Rivers of Risk and Redemption in Gregory of Tours' Writings

• 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
• ISSN: 0038-7134; 2040-8072
• DOI: 10.1086/689460

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risks--risks that could be mitigated through the actions of local communities and their bishops and that could be superseded by the direct intervention of Martin and the other saints of Gaul.