HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

142 THOMAS J. HEFFERNANAlthough Odo extends the idea of confessor and martyr to encompassnot only Gerald’s lay status but also “all those who carry thecross by resisting vice, or who glorify God by doing well”, he doesnot portray Gerald as responsible for a single miracle until Booktwo, after the count has left his lay status and joined the clergy. Asa member of the clergy Gerald now is able, through grace, to constrainnatural law, heal the sick, exorcise demons, and, notably, toaccomplish these tasks even posthumously. He was capable of performingnone of these deeds as a layman. Despite Odo’s insistencethat the bounds of sanctity be extended, he was reluctant to extendto the lay individual the status of thaumaturge.Gregory of Tours: Posthumous Miracles and Cult CentersTwo centuries after Sulpicius finished his Life of Saint Martin, the custodianof his cultic center, Gregory of Tours, completed his Life ofthe Fathers. Gregory is indebted to Sulpicius’s depiction of sanctity,yet his view of the sacred reflects the momentous changes that Gallicsociety had undergone in the two centuries since Sulpicius’s death.In his Liber vitae patrum Gregory recounts the lives of twenty saints:six bishops, nine abbots, one nun, and four recluses. 69 The figure ofMartin in Sulpicius’s life is that of an unlettered, brilliant, and charismatichealer who moves among the world of the hermitage, the episcopalpalace, and the imperial court with ease. Martin is a publicmiracle worker whose acts proclaim his sanctity. Sulpicius does notrecord a single posthumous miracle. While Gregory does not arguethat doctrinally the life of the recluse, monk, or bishop has a greaterclaim to sanctity, he shows a greater interest in the lives of the bishops,at least three of whom were his relatives. He devotes approximatelytwice as much of his narrative to their lives than to the livesof abbots or recluses, and he seems principally interested in the miraclesthat they do posthumously.Gregory’s lives of the bishops are saints’ lives about men drawnfrom the best families, frequently aristocrats, who enjoyed the arenaof power, were well educated, politically well connected, and sometimesmembers of his family. His bishops were public servants, like,69Gregory of Tours, Life of the Fathers, trans. E. James (Liverpool, 1985).