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Appendix i

CHRONOLOGY OF CONSTANTIUS,
VITA GERMANI

i germanus’ episcopate and death 1

The traditional chronology, set out in Levison, depends on the reconciliation of
seven sources, the reliability of none of which is demonstrable. The only absolute
year dates are:
i. Prosper, Chron s.a. 429 (Germanus to Britain), a terminus ante quam for Germanus’
election;
ii. Constantius, Vita Germani, 25, 42 (the augusta Galla Placidia alive when Germanus
2
visited Ravenna; she died 27 November 450 ), a terminus ante quam for Germanus’
death.
A possible further year date is provided by:
iii. [Honoratus Massiliensis], Vita Hilarii episcopi Arelatensis, 21 (Germanus involved
in attempts in 444/5 to depose Celidonius of Arles), a possible terminus post quam
3
for his death. This source, however, is notcontemporary; itmay have been
4
written after 477 or later. The testimony of the Vita has been questioned. The
author seeks to exonerate his controversial subject, who was reprimanded by
both papal and imperial authority; the revered figure of Germanus appears in
Vita Hilarii notcasually butspecifically to supportHilarius over one of the main
issues of contention. 5
Other evidence comes from reconciling day-dates in liturgical and other documents
of the church of Auxerre:
iv. the date for the death of Amator, Germanus’ predecessor as bishop of Auxerre,
is given as 1 May in the late sixth-century Kalendarium Autissiodorensis,a

1 On the dates of Germanus’ episcopate: Levison, ‘Bischof Germanus von Auxerre und die
Quellen zu seiner Geschichte’, 98–101, 117–43; Levison, Introduction to ‘Vita Germani’,
225–7; P. Grosjean, ‘Notes d’hagiographie celtique 29: le dernier voyage de S. Germain
d’Auxerre’, AB 75 (1957), 180–2; E. A. Thompson, ‘A Chronological Note on St Germanus
of Auxerre’, AB 75 (1957), 135–8; Mathisen, ‘The LastYear of SaintGermanus of Auxerre’,
153–4; Thompson, Saint Germanus, 55–70; Ian Wood, ‘End of Roman Britain’, 14–16;R.
Scharf, ‘Germanus von Auxerre – Chronologie seiner Vita’, Francia 18 (1991), 1–19.
2
PLRE ii, 889.
3
Honoratus Massiliensis, Vita Hilarii episcopi Arelatensis, ed. Cavallin, 79–109.
4
Cavallin, Praefatio to Vita Hilarii, 39.
5
On Hilarius and Celidonius: R. W. Mathisen, ‘Hilarius, Germanus, and Lupus’. The acquaintance
(not expressly a close friendship) of Hilary and Germanus is attested in Constantius’ Vita Germani,
23. Doubts on Vita Hilarii: Thompson, Saint Germanus, 57–60; Wood, ‘End of Roman Britain’,
15.
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