Title: Apocalypse now? : the ambiguous eschatology of Gregory of Tours
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2015, vol. 20, iss. 1, pp. [47]-58
Extent
[47]-58
-
ISSN1803-7402 (print)2336-4424 (online)
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/133965
Type: Article
License: Not specified license
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
Gregory of Tours has, over the past few decades, become one of the most extensively studied authors of the Late Antiquity. Notwithstanding the progress achieved in the study of his historiographical work, his attitude towards eschatology has not yet been adequately addressed. Gregory refutes the arguments of his contemporaries who believe that the world is coming to an end, though he himself appears to question his own anti-apocalyptic attitude by registering the signs he understands as foretelling the coming apocalypse. Those apparently contradictory notions can be reconciled by the study of the way his Historiae are structured. Gregory, writing at the end of the sixth century, begins his narrative with the creation of the world and the fall of Adam and Eve. However, his work lacks any ending that is comparable with the divine act of creation it begins with. He settles this issue in a later part of his work by stressing the signs of the apocalypse that he is perfectly aware will not come soon. Thus, somehow artificially, he gives his narrative the Creation– Apocalypse frame which the contemporary Frankish history he describes could not provide him with.
References
[1] Gregorius Turonensis, Historiarum libri X, ed. by W. Arndt & B. Krusch (1951), Hannoverae: Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani.
[2] Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Evangelium Matthaei ad Eusebium libri quattuor. In Migne, J. P. (Ed.) (1845), S. Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis Presbyteri opera omnia, tomus septimus. (15–218). Paris: J. P. Migne.
[3] Hilarius Pictaviensis, Commentarius in Evangelium Matthaei. In Migne, J. P. (Ed.) (1844) Sancti Hilarii Pictaviensis Episcopi opera omnia, tomus I. (917–1078). Paris: Vrayet.
[4] Isidorus, Etymologiarum libri XX In Migne, J. P. (Ed.) (1850), Sancti Isidori Hispalensis tomi tertius et quratus. (9–728). Paris: J. P. Migne.
[5] C. Sallustius Crispus, Catilina ; Iugurtha ; Fragmenta ampliora, ed. by A. W. Ahlberg & A. Kurfess (1991), Stutgardiae-Lipsiae: Teubner.
[6] Conzelmann, H. (1958). [Eschatologie] Im Urchristentum. In Galling, K. (Ed.), Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. (665–672). Tübingen: Mohr.
[7] Filoramo, G. (1990). Eschatologie. In di Berardino, A. (Ed.), Dictionaire encyclopédique du Christianisme ancient. (tome 1, 847–852). Paris: Cerf.
[8] May, G. (1982) [Eschatologie in der] Alte Kirche. In Krause, G., Schwertner, S. M., Müller, G. (Eds.), Theologische Realenzyklopädie. (Band 10, 299–305). Berlin: de Gruyter.
[9] Schnackenburg, R. (1959). E[schatologie] im Neuen Testament. In Buchberger, M., Höfer, J., Rahner, K. (Eds.), Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, dritter Band. (1088–1093). Freiburg im Breisgau–Basel–Wien: Herder.
[10] Thraede, K. (1966). Eschatologie. In Klauster, T. et al. (Eds.), Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum: Sachwörterbuch zur Auseinandersetzung des Christentums mit der antiken Welt. (Band 6, 559–564). Stuttgart: Hiersemann.
[11] Blair, H. (2013). The end of time in sixth century Francia: Bishop Gregory of Tours' Histories. Groundings Ancients, vol. 1, 100–112.
[12] Blume, I. (1970). Das Menschenbild Gregors von Tours in den Historiarum libri X. Erlangen.
[13] Breukelaar, A. H. B. (1994). Historiography and Episcopal Authority in Sixth-Century Gaul: the Histories of Gregory of Tours Interpreted in Their Historical Context. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
[14] Brown, P. (1998). The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity. New York: Columbia University Press.
[15] Choda, K. (2013). Między pierwszym a drugim przyjściem. Świadomość historyczna Grzegorza z Tours. Nowy Filomata 2/2013, 207–215.
[16] de Nie, G. (1979). Roses in January: a neglected dimension in Gregory of Tour's Historiae. Journal of Medieval History, vol. 4, issue 5, 259–289. | DOI 10.1016/0304-4181(79)90002-2
[17] de Nie, G. (1987). Views From A Many Windowed Tower: Studies Of Imagination In The Works Of Gregory Of Tours. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
[18] Goffart, W. (1988). The Narrators of Barbarian History. Yale: Princeton University Press.
[19] Gow, A. (2008). Wie übergeht oder ignoriert man eschatologisches Gedankengut? Und warum? Und wenn man es einmal übergangen oder verkannt hat,was wären dann konkret die Folgen? In Brandes, W. & Schmieder, F. (Eds.), Endzeiten. Eschatologie in den monotheistischen Weltreligionen. (1–12). Berlin– New York: de Gruyter.
[20] Halsall, G. (2007). The Preface to Book V of Gregory of Tours' Histories, English Historical Review Vol. CXXII No. 496, 297–317. | DOI 10.1093/ehr/cem001
[21] Heinzelmann, M. (2001). Gregory of Tours: History and Society in the Sixth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[22] Hunger, H. (1978). Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner: Philosophie, Rhetorik, Epistolographie, Geschichtsschreibung, Geographie. München: C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung.
[23] Kaltenstadler, W. (2011). Interpretation der Vorreden der 'Historia Francorum' bei Gregor von Tours [Elektronische Ressource]. Nordhausen : Traugott Bautz.
[24] Landes, R. (1988). Lest the Millenium Be Fulfilled: Apocalyptic Expectations and the Pattern of Western Chronography 100–800 CE. In Verbeke, W., Verhelst, D., Welkenhuysen, A. (Eds.), The Use and Abuse of Eschatology in the Middle Ages. (137–210). Leuven: Leuven University Press.
[25] Pietri, L. (1983). La ville de Tours du IVe au VIe siècle: naissance d'une cité chrétienne. Rome: Ecole française de Rome.
[2] Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Evangelium Matthaei ad Eusebium libri quattuor. In Migne, J. P. (Ed.) (1845), S. Eusebii Hieronymi Stridonensis Presbyteri opera omnia, tomus septimus. (15–218). Paris: J. P. Migne.
[3] Hilarius Pictaviensis, Commentarius in Evangelium Matthaei. In Migne, J. P. (Ed.) (1844) Sancti Hilarii Pictaviensis Episcopi opera omnia, tomus I. (917–1078). Paris: Vrayet.
[4] Isidorus, Etymologiarum libri XX In Migne, J. P. (Ed.) (1850), Sancti Isidori Hispalensis tomi tertius et quratus. (9–728). Paris: J. P. Migne.
[5] C. Sallustius Crispus, Catilina ; Iugurtha ; Fragmenta ampliora, ed. by A. W. Ahlberg & A. Kurfess (1991), Stutgardiae-Lipsiae: Teubner.
[6] Conzelmann, H. (1958). [Eschatologie] Im Urchristentum. In Galling, K. (Ed.), Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. (665–672). Tübingen: Mohr.
[7] Filoramo, G. (1990). Eschatologie. In di Berardino, A. (Ed.), Dictionaire encyclopédique du Christianisme ancient. (tome 1, 847–852). Paris: Cerf.
[8] May, G. (1982) [Eschatologie in der] Alte Kirche. In Krause, G., Schwertner, S. M., Müller, G. (Eds.), Theologische Realenzyklopädie. (Band 10, 299–305). Berlin: de Gruyter.
[9] Schnackenburg, R. (1959). E[schatologie] im Neuen Testament. In Buchberger, M., Höfer, J., Rahner, K. (Eds.), Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, dritter Band. (1088–1093). Freiburg im Breisgau–Basel–Wien: Herder.
[10] Thraede, K. (1966). Eschatologie. In Klauster, T. et al. (Eds.), Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum: Sachwörterbuch zur Auseinandersetzung des Christentums mit der antiken Welt. (Band 6, 559–564). Stuttgart: Hiersemann.
[11] Blair, H. (2013). The end of time in sixth century Francia: Bishop Gregory of Tours' Histories. Groundings Ancients, vol. 1, 100–112.
[12] Blume, I. (1970). Das Menschenbild Gregors von Tours in den Historiarum libri X. Erlangen.
[13] Breukelaar, A. H. B. (1994). Historiography and Episcopal Authority in Sixth-Century Gaul: the Histories of Gregory of Tours Interpreted in Their Historical Context. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
[14] Brown, P. (1998). The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity. New York: Columbia University Press.
[15] Choda, K. (2013). Między pierwszym a drugim przyjściem. Świadomość historyczna Grzegorza z Tours. Nowy Filomata 2/2013, 207–215.
[16] de Nie, G. (1979). Roses in January: a neglected dimension in Gregory of Tour's Historiae. Journal of Medieval History, vol. 4, issue 5, 259–289. | DOI 10.1016/0304-4181(79)90002-2
[17] de Nie, G. (1987). Views From A Many Windowed Tower: Studies Of Imagination In The Works Of Gregory Of Tours. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
[18] Goffart, W. (1988). The Narrators of Barbarian History. Yale: Princeton University Press.
[19] Gow, A. (2008). Wie übergeht oder ignoriert man eschatologisches Gedankengut? Und warum? Und wenn man es einmal übergangen oder verkannt hat,was wären dann konkret die Folgen? In Brandes, W. & Schmieder, F. (Eds.), Endzeiten. Eschatologie in den monotheistischen Weltreligionen. (1–12). Berlin– New York: de Gruyter.
[20] Halsall, G. (2007). The Preface to Book V of Gregory of Tours' Histories, English Historical Review Vol. CXXII No. 496, 297–317. | DOI 10.1093/ehr/cem001
[21] Heinzelmann, M. (2001). Gregory of Tours: History and Society in the Sixth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[22] Hunger, H. (1978). Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner: Philosophie, Rhetorik, Epistolographie, Geschichtsschreibung, Geographie. München: C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung.
[23] Kaltenstadler, W. (2011). Interpretation der Vorreden der 'Historia Francorum' bei Gregor von Tours [Elektronische Ressource]. Nordhausen : Traugott Bautz.
[24] Landes, R. (1988). Lest the Millenium Be Fulfilled: Apocalyptic Expectations and the Pattern of Western Chronography 100–800 CE. In Verbeke, W., Verhelst, D., Welkenhuysen, A. (Eds.), The Use and Abuse of Eschatology in the Middle Ages. (137–210). Leuven: Leuven University Press.
[25] Pietri, L. (1983). La ville de Tours du IVe au VIe siècle: naissance d'une cité chrétienne. Rome: Ecole française de Rome.