Assignment for September 30

As we discussed the class this past Thursday, there are three different  reading assignments for next week.

1. Everyone will read the following pages from Walter Goffart’s Narrators of Barbarian History 112 – 122

2. Group one will also read Narrators pages 122-27 and Gregory's books one and two.

3.  Group two will read Narrators 127 - 38 and 146-53, skim Gregory's books one and two, and    read the following two online excerpts from Saints' lives:

Life of St. Martin (by Sulpicius Severus) -first six chapters

Life of St.  Gall (by Gregory of Tours)- entire excerpt

Here's the  followup assignment:

All students will attempt to come to a basic understanding of Gregory's social status and environment.  Using both Walter Goffart's discussion and books one and two of the History of the Franks, you will attempt to understand and explain Gregory's values, his audience, their factual and imaginative knowledge of the world, and particularly what Gregory believed they needed to know as background for recent historical events.   You also want to think about who and what is presented as important in Gregory's History.   And what, of course, is missing?  

Group two will have a special responsibility to explain the place of miracles and saints’ lives in Gregory’s life as a believing Christian, a bishop, and a historian.  What do miracle stories say about Gregory's priorities?  

What would you entitle this book if it was yours?