The Presbyters Project

X.25

As a result of famines and plagues of 591, several false prophets were active in Gaul. One of them, originally from Bourges, wandered from town to town accompanied by more than three thousand followers. Devil gave him power to predict the future.

Seducta est autem per eum multitudo inmensa populi, et non solum rusticiores, verum etiam sacerdotes eclesiastici.

The false prophet is then killed in the same year by the servants of Bishop Aurelius of Le Puy-en-Velay.

(ed. Krusch 1937: 519; summarised by J. Szafranowski)

X.25

A great number of people were deceived by him, not only the uneducated (rusticiores), but also the ecclesiastical priests (sacerdotes eclesiastici).

The false prophet is then killed in the same year by the servants of Bishop Aurelius of Le Puy-en-Velay.

(trans. Thorpe 1974: 586; altered and summarised by J. Szafranowski)

Place of event:

Region

Gaul

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:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Education

Ritual activity - Divination

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1942, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1942