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of the Lupus poems reflects Lupus’ ranking among the other noblemen, all of them
connected with King Sigibert’s court at Metz, to whom Venantius dedicated poems.
This is the reason why we find four poems to Duke Gogo and two to Duke
Bodigesilius before we come to the poems to Lupus. If we check the order of these
dukes in the collection, with the way they are described by Gregory of Tours in his
History of the Franks, we find that Gogo is by far the most important, being the
nutricius, i.e., foster-father of Sigibert’s son Childebert (Gregory V. 46).
Bodigesilius comes next. He is mentioned under the year 585 AD for the fact that he
died in that year, but it is pointed out that he died full of years and that his complete
inheritance was handed down to his children. Since such benevolence on a king’s
part was not the rule, this indicates his high position in society (Gregory VIII. 22).
Lupus, on the other hand, had problems maintaining his social status around 576 AD
when the poems were published (Gregory VI. 4).
This parallel ranking should no come as a surprise to us, since after all it was
Gregory who encouraged Venantius to collect his poems and to publish. Moreover,
Gregory was Venantius’ principal patron around 576 AD and during the greater part
of the 570s AD. Like a Maecenas supporting his Horace, Gregory presented
Venantius with a small farm pleasantly situated by the river Vienne, possibly, with
reference to Venantius’ description of the river (Book VIII, poem 19), between Tours
and Poitiers (Brennan 1985, pp. 72 f.), where Queen Radegund, Venantius’ principal
patroness from the late 560s and early 570s AD, lived in her convent.
Venantius’ poems, not least in Book VII, fit a scheme and although they look like a
collection we must suspect that in reality they are selected rather than collected if not
partly rewritten to fit the scheme. As already mentioned, the four poems form a
quartet consisting of two pairs of poems. An analysis of the content and composition
will make it evident that they were intended to form a whole and their purpose was
conceived in the 570s AD although most of their material was probably written in the
560s AD.
The Two Panegyrics
Most authors have seen the first poem to Lupus as a summing-up of his outstanding
qualities perhaps written in connection with his elevation to ducal rank (George 1992,
p. 80). Some have even suggested that Lupus was Sigibert’s Major Domus, and that
the poem was to be seen in connection with his appointment to that office (Nisard
1887).
The poem itself is the only source of information and on this basis it seems more
reasonable to point to Lupus’ return from a campaign north of Mainz to the King’s
hall at Metz as the occasion on which the poem was recited in the selfsame hall. It is
an official panegyric by Sigibert’s court poet, who happens to be Venantius Fortunatus.
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