Literature and History.com

Hello and welcome to Literature and History, Episode 107, Venantius Fortunatus.

This program is about the life and works of the Meravengian poet Venantius Fortunatus. This program is about the life and works of the Merovingian poet

Venantius Fortunatus, who lived from the 530s CE, up until 600, or a little afterward, and left

behind a body of about 270 Latin poems. Venantius was born in the northeastern part of what is today Italy, and after immigrating

to Gaul, or modern-day France, in his late 20s or early 30s, the poet spent the remainder

of his career in the newly minted Merovingian kingdom, making a living as a professional writer

for various wealthy patrons, ranging from just a few lines at the

shortest to 400 lines at the longest, Venantius' poetry is often called court poetry, in that the

literature that he wrote was written for specific individuals on specific occasions. Weddings, for instance, or holidays, or openings of

new churches, or often just to say hello or express gratitude for a favor or gift.

Eloquent, observant, kind, and appreciative, Venantius' poems demonstrate that beneath the often

merciless chaos of Merovingian leadership,

the Gallic aristocracy and clergy of the late five hundreds had warm and demonstrative friendships

and still appreciated a good Latin turn of phrase, just as their Roman forebears had.

Vinantius is not an especially well-known poet today for several

connected reasons. First, his poems are written to a wide and diverse network of

acquaintances, many of them obscure nobles or churchmen living beneath

Merivindian rule. Maravangian Gaul is a forebodingly complex time and place to a newcomer,

with four kings frequently on four thrones, geographical territories shifting, brothers and uncles

and nephews usurping one another, and frequent wars with neighboring populations. And so

trying to understand the implications of a poem

...