OF See also:TOURS ST See also:GREGORY (538-594)
, historian of the See also:Franks, was See also:born in the See also:chief See also:city of the See also:Arverni (the See also:modern Clermont-See also:Ferrand) on the 3oth of See also:November 538
.
His real name was Georgius Florentius, Georgius being his grandfather's name and Florentius his See also:father's
.
He was called See also:- GREGORY
- GREGORY (Gregorius)
- GREGORY (Grigorii) GRIGORIEVICH ORLOV, COUNT (1734-1783)
- GREGORY, EDWARD JOHN (1850-19o9)
- GREGORY, OLINTHUS GILBERT (1774—1841)
- GREGORY, ST (c. 213-C. 270)
- GREGORY, ST, OF NAZIANZUS (329–389)
- GREGORY, ST, OF NYSSA (c.331—c. 396)
- GREGORY, ST, OF TOURS (538-594)
Gregory after his maternal See also:great-grandfather, the See also:bishop of See also:Langres
.
Gregory belonged to an illustrious senatorial See also:family, many of whose members held high See also:- OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")
office in the See also:- CHURCH
- CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
- CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
- CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
- CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
- CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)
church and See also:bear honoured names in the See also:history of See also:Christianity
.
He was descended, it is said, from Vettius Epagathus, who was martyred at See also:Lyons in 177 with St Pothinus; his paternal See also:uncle, See also:Gallus, was bishop of Clermont; his maternal See also:grand-uncle, Nicetius (St Nizier), occupied the see of Lyons; and he was a kinsman of See also:Euphronius, bishop of See also:Tours
.
Gregory lost his father See also:early, and his See also:mother Armentaria settled in the See also:kingdom of See also:Burgundy on an See also:estate belonging to her near See also:Cavaillon, where her son often visited her
.
Gregory was brought up at Clermont-Ferrand by his uncle Gallus and by his successor, Avitus, and there he received his See also:education
.
Among profane authors he read the first six books of the Aeneid and See also:Sallust's history of the See also:Catiline See also:conspiracy, but his education was mainly religious
.
The principles of See also:religion he learnt from
the See also:Bible, Sulpicius See also:Severus and some lives of See also:saints, but to patristic literature and the subtleties of See also:theology he remained a stranger
.
In 563, at the See also:age of twenty-five, he was ordained See also:deacon
.
Falling seriously See also:ill, he went to Tours to seek a cure at the See also:tomb of St See also:- MARTIN (Martinus)
- MARTIN, BON LOUIS HENRI (1810-1883)
- MARTIN, CLAUD (1735-1800)
- MARTIN, FRANCOIS XAVIER (1762-1846)
- MARTIN, HOMER DODGE (1836-1897)
- MARTIN, JOHN (1789-1854)
- MARTIN, LUTHER (1748-1826)
- MARTIN, SIR THEODORE (1816-1909)
- MARTIN, SIR WILLIAM FANSHAWE (1801–1895)
- MARTIN, ST (c. 316-400)
- MARTIN, WILLIAM (1767-1810)
Martin
.
At Tours he lived with Euphronius, and so great was the See also:young See also:man's popularity that, on the See also:death of Euphronius in 573, the See also:people unanimously designated him bishop
.
At that See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time Tours belonged to See also:Austrasia, and See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
King See also:Sigebert hastened to confirm Gregory's See also:election
.
After the assassination of Sigebert (575), the See also:province was ruled by See also:Chilperic for nine years, during which See also:period Gregory displayed the greatest See also:energy in protecting his See also:town and church from the Frankish king
.
He had to contend with See also:Count Leudast, the See also:governor of Tours; despite all the king's threats, he refused to give up Chilperic's son Meroving, who had sought See also:refuge from his father's wrath at the See also:sanctuary of St Martin; and he defended Bishop Pretextatus against Chilperic, by whom he had been condemned for celebrating the See also:marriage of Merovech and See also:Queen See also:Brunhilda
.
In 58o Gregory was himself accused before a See also:council at Berny of using abusive See also:language against Queen See also:Fredegond, but he cleared himself of the See also:charge by an See also:oath and was acquitted
.
On the death of Chilperic, Tours remained for two years (584–585) in the hands of See also:Guntram, but when Guntram adopted his See also:nephew See also:Childebert, Sigebert's son, it again became Austrasian
.
This See also:change was welcome to Gregory, who often visited the See also:court
.
In 586 he was at See also:Coblenz, and on his return to Yvois (the modern Carignan) visited the stylite Wulfilaic; in 588 we hear of him at See also:Metz and also at Chalon-sur-Sa6ne,whither he was sent to obtain from King Guntram the ratification of the pact of Andelot; in 593 he was at See also:- ORLEANS
- ORLEANS, CHARLES, DUKE OF (1391-1465)
- ORLEANS, DUKES OF
- ORLEANS, FERDINAND PHILIP LOUIS CHARLES HENRY, DUKE OF (1810-1842)
- ORLEANS, HENRI, PRINCE
- ORLEANS, HENRIETTA, DUCHESS
- ORLEANS, JEAN BAPTISTE GASTON, DUKE
- ORLEANS, LOUIS
- ORLEANS, LOUIS PHILIPPE JOSEPH
- ORLEANS, LOUIS PHILIPPE ROBERT, DUKE
- ORLEANS, LOUIS PHILIPPE, DUKE OF (1725–1785)
- ORLEANS, LOUIS, DUKE OF (1372–1407)
- ORLEANS, PHILIP I
- ORLEANS, PHILIP II
Orleans, where Childebert had just succeeded his uncle Guntram
.
In the intervals of these journeys he governed Tours with great firmness, repressing disorders and reducing the monks and nuns to obedience
.
He died on the 17th of November 594
.
Gregory See also:left many writings, of which he himself gives an enumeration at the end of his Historia Francorum: " Decem libros Historiarum, septem Miraculorum, unum de Vita Patrum scripsi; in Psalterii tractatu librum unum commentatus sum; de Cursibus etiam ecclesiasticis unum librum condidi." The ten books of history are discussed below
.
The seven books of miracles are divided into the De gloria martyrum, the De virtulibus sancti Juliani, four books of Miracula Sancti See also:Martini, and the De gloria confessorum, the last dealing mainly with confessors who had dwelt in the cities of Tours and Clermont
.
The Vitae patrum consists of twenty See also:biographies of bishops, abbots and hermits belonging to See also:Gaul
.
The commentary on the See also:Psalms is lost, the See also:preface and the titles of the chapters alone being extant
.
The See also:treatise De cursibus ecclesiasticis, discovered in 18J3, is a liturgical See also:manual for determining the See also:hour of See also:divers nocturnal offices by the position of the stars
.
Gregory also left a See also:life of St See also:Andrew, translated from the See also:Greek, and a history of the Seven Sleepers of See also:Ephesus, translated from See also:Syriac
.
His most important See also:work, however, is the Historia Francorum, which is divided into three parts
.
The .first four books, which were composed at one time, See also:cover the period from the creation of the See also:world to the death of Sigebert in 575
.
The first See also:book, which is a See also:mere compilation from the See also:chronicles of St See also:Jerome and See also:Orosius, is of no value
.
The second book, from 397 to 511, deals with the invasions of the Franks, and is based on the histories of Sulpicius See also:Alexander and Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus, now lost; on the catalogues of the bishops of Clermont and Tours; on some lives of saints, e.g
.
See also:Remigius and See also:Maxentius, now lost; on the See also:annals of See also:Arles and See also:Angers, now lost; and on legends, either collected by Gregory himself from oral tradition, or cantilenes or epics written in the Latin and Germanic See also:languages
.
In the third and See also:fourth books the earlier See also:part is based on materials collected from men older than himself; of the later events he was himself an See also:eye-See also:witness
.
The fifth and See also:sixth books, up to the death of Chilperic (584), See also:deal with matters within his own experience
.
The first six books are often See also:separate 'n the See also:MSS., and it was these alone that were used by thechronicler Fredegarius in his abridgment of Gregory's history
.
To the first six books Gregory subsequently added chapters on the bishops Salonius and See also:Sagittarius, and on his quarrels with See also:Felix of See also:Nantes
.
The authenticity of these chapters has been undeservedly attacked by See also:Catholic writers
.
Books vii. to x., from 584 to 591, were written in the See also:form of a See also:diary; of each important event, as it occurred, he inserted an See also:account in his book
.
The last six books are of great See also:historical value
.
Gregory had an intimate knowledge of contemporary events
.
He was frequently at court, and he found Tours an excellent See also:place for See also:collecting See also:information
.
The See also:shrine of St Martin attracted the sick from all quarters, and the See also:basilica of the See also:saint was a favourite sanctuary for See also:political refugees
.
Moreover, Tours was on the high road between the See also:north and See also:south of See also:France, and was a convenient See also:stage for travellers, the ambassadors going to and from See also:Spain frequently halting there
.
Gregory plied every one with questions, and in this way gathered a great See also:mass of detailed information
.
He was, besides, at great pains to be an impartial writer, but was not always successful
.
His devotion to Austrasia made him very See also:bitter against, and perhaps unjust to, the sovereigns of See also:Neustria, Chilperic and Fredegond
.
As an orthodox See also:Christian, he had no See also:good word for the Arians
.
He excuses the crimes of See also:kings who protected the church, such as See also:Clovis, See also:Clotaire I. and Guntram, but had no See also:mercy for those who violated ecclesiastical privileges
.
This attitude, no doubt, explains.his hatred for Chilperic
.
But if Gregory's historical judgments are suspect, he at least concealed nothing and invented nothing; and we can correct his judgments by his own narrative
.
His history is a curious See also:compound of artlessness and shrewdness
.
He was ignorant of the rules of See also:grammar, confused genders and cases, and wrote in the See also:vernacular Latin of his time, apart from certain passages which are especially elaborated and filled with poetical and elegant expressions
.
But in spite of his shortcomings he is an exceedingly attractive writer, and his mastery of the See also:art of narrative has earned for him the name of the See also:Herodotus of the barbarians
.
T
.
Ruinart brought out a See also:complete edition of Gregory's See also:works at See also:Paris in 1699
.
The best modern complete edition is that of W
.
See also:Arndt and B
.
Krusch in Mon
.
Germ. hist. script. rer
.
Merov
.
(vol. i., 1885)
.
Of the many See also:editions of the Historia Francorum may be mentioned those of See also:Guadet and Taranne in the See also:Soc. de l'hist. de France (4 vols., with See also:French See also:translation, 1836–1838), of Omont (the first six books; a See also:reproduction of the See also:Corvey MS.) and of G
.
Collon (the last four books; a reproduction of the See also:Brussels MS
.
No
.
9, 403)
.
Gregory's hagiographic works were published by H
.
Bordier in the Soc. de l'hist. de France (4 vols., with French translation, 1857-1864)
.
Cf
.
J
.
W
.
Lobell, Gregor von Tours and See also:seine Zeit (2nd ed., See also:Leipzig, 1868) ; G
.
See also:Monod, " Etudes critiques sur See also:les See also:sources de 1'histoire merovingienne " in the Bibl. de l'Ecole See also:des Hautes Etudes (1872) ; G
.
Kurth, " See also:Gregoire de Tours et les etudes classiques au See also:VIe siecle
in the Revue des questions historiques (See also:xxiv
.
586 seq., 1878) ; Max See also:Bonnet, Le Latin de Gregoire de Tours (Paris, 1890)
.
For details, see Ulysse See also:Chevalier, Biobibliographie (2nd ed.)
.
(C
.
End of Article: