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OF TOURS ST GREGORY (538-594)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 565 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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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 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 in the See also: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 . 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 Tours belonged to See also:Austrasia, and See also: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, 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 .

Phoenix-squares

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: OF TOURS ST GREGORY (538-594)
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