scholarly journals The Persecution in Lugdunum and the Marytyrdom of Irenaeus in the Eyes of Gregory of Tours

Scrinium ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-226
Author(s):  
Satoshi Ohtani
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Historia Ecclesiastica

In this article, I shall explore how Gregory of Tours, the Gallic sixth-century historian and bishop, understood the persecution in Lugdunum (present-day Lyon) in 177. In Libri historiarum decem and Liber in gloria martyrum, Gregory briefly describes the persecution and names the martyrs, including Irenaeus, the bishop of Lugdunum. According to ancient historians, however, Irenaeus was not a martyr. It has been established that Gregory’s list of martyrs was derived from Eusebius’ Antiquorum martyriorum collectio, of which only fragments had survived in Gregory’s time. In addition, the translation of Eusebius’ Historia ecclesiastica into Latin by Rufinus altered the passage referring to Antiquorum martyriorum collectio. Given the corruption of texts that occurred during late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, another image of the persecution in Lugdunum formed in the eyes of Gregory.


Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander O'Hara
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Cultural Hybridity ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
The World

In the early Middle Ages Europe’s political landscape was significantly shaped by the emergence of new fundamental modes of identification, both ethnic and religious. These processes created new forms of social cohesion and conflict. The world into which the Irish ascetic exile and monastic founder Columbanus entered when he left Ireland toward the end of the sixth century was a world of gentes, new constellations of peoples. The pluralistic political landscape of the gentes had replaced a world of empire. This chapter introduces the themes and approach of this volume, which explores Columbanus’s influence on Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of the modern European Union; the emerging idea of Europe in the early Middle Ages, which Columbanus gave voice to; and how reciprocity and cultural hybridity can be useful lenses through which to study this period of transformation from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages.

The Fate of Small Towns, Hilltop Settlements, and Elite Residences in Merovingian-Period Gaul

2020 ◽  
pp. 610-640
Author(s):  
Luc Bourgeois
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Power Networks ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
The Many

The study of places of power in the Merovingian realm has long been focused on cities, monasteries, and royal palaces. Recent archaeological research has led to the emergence of other categories. Four of them are addressed in this chapter. These include the capitals of fallen cities, which continue to mark the landscape in one way or another. Similarly, the fate of small Roman towns during the early Middle Ages shows that most of them continued to host a variety of secular and ecclesiastical powers. In addition, from the fourth century onward, large hilltop fortified settlements multiplied anew. They complemented earlier networks of authority, whether elite residences, artisan communities, or real towns. Finally, from the seventh century onward, the great aristocratic villas of late antiquity were transformed into settlements organized around one or more courtyards and supplemented by funerary and religious structures. The evolution of political spaces and lifestyles explains both the ruptures in power networks that occurred during the Merovingian epoch and the many continuities that can be seen in the four kinds of places studied in this chapter that were marked by these developments.

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