Venance Fortunat

Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunat or holy Venance Fortunat , born towards 530 with Ceneda close to Trévise, died in 609 with Poitiers, is a Christian poet of the VIe century.

Biographical reference marks

Venance Fortunat devoted its youth to the study of the Grammaire, of the Poésie, the Droit and the eloquence. Towards the thirty years age, cured of a Ophthalmia, it forms the project to come to Tours to visit the tomb of holy Martin, to which it allotted his cure. It crosses the Austrasie, where it is accommodated royally by Sigebert and his wife, the queen Brunehilde. It is with the festivals of the marriage of Sigebert and Brunehilde with Metz that Fortunat delights the ears by the guests by a lyric poem in Towards Latin S, where it makes of Brunehilde a news Venus and of Sigebert new a Achille.

Same voice which sang Brunehilde and deplored in so touching worms the death of his/her sister Galswinthe, treacherously assassinated by Chilpéric, it does not hesitate to rent the royal virtues of Frédégonde. Later, Fortunat stuck to Radegonde, widow of Clotaire I {{er}} which urged it to be fixed at Poitiers where this princess had founded a Monastère. In 576, the poet was ordered there priest. About the year 600, it was ordered bishop of Poitiers. He died in the year 609.

Works

Among his works one can announce:

eleven books of Poems (volume 1,2 and 3 of the edition of the Beautiful Letters translates by Marc Reydellet);
In laudem sanctæ Mariæ (in volume 3 of the edition of the Beautiful Letters translates by Marc Reydellet);
a poem in four songs on Life of holy Martin (in volume 4 of the edition of the Beautiful Letters translates by S. Quesnel);
a reduced on the destruction of the kingdom of Thuringe, put in the mouth of holy Radegonde;
of the Anthem S of church, of which the Vexilla governed ;
lives in prose of German saint of Auxerre, Holy Medard of Boundary-line, saint Remi of Rheims, holy Radegonde and an exposure of the catholic faith according to the symbol of saint Athanase of Alexandria.

If the worms of Fortunat are often awkward, one sees there shining sometimes of the flashes of major sensitivity and true poetry.

Its Œuvres was published in Cagliari in 1573, with Cologne in 1600, with Mainz in 1617 and was translated in the collection Panckoucke. Its writings are an invaluable monument for the history of the time.

External bonds

Anthems of Venance Fortunat on Latin The Library

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