishop, was fulfilling many of the traditionalroles of a traditional Greco-Roman patron, most in his1 Ibid, 18.2 Sulpicius, Vita Martini, 20.3 For Priscillian and his heresy see Henry Chadwick, Priscillian of Avila (London, 1976); Ralph W. Mathisen, Ecclesiastical Factionalism and Religious Controversy in Fifth Century Gaul (Washington D.C., 1989), 11-17;and Virginia Burrus, The Making of a Heretic: Gender, Authority, and the Priscillianist Controversy (Berkeley, 1995).

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use of virtus to protect his community from very realphysical threats. As the realities of leadership andcontinuity changed into the sixth century, thesedistortions would only increase. Was this model,however, unique to Martin and his interpreters?Fortunately we have another Gallic bishop whose careerwas also written down by a near contemporary.

Constantius and Notions of Episcopal Power in theLate Fifth Century

There are no sources for Martin that interpret thecareer of the saint in the mid to late fifth century, butit would appear that this period was a crucial period inthe development of how society viewed the saint and howhe would be remembered. We do, however, have acontemporary biography of one of Martin’s peers, Germanusof Auxerre. We can look at this bishop and draw somegeneral conclusions on how bishops and their role ofpatron and notions of episcopal authority, monasticpower, and traditional notions of patronage and virtus werechanging in fifth century Gaul and also see someinteresting developments in notions of the cult of thesaints. The biography was composed by Constantius, a Gallicrhetorician and poet, some time between 475-494. It wascommissioned by Patiens, bishop of Lyons (451-491) andCensurius, bishop of Auxerre (472-502) to commemorate thecareer of Germanus (375-446).1 The role of Germanus insociety was clearly spelled out by the hagiographer intwo letters that he wrote to his patron preserved in themanuscript tradition. In the letter to Patiens,Constantius told us that he was ordered to write thebiography so that future generations would remember themiracles that the saint performed in his lifetime, whilein his letter to Censurius, the poet asked that his onlyreward be to be remembered in the bishops prayers to the

1 E.A. Thompson, St. Germanus of Auxerre and the End of Roman Britain (Suffolk, 1984), 1-6; F. R. Hoare, “Introduction to The Life of SaintGermanus of Auxerre,” in Soldiers of Christ: Saints and Saints’ Lives from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Pennsylvania State University, 1995), 75-77.

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saint, so that Germanus would intercede in his life andsalvation.1

The main reason that the career of Germanus is sosalient to views of Martin and views of the cult of thesaints in general is that Germanus’s career was aremarkable parallel to that of Martin. Like Martin,Germanus came from a military background; and like Martinhis martial prowess was turned from serving the Greco-Roman institutions of government to serving aregionalized, Gallo-Roman populus. According toConstantius, the saint was born into the local nobilityof Auxerre and received a classical Greco-Romaneducation, eventually studying law in Rome. He thenreturned to Auxerre, married a woman of similar socialstation and had a brilliant career serving as a patron tothe populus of the region. As a reward for his service,the emperor gave him the post of Dux Armorica, which was amilitary command of the permanent garrisons in theregion.2

When the bishop of Auxerre died, the local nobility,clergy, and the populus demanded that Germanus be awardedthe office. His fellow magistrates were opposed, and asmall civil war erupted, although when the populus rose upto challenge the magistrates, they backed down andGermanus was installed. Then, just as Martin had almost50 years earlier, the new bishop rejected all of thetrappings of Greco-Roman life in favor of an asceticlifestyle that served God. He declared himself a milesChristi, distributed his wealth to the needy in the regionof Auxerre, and began to treat his wife as a belovedsister.3 Once again we see a Late Antique authorconflating episcopal authority, monastic power, andnotions of virtus in an attempt to justify the changingnature of the relationship between traditional Greco-Roman and Christian notions of leadership and community.This is indicative of how Christian leaders werestruggling with changing notions of Christian communityduring this period.1 Constantius of Lyons, Epistula ad Patientem and Epistula ad Censurium, in Constance de Lyon Vie de Saint Germain d’Auxerre, ed. René Borius. Sources Chrétiennes 112 (Paris, 1965).2 Constantius of Lyons, Vita sancti Germani, 1, in Constance de Lyon Vie de Saint Germain d’Auxerre, ed. René Borius. Sources Chrétiennes 112 (Paris, 1965).3 Ibid, 2.

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Constantius then made the connections between virtus,monastic power, and episcopal authority explicit for hisaudience. According to the orator, Germanus’s asceticpractices purged his body and soul and purified him forservice to God. Through this purity of body and spirit,the bishop was then able to effectively channel the“stock of accumulated virtues” to benefit those membersof the Christian community who were too weak to live alife close to God.1 Another important thing to note aboutthis statement is it was an attempt to bring that segmentof the Christian community who practiced asceticism andrejection of society into the mainstream. It was anattempt to reconcile that branch of Christian thoughtthat clung to the old pre-Constantinian cultural identityof Christians as a community that lived outside the normsof everyday Greco-Roman society with contemporary notionsof episcopal power as the normative model for relationsbetween leadership and community. As Constantiusasserted, by combining an ascetic lifestyle withepiscopal authority, Germanus was able to live the lifeof the desert fathers of old, yet still exercise hispatronage for the good of the community. Furthermore,through his establishment of a monastery by the YvonneRiver, the bishop was able to win many more souls to Godby providing an example of God’s power that the people ofthe countryside could see.2

There was, however, resistance to Germanus’s attemptsto meld the two forms of Christian authority,particularly from the local monks. To counter this,Germanus used his virtus to bring the recalcitrant monasticbrethren back into the fold. Constantius related thestory of how one day, the monks invited the bishop to themonastery, but he begged off saying that he had someepiscopal business to attend to. When Germanus finishedhis work, however, he decided to surprise the monks andvisit them anyway. Then, a demon possessed one of themonks, who correctly told his brethren that Germanus wason his way, but that he was delayed at the river becausethere was no boat to help him cross. The monks did notbelieve the story, because they thought that Germanus wasnot coming. Finally, one of them went out and saw thatthe bishop was indeed on his way, and was indeed stranded

1 Ibid, 4.2 Ibid, 7.

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on the other side of the river. The monk helped thebishop across, and when Germanus arrived he immediatelyasserted his authority and cast the demon out of thepossessed brother.1

Constantius’s work is also filled with examples of howthe bishop used his power to combat demonic powers thatthreatened the community. In one story, when demonsphysically assaulted the holy man but could not breakthrough his spiritual armor supplied by God, they looseda plague upon the region, where many in his congregationwere killed as if victims of military violence. Thebishop promptly anointed some oil and used it to heal thesick, and then went out into the countryside and soughtout the demons who were seeking refuge by possessing theunsuspecting. When he found the possessed people heforced them to confess and cast out the demons.2 Thereare many other examples of this kind in the Vita, but theimportant issue is that these examples show the changingconception of virtus as a marker of leadership. Nowhere, however, would it be harder to deal with theconflicting notions of Christian cultural identity in thecareer of Germanus than in accounts of his trip toBritannia to fight the Pelagian heresy.3 According to theGallic orator, the Orthodox bishops of Britannia hadheard of Germanus’s great success as a bishop and askedhim to come to their island and help extirpate thePelagian heresy. Germanus, along with his colleagueLupus, bishop of Troyes, convened a synod of Gallicbishops and they decided to send representatives toBritannia.4 The troupe of bishops was delayed by badweather, which Germanus calms through a prayer invokingthe Trinity, while crossing to the island, and when theylanded they are met by an angry mob, which has beenstirred up by demons. Germanus proceeded to cast out the

1 Constantius, Vita Germani, 9.2 Ibid, 8.3 On Pelagius and Pelagianism see B. R. Rees, Pelagius: A Reluctant Heretic (Suffolk, 1988); Mathisen, Ecclesiastical Factionalism, 37-41; Mathijs Lamberigts, “Pélage: La Réhabilitation d’un Hérétique,” Revue d’Histoire Ecclesiastique 95 no. 3 (July-September 200): 97-111; and Henry Chadwick, The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great (Oxford, 2001), 446-463.4 Constantius, Vita Germani, 12.

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demons and got them to confess to causing the evilweather.1

Despite this demonic opposition, Germanus and his bandwere able to spread across the countryside and bring theOrthodox gospel to the people of Britannia. Theirmission culminated with a public debate involving thePelagian leaders. It was no contest as, imbued with thepower of both deeds and the Gospel, the oratoricalprowess of Germanus and his compatriots was more than amatch for the unctuous and decadent heretics.2 Duringthis public forum, a local military commander cameforward and demanded that the Pelagians heal his blinddaughter if their message was the correct one. ThePelagian leaders then turned the tables on the Gallicbishops and challenged them to heal the little girl iftheir faith and message was as pure as they claimed.Germanus then dramatically stepped forward, uttered aprayer to the trinity and put his reliquary over hereyes. She was healed to the delight of the crowd, andthis was supposedly the point where public opinion turnedagainst the Pelagians.3 It is interesting to note howConstantius was trying to sever any connections Germanushad with his Greco-Roman roots. In this specificexample, Germanus’s power in public debate was not due totypical training in oratory and rhetoric, but due to thepower of his deeds performed in God’s name and in beliefand use of the Gospel. Constantius wanted his audienceto see a Christian virtus with no hint of a Greco-Romantaint. This depiction and motivation is also supported by theorator’s account of what happened to the bishop after hisdramatic defeat of the Pelagians. The holy man suffereda foot injury--naturally, caused by a demon-whilevisiting the shrine of Saint Alban--and was forced tostay on the island while it healed. When his residenceis miraculously spared from a fire that wipes out therest of the community where he was recuperating, peoplebegan to come from around the island to receive hisbeneficence, being healed of both physical and spiritualailments.4 The imagery here would have been unmistakable—

1 Ibid, 13.2 Ibid, 14.3 Ibid, 15.4 Constantius, Vita Germani, 16.

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Germanus was serving as a patron in a way that theearliest ascetics such as St, Anthony had done; only inthis case he was not a man rejecting society, butrepresenting society as a fully functional bishop. Then after his injury has healed, he heard that theSaxons and Picts were assaulting the Britons. The localleadership asked Germanus and his delegation for help andthey agreed. After converting many of the Britonsoldiers during Lent, Germanus learned from scouts thatthe barbarians are going to attack during the Eastercelebration. The bishop decided to lead the Britonforces in a preemptive strike. The army set up an ambushin a valley, and Germanus told the soldiers to shout“Hallelujah” three times before charging. When the enemyheard the shouts echoing off the walls of the valley,they thought the voices were of angry pagan gods seepingup from the very earth, and they fled in a mindless panicand ultimately surrendered. A bloodless victory wasachieved in the name of Christ, and much wealth wasinfused into the local communities.1 Thus, Constantiusportrayed Germanus as performing the duties of a patron,defeating enemies and contributing wealth to thecommunity, but he was acting as a Christian patron andnot a Greco-Roman one. In addition, his military prowesswas completely shed of its Greco-Roman associations. There are two final examples of how Constantiusredefined virtus and its use by leaders into a Christiancontext. Late in the bishop’s career (447), he wasrecalled to Britannia when the Pelagians resurfaced.2 Thehagiographer glossed over this second trip, giving only avery brief account that ended when Germanus and hiscompatriots rounded up the worst of the supporters andbrought them back to the continent, presumably to betried at an Episcopal synod.3 When Germanus arrived backin Gaul, however, he found the provinces in an uproar.Aetius, an imperial general, was sending the Alan kingGoar to subdue the province of Armorica, which was seen1 Ibid, 16.2 The actual date of Germanus’s second trip to Britannia, and indeed even its historicity, are a hotly debated topic amongst modern scholars. See Thompson, St. Germanus, 55-70 and Ralph W. Mathisen, “The Last Year of Saint Germanus of Auxerre: Some Recent Suggestions,” Patristic and Byzantine Review 9 no.2-3 (1990): 181-9.3 Constantius, Vita Germani, 25-27.

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as being in a state of rebellion. Germanus rode out tomeet Goar, who recognized the power of God inherent inthe bishop and agreed to negotiate. The holy manconvinced the barbarian king to leave, and then hehimself set out for Italy to plead for leniency from theemperor at Ravenna.1 Once again, Germanus had achieved abloodless victory in the name of God, facing down aninvading barbarian army that was threatening hiscommunity. Once again, however, Constantius does notallow for the fact that the bishop was performing one ofthe basic functions of a Greco-Roman patron in his use ofvirtus to protect his community. In the meantime, it would be on his journey to Ravennathat Germanus would display the culmination of his virtus.Once he arrived in the city, his services as worker ofmiracles were in much demand, and he was treated as acelebrity. His crowning achievement came when he raisedthe son of the patrician Sigivult’s servant from thedead. Using the virtus he had acquired through a longpractice of asceticism, Germanus fought his ultimatebattle to wrest the young child’s soul from the realm ofthe dead. He was successful, but shortly after thisbattle, he fell ill and died after a seven-day struggle.It was not, however, the failure of his virtus that causedhis death according to the orator; rather, God had simplydecided that it was time to call his faithful servant toheaven. It was also at the time of the bishop’s illnessthat word reached the emperor that Tibatto had ledanother rebellion in Armorica. Now, not even theintervention of the holy man could hold back imperialretribution.2

Constantius added a postscript to the bishop’s deathhinting that perhaps Germanus’s good works and his idealthat monks and bishops work together and provide a goodmodel of leadership for their lay overlords would notsucceed. The orator reported that upon the bishop’sdemise, the empress Placidia, local monks, and localbishops descended upon the body and stripped it of allpossessions. The empress claimed his reliquary, themonks took his cloak and hair shirt, and the bishopssplit his pallium, girdle, tunic, and soldier’s cape.3

1 Ibid, 28.2 Constantius, Vita Germani, 35-42.3 Ibid, 43.

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The tone of this passage is one of despair and theimagery that of greed and despoliation. Thus we see that Constantius, like Severus before him,is constructing a Christian ideology of leadership andcommunity from the analysis of the life of a Gallicbishop whose career was built strongly upon Greco-Romannotions of patronage and the exercise of virtus. Thisreconstruction continued into the sixth century, whereinterpretations of late fourth and fifth century notionsof episcopal power were constructed to fit changingrealities of leadership and community.

Gregory of Tours and Notions of Episcopal Power inSixth Century Gaul

Our main source for views of Martin in the sixthcentury is Gregory of Tours. He talks occasionally aboutMartin in his best-known work, Historia Francorum, which isalso our best source for Merovingian history. In thiswork he emphasized the role of Martin as a spiritualpatron, who working from beyond the grave to performmiracles for Christian citizens in the region of Toursand indeed throughout Merovingian Gaul. The saints maininstruments in this endeavor, according to Gregory, werethe bishops of Tour who ran his sacred Church. He thengave a brief recap of Martin’s career and his place inthe pantheon of Tours bishops.1 In this brief description of Martin and his career,there is no mention or emphasis on Martin’s traditionalmilitary background. In fact, Gregory either ignored ordeliberately contradicted earlier accounts of Martin’sconnection to the Roman imperial army by implying thathis father was a curialis rather than a tribune.2 Indeed,the only time Gregory associated Martin with violencethat was characteristic of the late Roman period, it wasin a role of opposing the imperial use of violence.Gregory stated that one of the most notable things Martinaccomplished in his lifetime was persuading the usurperMagnus Maximus not to use imperial force against heretics

1 Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, 1.36-48; 10.31, eds. B. Krusch and W. Levison in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum merovingicarum 1.1 (Hanover, 1951).2 Ibid, 1.36.

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in Spain. On the contrary, Gregory painted a picture ofa man who was violently beaten and persecuted for hisspreading of the Christian message by establishing amonastery near Milan.1

The most comprehensive picture of Martin, however, inthe 6th century comes in Gregory’s four books detailingMartin’s miracles. In these works, Gregory stressed howMartin’s role in God’s divine plan changed from his lifeto his death. While living, Martin, according toGregory, was a champion for the people, while after hisdeath he became an intercessor between the world of theliving faithful and the community of the saints. Hiscontemporary miracles, according to Gregory, were proofof his past miracles. The sixth century Martin was moreof a healer than a warrior.2 This characterization of theholy man does not hint that Martin was a soldier or wasversed in the ways of secular violence. Perhaps thisomission was because his audience would have beenfamiliar with Martin as a warrior and did not need anexplanation, but just as plausibly, it could be becauseGregory did not want Martin’s military background to beremembered The bulk of the four books of miracles are devoted tothe miraculous healings of those who are lame, blind,deaf, mute, physically sick, or possessed by demons.These healings were done through the workings of thebishop and clergy of Martin’s church in Tours or throughhis relics, such as oil consecrated at Martin’s tomb ormonastic cell or dust from his tomb. Sprinkledthroughout the stories are the occasional interjectionsof Gregory on the moral lessons to be learned from thesestories as well as fascinating views on the working ofpatronage between fifth and sixth century Gallic bishops,their communities, and the various Merovingian leadersand officials of the time. Occasionally, Gregory used martial imagery indescribing the workings of Martin’s miracles. Oneexample of this occurred in the story of how Baudinus,bishop of Tours (546-552) was saved from threateningweather while crossing a lake. As bad weather engulfed

1 Ibid, 10.31.2 Gregory of Tours, De virtutibus sancti Martini episcopi, 1.1, eds. B. Krusch and W. Levison in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum merovingicarum 1.1 (Hanover, 1885).

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his vessel, Baudinus began to pray to Martin forprotection. One of the crewmen scoffed at the notionthat Martin could have power over the natural world as adead spirit. Gregory compared the demonic assault uponBaudinus with a spear hurled by a vicious enemy, but thisattack was ineffective because the bishop was protectedby a spiritual armor supplied by God. After this assaultfailed, Baudinus simply prayed harder until Martin’spower stopped the storm, and the boat and its crew weresaved.1 Note that here, the martial imagery was used todepict a spiritual struggle, not a physical one. Gregory was not totally oblivious to the contradictionof violence as a part of Christian belief. He alluded toit when he linked sixth century conceptions of faith withpre-Constantinian martyrdom. According to Gregory, bothhad their place in Christian belief, and faith in God’smessage had trumped the need to express Christian beliefthrough violent martyrdom. An example he used was theconversion, around 550, of Chararic, a Suevic king whohad adopted the Arian version of Christianity as hisreligion. The king’s son fell ill and his kingdom inGalicia was rife with leprosy. He asked around for helpand heard about Martin and his miracles. Chararic senthis son’s weight in gold and silver to the tomb of Martinand told the clergy there that he would convert to Nicenebelief if Martin healed his son. His son, however, wasnot healed despite the prayers of Martin’s priests, andGregory stated that this was because Chararic was stillan Arian in his heart of hearts. Chararic becamedesperate and said he would build a temple to Martin, andthat if the temple could hold the relics of Martin, hewould believe. He sent his men to get relics from thetomb; when they arrived and received the relics, Martin’spower freed several prisoners who fled to the sanctuaryof the church, where the clerics negotiated with localofficials for their freedom. Chararic’s men returned andput the relics in his temple. On the way, Martin’s powersaved them from a storm. The king’s son was cured andChararic converted. When this happened, the leprosy inGalicia vanished and Martin’s power evinced many cure andmiracles in the region. Gregory went on to state thatthe people of Galicia were exceptionally faithfulChristians who would have gladly supplied martyrs if they

1 Ibid, 1.9.

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had lived during the era of persecutions.2 Implicit inthis passage was the struggle for the souls of the peopleof Galicia. The leaders defined the faith, and thepeople suffered for wrong choices. Perhaps Gregory’sallusion to persecution meant that Chararic persecutedthose of his subjects who were not Arian. Either way itwas Martin, who as a “soldier of Christ” combated thisheresy and served as a spiritual patron to the truebelievers in the region. Once again, Gregory downplaysthe very real issue of secular violence. This acceptanceof spiritual martyrdom as a part of normative sixthcentury Christian identity in the Late Antique west wasnot unique to Gregory.2

Even when Gregory talked about the very real violenceof his era, he put it in a spiritual context associatedwith the power of Martin. Quoting his contemporaryVenantius, Gregory related a story of how Martin saved amilitary garrison in northern Italy. This fortress hadhad an oratory to Martin built when it was constructed.As a sign of his protection, Martin would have theweapons of the guards glow when enemies were approachingthe camp, which allowed the soldiers within to prepareand win a relatively non-violent battle.3 Once again, wesee Martin acting as a patron, while Gregory avoids thevery real contradiction between Christian belief and theuse of violence against fellow Christians. In a parallel to Martin’s life, Gregory was attackedby bandits while on a journey. Unlike Martin, who wascaptured but converted them through his preaching,Gregory called on the intercession of the divine;specifically he called on the power of Martin to helphim. In Martin’s case there was no intercession—heworked directly through God. Gregory, however, workedthrough the intercession of the dead bishop. WhenGregory invoked the name of Martin, the bandits fled in apanic.4 Presumably because these men were left alive theywould in the near future be able to be cured of the1 Gregory, De virtutibus Martini, 1.11.2 See Carole Straw, “Martyrdom and Christian Identity: Gregory the Great, Augustine, and Tradition,” in The Limits of Ancient Christianity: Essays on Late Antique Thought and Culture in Honor of R.A. Markus, eds. William E. Klingshirn and Mark Vessey (Cambridge, 2000), 250-66.3 Gregory, De virtutibus Martini, 1.14.4 Gregory, De virtutibus Martini and Sulpicius, Vita Martini, 5.

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demonic influences that had caused them to lead a life ofcrime. In Martin’s case, there had been a need toconvert these men to the Christian cause; Gregorymeanwhile works from the implication that his is aChristian society through and through and the power ofGod worked through his saints to fight of demonicinfluence in the world. This is a good example of hownotions of patronage and intercession changed,specifically the use of virtus to support a Christian notionof leadership and community. Similarly, Gregory related a story he heard aboutMartin’s power while he was on a journey to visit theMerovingian king Childebert in 591. Supposedly, thespirit of Martin had appeared in Rheims. There thespirit declared that he was miles Christi and then freed someprisoners from jail. Later, when Gregory arrived atChildebert’s court, he learned that these very prisonerswho had been released came to the king and petitioned fora legal recognition of their de facto freedom. Childebertallowed them to pay a fee (fredus) that entitled them tolegal recognition of their freedom.1 Martin played therole of a spiritual soldier, righting the wrong of aninjustice done by the king and his associates; throughhis intervention, Childebert recognized that he hadviolated the tenets of iustitia and freed these men. Thiswas the new role of Martin, which also represented therole of Christian bishops in Merovingian society. This cooperation between the dead saint and the livingbishops is illustrated by a case where Martinmiraculously freed a prisoner in Tours who has beenwrongfully imprisoned. The man fled to Martin’s churchand Gregory went before the local judges to get himlegally declared free.2 Such cooperation is an earlymanifestation of the notion of the community of saintsand shows the continuity of a Christian society; the deadsaint was a bridge from the contemporary Christian worldto the past. This vision of Martin as miles Christi who served as a newmodel of Christian virtus, where battles were foughtagainst heretics and demons on the spiritual level, isalso seen in the poetry of Gregory’s contemporary,Venantius Fortunatus. Like Gregory, Venantius was a

1 Gregory, De virtutibus Martini, 4.26.2 Gregory, De virtutibus Martini, 4.35.

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member of the Gallic aristocracy who had access to thecircles of patronage that ran throughout the Merovingiankingdoms. Unlike Gregory, Fortunatus was not a member ofthe clergy until very late in his life, being ordained apriest by his good friend Gregory in the 590’s andserving briefly as bishop of Poitiers before his death inthe early years of the 7th century. Also, Fortunatus wasan outsider, having been born in northern Italy around540 and educated at the Byzantine court in Ravenna.Whereas Gregory had used his power as bishop to serve asa patron, Venantius worked his patronage through his roleas a poet at the courts of several Merovingian kings,most notably Sigibert and Charibert. In the later yearsof his life, he worked closely with Gregory and the ex-queen Radegund to effect peace between the rivalclaimants to the Merovingian throne.1

In a poem to Martin, bishop of Braga, Fortunatusrevealed how Martin of Tours was not only revered by theGallic aristocracy and clergy as a champion of Niceneorthodoxy on a universal level, but also as the man whohad brought Nicene Christianity to Gaul in particular.The first few lines of the poem establish Trinitarianorthodoxy as the giver of life to the world, which wasthen spread by apostles such as Peter, Paul, Matthew, andThomas.2 Then in verse 15, the poet linked Martin ofTours to these apostles, asserting that Martin of Toursbrought the Nicene faith to Gaul.3 To make the final linkfor his audience, Venantius put Martin of Braga as thesuccessor to Martin of Tours in this mission of spreadingGod’s message to Gaul.4 What is interesting here is themartial imagery associated with Martin of Tours; but itis an imagery associated with spiritual warfare. Martinof Tours is shown as fighting for the very souls ofhumankind by spreading the God’s message, specificallyNicene orthodox Trinitarianism, through his support ofcurrent bishops. He is an intercessor to the cult of thesaints, a bridge to the past.

1 Judith George, Venantius Fortunatus: Personal and Political Poems (Liverpool, 1995), xviii-xxi.2 Venantius Fortunatus, Carmina, 5.2.1-14, eds. F. Leo and B. Krusch in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores antiquissimi 4 (Berlin, 1881-5).3 Ibid, 5.2.15.4 Ibid, 5.2.17-18.

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Venantius further established this image of Martin ofTours in a poem celebrating the episcopacy of Gregory.In this poem he traced the line of Tours’s bishops backto the apostles. Under the watchful eye of those inHeaven such as Peter, Paul, Athanasius, Hilary, Martin,Ambrose, Augustine, Basil, and Caesarius, Gregory was theshepherd, tending his flock and upholding God’s will.1

The poet then made the explicit connection for hisaudience that all of these saints and the current bishopwere soldiers of Christ, fighting a spiritual war for thesouls of the faithful when he stated of Gregory,“Following their deeds and faithfully carrying out theirwords, may he celebrate in triumph his part in eternallife, and, crowned with the fitting reward for hislabors, may this soldier take his place in the citadel ofthe King.”2 Thus Gregory, like the great saints beforehim, including Martin, was fighting a spiritual war touphold God’s teachings in a world that perhaps was notcompletely ready to accept them.

Conclusion

In many ways, even in the 5th and 6th centuries, it musthave been incredibly difficult for Christian leaders andcommunities to reconcile the first 300 years of Christianhistory with its emphasis on a cultural identity as being“outside” the normative social power structures, and therealities of Late Antique society, where they were themain institution of power, especially at the local levelthroughout the Mediterranean and western Europe. Recentscholarship has suggested that the process ofChristianization was much more gradual in some regions ofthe Mediterranean than perhaps the literary sources wouldhave us believe;3 I would put the same argument for Late1 Ibid, 5.3.35-40.2 Fortunatus, Carmina, 5.3.41-44. Quorum gesta sequens et dicta fideliter implens perpetuae vitae participatus ovet, atque coronatus digna mercede laborum obtineat miles Regis in arce locum.3 David Riggs, “The Continuity of Paganism Between the Cities and Countryside of Late Roman Africa,” 292-6; Kenneth W. Harl, “From Pagan to Christian Cities of Roman Anatolia During the Fourth and Fifth Centuries,” 309-14; Kim Bowes, “’. . . Nec sedere in villam.’ Villa Churches, Rural Piety, and the Priscillianist Controversy,” 333-8; Frank L. Kidner,

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Antique Gaul, where the emerging genre of hagiography inthe fifth and sixth centuries, despite its attempts toproject a picture of a radically changed Christian world,shows a gradual assimilation of Christian and Greco-Romanideals of leadership and community, particularly on thesubject of how Christian bishops employed Greco-Romannotions of virtus to hold their communities together in anever-changing and chaotic social landscape.

“Christianizing the Syrian Countryside: An Archaeological and Architectural Approach,” 370-5.

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