Rivers of Risk and Redemption in Gregory of Tours' Writings

Gregory of Tours (538-94) is by no means a neglected figure; both later medieval writers and modern scholars have depended heavily on his interpretations of early Francia, and the volume and quality of his writing make his voice one of the most resonant of early medieval historians and hagiographers...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Speculum 2017-01, Vol.92 (1), p.117-143
Main Author: Arnold, Ellen F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Floods
Gregory of Tours, Saint (538?-94)
Historians
Literary criticism
Medieval history
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Summary:Gregory of Tours (538-94) is by no means a neglected figure; both later medieval writers and modern scholars have depended heavily on his interpretations of early Francia, and the volume and quality of his writing make his voice one of the most resonant of early medieval historians and hagiographers. Despite Gregory's prolific writing, his works remain largely untapped by medieval environmental historians, and his descriptions of the natural world largely overlooked by early medieval scholars. There are a few general exceptions to this broad lack of attention to Gregory's descriptions of nature. The first is the scholars of disease and natural disaster who look to Gregory's writing for descriptions and examples of these phenomena. Here, Arnold discusses how the tales of river floods fit within Gregory of Tours' environmental imagination--how he encouraged his readers to perceive the rivers of Gaul as part of a landscape full of routine risks--risks that could be mitigated through the actions of local communities and their bishops and that could be superseded by the direct intervention of Martin and the other saints of Gaul.
ISSN:0038-7134
2040-8072
DOI:10.1086/689460