Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2016
There is something immediately appealing about a wandering bard such as the sixth-century Latin poet Venantius Fortunatus, who left his native Italy to seek the hospitality and patronage of the kings and bishops of Merovingian Gaul. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Fortunatus attracted the attention of a succession of scholars such as Thierry, Caron, Dostal, Meyer, and Koebner, but it is now over fifty years since the last full-scale treatment of the poet was written: that of the Abbé Tardi in 1927. As a consequence of this, a number of rather questionable biographical details, as they are given in these standard accounts of the poet, have come to be somewhat uncritically accepted. Some re-examination of the evidence for Fortunatus' travels and career is long overdue. My aim here is not to provide an exhaustive account of the poet's career, nor indeed a full biographical sketch, but rather to discuss critically some key issues within these accounts of Fortunatus' career, in the light of the elements of autobiography found in Venantius' poems. As we shall see, an outline of the various stages of his career, both before his arrival in Gaul and during the many years of his residence in his adopted homeland, may be pieced together with the aid of the scattered evidence contained in his poems, yet this evidence is often obviously incomplete and is at times frustratingly ambiguous. Still, we can best proceed in the reconstruction of Venantius' career and travels by investigating what may be established, or brought into question, by the evidence of the poems themselves.
1 All citations of the carmina of Venantius Fortunatus are from the edition of F. Leo, MGH AA 4.1 (Berlin 1881). For the sake of convenience I have cited the poems in the body of my text by book number, poem number, and line number as they appear in Leo's edition. Fortunatus' metrical Vita Martini may be found in the same volume, 293–370. Append. here refers to the appendix in Leo's edition, 271–292. All quotations and citations of the Historiae of Gregory of Tours are from the edition of W. Arndt, revised by B. Krusch and W. Levison, MGH SRM 1.1 (Hannover 1951), and will be given as HF (= Historia Francorum).Google Scholar
2 The following are important studies of the poet and his milieu: Thierry, A., Récits des temps mérovingiens (Paris 1858); Caron, L., ‘Le poète Fortunat et son temps,’ Mém. Acad. Amiens, Ser. 3, 10 (1883) 225–303; Dostal, J., Über Identität und Zeit von Personen bei Venantius Fortunatus (Wiener-Neustadt 1900); Meyer, W., Der Gelegenheitsdichter Venantius Fortunatus. Abh. Ges. Göttingen n.f. 4.5 (Berlin 1901); Koebner, R., Venantius Fortunatus, seine Persönlichkeit und seine Stellung in der geistigen Kultur des Merowinger-Reiches (Leipzig 1915); Tardi, D., Fortunat. Étude sur le dernier représentant de la poésie latine dans la Gaule Mérovingienne (Paris 1927).Google Scholar
3 Paul the Deacon, Hist. Langobard. 2.13.Google Scholar
4 Vita Martini 4.670–71.Google Scholar
5 ‘Venantius 2,’ Martindale, J. R., Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire 2 (Cambridge 1980) 1153 (hereafter PLRE).Google Scholar
6 ‘Venantius 3,’ PLRE 2.1153.Google Scholar
7 ‘Venantius 4,’ PLRE 2.1153.Google Scholar
8 ‘Clementianus,’ PLRE 2.303.Google Scholar
9 Vita Martini 4.658–60.Google Scholar
10 Vita Martini 4.668f.Google Scholar
11 The dates suggested for Venantius' birth vary greatly — Tardi 24 and Caron 227 suggest 530. Koebner 11 suggests the date of 540, since Venantius' poetic temperament at the time of the trip to Gaul speaks for one who was, in 566, still in early maturity! The date cannot be fixed with complete accuracy and Szövérffy, J., Weltliche Dichtungen des lateinischen Mittelalters (Berlin 1970) 223, more cautiously suggests a date somewhere between 535 and 540.Google Scholar
12 Tardi 27f.Google Scholar
13 Procopius, , History of the Wars 7.1.35.Google Scholar
14 Procopius reproduces a letter of Justinian, sent, with money, to King Theudebert requesting Frankish assistance (Wars 5.5.8–10). In 539, the Franks massacred a force of Goths at Ticinum, but went on to attack the Romans (Wars 6.25.8–15). Only illness forced the Frankish army to retreat beyond the Alps once more (Wars 6.25.24; Gregory of Tours, HF 3.32).Google Scholar
15 This Bishop Paul is impossible to find in our sources. Paul the Deacon, Hist. Langobard. 2.10 mentions the Patriarch Paul who presided over the church of Aquileia and who fled from the Lombards to the island of Grado. See Stein, E., ‘Chronologie des Métropolitains schismatiques de Milan et d'Aquilée–Grado,’ Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique Suisse 39 (1945) 126–36 (repr. Opera minora selecta [Amsterdam 1968] 402–12).Google Scholar
16 Vita Martini 4.658–62.Google Scholar
17 There is no real evidence for the influence on Venantius of an ‘Aquileian’ spirituality, as outlined by Tardi 35ff.Google Scholar
18 Vita Martini 4.665–71.Google Scholar
19 Paul the Deacon, Hist. Langobard. 2.12.Google Scholar
20 Tardi, 38f. Google Scholar
21 Vita Martini 1.34–39.Google Scholar
22 On Venantius' familiarity with the major Latin poets, both Pagan and Christian, see Manitius, M., Index 3. Poetarum priorum loci expressi a Fortunato, MGH AA 4.2.132–37, and Blomgren, S., ‘De Venantio Fortunato Lucani Claudianique imitatore,’ Eranos 48 (1950) 150–56. A few words of Greek in the epistula ad Gregorium, which serves as the preface to Fortunatus' Vita Martini, suggest that the poet gained an elementary knowledge of that language while at Ravenna. The poet displays a superficial knowledge of Greek philosophers and poets, but there is no reason to believe that he gained this from actually reading their works; see Carm. 5.1; 6.1a.5; 7.8.25; 7.11.4; 7.12; 8.1.1–3; 9.6.9–10; 9.7.5–12. For a discussion of his use of latinized Greek words, see Meneghetti, A., ‘La Latinità di Venanzio Fortunato,’ Didaskaleion 5 (1916) 204f., 275–78.Google Scholar
23 Venantius was familiar with the Church of Sts. John and Paul. It was there that he was cured of blindness by St. Martin (Vita Martini 4.689–701). On the church itself, see Mazzotti, M., ‘La basilica dei Ss. Giovanni e Paolo in Ravenna,’ Corsi di culture sull'arte Ravennate e Bizantina 18 (1971) 353–68. The church of San Apollinare Nuovo was dedicated to St. Martin until the ninth century. In the nave mosaic of this church, St. Martin leads the procession of male saints to the throne of Christ, who is flanked by four angels.Google Scholar
24 Cuscito, G., ‘Venanzio Fortunato e le Chiese istriane,’ Atti e Memorie della Società Istriana di Archeologia e Storia Patria n.s. 26 (78) (1978) 209–25.Google Scholar
26 Paul the Deacon, Hist. Langobard. 2.4: ‘His quoque temporibus Narses patricius, cuius ad omnia studium vigilabat, Vitalem episcopum Altinae civitatis, qui ante annos plurimos ad Francorum regnum confugerat, hoc est ad Agonthiensem civitatem, tandem conprehensum aput Siciliam exilio damnavit.’ See Koebner 120–25. ‘Exkurse I. Bischof Vitalis.’ Google Scholar
26 On Venantius' journey see Staudacher, K., ‘Das Reisegedicht des Venantius Fortunatus,’ Schlern 15 (1934) 274–82 and Hopfner, W., ‘Zur Reise des Venantius Fortunatus durch die Alpen,’ Deutsche Gaue 37 (1936) 21–25. The excellent detailed maps in Cartellieri, W., ‘Die römischen Alpenstrassen über den Brenner, Reschen-Scheideck und Plöckenpass,’ Philologus, Supplementband 18.1 (Leipzig 1926) allows us to follow Venantius' path.Google Scholar
27 Leo, F., ‘Venantius Fortunatus, der letzte römische Dichter,’ Deutsche Rundschau 32 (1882) 415 accepts a pious motivation for Venantius' journey. Ebert, A., Histoire général de la littérature du moyen âge en Occident (tr Leroux, E.; Paris 1883) 1.553, suggests a desire to make a pilgrimage rather than a formal vow. Skeabeck, A. H., ‘Fortunatus,’ New Catholic Encyclopedia (Washington 1967) 5.1034, accepts ‘a pilgrimage of gratitude.’ Google Scholar
28 See Koebner, 14, who points out that Venantius' route is inconsistent with a pilgrimage to Tours. He considers a pious motive highly doubtful. See also p. 125, where Koebner suggests Venantius' possible implication in the fall of Bishop Vitalis as a motive for the poet's departure. See also Tardi, 62. Caron, 228, is also sceptical about the pilgrimage and suggests that another reason may have obliged Venantius to leave his country; he suggests unrest in Italy and the need for the quiet leisure necessary for a literary existence. Bezzola, R., Les Origines et la Formation de la Littérature Courtoise en Occident (Les Origines et la Formation de la Littérature Courtoise en Occident) (Paris 1958) 1.42, has Venantius setting out on a pilgrimage, but suggests as a secondary motive his desire to make a career at a time when Italy was threatened by the Lombards. Also sceptical is Walsh, P. G., ‘Venantius Fortunatus,’ The Month 120 (1960) 292–302.Google Scholar
29 We know that Arator's Historia Apostolorum was read before a distinguished audience of clerics and laymen in the Church of St. Peter ad vincula, at Rome in 544; the reading was extended over four sessions, because the work was so popular that the audience called for repeats. See Arator, , De Actibus Apostolorum, Prolegomena (PL 68.55).Google Scholar
30 At Vita Martini 4.637, Venantius indicates that Bishop Germanus of Paris is still alive: Quam modo Germanus regit et Dionysius olim. Germanus died in 576, so the Vita Martini must have been written by this date.Google Scholar
31 Meyer, 26, argues that Books 1–8 form the first collection of Venantius' poems. Tardi, 92, rightly points out that the first collection more probably comprised Books 1–7. He draws attention to the fact that Book 8 begins with a new Preface addressed ad diversos, apparently the prologue to a new publication. According to Tardi, 93, Books 1–7 contain poems written down to about 574, but he overlooks the inclusion of the poem written on the subject of the conversion of the Jews of Clermont (5.5). This conversion took place at Pentecost 576, according to Gregory, HF 5.11. The poem Venantius wrote about the event dates the first collection of his poems to at least late 576, and most probably to 577. It could well be that Gregory commissioned the poem for use at Pentecost 577, the anniversary of the events in Clermont, since Venantius makes much use of Pentecostal imagery in the poem (5.5.1–10, 105–22).Google Scholar
32 On the year Venantius spent in the north, see Koebner, 18–28.Google Scholar
33 The Itinerarium Burdigalense (CCL 175.1–4) shows a route that led from Bordeaux to Carcassonne, Narbonne, Arles, the Cottian Alps, Milan, and Concordia. This route would have been unusable for Venantius in the mid-sixth century because of the Visigothic hold on Septimania, which would have made travel via Narbonne impossible. The route had earlier been very popular. See Delaruelle, F., ‘Toulouse et la route des deux mers,’ Annales du Midi 62 (1950) 3.215–28.Google Scholar
34 Tardi, 59 suggests this was a factor.Google Scholar
35 Caron, 228.Google Scholar
36 Procopius, , Wars 6.25.8–15.Google Scholar
37 Epistolae Austrasicae 5 (MGH Epp. 3.116–17).Google Scholar
38 Epistolae Austrasicae 6 (MGH Epp. 3.117–18).Google Scholar
39 Procopius, , Wars 6.22.10.Google Scholar
40 Epistolae Austrasicae 6 (MGH Emp. 3.117).Google Scholar
41 Epistolae Austrasicae 21 (MGH Epp. 3.133–34).Google Scholar
42 Epistolae Austrasicae 7 (MGH Epp. 3.118–19).Google Scholar
43 Paul the Deacon, Hist. Langobard. 2.4.Google Scholar
44 Koebner, 125.Google Scholar
45 Gogo's part in the marriage negotiations is alluded to by Fortunatus, 7.1.41–42. While we have no description of the entourage sent to Spain on this occasion, Gregory's description (HF 6.45) of the enormous wedding party of Chilperic's daughter Rigunth, which set out for Spain in 584, gives us some idea of the size of a bride's entourage.Google Scholar
46 On the Merovingians see James, E., The Origins of France (London 1982); Zöllner, E., Geschichte der Franken bis zur Mitte des 6. Jahrhunderts (Munich 1970); Latouche, R., Caesar to Charlemagne (tr Nicholson, J.; London 1965); Dill, S., Roman Society in Gaul in the Merovingian Age (London 1926).Google Scholar
47 On imitative coinage, see Procopius, , Wars 7.33.5–6; Prou, M., Les monnaies mérovingiennes: Catalogue des monnaies françaises de la Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris 1892) 15.56 and plate 1.22; Blanchet, A. and Dieudonné, A., Manuel de numismatique française (Paris 1912) 1.198, fig. 173. King Chilperic restored Roman arenas at Soissons and Paris in order to stage wild beast shows: Gregory of Tours, HF 5.17. See my article ‘The Image of the Frankish Kings in the Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus,’ Journal of Medieval History 10.2 (1984) 1–11.Google Scholar
48 Auerbach, E., Literary Language and its Public in Late Latin Antiquity (tr. Manheim, R.; New York 1965) 261.Google Scholar
49 See Koebner, 17f. Google Scholar
60 Meyer, 14–15.Google Scholar
61 Koebner 28 suggests the possibility that Venantius may have had some occasional involvement in the chancery at the Austrasian court, and sees this experience as an important influence on his epistolary style.Google Scholar
52 Gogo's role in running a palace school is alluded to by Fortunatus in a poem addressed to his friend (7.4.25–26).Google Scholar
68 Gogo's position as nutritor clearly made him a man of importance, who could offer patronage; see Gregory of Tours, H F 5.46. Goffart, W., ‘Byzantine Policy in the West under Tiberius and Maurice: The Pretenders Hermenegild and Gundovald (579–585),’ Traditio 13 (1957) 84, sees Gogo and Brunhild as giving a ‘continuity of rule’ to the Austrasian kingdom and as providing the force behind the Burgundian alliance.Google Scholar
54 Vita Radegimdis 14 (MGH AA 4.2.42).Google Scholar
55 On the episcopate of Pientius see Duchesne, L., Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule (Paris 1910) 2.83. The standard biography of Radegund is Aigrain, R., Sainte Radegonde (3rd ed. Paris 1924). See also Prinz, F., Frühes Mönchtum in Frankenreich (Munich 1965) 157f.; Delaruelle, E., ‘Sainte Radegonde, son type de sainteté et la chrétienté de son temps,’ Études Mérovingiennes (Actes des Journées de Poitiers, 1–3 Mai 1952; Poitiers 1952) 65–75 and Marié, G., ‘Sainte Radegonde et le milieu monastique contemporain,’ ibid. 219–25.Google Scholar
56 Gregory of Tours, H F 4.18.Google Scholar
57 Vita S. Hilarii 1 (MGH AA 4.2.1). On Venantius' hagiography see now Collins, R., ‘Beobachtungen zu Form, Sprache und Publicum der Prosabiographien des Venantius Fortunatus in der Hagiographie des römischen Gallien,’ Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 92 (1981) 16–38.Google Scholar
58 Gregory of Tours, H F 4.45.Google Scholar
59 Apart from religious considerations, the relic of the True Cross was most probably sent by Justin II and Sophia to cultivate the Franks as potential political allies for Byzantium. See Cameron, Averil, ‘The Early Religious Policies of Justin II,’ Studies in Church History 13 (1976) 59–60.Google Scholar
60 The evidence for this dating is well set out by Cameron, Averil, ibid. 59.Google Scholar
61 Ibid. 59–60.Google Scholar
62 Procopius, , Wars 8.25.11–12. See also Fortunatus, , Carm. 8.1.24 and Append. 1. De excidio Thoringiae 47–60.Google Scholar
63 Carm. 3.1–3.Google Scholar
64 Gregory of Tours, H F 4.28.Google Scholar
65 For some examples, see Gregory of Tours, H F 6.11; 6.26. Evodius, bishop-elect of Javols, was ejected even before his consecration: Gregory of Tours, Vitae Patrum 6.4 (ed. Krusch, Bruno, MGH SRM 1.2; Hannover 1885).Google Scholar
66 de Maillé, G., Recherches sur les origines chrétiennes de Bordeaux (Paris 1960) 84.Google Scholar
67 Gregory of Nazianzus, Carmen de vita sua 2.439–62 (PG 37.1059–61); ibid. 2.525–29 (PG 37.1067); ibid. 2.1871–1905 (PG 37.1160–61); Epist. 49 (PG 37.101); Epist. 138 (PG 37.233–36); Epist. 182 (PG 37.296–97).Google Scholar
68 Tardi 76 posits a visit to Spain on the basis of 5.1–2. This is impossible, since in 5.1. Fortunatus speaks of Martin's portitor Bonosus, who will take the poet's letter back to Braga. Martin of Braga had earlier visited Tours, and had written verse for the church of St. Martin (Gregory, , H F 5.37.). Venantius had probably been brought into contact with Martin via correspondence emanating from Turonian circles during the episcopate of Gregory. Communication with Galicia was normally by sea and not by the long and hazardous land route. So Venantius, in 5.1, speaks of his correspondence with Martin being conducted over the waves. The sea route was the more usual one — Gregory, H F 8.35. On commerce and communications between Gaul and Galicia, see Lewis, A., ‘Le commerce maritime et les navires de la Gaule occidentale 550–750,’ Études Mérovingiennes (Poitiers 1952) 192.Google Scholar
69 Neither Meyer, Koebner, nor Tardi mentions this trip. Meyer, 55 and 76, provides a most unsatisfactory explanation of Carm. 2.8. He identifies Launebode's wife Berethrude, mentioned in this poem, with the Beretrude mentioned by Gregory, H F 9.35, who had an estate near Poitiers and could have been known to Fortunatus. Meyer makes Launebode her husband and suggests that he was in Toulouse in the service of Sigibert, the master of Poitiers. According to Meyer 54–55, Carm. 7–8 were written for celebrations in a church at Poitiers to mark the building of the church of St. Saturninus at Toulouse by the absent Launebode. The first objection to this theory is that there is no evidence whatsoever that the Beretrude of H F 9.35 is the wife of Launebode. Secondly, Meyer must go to tortuous lengths in order to make the evidence fit his theory — e.g., ceremonies in Poitiers to celebrate events in Toulouse. It is more logical that Venantius, who visited Bordeaux and travelled up the Garonne and Gers, visited Toulouse. Meyer 71 misses the point that the Gers flows into the Garonne approximately 135 km. upstream from Bordeaux, near Agen, and halfway to Toulouse.Google Scholar
70 The passio is found in Ruinart, T., ed. Acta primorum martyrum sincera et selecta (2nd ed.; Amsterdam 1713) 129–33. Venantius, , Carm. 2.7.17–22, develops the image of the saint as a doctor to the ‘poisoned’ citizens of Toulouse. This idea is not found in the passio. The poem pictures the bishop as tied to a bull while the bull is goaded to fury (2.7.23–32); the passio, on the other hand (131), explains that the bull was being prepared by the pagans as a sacrificial victim. The passio (ibid.) also speaks of two women seeing to the body of the saint after his martyrdom while Venantius, perhaps drawing on another source, makes these two a woman and her servant (2.7.33–34). The passio has been dated to the fifth century. See Garrigues, M. O., ‘Saturnino di Tolosa,’ Bibliotheca Sanctorum 11 (1968) col. 673.Google Scholar
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72 Toulouse at this time was under Merovingian control. Longnon, A., Géographie de la Gaule au VIe siècle (Paris 1878) Pl. 5 and Pl. 6, assigns Toulouse to Chilperic's kingdom.Google Scholar
73 Vita S. Albini 1 (MGH AA 4.2.27).Google Scholar
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75 This is the date of the first collection of poems, see note 31.Google Scholar
76 Paul the Deacon, Hist. Langobard. 2.13.Google Scholar
77 Gregory of Tours, De virtutibus sancti Martini 1.2 (ed. B. Krush, MGH SRM 1.2; Hannover 1885). Book I is dated before 576 by Monod, G., Études critiques sur les sources de l'histoire mérovingienne (Paris 1872) 42.Google Scholar
78 Vita Martini 1.34–35.Google Scholar
79 Vita Martini 4.661–62.Google Scholar
80 Tardi 86–87 suggests Fortunatus wrote Book 8 of his poems in his leisure, before he was ordained a priest in 576. This seems to be based more on Tardi's desire that Venantius later display a sacerdotal sensibility that is not brought into question by ‘poèmes de mauvais goût,’ than on any substantial evidence for the date of his ordination.Google Scholar
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87 Caron, 249; Aigrain 82; Tardi 85; Walsh 292.Google Scholar
88 Aigrain, 82 n. 1: ‘Mais il est trop évident qu'ici le poète veut faire un jeu de mots sur l'anagramme d'Agnes.’ Google Scholar
89 Tardi, 85: ‘Il se qualifie lui-même d'agens et les documents contemporains de Radegonde font mention de plusieurs intendants (agentes), chargés des intérêts du couvent…. D'ailleurs un poème du livre ix nous montre Fortunat dirigeant lui-même les travaux de la moisson.’ See Tardi's n. 2, on the same page, for mention of the play on the words agens/Agnes. Cf. 170: ‘Nous avons établi qu'il fut l'intendant … occupé à la surveillance des immense domaines du couvent.’ Google Scholar
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95 Bishop Perpetuus of Tours requested verses from Sidonius for St. Martin's church: Sidonius Apollinaris, Epist. 4.18.4. Martin of Braga had also written verses for the walls of the church: Gregory, H F 5.37. Paulinus of Périgueux wrote a metrical version of the Vita Martini for Perpetuus (PL 61.1009–72). On the genesis and construction of this work see Chase, A. H., ‘The Metrical Lives of St. Martin of Tours by Paulinus and Fortunatus and the Prose Life by Sulpicius Severus,’ Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 43 (1932) 51–76.Google Scholar
96 Koebner, 86–91.Google Scholar
97 Carm. 5.5. Praef.Google Scholar
98 Sigoaldus showed kindness to Venantius when the poet first came to Gaul: Carm. 10.16.1–4. He was later made comes by Childebert II: Carm. 10.16.11–12. In Carm. 10.17, we see the distribution of food to the poor by Sigoaldus on behalf of Childebert II. Galactorius also rose to the position of defensor after a long career: Carm. 10.19.Google Scholar
99 Gregory, , H F 5.4.Google Scholar
100 Gregory, , H F 5.26; for the levy from Tours, cf. H F 5.14.Google Scholar
101 Gregory, , H F 5.49.Google Scholar
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103 Dill, 333–34. This spirited denunciation is a classic instance of Dill's historical moralizing.Google Scholar
104 Pliny, , Panegyric 4.1.Google Scholar
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106 Koebner, 95–105: Der Panegyricus auf Chilperic. Die Dichtung des Fortunatus im Dienste der Vermittlung zwischen König und Episkopat. See especially Koebner's argument, 102, that praise of Fredegund must be seen in the context of the recent slanders circulating at that time.Google Scholar
107 Koebner, 105. Perhaps, as Meyer 21 and Koebner 105 suggest, the poet visited Chilperic a second time in 581.Google Scholar
108 Gregory's account is in H F 9.20. See Meyer, 22 and 137 for the poems in the appendix; Koebner 108–109.Google Scholar
109 Gregory, , H F 9.30.Google Scholar
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