E02018: Gregory of Tours, in his Histories (1.48), recounts the struggle between the people of Poitiers and Tours for the body of *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050), after his death in 397 in the village of Candes, ending in its successful transfer to Tours; all in north-west Gaul. Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 575/594.
Creators: name: Kwojtalik
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2016
Subjects: History

description: Gregory of Tours, Histories (Historiae) 1.48<br><br>Arcadi vero et Honori secundo imperii anno sanctus Martinus Turonorum episcopus, plenus virtutibus et sanctitate, praebens infirmis multa beneficia, octuaginsimo et primo aetatis suae anno, episcopatum autem vicissimo sexto, apud Condatinsem diocisis suae vicum excedens a saeculo, filiciter migravit ad Christum. Transiit autem media nocte, quae dominica habebatur, Attico Caesarioque consolibus. Multi enim in eius transitum psallentium audierunt in caelum, quod in libro virtutum eius primo plenius exposuemus. Nam cum primitus sanctus Dei apud Condatinsem, ut dixemus, vicum aegrotare coepisset, Pectavi populi ad eius transitum sicut Toronici convenerunt. Quo migrante, grandis altercatio in utrumque surrexit populum. Dicebant enim Pectavi: 'Noster est monachus, nobis abba extetit, nos requiremus commendatum. Sufficiat vobis, quod, dum esset in mundo episcopus, usi fuistis eius conloquium, participastis convivio, firmati fuistis benedictionebus, insuper et virtutibus iocundati. Sufficiant ergo vobis ista omnia, nobis liciat auferre vel cadaver exanimum'. Ad haec Toronici respondebant: 'Si virtutum nobis facta sufficere dicitis, scitote, quia vobiscum positus amplius est quam hic operatus. Nam, ut praetermittamus plurimum, vobis suscitavit duos mortuos, nobis unum; et, ut ipse saepe dicebat, maior ei virtus ante episcopatum fuit, quam post episcopatum. Ergo necesse est, ut, quod nobiscum non inplevit vivens, expleat vel defunctus. Vobis est enim ablatus, nobis a Deo donatus. Virum si mus antiquitus institutus servatur, in urbe qua ordenatus est habebit Deo iubente sepulchrum. Certe si pro monasthirio privilegio cupitis vindecare, scetote, quia primum ei monasthirium cum Mediolaninsibus fuit'. His ergo litigantibus, sol ruente nox clauditur, corpusque in medio positum, firmatis serra usteis, ab utroque populo costoditur, futurum ut mane facto a Pectavensibus per violentiam aufereretur. Sed Deus omnipotens noluit urbem Toronicam a proprio frustrari patrono. Denique nocte media omnes Pectava somno falanga conpraemitur, nec ullus superfuit, qui ex hac multitudine vigilaret. Igitur ubi Toronici eos conspiciunt obdormisse, adpraehensam sanctissimi corporis glebam, alii per fenestram eiciunt, alii a foris suscipiunt, positumque in navi, cum omni populo per Vingennam fluvium discendunt, ingressique Legeris alveum, ad urbem Toronicam cum magnis laudibus psallentioque dirigunt copioso. De quorum vocibus Pectavi expergefacti, nihil de thesauro quem costodiebant habentes, cum magna confusione ad propria sunt reversi.<br><br>'In the second year of the rule of Arcadius and Honorius, Saint Martin, Bishop of Tours, who had done so many good deeds for the sick, who was so holy and had performed so many miracles, died at Candes, a village in his own diocese, in the eighty-first year of his age and the twenty-sixth year of his episcopate, and so went happily to meet Christ. He died at midnight on a Sunday, during the consulship of Atticus and Caesarius. As he passed away, many heard a chanting of psalms in the sky, which I have described at greater length in the first book of his Miracles. As soon as this holy man was taken ill in the village of Candes, as I have said already, the people of Poitiers and Tours began to assemble at his death bed. When he was dead, a great altercation arose between the two groups. The men of Poitiers said: ‘He is our monk. He became an abbot in our town. We entrusted him to you but we demand him back. It is sufficient for you that, while he was a bishop on this earth, you enjoyed his company, you shared his table, you were strengthened by his blessing and above all you were cheered by his miracles. Let all these things suffice for you, and permit us at least to carry away his dead body.' To this the men of Tours replied: 'If you say that we should be satisfied with the miracles which he performed for us, then admit that while he was with you he did more than in our town. If all his other miracles are left out of the count, he raised two dead men for you and only one for us; and, as he himself used often to say, his miraculous power was greater before he was made bishop than it was afterwards. It is therefore necessary that what he did not achieve with us when he was alive he should complete now that he is dead. God took him away from you, but only so that He might give him to us. If the custom established by the men of old is observed, then by God's will he shall be buried in the town where he was consecrated. If you propose to claim him because you have his monastery, then you must know this, that his first monastery was in Milan.' They went on with their argument until the sun went down and night began to fall. The body was placed in the middle of the room, the doors were locked and he was watched over by the two groups. The men of Poitiers planned to carry off the body by force as soon as morning came, but Almighty God would not allow the town of Tours to be deprived of its patron (patronus). In the end all the men of Poitiers fell asleep in the middle of the night, and there was not one who remained on guard. When the men of Tours saw that all the Poitevins had fallen asleep, they took the mortal clay of the most holy body and some passed it out through the window while others stood outside to receive it. They placed it in a boat and all those present rowed down the River Vienne, As soon as they reached the River Loire, they set their course for the city of Tours, praising God and chanting psalms. The men of Poitiers were awakened by their voices and they went back home in great confusion, taking nothing of the treasure which they were supposed to be guarding.'<br><br>Text: Krusch and Levison 1951, 32-33. Translation: Thorpe 1974, 97-99; lightly modified.