The Church in Fifth-Century Gaul: Evidence from Sidonius Apollinaris

R. P. C. Hanson

doi:10.1017/S0022046900048417

The Church in Fifth-Century Gaul: Evidence from Sidonius Apollinaris

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011

R. P. C. Hanson

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R. P. C. Hanson: Affiliation:
Professor of Theology, University of Nottingham

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There are several reasons why the study of the works of Sidonius Apollinaris should be of particular interest to ecclesiastical historians. He represents in a peculiar way the end of the old régime, under which Christianity had taken root and had begun to spread, and the beginning of the new period which we call the Middle Ages. He was a devoted admirer of the Roman imperial system, a devotee of the Muses of Roman poetry and prose, but also, in the second part of his life, a bishop of the Christian Church. He was born about 430, when the emperor Valentinian III, who could be reasonably represented as the scion of a legitimate dynasty, was apparently in secure possession of the imperial throne. He died about 480, bishop of a see in a barbarian kingdom, a few years after the last Roman puppet-emperor had been dethroned. He has left us not only poems and panegyrics but also letters dealing, among other things, with the day-to-day problems of his see. His contribution to our knowledge of the Gallic Church of the mid-fifth-century—a dark period by any standard of measurement—must be of great value, and perhaps a fresh survey of certain aspects of it may not be unfruitful.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , January 1970 , pp. 1 - 10

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046900048417 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1970

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^{page 1 note 1} References to Sidonius's works are taken from the Loeb edition, edited by W. H. Semple and E. H. Warmington, London and Cambridge (Mass.), i, 1963; ii, 1965.

^{page 1 note 2} Vagae, tepentes infrequentesque utque sic dixerim oscitabundae supplicationes quae saepe interpellantum prandiorum obicibus hebetebantuur: Ep., v. 14.2; cf. vii. 1.1–7.

^{page 2 note 1} Ep., v. 17.1–9.

^{page 2 note 2} Ibid., ix. 3.5.

^{page 2 note 3} Ibid., vi. 10.1, 2.

^{page 2 note 4} Ibid., vii. 3.1. I do not here examine the question, which is one for the attention of liturgical experts, of what these contestatiunculae were, whether ‘proper prefaces’ or actual masses composed by Sidonius.

^{page 2 note 5} Ibid., iv. 13.3, 4.

^{page 2 note 6} Ibid., ii. 10.2–4.

^{page 2 note 7} Compare the space enclosed by colonnades in front of Constantine's church of the Anastasis at Jerusalem.

^{page 2 note 8} Ibid., viii. 4.1.

^{page 2 note 9} Carm., xxii. 218.

^{page 3 note 1} Examples of its varying meanings can be found in Ep., iv. 11.6; vii. 5.3, 13.1 and 17.1; ix. 2.1, 9.6 and 11.5 and 8; Carm., xvi. 113.

^{page 3 note 2} E.g., Ep., ii. 9.4; iv 17.3.

^{page 3 note 3} Ibid., v. 1.2; vi. 10.1; ix. 2.1.

^{page 3 note 4} Ibid., i. 5.9.

^{page 3 note 5} Ibid., vi. 1.1, 3.

^{page 3 note 6} Ibid., vii. 9.6.

^{page 3 note 7} Ibid., iv. 25.1–5, Patiens of Lugdunum and Euphronius of Augustodunum consecrate a bishop for Châlons-sur-Sâone; vii. 5.1–4 and 9.5–25, Agroecius of Sens and Sidonius of Augustonemetum consecrate a bishop for Bourges.

^{page 3 note 8} Ibid., vi. 3.2; viii. 8.1.

^{page 4 note 1} Ep., iv. 25.1–4.

^{page 4 note 2} Ibid., vii. 5.8, 9.

^{page 4 note 3} Ibid., 5.1, 4.

^{page 4 note 4} Ibid., 5.1.

^{page 4 note 5} Ibid., 9.2.

^{page 4 note 6} Ibid., 5.4.

^{page 4 note 7} Neque nominato, licet nedum nostrae professionis, inlicitum opponi: ibid., 8.3.

^{page 4 note 8} Ibid., 8.1–3.

^{page 4 note 9} Ibid., 9.1–3.

^{page 4 note 10} Biturigas decreto civium petitus adveni: ibid., 5.1; paginae decretalis oblatu pontificis eligendi mandastis arbitrium: ibid., 9.6.

^{page 5 note 1} Ep., 9.9–11.

^{page 5 note 2} Ibid., 9.12, 13.

^{page 5 note 3} Ibid., 9.14.

^{page 5 note 4} Ibid., 9.16–24.

^{page 5 note 5} Consonate: 9.25.

^{page 5 note 6} Consiliarium in iudiciis, vicarium in ecclesiis, procuratorem in negotiis, vilicum in praediis, tabularium in tributis, in lectionibus comitem, in expositionibus interpretem, in itineribus contubernalem: ibid., iv. 11.5.

^{page 5 note 7} Carm., xvi. 116–26.

^{page 5 note 8} Ep., vii. 9.9.

^{page 6 note 1} Ep., 9.19.

^{page 6 note 2} Ibid., ii. 10.2; vi. 12.5, 6, 7; cf. iv. 2.3, where Claudianus Mamertus alludes to Sidonius's open-handedness in this respect.

^{page 6 note 3} Ibid., vii. 9.19.

^{page 6 note 4} E.g., ibid., iv. 24, and vi. 2.

^{page 6 note 5} Ibid., ix. 10.

^{page 6 note 6} Ibid., iv. 13.3, 4.

^{page 6 note 7} E.g., ibid., v. 16.4, 5.

^{page 6 note 8} Ibid., vii. 9.24: constanter adstruxerim respondere illam feminam sacerdotiis utriusque familiae vel ubi educta crevit vel ubi electa migravit.

^{page 6 note 9} Ibid., 9.21, 24.

^{page 6 note 10} Ibid., 9.18.

^{page 7 note 1} Ep., ix. 6.3, 4.

^{page 7 note 2} Carm., xvi. 78–82.

^{page 7 note 3} Ep., viii. 13.4.

^{page 7 note 4} Vitae tribus ordinibus: ibid., iv. 24.4.

^{page 7 note 5} Ibid., vii. 5.1, though Anderson (in loc.) may be right in saying that it refers to clergy and laity.

^{page 7 note 6} Ibid., vii. 9.3; cf. ‘sacerdotibus popularibus’ meaning clergy and laity: vii. 8.

^{page 7 note 7} Ibid., vi. 1.3; viii. 14.1; ix. 3.4: Carm., xvi. 104 ff.

^{page 7 note 8} Ep., iv. 25.5.

^{page 7 note 9} Ibid., vii. 17.3.

^{page 7 note 10} Ibid., vii. 9.9.

^{page 7 note 11} Ibid., vii. 17.

^{page 7 note 12} Ibid., 7.3.

^{page 7 note 13} Ibid., 7.4.

^{page 8 note 1} Ep., iv. 11.6.

^{page 8 note 2} Ibid., v. 17.3.

^{page 8 note 3} Ibid., vi. 1.3.

^{page 8 note 4} Ibid., vii. 5.1. and 9.10.

^{page 8 note 5} See my St. Patrick: his Origins and Career, 140–58.

^{page 8 note 6} Epistola iv. Praef. 1, 2: P.L., 1., 430, 431.

^{page 8 note 7} Carm., xxiii. 307–427: cf. Ep., i. 11.10: postridie iussit Augustus ut epulo suo cirensibus ludibus interessemus.

^{page 8 note 8} Ep., iii. 12.1–3.

^{page 9 note 1} Ep., ii. 8.2.

^{page 9 note 2} Ibid., ix. 2.3.

^{page 9 note 3} Ibid., v. 3.3.

^{page 9 note 4} Ibid., ix. 12.1.

^{page 9 note 5} Ibid., iv. 17.3.

^{page 9 note 6} Ibid., vii. 7.

^{page 9 note 7} Ibid., iii. 4.1; vi. 11.1, 2.

^{page 9 note 8} Ibid., iv. 9.5: plus ego admiror sacerdotalem virum quam sacerdotem.

^{page 9 note 9} Ibid., vii. 6.3: sed quoniam supereminet privati reatus verecundiam publica salus, non verebor, etsi carpat zelum in me fidei sinister interpres, sub vanitatis invidia causam prodere veritatis. The translation in the text is that of Anderson modified by Semple.

^{page 10 note 1} Ep., iv. 21.1–3.

^{page 10 note 2} Ibid., viii. 9.5.

^{page 10 note 3} Ibid., vii 17.1; earlier Sidonius had spoken more distantly of Victorius, ibid., iv. 10.2.

^{page 10 note 4} Ibid., ii. 12.

^{page 10 note 5} Ibid., iv. 8.5; v. 5.3.

^{page 10 note 6} Ibid., iii. 3.2, 3.

^{page 10 note 7} Carm., xii. 1–22.

^{page 10 note 8} Ep., v. 7.7.

^{page 10 note 9} Ibid., vii. 14.10.

^{page 10 note 10} Ibid., vii. 7.2: hostium publicorum.

^{page 10 note 11} Ibid., iii. 8.2.

^{page 10 note 12} Carm., vii. 55–56, 357–8.

^{page 10 note 13} Ep., iii. 12.5: v. 9.1.

^{page 10 note 14} Carm., vii. 359, 533, 597–8.

^{page 10 note 15} Ep., iv. 14.1.; v. 16.1–4; iii. 8.1.

^{page 10 note 16} Carm., xxiii. 39–44.

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