Page 142 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

envoy was a reflection of the authors’ milieu; they stressed those deeds
of their bishop which currently earned great social capital. This facet of
the saints, more directly comparable with Sidonius’ Avitus than with the
well-established hagiographic types of Anthony or Martin of Tours, is a
careful literary construct. It need not be unfactual, but it is none the less
a product of conscious selection, which exploits the secular prestige of
participation in embassies between provincial communities and centres
of government.

The dates of neither Germanus’ episcopate nor the composition of his
7
Vita are certain. Traditionally, Germanus’ tenure as bishop has been
assigned to 418–48, but (as the round figure of a thirty-year episcopate
intimates) the evidence is tenuous, and alternative dates as early as 437
8
have been proposed for his death, though on no firmer grounds. The
period of composition is equally uncertain. The only relevent evidence
is provided by two letters, which precede the Vita in the manuscript
tradition, addressed by Constantius to the current bishops of Lyons and
Auxerre; but the dates of the bishops’ episcopates are unknown. Both
were correspondents of Sidonius Apollinaris in the 470s. 9

7 For editions, see ‘Note on editions, commentaries, and translations’ below. On Germanus, Con-
stantius, and the Vita: Wilhelm Levison, ‘Bischof Germanus von Auxerre und die Quellen zu
seiner Geschichte’, Neues Archiv 29 (1903), 97–175; Levison Introduction to Vita Germani, 225–46;
L. Duchesne, Fastes ´ episcopaux de l’ancienne Gaule ii: L’Aquitaine et les Lyonnaises (Paris, 1910),
430–52, esp. 445; Saint Germain d’Auxerre et son temps (Auxerre, 1950), esp. Gustave Bardy, ‘Con-
stance de Lyon, biographe de saint Germain d’Auxerre’, 89–108; Nora K. Chadwick, Poetry and
Letters in Early Christian Gaul (London, 1955), 240–74; Paul Grosjean, ‘Notes d’hagiographie
celtique 27–29’, AB 75 (1957), 158–85; Borius, Introduction to Vie de Germain; E. Griffe,
‘L’hagiographie gauloise au Ve si` ecle: la Vie de saint Germain d’Auxerre’, Bulletin de Litt´ erature
Eccl´ esiastique 66 (1965), 289–94; Griffe, La Gaule chr´ etienne a l’´ epoque romaine ii: L’Eglise des Gaules
au Ve si` ecle, 2nd edn (Paris, 1966), 289–301; Wilhelm Gessel, ‘Germanus von Auxerre (um 378
bis 448): die Vita des Konstantius von Lyon als homiletische Par¨ anese in hagiographischer Form’,
R¨ omische Quartelschrift f¨ ur Christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte 65 (1970), 1–13; PLRE
ii, ‘Germanus 1’, 504–5; R. Mathisen, ‘The Last Year of Saint Germanus of Auxerre’, AB 99
(1981), 151–9; Martin Heinzelmann, ‘Neue Aspekte der hagiographischen Literatur’, Francia 1
(1973), 27–44; Heinnzelmann, ‘Gallische Prosopographie, 260–527’, Francia 10 (1982), 615–16;E.
A. Thompson, Saint Germanus of Auxerre and the End of Roman Britain (Studies in Celtic History 6;
Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1984); Ian Wood, ‘The End of Roman Britain: Continental Evidence and
Parallels’, in M. Lapidge and D. Dumville (eds.), Gildas: New Approaches (Studies in Celtic History
5; Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1984), 8–17; Arne Søby Christensen, ‘The Vita of SaintGermanus of
Auxerre and Fifth-Century History’, Studies in Ancient History and Numismatics Presented to Rudi
Thomsen (Aarhus, 1988), 224–31.
On the chronology of the Vita: see Appendix i.
8
The dates 418–48 appear in mostreference works, e.g. PLRE ii, ‘Acolius 2’, 6; Martin Heinzel-
mann, ‘Gallische Prosopographie, 260–527’, Francia 10 (1982), 615–16. On the dates of Germanus’
episcopate: see Appendix i.
9
Constantius, Epp. to Patiens and Censurius. Dates: see Appendix i.
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