Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABBREVIATIONS
- Gaul in the Late Sixth Century
- CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: BARBARIAN GAUL
- CHAPTER TWO EVIDENCE AND CONTROL
- CHAPTER THREE SOCIAL STRUCTURE I: HIERARCHY, MOBILITY, AND ARISTOCRACIES
- CHAPTER FOUR SOCIAL STRUCTURE II: FREE AND SERVILE RANKS
- CHAPTER FIVE THE PASSIVE POOR: PRISONERS
- CHAPTER SIX THE ACTIVE POOR: PAUPERES AT CHURCH
- CHAPTER SEVEN HEALING AND AUTHORITY I: PHYSICIANS
- CHAPTER EIGHT HEALING AND AUTHORITY II: ENCHANTERS
- CHAPTER NINE CONCLUSION
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- INDEX
CHAPTER FIVE - THE PASSIVE POOR: PRISONERS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABBREVIATIONS
- Gaul in the Late Sixth Century
- CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: BARBARIAN GAUL
- CHAPTER TWO EVIDENCE AND CONTROL
- CHAPTER THREE SOCIAL STRUCTURE I: HIERARCHY, MOBILITY, AND ARISTOCRACIES
- CHAPTER FOUR SOCIAL STRUCTURE II: FREE AND SERVILE RANKS
- CHAPTER FIVE THE PASSIVE POOR: PRISONERS
- CHAPTER SIX THE ACTIVE POOR: PAUPERES AT CHURCH
- CHAPTER SEVEN HEALING AND AUTHORITY I: PHYSICIANS
- CHAPTER EIGHT HEALING AND AUTHORITY II: ENCHANTERS
- CHAPTER NINE CONCLUSION
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- INDEX
Summary
One night in the jail at Clermont, the chains holding the prisoners came undone by the intervention of God, the gates were unfastened, and they all rushed out to seek sanctuary in a church. Count Eulalius had them loaded with fresh chains, but no sooner had these been placed in position than they snapped asunder like brittle glass. Bishop Avitus pleaded for the prisoners to be released, and they were given their liberty and sent home.
GREGORY OF TOURS, Historiae 10.6Violence and crime were endemic in Barbarian Gaul. Gregory of Tours' Historiae include many episodes in which the powerful benefited from forceful, illicit activities. For example, in 584 after Count Innocentius of Javols failed to indict Abbot Lupentius for treason against Queen Brunhild, the count attacked as the abbot returned home and lopped off his head. Despite this callous action, Innocentius suffered no punishment; to the contrary, Brunhild helped him secure the bishopric of Rodez. It seems Innocentius presumed that because he was in good stead with the queen he needed not fear any reprisal such as imprisonment. Indeed, aristocrats likely assumed they would not be cast into prison, for sources suggest that lockups were reserved not for them but for the sociallydisadvantaged. In a society that already was sufficiently hostile, the downtrodden suffered one of the most horrid of possible environments in the carcer. The misery that traditionally accompanied imprisonment came to the attention of early Christian leaders, and so tending to inmates became an early hallmark of the religion.
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- Social Mobility in Late Antique GaulStrategies and Opportunities for the Non-Elite, pp. 180 - 212Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009