The Presbyters Project

VI.9

Domnolus vero Cinomannorum episcopus aegrotare coepit. Tempore enim Chlothari regis apud Parisius ad basilicam sancti Laurenti gregi monasteriali praefuerat.

Domnolus enjoys very good relations with King Chlothar, who wants him to become bishop. Domnolus rejects the bishopric of Avignon but accepts the see of Le Mans.

(ed. Krusch 1937: 279)

VI.9

Bishop Domnolus of Le Mans fell ill. At the time of King Chlothar, he was in charge of the monastic community in the basilica of Saint Laurence in Paris.

Domnolus enjoys very good relations with King Chlothar, who wants him to become bishop. Domnolus rejects the bishopric of Avignon but accepts the see of Le Mans.

(trans. Thorpe 1974: 339, altered and summarised by J. Szafranowski)

Discussion:

It is almost certain that Laurence, as the head of the monastic community located in the city basilica, was a presbyter.

Since, according to Gregory, Domnolus served as a bishop for twenty-two years and died in 581, he must have been ordained bishop in 559; see [1799].

Place of event:

Region

Gaul

City

Paris

About the source:

Author: Gregory of Tours
Title: The History of the Franks, Gregorii episcopi Turonensis historiarum libri X, Histories
Origin: Tours (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Gregory of Tours (Gaul) wrote his ten books of Histories (known commonly in English as the History of the Franks) during his episcopal reign in Tours between 573 and 594. The books vary in scope and length. The first book covers 5,596 years from the creation of the world to AD 397, that is the death of Saint Martin of Tours, Gregory`s predecessor in bishopric. The second book deals with the history of Gaul between 397 and 511, the latter being the year of death of King Clovis I. The third and fourth books cover the next 64 years till the death of Austrasian King Sigibert II in 575. Finally, the following six books describe exclusively the sixteen years from 575 to 591. Probably in 594, Gregory added the list of bishops of Tours in the end of the Histories, with brief accounts of their actions.

Edition:

B. Krusch ed., Gregorii Episcopi Turonensis Historiarum Libri X [in:] Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingiciarum 1.1, Hannover 1884 (repr. 1951): 1-537.

Translation:

Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks, trans. L. Thorpe, London 1974.

Categories:

Further ecclesiastical career - Bishop

PR809.

Monastic or common life - Monastic superior (abbot/prior)

PR809.

Monastic or common life - Clerical community

PR809.

Patronage/Investiture

PR809.

Relation with - Monarch and royal/imperial family

PR809.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1798, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1798