Glory of the Confessors

Download or read book Glory of the Confessors written by Gregorius and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gregory was bishop of Tours from 573. To most modern readers he is best known for his 'History of the Franks, ' a narrative of Gaul in the sixth century. But during his episcopacy Gregory of Tours also composed eight books of stories about saints, their cults, and their miracles. This volume is the first translation into English of one of those books, the 'Glory of the Confessors, ' which contains a series of anecdotes about the lives and cults of Christians who witnessed to their faith through their exemplary lives. These anecdotes provide important historical evidence, first, for the ways bishops and their congregations manipulated traditions about the development of the early church, and second, for the contemporary functions and meanings of the cults of saints during the sixth century. The spontaneity and literary modesty of many of the anecdotes make them especially valuable for modern historians intent upon understanding the early Frankish church.