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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 April 2017
In her seventh-century vita of St Radegund, Baudonivia refers in passing to the attendance of a layman named Leo at an Aquitanian ecclesiastical council. This Leo may be identifiable with the ‘Leo of Poitiers’ named by Gregory of Tours as a partisan of Chramn, the rebellious son of King Chlothar i (r. 511–61). If so, then Leo's attendance suggests that the council assembled during the brief period of alliance between Chramn and Childebert i, 555/8. This long-neglected council thus provides insight into one of the major events of a comparatively obscure decade in the history of the regnum Francorum.
1 Baudonivia, Vita Sanctae Radegundis liber II, ed. Krusch, Bruno, MGH, SRM, ii, Hanover 1888, 13–17 Google Scholar. For the dating of Baudonivia's vita see Wattenbach, Wilhelm and Levison, Wilhelm, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter: Vorzeit und Karolinger, I: Die Vorzeit von den Anfängen bis zur Herrschaft der Karolinger, Weimar 1952, 97–8Google Scholar. On Radegund, her cult and her biographers see Aigrain, René, Sainte Radegonde (vers 520–587), 2nd edn, Paris 1918 Google Scholar; Scheibelreiter, Georg, ‘Konigstochter im Kloster: Radegund (d. 587) und der Nonnenaufstand von Poitiers (589)’, Mitteilungen des Osterreichischen Instituts fur Geschichtsforschung lxxxvii (1979), 1–37 Google Scholar; Brennan, Brian, ‘St Radegund and the early development of her cult at Poitiers’, Journal of Religious History xiii/4 (1985), 340–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gäbe, Sabine, ‘Radegundis: sancta, regina, ancilla: zum Heiligkeitsideal der Radegundisviten von Fortunat und Baudonivia’, Francia xvi (1989), 1–30 Google Scholar; Folz, Robert, Les Saintes Reines du moyen âge en occident (VIe–XIIIe siècles), Brussels 1992, 13–24 Google Scholar; George, Judith, Venantius Fortunatus: a Latin poet in Merovingian Gaul, Oxford 1992, 161–77Google Scholar; Moreira, Isabel, ‘ Provisatrix Optima: St Radegund of Poitiers’ relic petitions to the east’, Journal of Medieval History xix (1993), 285–305 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Van Dam, Raymond, Saints and their miracles in late antique Gaul, Princeton 1993, 30–41 Google Scholar; Favreau, Robert, ‘Le Culte de Sainte Radegonde à Poitiers au moyen âge’, in Bouter, Nicole (ed.), Les Religieuses dans le cloitre et dans le monde des origines à nos jours, Saint–Etienne 1994, 91–109 Google Scholar; Coon, Lynda L., Sacred fictions: holy women and hagiography in late antiquity, Philadelphia 1997, 126–35Google Scholar; Coates, Simon, ‘Regendering Radegund? Fortunatus, Baudonivia and the problem of female sanctity in Merovingian Gaul’, in Swanson, R. N. (ed.), Gender and Christian religion (Studies in Church History xxiv, 1998), 37–50 Google Scholar; Kitchen, John, Saints' lives and the rhetoric of gender: male and female in Merovingian hagiography, Oxford 1998, 115–23, 134–53Google Scholar; Rosenwein, Barbara, Negotiating space: power, restraint, and privileges of immunity in early medieval Europe, Ithaca 1999, 52–8Google Scholar; Wehlau, Ruth, ‘Literal and symbolic: the language of asceticism in two lives of Radegund’, Florilegium xix (2002), 75–89 Google Scholar; Joye, Sylvie, ‘Basine, Radegonde et la Thuringe chez Grégoire de Tours’, Francia xxxii (2005), 1–18 Google Scholar; and Glenn, Jason, ‘Two lives of Saint Radegund’, in Glenn, Jason (ed.), The Middle Ages in texts and texture, Toronto 2011, 57–70 Google Scholar. See also the contributions to Études mérovingiennes: actes des journées de Poitiers, 1er–3 mai, 1952, Paris 1953 Google Scholar, and La Riche Personnalité de Sainte Radegonde: conférences et homélies prononcées à Poitiers à l'occasion du XIVe Centenaire de sa mort (587–1987), Poitiers 1988 Google Scholar.
2 Baudonivia, Vita Sanctae Radegundis liber ii, prologus.
3 Glenn, ‘Two lives of Saint Radegund’, 61–5.
4 ‘ad honorem loci et salvationem populi’: Baudonivia, Vita Sanctae Radegundis liber ii, 16. See also Moreira, ‘Provisatrix optima’, 285–305.
5 C. H. Kneepkens identifies Radegund's cilicium as an ‘ascetic garment which … also served as a prayer rug’: ‘“Supra sanctae Radegundis cilicium”: notes on Baudonivia's Life of Radegund (ii, 15)’, in Bartelink, G. J. M., Hilhorst, A. and Kneepkens, C. H. (eds), Eulogia: mélanges offerts à Antoon A. R. Bastiaensen à l'occasion de son soixante-cinquième anniversaire, The Hague 1991, 163–73 at p. 173 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the senatorial grade of vir inlustris (or illustris), which indicated the highest-ranking individuals of office-holding status, see Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft ix (1916), 1070–85Google Scholar, s.v. illustris; Jones, A. H. M., The later Roman Empire, 284–602: a social, economic, and administrative survey, Baltimore 1986, 528–36Google Scholar; and, more generally, Näf, Beat, Senatorisches Standesbewusstsein in spätrömischer Zeit, Freiburg 1995 Google Scholar, and Badel, Christophe, La Noblesse de l'empire romain: les masques et la vertu, Seyssel 2005, 387–401 Google Scholar on Gaul specifically (see also n. 53 below). It is unnecessary to rehearse here old debates over the extent to which the sixth-century Gallic senators could claim direct familial descent from the late imperial aristocracy. What is important is that Leo was recognised by Baudonivia as possessing high social status within Aquitanian society.
6 These are the identifications proposed by Krusch in his edition (387 n. 1), in the case of Eusebius following Mabillon. Louis Duchesne identifies thirteen Gallic bishops named Leontius, of whom eleven can be dismissed as possible candidates on chronological grounds: Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, 2nd edn, Paris 1907–15Google Scholar. While two Leontii held episcopal office in mid sixth-century Bordeaux, it was the son rather than the father who reigned in the 550s. Duchesne similarly identifies eleven bishops named Eusebius. Among these prelates, only two possibly held office between 552 and 561: the bishops of Antibes and Saintes. As only the latter was a suffragan of the metropolitan of Bordeaux, an identification with Eusebius of Saintes would seem far more likely.
7 ‘Vir inluster Leo nomine ad consilium sinodi evocatus a viris apostolicis Leontio et Eusebio episcopis, dum iter ageret, oculi eius gravi sunt caligine obducti, sanguinis nube cooperti; nisi se a famulis sustentatus pergeret, penitus viam nec videret. Qui ingressus monasterium beatae, ubi filias suas ei devotus tradidit Domino servituras, introivit in oratorium domnae Mariae nomini dedicatum. Post orationem datam prosternit se fide plenus supra sanctae cilicium, viriliter eam invocans, et tamdiu superiacuit, quousque dolor discessit, caligo fugata est, coagulatus sanguis se, venis ministrantibus, perduxit, clarisque oculis, qui manibus sustentatus venerat, sanus rediit. De cilicio beatae lumen recepit; laetus atque incolomis ad sinodum, ubi coeperat, ambulavit. Quod post, ipso referente, universa sinodus audivit, ac inde regrediens, nobis hoc ore proprio disseruit. Ipsa ei fecit devotio fundamentum basilicae dominae Radegundis percutere, ubi et centum dedit solidos ad fabricam ipsam faciendum’: Baudonivia, Vita Sanctae Radegundis liber ii , 15.
8 In dating the construction of the convent to the period between 552 and 557 I follow Labande-Mailfert, Yvonne, ‘Les Debuts de Sainte-Croix’, in Labande, E.-R. (ed.), Histoire de l'Abbaye Sainte-Croix de Poitiers, Poitiers 1986, 25–69 at p. 35 Google Scholar. This dating has been affirmed by, among others, Klingshirn, William, Caesarius of Arles: the making of a Christian community in late antique Gaul, Cambridge 1994, 265 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Favreau, ‘Le Culte de Sainte Radegonde’, 91; and Reydellet, Marc (ed.), Venance Fortunat: poèmes, Paris 2002–3, ii. 189 n. 131Google Scholar. Jo Ann McNamama, John E. Halborg and E. Gordon Whatley prefer a slightly different range of years (555/560) but acknowledge that Radegund must have received Caesarius of Arles's monastic rule from Caesaria the Younger prior to the latter's death (c. 560): Sainted women of the dark ages, Durham 1992, 89 n. 87Google Scholar. On the construction of the Marian basilica prior to 561 see Labande-Mailfert, ‘Les Debuts de Sainte-Croix’, 35, and Favreau, ‘Le Culte de Sainte Radegonde’, 91. Based in part on this dating, Kneepkens broadly dates Leo's arrival at the convent to sometime prior to 561, in the process correcting a mistaken association of the oratory with the basilica, both of which were dedicated to Mary: ‘Supra sanctae Radegundis cilicium’, 163–7; c.f. Viellard-Troiekouroff, May, Les Monuments religieux de la Gaule d'après les œuvres de Grégoire de Tours, Paris 1976, 224–30Google Scholar. On the Marian basilica see also Kneepkens, C. H., ‘À Propos des débuts de l'histoire de l'église-funéraire Sainte Radegonde de Poitiers’, Cahiers de civilisation médiévale xxix (1986), 331–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
9 Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum, ed. Krusch, B. and Levison, W., MGH, SRM i/1, Hanover 1937–51, iv. 26Google Scholar. Martindale, J. R. (ed.), The prosopography of the later Roman Empire, iii, Cambridge 1992, 769 Google Scholar, conflates the two councils.
10 Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum v. 36.
11 On the council of Saintes and its context see von Hefele, Karl Joseph and LeClercq, Henri, Histoire des conciles d'après les documents originaux, Paris 1907–52, iii/1, 181–2Google Scholar; Pontal, Odette, Histoire des conciles mérovingiens, Paris 1989, 155–6Google Scholar; and Halfond, Gregory, ‘Charibert i and the episcopal leadership of the Kingdom of Paris (561–567)’, Viator xliii/2 (2012), 1–28 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
12 Labande-Mailfert, ‘Les Debuts de Sainte-Croix’, 112 n. 75; Kneepkens, ‘Supra sanctae Radegundis cilicium’, 166; Halfond, Gregory, The archaeology of Frankish church councils, Leiden 2010, 229 Google Scholar.
13 It may well have been Leo's own daughters who preserved the story of their father's journey, and who directly or indirectly passed it on to Baudonivia.
14 Weidemann, Margarete, Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit nach den Werken Gregors von Tours, Mainz 1982, ii. 312 Google Scholar. Although Gregory does not explicitly refer to Leo as such, a sentence earlier he refers to another local supporter of Chramn, Ascovindus, as a civis. On this terminology see Loseby, S. T., ‘Lost cities: the end of the civitas-system in Frankish Gaul’, in Diefenbach, S. and Müller, G. M. (eds), Gallien in Spätantike und Frühmittelalter: Kulturgeschichte einer Region, Berlin 2013, 223–52 at p. 232 Google Scholar. Loseby identifies cives as ‘major local landowners’.
15 ‘Habebat enim et Leonem Pectavinsim ad omnia mala perpetranda gravem stimulum, qui nominis sui tamquam leo erat in omni cupiditate saevissimus. Hic fertur quadam vice dixisse, quod Martinus et Marcialis confessoris Domini nihil fisci viribus utile reliquissent. Sed statim percussus a virtute confessorum, surdus et mutus effectus, amens est mortuos. Venit enim miser ad basilicam sancti Martini Toronus celebravitque vigilias, dedit munera, sed non eum respexit virtus consueta. Cum ipsa enim qua venerat infirmitate regressus est’: Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.16.
16 Martindale identifies Leo 2 (Chramn's advisor) and Leo 8 (vir inlustris) as distinct individuals: The prosopography of the later Roman Empire, iii. 768–9. So do Pietri, Luce and Heijmans, Marc: Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne (314–614), Paris 2013, 1117–18Google Scholar.
17 This is suggested by the prosopographical data compiled by Stroheker, Karl Friedrich, Der senatorische Adel im spatantiken Gallien, Tübingen 1948 Google Scholar; Selle-Hosback, Karin, ‘Prosopographie merowingischer amsträger in der Zeit von 511 bis 613’, unpubl. PhD diss. Bonn 1974 Google Scholar; Heinzelmann, Martin, ‘Gallische Prosopographie, 260–527’, Francia x (1982), 531–718 Google Scholar; Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit; Martindale, The prosopography of the later Roman Empire, iii; and Pietri and Heijmans, Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne. The episcopal fasti similarly do not suggest the popularity of the name among the Aquitanian episcopal elite of the sixth century: Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux, ii. 1–102. Regarding those few Leos from the mid-sixth century with Aquitanian links, there is insufficient evidence to identify either Leo of Poitiers or Leo the vir inlustris with Leo, brother of the rector Provinciae Jovinus, and possible son of Bishop Aspasius of Eauze, mentioned in Venantius Fortunatus, Carmina, ed. F. Leo, MGH, Auctores Antiquissimi, iv/1, Berlin 1881, vii.12.121 (c. 566). On this Leo see Pietri and Heijmans, Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne, 1117. Similarly, it is impossible to say whether Leo of Poitiers or Leo the vir inlustris can be associated with a witness to the testament of Aredius of Limoges and his mother Pelagia from 572. See Pietri and Heijmans, Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne, 1117.
18 Gregory of Tours relates that five ministri of Chramn who joined the prince at Clermont stole valuables from the oratory of St Saturninus: Liber in gloria martyrum, ed. Bruno Krusch, MGH, SRM, i/2, Hanover 1885, 65. One of the thieves was subsequently punished for his sin by experiencing temporary blindness caused by his eyes congealing with blood. While it is tempting to associate this thief with Leo due to their common afflictions, there are several reasons to reject such an association. First, Gregory does not identify the thief by name, when clearly he was familiar with Leo of Poitiers. Second, although Gregory accuses Leo of covetousness towards the Church, he does not describe him as a common thief. Finally, Gregory's account seems to imply that the thieves originally came from Orléans, to which they fled after the theft. More likely, Gregory was drawing here upon a common hagiographical motif that associated ocular ailments with greed: Van Dam, Saints and their miracles, 88.
19 It is tempting to hypothesise that Leo's journey to the council at Saintes began at Tours, following his vigil, as Poitiers would have been along his route. This, of course, is mere conjecture.
20 Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.26.
21 On the dating of the Decem libri historiarum see Murray, Alexander C., ‘Chronology and the composition of the Histories of Gregory of Tours’, Journal of Late Antiquity i (2008), 157–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
22 On necatores pauperum see Rosenwein, Negotiating space, 42–7; Olivier Guillot, ‘“Assassins des pauvres”: une invective pour mieux culpabiliser les usurpateurs de biens d’église, aidant à resituer l'activité conciliaire des Gaules entre 561 et 573’, in Hoareau-Dodinau, Jacqueline and Texier, Pascal (eds), La Culpabilité: actes des XXèmes Journées d'histoire du droit, Limoges 2001, 329–66Google Scholar; Wood, Susan, The proprietary Church in the medieval West, Oxford 2006, 25 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Moore, Michael E., A sacred kingdom: bishops and the rise of Frankish kingship, 300–850, Washington, DC 2011, 194–9Google Scholar.
23 For example Orléans (511), c. 7; Epaone (517), c. 18; Clermont (535), c. 5 and Epistle; Orléans (541), c. 25. On these conciliar efforts to regulate secular confiscations of ecclesiastical property see Halfond, ‘Charibert i’, 17–21. Jean Durliat has argued controversially that ecclesiastical resources could be claimed legally by Frankish royal authorities: Les Finances publiques de Dioclétien aux Carolingiens (284–889), Sigmaringen 1990, 148–9Google Scholar. On the ownership of ecclesiastical properties see also the contributions of Michel Rouche, Jean Heuclin and Elisabeth Magnou-Nortier to Magnou-Nortier, Elisabeth (ed.), Aux Sources de la gestion publique, Lille 1993, ii. 125–69Google Scholar, and Wood, The proprietary Church, 16–32. For a traditional view of the secular threat to ecclesiastical property see Lesne, Emile, Histoire de la propriété ecclésiastique en France, Lille 1910, i. 439–52Google Scholar.
24 Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum vi.46. On Chilperic's patronage see Halfond, Gregory, ‘ Sis quoque Catholicis religionis apex: the ecclesiastical patronage of Chilperic i and Fredegund’, Church History lxxxi/1 (2012), 48–76 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
25 Heinzelmann, Martin, Gregory of Tours: history and society in the sixth century, trans. Carroll, Christopher, Cambridge 2001, 29–30 Google Scholar.
26 Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.11, 13, 16.
27 Ibid. iv.5–7, 11–12, 15, 31. On the ecclesiastical politics of Clermont see Wood, Ian, ‘The ecclesiastical politics of Merovingian Clermont’, in Wormald, Patrick, Bullough, Donald and Collins, Roger (eds), Ideal and reality in Frankish and Anglo-Saxon society, Oxford 1983, 34–57 Google Scholar. Heinzelmann suggests that Cato was actually a relation of Gregory's: Gregory of Tours, 25.
28 ‘Chramnus vero apud Arvernus diversa, ut diximus, exercebat mala, semper adversus Cautinum episcopum invidiam tenens’: Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.16.
29 On Chramn's arrival see ibid. iv.9.
30 Chramn's supporters included Ascovindus, a vir magnificus of Clermont (Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit, ii. 313; Martindale, The prosopography of the later Roman Empire, iii. 136); Cato, presbyter and pseudo-bishop of Clermont (Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit, i. 155; Godding, Robert, Prêtres en Gaule mérovingienne, Brussels 2001, 481 Google Scholar; Pietri and Heijmans, Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne, 442–4); Imnacharius and Scapthar (Martindale, The prosopography of the later Roman Empire, iii. 618; Pietri and Heijmans, Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne, 1037, 1720); Count Salustius of Clermont (Stroheker, Der senatorische Adel, 212; Selle-Hosback, ‘Prosopographie merowingischer’, 153–4; Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit, i. 72; Pietri and Heijmans, Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne, 1699); and Wiliachar, whose identification with the presbyter mentioned by Gregory of Tours in De virtutibus sancti Martini episcopi 1.23, 3.13 has been questioned, but seems to me likely (Godding, Prêtres en Gaule mérovingienne, 521; Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit, i. 239; Pietri and Heijmans, Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne, 2030; Hilchenbach, Kai Peter [ed.], Das vierte Buch der Historien von Gregor von Tours, Bern 2009, ii. 513–14Google Scholar). Luce Pietri suggests that Wiliachar was not actually ordained a priest until after Chramn had been defeated: La Ville de Tours du IVe au Vie siècle: naissance d'une cite chrétienne, Paris 1983, 227 n. 225Google Scholar.
31 His opponents included Duke Austrapius of Tours and Poitiers (Selle-Hosback, ‘Prosopographie merowingischer’, 51–2; Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit, i. 34 and i. 80; Martindale, The prosopography of the later Roman Empire, iii. 157; Pietri and Heijmans, Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne, 302); Bishop Cautinus of Clermont (Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux, ii. 36; Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit, i. 155–6; Pietri and Heijmans, Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne, 446–7); Count Firminus of Clermont (Stroheker, Der senatorische Adel, 174–5; Selle-Hosback, ‘Prosopographie merowingischer’, 91–3; Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit, i. 71–2; Pietri and Heijmans, Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne, 775–6); Caesaria, wife of Count Britianus of Javols (Stroheker, Der senatorische Adel, 158; Martindale, The prosopography of the later Roman Empire, iii. 258; Wood, ‘Ecclesiastical politics’, 48; Pietri and Heijmans, Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne, 385). Wood observes that ‘While in Clermont, [Chramn] emerged as the focus for those who were dissatisfied with the status quo’: Merovingian kingdoms, 83. Cf. Rouche, Michel, L'Aquitaine, des Wisigoths aux Arabes, 418–781: naissance d'une région, Paris 1979, 62–3Google Scholar.
32 ‘vilibus personis aetate iuvenele fluctuantibus’: Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.13.
33 ‘qui nominis sui tamquam leo erat in omni cupiditate saevissimus’: ibid. iv.16. Gregory also associated cupiditas, for example, with the hated King Chilperic: Heinzelmann, Gregory of Tours, 49–50.
34 Imnacharius and Scapthar, whom Gregory (iv.13) identifies only as ‘primus de latere suo’ (in reference to Chramn), should be included among this group. Bernard Bachrach identifies the two men as ‘leaders of [Chramn's] bodyguard’: Merovingian military organization, 481–751, Minneapolis 1972, 28 Google Scholar. On the seizure of the daughters of local senatores by Chramn's entourage see Rouche, Michel, ‘La Stratégie du pouvoir des lignages sénatoriaux d'Aquitaine (ve–viiie siècle)’, in Bréteau, Claude H. and Zagnoli, Nello (eds), Production, pouvoir et parenté dans le monde méditerranéen de Sumer à nos jours, Paris 1993, 147–74 at p. 170 Google Scholar, and Joye, Sylvie, La Femme ravie: le mariage par rapt dans les société du haut moyen âge occidental, Turnhout 2012, 212–13CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
35 Gregory of Tours, Liber in gloria martyrum, 65. Gregory reports that the thieves fled to Orléans following their crime. That Chramn may already have been surrounding himself with partisans from Childebert's regnum could suggest possible preliminary support from Childebert even prior the establishment of an open alliance between uncle and nephew.
36 Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.13. On these two families see Wood, ‘Ecclesiastical politics’, 48. On the counts of Clermont see also Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit, i. 70–3. On Gregory of Tours's personal hostility towards the Hortensii see Walter Goffart, ‘Foreigners in the Histories of Gregory of Tours’, in Goffart, Walter, Rome's fall and after, London 1989, 275–91 at pp. 282–3Google Scholar.
37 Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.35.
38 On the political allegiance of Poitiers see Longnon, Auguste, Géographie de la Gaule au VIe siècle, Paris 1878, 561 Google Scholar. There is no evidence to suggest that Chramn's move to Poitiers was the result of a compromise between himself and Chlothar; c.f. Hilchenbach, Das vierte Buch der Historien von Gregor von Tours, ii. 509.
39 ‘Porro Chlotharius rex duos filios suos, id est Chariberthum et Gunthramnum, ad eum diriget. Qui per Arvernum venientes audientesque, quod in Lemovicino esset’: Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.16.
40 Leo's civitas of origin is not compelling evidence for the suggestion that Chramn only met his accomplice after moving to Poitiers; cf. Hilchenbach, Das vierte Buch der Historien von Gregor von Tours, ii. 510.
41 Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.16. Marius of Avenches implies that Childebert encouraged Chramn's defection: ‘Eo anno Chramnus filius Chlothacarii regis sollicitanti Childeberto patruo suo ad ipsum latebram dedit’: Chronica, ed. Favrod, Justin, Lausanne 1993, s.a. 555Google Scholar. Childebert's actions may have been inspired in part by his anger over Chlothar's annexation of the entirety of Theudebald's regnum: Agathius, Historiarum libri quinque, ed. Keydell, Rudolf, Berlin 1967, ii.14.8–11Google Scholar. C.f. Rouche who suggests that it was the senatorial aristocracy of Poitiers who encouraged the alliance with Childebert: L'Aquitaine, 63. On Childebert's progeny see Martindale, J. R. (ed.), The prosopography of the later Roman Empire, ii, Cambridge 1971, 284–5Google Scholar, and Eugen Ewig, ‘Die Namengebung bei den ältesten Frankenkönigen und im merowingischen Königshaus’, in Ewig, Eugen, Spätantikes und fränkisches Gallien, iii, ed. Becher, Matthias, Theo Kölzer and Ulrich Nonn, Munich 2009, 163–211 at p. 196 Google Scholar.
42 Rouche argues that Chlothar had already granted Chramn a ‘vice-kingdom’ centred at Clermont: L'Aquitaine, 64. Similarly, Hilchenbach suggests that Chramn exercised royal authority while in Clermont (either delegated by Chlothar or usurped): Das vierte Buch der Historien von Gregor von Tours, ii. 503. It is true that Gregory (iv.13) explicitly refers to Chramn as a rex in describing his time in Clermont, and that those lands under Chramn's supervision apparently also included Tours and Limoges (iv.16). None of this, however, assured Chramn's ultimate inheritance. See Wood, Merovingian kingdoms, 58–60, who explains Chramn's motivations as those of ‘a prince determined to have some share in the Merovingian Kingdom’. Wood (p. 92) also plausibly suggests that as the lone son of Chlothar and Chunsina, Chramn may have believed that his share in his father's inheritance was precarious. Régine Le Jan defines Chramn's status as ‘quasi royale’: ‘La Sacralité de la royauté mérovingienne’, Annales Histoire Sciences Sociales lviii (2003), 1217–41 at p. 1235 Google Scholar.
43 Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.16; Marius of Avenches, Chronica s.a. 556. On Chramn's military activities during this period see Bachrach, Merovingian military organization, 28–30. The Liber historiae francorum, ed. Krusch, Bruno, MGH, SRM, ii, Hanover 1888, 28 Google Scholar, adds to Gregory's account the unverifiable detail of Chramn taking treasure to Paris to win the support of Childebert; see Gerberding, Richard, The rise of the Carolingians and the Liber Historiae Francorum, Oxford 1987, 36 Google Scholar.
44 Grierson, Philip and Blackburn, Mark, Medieval European coinage: the early Middle Ages (5th–10th centuries), Cambridge 1986, 91 (re. B 5492 = 5493 = P 34)Google Scholar.
45 Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.20; Marius of Avenches, Chronica s.a. 560. Gregory's account explicitly parallels the actions of Chlothar and Chramn to those of David and Absalom: Heinzelmann, Gregory of Tours, 205. T. M. Charles-Edwards suggests that Chramn inherited Breton support from Childebert: Wales and the Britons, 350–1064, Oxford 2013, 65–6Google Scholar. On his ally, Conomer, see also pp. 67–8.
46 On Chlothar's pilgrimage to the tomb of Martin, and his confession of sin, see Van Dam, Saints and their miracles, 23. On Marius of Avenches's dating of Chramn and Chlothar's deaths see Favrod, Justin, ‘Les Sources et la chronologie de Marius d'Avenches’, Francia xvii (1990), 1–21 at pp. 16–18 Google Scholar.
47 Besides the meeting in question, councils assembled in Saintes also in 561/7 and 579: Halfond, Archaeology, 229–31.
48 On the Council of Bordeaux (584/5) see ibid. 249.
49 On the political allegiance of Saintes see Longnon, Géographie, 555; Eugen Ewig, ‘Die fränkischen Teilungen und Teilreiche (511–613)’, in Ewig, Eugen, Spätantikes und fränkisches Gallien, i–ii, ed. Atsma, Hartmut, Munich 1976–9, i. 114–71 at vol. i. 121Google Scholar. If the dating for the council proposed below is correct, then Chlothar's aforementioned intervention in an episcopal election of Saintes occurred in the aftermath of Chramn's failed revolt and Childebert's death. On Childebert's role in the convocations of the Councils of Orléans (533 and 549, and probably 538 and 541) and Paris (551/2) see Charles de Clercq, La Législation religieuse franque de Clovis à Charlemagne (507–814), Louvain 1936, 14–17, 20–35; Pontal, Histoire des conciles mérovingiens, 101–4, 107–32; and Halfond, Archaeology, 226–8.
50 Rouche, L'Aquitaine, 65 (carte 7).
51 Halfond, Archaeology, 70, 77–8.
52 Aigrain, Sainte Radegonde, 69.
53 See Handley, Mark, Death, society and culture: inscriptions and epitaphs in Gaul and Spain, AD 300–750, Oxford 2003, 35–56 Google Scholar. On the evolving use of the title in seventh-century royal charters as a marker of royal service see Bergmann, Werner, ‘Personennamen und Gruppenzugehörigkeit nach dem Zeugnis der merowingischen Konigsurkunden’, in Geuenich, Dieter, Haubrichs, Wolfgang and Jarnut, Jörg (eds), Nomen et Gens: zur historischen Aussagekraft frühmittelalterlicher Personennamen, Berlin 1997, 94–105 Google Scholar, and Reimitz, Helmut, History, Frankish identity and the framing of western ethnicity, 550–850, Cambridge 2015, 299–304 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
54 On the Leontii, and Leontius of Bordeaux specifically, see Griffe, Elie, ‘Un Évêque de Bordeaux au vie siècle: Léonce le Jeune’, Bulletin de littérature ecclésiastique lxiv (1963), 63–71 Google Scholar; Stroheker, Der senatorische Adel, 188; Heinzelmann, Martin, Bischofsherrschaft in Gallien, Munich 1976, 217–20Google Scholar; Martindale, The prosopography of the later Roman Empire, iii. 774; George, Venantius Fortunatus, 70–4, 108–13; and Pietri and Heijmans, Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne, 1145–9. For a stemma of the Leontii, Ruricii, Aviti and Appolinares and their relations see Stroheker, Der senatorische Adel, 236–7.
55 i.e. the Basilicas of SS Vivien and Eutropius: Venantius Fortunatus, Carmina, i.12–13.
56 Longnon, Géographie, 545. Leontius may also have attended the Council of Orléans (549), convoked by Childebert i, although it is very possible that it was Leontius i who subscribed to the conciliar acts: Griffe, ‘Un Évêque de Bordeaux au vie siècle’, 63.
57 ‘Et sic principis est ulta iniuria’: Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.26.
58 Rouche, L'Aquitaine, 65 (carte 7). Leontius’ familial links to the Aviti-Apollinares and Ruricii families may have encouraged the bishop's interest in Chramn's Clermont and Limoges as well.
59 Agen: Bebianus (fl. 549) or Polemius (fl. 573)?; Angouleme: Abthonius (fl. 541/549)?; Perigueux: Sebaudis (fl. 541/2)? See respectively Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux, ii. 63, 68–9, 88.
60 Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.18; Fredegar, Chronica, MGH, SRM ii, ed. Bruno Krusch, Hanover 1888, iii.52. Ultimately the appointment would be blocked by Charibert, who preferred an alternative candidate. Rouche hypothesises that Wiliachar replaced Austrapius as dux during the latter's exile: L'Aquitaine, 63.
61 Baudonivia, Vita Sanctae Radegundis liber ii, 5.
62 Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum iv.16. On Tetricus see Weidemann, Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit, i. 164; Pietri and Heijmans, Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne, 1863–5; and Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux, ii. 186–7. Van Dam suggests that Tetricius had a ‘low opinion’ of Chramn: Saints and their miracles, 58.
63 Halfond, ‘Charibert i’, 17–22, 24, re. the Councils of Paris (556/73; dated by Halfond to 561/4) and Tours (to 567). Cf., on the Council of Tours, Dumézil, Bruno, ‘Consultations épiscopales et délibérations conciliaires dans la Gaule du vie siècle’, in Charageat, Martine and Leveleux-Teixeira, Corinne (eds), Consulter, délibérer, décider: donner son avis au moyen âge (France-Espagne, VIIe–XVIe siècle), Toulouse 2010, 61–7 at pp. 73–5Google Scholar. The acts of the far less conciliatory Council of Saintes (561/7), which nevertheless were hand-delivered to the court of Charibert by Heraclius of Saintes, do not survive.
64 Leontius of Bordeaux attended both Paris (556/73) and Saintes (561/7), the latter along with his provincial suffragans.