Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 1902
Claudius, who killed Eberulf, the treasurer of King Chilperic, in the sanctuary of Saint Martin in Tours, seeks refuge in the cell of an abbot. Two clerics help abbot escape Claudius` pursuers, ca 585. Account of Gregory of Tours, "Histories", Tours (Gaul), AD 585-594.
VII.29
 
Claudius and his servants killed Eberulf, the treasurer of King Chilperic, in the sanctuary of Saint Martin in Tours. They sought refuge in the cell of an abbot nearby. They were pursued by the servants of Eberulf with swords, who were trying desperately to get inside the cell.
 
Abba adpraehensus a duobus clericis, inter gladiorum acies vix vivus eripetur.
 
(ed. Krusch 1937: 349; summarised by J. Szafranowski)
VII.29
 
Claudius and his servants killed Eberulf, the treasurer of King Chilperic, in the sanctuary of Saint Martin in Tours. They sought refuge in the cell of an abbot nearby. They were pursued by the servants of Eberulf with swords, who were trying desperately to get inside the cell.
 
Two clerics seized the abbot and barely managed to get him out of there alive amidst the swords' blades.
 
(trans. J. Szafranowski)

Discussion:

These events took place one year after the death of King Chilperic in 584.
 
This abbot, since he was leaving in the basilical complex of Saint Martin in Tours, was almost certainly not a pure monastic superior, but rather a presbyter responsible for both a basilica and its clerical community. More on presbyters described as abbots, see Pietri 1983.
 
 

Place of event:

Region
  • Gaul
City
  • Tours

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.
Bibliography:
L. Pietri, Les abbés de basilique dans la Gaule du VIe siècle, "Revue d'histoire de l'Église de France" 69 (1983), pp. 5-28.

Categories:

Functions within the Church - Cathedral presbyter
Functions within the Church - Urban presbyter
Described by a title - Clericus
    Described by a title - Abba
    Ecclesiastical administration - Administering Church property
    Relation with - Another presbyter
      Relation with - Slave/Servant
      Conflict - Violence
      Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1902, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1902