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Back to article: MARIUS OF AVENCHES (or AVENTICUM) (d. S93 or 594)

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MARIUS OF AVENCHES (or AVENTICUM) (d. S93 or 594), chronicler and ecclesiastic, was born in the neighbourhood of Autun probably in 53o, and became bishop of Avenches about 573. In addition to being a good bishop, Marius was a clever goldsmith; he was present at the council of Macon in 585, and transferred the seat of his bishopric from Avenches to Lausanne. He died on the 31st of December 593 or 594. As a continuation of the Chronicon of Prosper of Aquitaine, Marius wrote a short Chronicon dealing with the period from 455 to 58r; and although he borrowed from various sources his work has some importance for the history of Burgundy. Regarding himself and his land as still under the authority of the Roman empire, he dates his Chronicon according to the years of the Roman consuls and of the East Roman emperors.
The only extant manuscript of the Chronicon is in the British Museum. Among several editions may be mentioned the one in the Monumenta Germaniae historice, chronica minors, Band II. (1893), with introduction by T. Mommsen. See also W. Arndt, Bischof Marius von Aventicum (Leipzig, 1875) ; and W. Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, Bd. I. (1904).