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514 18. the north-western provinces
which lies at the heart of much of the hagiography, as well the moral diatribes,
of the fifth and sixth century. Nevertheless, the consonance between
a widely scattered group of sources does suggest that we should recognize
the association of charismatic preaching and survival as a factor in the peculiarly
unstable days of the mid and late fifth and early sixth century.
Moreover, even if we deny the actuality of what is described in the vitae of
fifth-century saints, many of the texts themselves were written in the fifth
or early sixth century, and the image they present must have had some resonance.
In other words, whether as reality or literary construct, the fifth
century had its charismatic leaders.
Living saints seem therefore to have played a significant role in ameliorating
the experiences of Romans during the crisis period of the barbarian
migration and settlement. Dead saints could also have an influence. That
their lives were recorded is in itself an indication of the importance attached
to their memory. Of wider impact were the cults which grew up around the
tombs of holy men. The development of the cult of St Martin by Perpetuus
is only the most eye-catching example of what was common in much of
fifth-century Gaul and elsewhere: the propagation of saint-cults to provide
foci of consolation in an age of fragmentation and uncertainty. Already at
the turn of the century Victricius of Rouen had made much of the relics in
his care. 145 Elsewhere in the north, Euphronius of Autun developed the cult
of the martyr Symphorian; 146 Gregory of Langres was responsible for the
promotion of the cult of Benignus of Dijon and perhaps also of a host of
associated cults. 147 In so doing he, like other bishops of the time, provided
his diocese, and indeed the surrounding dioceses, with a whole new
Christian past. The hagiographers were not above fabricating information
about the saints they promoted, some of whom may have been invented ex
nihilo. Further south, cities like Clermont under Sidonius bristled with saintcults.
148 A generation later, Lyons could be described as being defended by
its basilicas, each of which housed the relics of saints, rather than by its
defences. 149 The relics of saints, in Gaul as elsewhere, were a very present
help against external threat. Not surprisingly, Germanus of Auxerre, when
in Britain, interested himself in the cult of Alban, identifying the tomb,
removing some relics from it and installing other relics of continental saints
in their place; in so doing he may not only have been thinking about the
safety of Britain – it is likely that he wished to signify that Alban was a
martyr of the whole church, and not the patron of Pelagian heretics. 150 On
his return to Auxerre he may well have commissioned the first Passio of the
145 Victricius, De laude sanctorum ed. J.-P. Migne, PL xx, cols. 443–58.
146 Greg. Tur. Hist. ii.15; he may also have been responsible for the composition of the Passio
Symphoriani, Acta Sanctorum, August iv (Brussels 1867), pp. 491–8.
147 Greg. Tur. Liber in Gloria Martyrum 50, ed. B. Krusch, MGH, SRM 1 (2) (Hanover 1885).
148 Harries (1994) 197–202. 149 Avitus, hom. 24. 150 Wood (1984) 12–13.
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