Gregoire de Tours

Gregoire de Tours - Georgius Florentius Gregorius i.e. Georges Florent Gregoire - (born with Riom, close to Clermont v. 538 - † with Turns v. 594), was bishop of Turns, historian of the Church, the Francs and the Auvergne.

Biography

He is resulting, by his father Florent ( Florentius ), of an aristocratic family arverne: his/her father and his grandfather Georgius had been Senator S, and his uncle Gallus or Gall, bishop of Clermont (from now on Clermont-Ferrand, in Auvergne). By his mother it is related with the bishops of Lyon, Sacerdos and Nizier of Lyon, on the one hand, and with the bishops of Langres, Gregorius and Tetricus, on the other hand. It is the last but one which it holds its third first name.

His/her father dies young person. Raised by his mother close to Cavaillon, then successively by his uncle Gallus († 551) and by the Avit archdeacon in Clermont, Gregoire completes his education near his uncle Nizier, in Lyon where it is sent in 563. During its youth, it is prone to various evils: a pilgrimage on the tomb of holy Martin, in Tours (in 562 or 563), cures it one of them.

A little later it is ordered Diacre and resides at the Saint-Julien basilica, with Brioude. It resides at it until it is elected bishop of Turns, in 573, probably at the instigation of the queen Brunehilde and the king of Austrasie, Sigebert I {{er}}.

Succeeding his maternal cousin Eufronius in this dignity, Gregoire takes then charges one with it with the most important episcopal sees de Gaulle. During its episcopate, it is obstructed by the quarrels of the frank sovereigns, whom it does not hesitate to fustigate. In particular, it holds head with the king Chilpéric I {{er}}, then with the queen Frédégonde whom it makes responsible for the murder of the Prétextat bishop.

It dies out in Tours, probably the November 17th 594. He will be venerated in this city and that of Clermont.

The language of Gregoire de Tours, far away from traditional Latin of which he was however expert, was worth many pejorative judgments with its work, judgments which took part until very recently in a general ignorance of the Early middle ages and in one period the reducing vision of retreat of civilization. However, the bishop shows humility in his writings.

Among the ancient authors that quotes Gregoire are Virgile, Salluste and Pline; some of the works which it evokes are lost today. The theology of which it makes proof remains simple: it uses it against the Jews. He also refutes the Arianisme.

A Vie of Saint Gregoire was written with Xe century by the abbot Odon of Cluny.

Works

The History of the Francs

The major work of Gregoire de Tours survived through several manuscripts of the Moyen-âge, in more or less faded versions compared to the original. It is commonly named Histoire of the Francs .

Actually, it is about a “ecclesiastical History”, originally entitled Ten Books of History , which has the role to draw up the history of the universal Church from the Christian point of view, eschatologic, since the genesis of the world until the reign of the frank kings, in 572. Is added to it a whole of accounts of lives of Gallic saints, brought together under the name of Livre (S) of the miracles and composed after 570.

Obviously, the account taken as a whole has an edifying character. It makes the good share in Gaulle mérovingienne whom Gregoire knows: five of the ten books and the Livre of the miracles relate to the time of the author. This last brushes a rather dark portrait of it, stressing the disastrous consequences of the behavior of certain kings in opposition to the behavior of their aïeux Christians, to start with Clovis.

Also, because of its central theme, work could be renamed tardily Histoire of the Francs ( Historia Francorum ) or Geste of the Francs ( Gesta Francorum ) or, more simply, Chroniques ( Chronicae ). It makes in any case of Gregoire de Tours the father of a “national history” of the Francs, the principal historian of the Mérovingiens and the major source of which we have on the reigns the latter.

Thereafter, the Histoire of the Francs could be used as inspiration, in particular, with Bède Worthy the as for him author at the beginning of VIIIe century of a ecclesiastical Histoire of the English people ( Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ). The work of Bède - one of most popular in Europe during the Middle Ages - could be worth in its turn the name of ecclesiastical Histoire of the Francs ( Historia ecclesiastica Francorum ) to the account of Gregoire de Tours.

The Histoire of the Francs was continued by anonymous hands during the following centuries: those are known under the names of Frédégaire and Pseudo-Frédégaire. First impression of the book, realized with Paris, date of 1561.

Other works

Here the list of the other works allotted to Gregoire de Tours, following the list proposed by the French academician François Guizot (1787 - 1874), which was the author of a translation of the Histoire of the Francs and of a Notice on Gregoire de Tours :

treated With the Glory of the Martyrs , collection of legends in a hundred and seven chapters, devoted to the account of the miracles of the martyrs.
treated Miracles of Saint Julien de Brioude , martyr with Brioude in Auvergne, fifty chapters.
treated With the Glory of the Confessors ( In Gloria confessorum ), in a hundred and twelve chapters.
treated Miracles of Saint Martin de Tours , in four books.
notes on the Lives of the Fathers , containing the history of twenty-two saints or holy of the Church of Gaules, in twenty chapters.
treated Miracles of the holy apostle Andre
treated on the Race of the stars

The following works are lost:

Comment of Psautier .
treated on the Offices of the Church .
foreword with the treaty of the Masses of Sidoine Apollinaire.
Latin translation of the Passion of the Seven Door frames of Éphèse .

See too

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