Being Martin’

Utilising the poetry of Venantius Fortunatus ( c . 530–600), this article explores the literary fashioning of an idealized episcopal identity for the sixth‐century bishops of Tours as successors to Martin, the celebrated fourth‐century saint of the city. It is argued that the poet’s deployment of the model was of political use to his patron, Bishop Gregory of Tours, both in the establishment of his authority in the town and in dealings with the Frankish kings about matters of taxation. It is suggested that this crafting of an episcopal identity allowed the poet to put pressure on Gregory himself to be Martin and intervene in such matters as a legal case or the affairs of a diocese outside his jurisdiction as metropolitan. The legitimating Martinian model of episcopal behaviour is presented therefore as potentially coercive

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Bishops · Chivalry · Identity (music · Jurisdiction · Literature · Metropolitan area · Poetry · Political science · Politics · SAINT · Sociology · Successor cardinal · Classics · Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity

• História e historiografia na antigüidade tardia à luz de Gregório de Tours e Isidoro de Sevilha

  Open Access•Verônica Da Costa Silveira•2010

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