Early Medieval Europe - 2022 - Hailstone - Atmospheric Architecture Gregory of Tours S Use of The Fear of God in Tours

Atmospheric architecture: Gregory of
Tours’s use of the fear of God in Tours

Cathedral and the Basilica of St Martin
CATHERINE-ROSE HAILSTONE
This article explores how and why Gregory of Tours encoded the fear of
God into the architecture of Tours cathedral and the Basilica of St
Martin. Using Gregory’s writings, in combination with the poetry of
Venantius Fortunatus and the inscriptions that adorned the interior
walls of the basilica, this paper argues that Gregory followed the
church-building practices of Namatius of Clermont and Perpetuus of
Tours and encrypted this divine fear into the architecture of these sacred
buildings in order to fulfil his pastoral duties and visually display his
episcopal status.
This article argues that Bishop Gregory of Tours (d. 594) consciously
encoded the fear of God into the architecture of Tours Cathedral and
the Basilica of St Martin for the dual purposes of teaching those clergy
and laity who resided under his jurisdiction about the theological
importance of this divine fear, and to display his elevated status as an
episcopal guardian. The knowledge that late antique bishops used the
construction and decoration of religious buildings to display their
wealth and status is already firmly established in scholarship.1 That they
* I would like to thank Guy Halsall (University of York), Simon Loseby (University of Sheffield),
and Edward James (University College Dublin), for kindly supporting the first draft of this
paper at the Leeds International Medieval Congress 2019. I also extend especial thanks to
Simon Loseby, whose advice significantly helped the creation of this article, and James
Harland (Universität Tübingen), whose feedback helped me refine this piece. Open access
funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
1
P. Brown, Through the Eye of A Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome and the Making of Christianity in
the West, 350–550 AD (Princeton, 2012), pp. 43, 226–30, 245, 500–2 and 506–26. H.W. Dey, The
Afterlife of the Roman City: Architecture and Ceremony in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle
Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3) 325–349

© 2022 The Authors. Early Medieval Europe published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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326 Catherine-Rose Hailstone
also incorporated ekphrastic descriptions of these buildings into their

texts for the purposes of preserving and promoting their growing
episcopal prestige has also been recognized.2 Building on these
foundations, this article shows that prominent bishops like Gregory
thought that it was the ability of their churches to communicate and
educate people in the theological concept of the fear of God that
determined the effectiveness of these buildings as visual displays of
episcopal authority.
As a historian, church builder and bishop, Gregory was deeply
learned in theology. His descriptions of church architecture in his
historical works shows not only that he had very specific notions of
what sort of architectural features were needed to conjure the fear of
God inside a church, but that he actively sought to create such
atmospheres in Tours Cathedral and the Basilica of Saint Martin.
This argument is conveyed through several sources, including
Gregory’s Ten Books of Histories and the poem composed by
Gregory’s friend and beneficiary Venantius Fortunatus (d. 600/9) to
commemorate the rededication of Tours Cathedral in 590. Also
relevant are two of the fourteen inscriptions that the family of
manuscripts known as the Martinellus show were commissioned by
Bishop Perpetuus of Tours (d. 490/1) to decorate the interior walls
of the Basilica of St Martin.3 A close, comparative reading of these
Ages (Cambridge, 2015), pp. 73–7, 160–8 and 171–2. S. Loseby, ‘Bishops and Cathedrals: Order
and Diversity in the Fifth-Century Urban Landscape of Southern Gaul’, in J. Drinkwater and
H. Elton (eds), Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 144–55, at pp.
149–55. I. Wood, ‘The Audience of Architecture in Post-Roman Gaul’, in L.S.A. Butler and
R. Morris (eds), The Anglo-Saxon Church: Papers on History, Architecture, and Archaeology in
Honour of Dr. H. M. Taylor (London, 1986), pp. 74–9. S. Wood, The Propriety Church in the
Medieval West (Oxford, 2006), pp. 14–16, 19 and 26. J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Frankish
Church (Oxford, 1983), pp. 3–4, 12 and 48.
2
E.g. G.H. de La Portbarré-Viard, ‘Les Discours sur les Édifices Religieux dans les Carmina de
Venance Fortunat: Entre Création Poétique Originale et Héritage de Paulin de Nole’, Carmenae
11 (2012), pp. 1–21, at p. 2 and 17–19.
3
The Ten Books of Histories, in which Gregory (b. 538/9) covers everything from the Creation to
the early 590s, are just one of the works that Gregory composed and continuously edited
throughout his episcopacy (573–94). Books I to IV cover events that happened pre-575 while
Books V to X cover the period 575–91. For an introductory guide to the Histories see M.
Heinzelmann, Gregory of Tours: History and Society in the Sixth Century, trans. C. Carroll
(Cambridge, 2001). Fortunatus’ poem, no. X.6, is preserved within his eleven books of
poetry, the Carmina. The first seven books were collated and circulated by him by 576.
Books VIII and IX were finalized in 587 with Books X and XI following in the 590s. For
more on this see J. George, Venantius Fortunatus: A Latin Poet in Merovingian Gaul (Oxford,
1992). The Martinellus are the collection of manuscripts dating from the ninth century that
contain appendixes that reveal more about St Martin and the development of his cult. The
contents of the inscriptions documented across the Martinellus manuscripts were first
collated by Edmond Le Blant in 1856 and were originally created by Bishop Paulinus of
Périgueux and Sidonius Apollinaris, bishop of Clermont, at the request of Perpetuus of Tours
in the fifth century. For more on the Martinellus and the inscriptions contained within it see
R.V. Dam, Saints and Their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul (Princeton, 1993), pp. 308–10.
Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Atmospheric architecture 327
sources reveals that while Gallo-Frankish bishops considered church

architecture to be a useful tool for augmenting their status and
authority, some, like Gregory, recognized more specifically that it was
the ability of these buildings to elicit and convey the theological
concept of the fear of God which truly enabled such spaces to
become visual displays of episcopal status and authority. The
constant elicitation of this divine fear within the atmospheres of the
churches that they controlled, helped bishops like Gregory augment
their authority. It allowed them to give people a sensorial experience
of the might and power of God, whose voice they channelled and
whose authority gave meaning and weight to the decisions that they
made in all matters spiritual, political, legal and cultural.
With this in mind, the following article argues three things. The first is
that Gregory of Tours made architectural changes to Tours Cathedral and
the Basilica of St Martin with the intention of inspiring and teaching the
theology of the fear of God to all who entered. Second, he did this
deliberately because he knew that by regularly subjecting his flock to a
church atmosphere filled with the fear of God, he would be able to
fulfil his pastoral obligations and assert his role as an episcopal
guardian. Finally, the ways in which Gregory worked the fear of God
into the churches for which he was responsible, through their
architecture and decoration, demonstrates that he was an impresario of
this fear (to use Peter Brown’s term)4 and that he followed in the
footsteps of his predecessors, especially St Namatius of Clermont
(d. 462) and Bishop Perpetuus of Tours.
The religious and political significance of the churches of Tours:

historical context
As the bishop of Tours from the autumn of 573, Gregory presided over
one of the sixteen metropolitan dioceses in Merovingian Gaul.5 In the
late sixth century, the metropolitan diocese of Tours covered most of
the Gallic province of Lugdunensis Tertia (Fig. 1) and encompassed the
suffragan bishoprics of Le Mans, Angers, Vannes, Nantes, Rennes,
Corseul and Osismes.
Both the diocese and the city’s significance in Merovingian Gaul
predominantly stemmed from their connection to the revered Bishop
Martin, who occupied the episcopal see of Tours from 371 to 397.
4
P. Brown, The Cult of Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (Chicago, 1981), pp. 10,
38, 67 and 73.
5
For a complete list of these see A.C. Murray (ed.), A Companion to Gregory of Tours (Leiden,
2015), pp. 584–91.

Fig. 1 The metropolitan diocese of Tours located in the Gallic province Lugdunensis
Tertia
Within the wider context of the growing interest in martyr cults, relic
theology and the cult of saints that first emerged in the late fourth
century, the cult of Martin grew steadily in Gaul and beyond due to
the efforts several influential men.6 These included Sulpicius Severus
(d. 425), who authored the original Life of Saint Martin in 396,
Paulinus the bishop of Périgueux, who versified Sulpicius’ writings,
and Perpetuus the sixth bishop of Tours, who commissioned
Paulinus’ verse Life and constructed a large basilica over Martin’s
tomb. Gregory the nineteenth bishop of Tours, added four books of
posthumous miracles to the literary repertoire on Martin. His efforts
were supported by Venantius Fortunatus, the poet and bishop of
Poitiers, who was educated in Ravenna but composed a metrical Life
of Saint Martin after he moved to Gaul in 566.7 The collective
6
On the rise of the cult of saints see Brown, The Cult of Saints, pp. 55–127. For the emergence of
relic theology and martyr cults see G. Clark ‘Victricius of Rouen: Praising the Saints’, Journal of
Early Christian History 7.3 (1999), pp. 365–99, at pp. 365–75. D. Hunter, ‘Vigilantius of
Calagurris and Victricius of Rouen: Ascetics, Relics, and Clerics in Late Roman Gaul’,
Journal of Early Christian Studies 7.3 (1999), pp. 401–30. S. Collins, ‘From Martyrs’ Cults to
Confessors’ Cults in Late Antique Milan: The Mosaics of San Vittore in Ciel d’Oro’, Journal
of Late Antiquity 5.2 (2012), pp. 225–49, at pp. 232–5.
7
For more on the role of all these men in promoting Martin’s cult see Van Dam, Saints and Their
Miracles, pp. 13–28.

efforts of these men not only enhanced Martin’s reputation and

perpetuated his cult, they also transformed Tours into one of the
most important places of pilgrimage in Gaul and increased the
eminence and prestige of the city’s presiding bishop.8
The religious significance that became increasingly attached to Tours
in the aftermath of Martin’s episcopacy was further enhanced by the
coronation and procession of Clovis I in the city in 507.9 This event
magnified the political prestige attached to Tours, securing its status as
a favoured place for royal ceremonial processions throughout the
Merovingian and Carolingian period.10 It also amplified the political
significance attached to the Basilica of St Martin and Tours Cathedral,
with the former marking the start of Clovis’ parade and the cathedral
serving as a key feature along his route.11 The association of these two
churches with Martin and Clovis transformed them and the city into
poignant symbols of religious and political power in Merovingian Gaul.
Patrick Périn has already noted that the scale of episcopal complexes
from the fourth century – which often included a nearby baptistry, a
place to receive pilgrims and the sick, and the episcopal residence
(domus eccelesiae) – served as ‘monumental ensembles’ and displays of
status within the city.12 When he became the bishop of Tours in
573, Gregory not only became responsible for the upkeep of the
churches and shrines within Tours, he also became liable for
maintaining the buildings which served as visual reminders of the
spiritual and political significance of the city, its wider diocese and
its metropolitan bishop.13 These included the intra muros cathedral of
Tours (first constructed between 337 and 370)14 and the two smaller
churches positioned alongside it, dedicated to Gervasius and
Protasius and Mary and John the Baptist respectively (the former
8
Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles, pp. 4–6 and 50–81.
9
Gregory of Tours, Libri Historiarum X II.38, ed. B. Krusch and W. Levinson, MGH SRM 1.1
(Hanover, 1951), p. 89; all subsequent references will be to this edition. Dey, Afterlife, pp.
162–4. Note: DLH is used to denote that Gregory wrote Ten Books of Histories (Decem Libri
Historiarum) and not a History of the Franks (HF) as Thorpe’s English translation labels it.
For a discussion of how Ten Books of Histories became the History of the Franks see W.
Goffart, The Narrators of Barbarian History (A.D. 550–800): Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Bede,
and Paul the Deacon (Notre Dame, 2005), pp. 119–27.
10
Dey, Afterlife, p. 163.
11
Gregory of Tours, DLH II.38, p. 89.
12
P. Périn, ‘Landscape and Material Culture of Gaul in the Time of Gregory of Tours According
to Archaeology’, in A.C. Murray (ed.), A Companion to Gregory of Tours (Leiden, 2015), pp.
256–77, at pp. 262–3.
13
Wood, ‘The Audience of Architecture’, p. 77.
14
Gregory of Tours, DLH X.31, pp. 526–7.

built before 460 and the latter completed by 546).15 The Basilica of St
Martin (rebuilt by Perpetuus before 473) sat outside the city walls.16
The presence of not one but two churches on either side of the main
cathedral is indicative of the heightened religious significance attached to
Tours in this period. Périn states that archaeological excavations have
shown that double cathedrals, which consisted of the main episcopal
church standing alongside a smaller basilica, were a common feature of
late antique cities.17 Yet Tours Cathedral (Fig. 2) had two smaller
churches flanking it. This ‘triple cathedral’, in combination with the
episcopal residence which stood nearby, would have made for an
impressive palatial complex and display of episcopal authority inside
the city – especially when the buildings stood in their full, undamaged
glory. Unfortunately, Gregory tells us that these churches all suffered
varying levels of damage during the tenure of his predecessor, Bishop
Eufronius (555–73).18 Both the cathedral and its two flanking churches
(to Gervasius and Protasius and Mary and John the Baptist) were
destroyed during a fire that occurred in 557.19 Less than a year later the
Basilica of St Martin then suffered extensive damage to its roof and
interior walls when a sanctuary-seeking priest named Willichar set fire
to it.20 Gregory acknowledges that Eufronius received enough financial
aid from King Clothar I to re-roof the basilica with tin and that he
restored the cathedral complex’s two smaller churches as part of his
15
Gregory of Tours, DLH X.31, pp. 529 and 532–3. The location of these churches is
topographically illustrated in L. Pietri, La Ville de Tours du IVe au VIe siècle naissance d’une
cite chrétienne (Palais Farnèse, 1983), appendix 5, p. 797 and M. Vieillard-Troïekouroff, Les
Monuments Religieux de la Gaule D’Apres Les Oeuvres de Grégoire de Tours (Paris, 1976), pp.
304–29.
16
For the date of Perpetuus’ basilica see A.H. Chase, ‘The Metrical Lives of Saint Martin of Tours
by Paulinus and Fortunatus and the Prose Life by Sulpicius Severus’, Harvard Studies in
Classical Philology 43 (1932), p. 52.
17
Périn, ‘Landscape and Material Culture’, pp. 262–3. N. Duval, Naissance des Arts Chrétiens:
Atlas des Monuments Paléochrétiens de la France (Paris, 1991), pp. 55–61.
18
Gregory of Tours, DLH VI.20, pp. 152–3 and X.31, p. 534.
19
The precise date of this fire has been postulated by several scholars including L. Thorpe, who
suggests that it happened sometime between 555 and 573, B. Brennan, who dates it to 560, and
M. Vieillard-Troïekouroff, who, together with R.V. Dam, favours 558. Yet I would suggest that
the information that Gregory provides in the Histories permits us to date the fire to 557.
Gregory states that Willichar set fire to the Basilica of St Martin in 558 (DLH IV.20, pp.
152–3). When he subsequently records the details of Eufronius’ episcopate (DLH X.31, p.
534), Gregory says that the fire which burned down all the churches in Tours (meaning
within the city walls) happened the year before Willichar set fire to the basilica. The fire that
burned down Tours cathedral had to have happened in 557. L. Thorpe, The History of the
Franks (London, 1974), p. 600, n. 121; B. Brennan, ‘Text and Image: “Reading” the Walls of
the Sixth-Century Cathedral of Tours’, The Journal of Medieval Latin 6 (1996), pp. 65–83, at
p. 65. Vieillard-Troïekouroff, Les Monuments, p. 305 and Van Dam, Saints and Their
Miracles, p. 130.
20
Gregory of Tours, DLH VI.20, pp. 152–3 and X.31, p. 534.

Fig. 2 The walled city of Tours in the sixth century
extensive church-building programme.21 Nevertheless, Gregory arrived in

Tours to find both the cathedral – the oldest intra muros church – and the
walls of the basilica in desperate need of restoration.22 The task of
renovating the two most prominent visual markers of the city and its
bishop’s connection with the authority of St Martin and Clovis I
became Gregory’s responsibility.
Architecture, decoration and the fear of God

Building the fear of God into the architecture of Tours Cathedral
There are two pieces of evidence that reveal how and why Gregory
integrated the fear of God into the religious architectures in Tours.
The first is Gregory’s description of the dimensions of St Namatius’
cathedral in Clermont, which appears in Book II of his Ten Books of
Histories. The second is an inscription, now recorded in the
Martinellus manuscripts, that was originally installed inside the
21
Gregory of Tours, DLH X.31, p. 534.
22

Basilica of St Martin by Perpetuus of Tours and was later restored by

Gregory. Since it is likely that Gregory was first introduced to the
importance of filling a church atmosphere with the fear of God
through Namatius’ cathedral, which lay in the region where Gregory
was born and spent most of his early years, the effect of this
cathedral on Gregory’s own church-building activity will be explored
first.23
Much like his episcopal predecessors at Tours, Gregory maintained
extensive literary and church-building programmes, which he briefly
documented in the final chapter of his Ten Books of Histories:
In many places throughout Tours and its immediate region, I

dedicated the churches and oratories I illuminated with the relics
of the saints; it would take too long for me to list them in order.
I have written Ten Books of Histories, seven books of Miracles and
one book on The Life of the Fathers. I have also authored a book
on the Commentary on the Psalms and one book On the Courses of
the Stars.24
Scholars such as Martin Heinzelmann have long argued that Gregory’s
literary corpus is held together by its aim to perpetuate Gregory’s
version of the ideal holy society.25 Yet another important aspect which
binds Gregory’s writing and church-building projects together is his
decision to use these as instruments to preserve and teach his views on
the fear of God and its importance in the formation of the good
Christian self.
Elsewhere I have argued that throughout his writings Gregory utilized
an extensive vocabulary to refer to the fear of God, including timor, terror,
23
In The Miracles of Saint Martin, Gregory reveals that he visited the basilica for the first time in
563, aged twenty-five. While it is probable that Perpetuus’ incorporation of a fear-of-God-
invoking inscription directly above the basilica’s altar helped clarify its importance in
Gregory’s mind, his frequent exposure to the atmosphere in Namatius’ cathedral during his
childhood means that the cathedral was likely to have introduced him to the concept.
Gregory of Tours, Libri Virtutibus Sancti Martini Episcopi I.32, ed. B. Krusch, MGH SRM
1.2 (Hanover, 1885), pp. 153–4.
24
‘In multis vero locis infra Turonicum terminum et ecclesias et oratoria dedicavi sanctorumque
reliquiis inlustravi; quae memorare ex ordine prolixum censui. Decem libros Historiarum,
septem Miraculorum, unum de Vita Patrum scripsi; in Psalterii tractatu librum unum
commentatus sum; de Cursibus etiam ecclesiasticis unum librum condidi.’ Compare this
with Gregory’s record of his predecessors’ building achievements particularly Eufronius,
Bricius, Eustochius, Volusianus, Ommatius, Injurosius, Perpetuus and Martin. Gregory of
Tours, DLH X.31, pp. 527–35.
25
Heinzelmann, Gregory of Tours, pp. 172–91. Goffart, Narrators, pp. 168–74. Most recently, A.E.
Jones, Death and Afterlife in the Pages of Gregory of Tours: Religion and Society in Late Antique
Gaul (Amsterdam, 2020), pp. 111–14.

metus and pavor.26 He did not, however, regard this divine fear as an
‘emotion’ or mere passion (a feeling that is irrational and involuntary),
but instead as a core component of Christian belief.27 For Gregory, the
fear of God occupied a pivotal role in the ascetic pursuit of the
attainment of salvation and the formation of a good Christian person
through its connection to self-control.28 Gregory’s writings collectively
show that he amalgamated and synthesized a series of long-held views
about this fear and its role in creating a virtuous Christian that had
emerged throughout Gaul and the wider west during the fourth and
fifth centuries. One example of this is his implicit references to the
‘duplex fear of God’ theory discussed at length by Augustine of Hippo
and John Cassian.29 According to these two men, there were two types
of the fear of God. The first, the fear of being punished by God,
persuaded people to acquire and maintain the self-discipline needed to
allow them to keep the faith and progress along the spiritual path to
heaven. The second, which emerged only when a person had learned to
love God and not just fear His retribution, helped them to remain
disciplined for fear of losing their love of God and God’s love of them.
In his own writings, Gregory maintained that the purpose of this
divine fear was to preserve a person’s self-control so that they would
behave in a such a way as to merit salvation. He did this through the
use of exemplars, people whose lives showed that they were progressing
through the fearing process outlined by Augustine and Cassian.30 Yet
he never explicitly states that there are two fears of God. The complex
theological perceptions about the purpose of this divine fear are
streamlined in Gregory’s contributions to the ascetic tradition in Gaul.
26
For a detailed analysis of Gregory’s use of fear vocabulary in relation to the fears of God, the
devil and demons see C.-R. Hailstone, ‘Fear in the Mind and Works of Gregory of Tours’,
Ph.D. thesis, University of York (2020), pp. 22–4, 122–4, 224 and 307.
27
‘Emotion’ is an eighteenth-century term. The biological and social constructs that we now
identify as emotions were labelled as passions in antiquity and late antiquity. Gregory and
his contemporaries would not have seen fear as an ‘emotion’ in our sense of the word. For
more on this see T. Dixon, From Passions to Emotions: The Creation of a Secular Psychological
Category (Cambridge, 2003), pp. 4–5, 18–19 and 26–61. U. Frevert, ‘The History of
Emotions’, in L.F. Bonnet, M. Lewis and J. Haviland-Jones (eds), Handbook of Emotions:
Fourth Edition (London, 2016), pp. 49–65, at pp. 50–1.
28
For a fuller discussion of the developments that occurred in ascetic thought in this period see C.
Leyser, Authority and Asceticism from Augustine to Gregory the Great (Oxford, 2000), pp. 1–100
and P. Rousseau, Ascetics, Authority, and the Church in the Age of Jerome and Cassian, 2nd edn
(Notre Dame, 2010). On Gregory’s location in this unfolding tradition see Hailstone, ‘Fear
in the Mind’, pp. 12–14, 73–261.
29
See Augustine of Hippo, De Civitate Dei XIV.9, ed. E. Hoffman, CSEL 40.2 (Vienna, 1900), p.
28; Augustine of Hippo, De Doctrina Christiana II.7, PL 34, cols 39–40 and John Cassian,
Collationes XI.6.1–13.4, CSEL 13 (Vienna, 1886), pp. 317–420. Hailstone, ‘Fear in the Mind’,
pp. 88–94.
30
E.g. Gregory of Tours, DLH VII.1, pp. 323–7.

Despite being a primarily theological concept, both strands of the fear

of God are habitually signified and characterized by contemporary
theologians (including Gregory) as fears rather than anxieties (anxietas)
or awe – the latter of which is often signified by the term reverentia
and is closer to the love of God than the fear of Him.31 Gregory’s
writings show that he was, in Peter Brown’s terms, an impresario of the
fear of God. But his commitment to promoting this fear can also be
seen in his church-building projects. I argue that Gregory’s notion of
the fear of God as the enabler and preserver of self-control, guided his
decision to work this divine fear into the religious architecture in
Tours. By encoding it into these buildings, Gregory knew that he
would be able to fulfil his pastoral responsibility to instruct his flock
about the importance of this Christian fear and to display his own
elevated status as a designated guardian of God’s people.
If Gregory’s description of the cathedral at Clermont is read alongside
the passages in which he and Fortunatus describe the architectural
changes that Gregory made to Tours Cathedral, it becomes apparent that
Gregory had specific notions of what sort of architectural features were
needed to evoke the fear of God and that he actively used these ideas to
create such an atmosphere in his own cathedral. In Histories X.31,
Gregory proudly records the alterations that he made to Tours Cathedral:
I, Gregory, the unworthy nineteenth [bishop of the city], found the

church of the city of Tours, in which the blessed Martin other
priests of the Lord have been consecrated to the episcopal office,
demolished and destroyed by fire. On this account, having rebuilt it
wider and taller [than before], I rededicated it in the seventeenth
year of my episcopate.32
Gregory reveals that he increased the height and width of the building
but remains silent about any further modifications. Fortunately,
Gregory’s friend, Venantius Fortunatus, composed a poem
commemorating the rededication of the cathedral in 590. In it he
reveals that Gregory added wide windows, a new shrine, new frescoes
and repaired the roof as well.
31
Prosper of Aquitaine likens the fear of God to ‘fright’ (terroris): Prosper of Aquitaine, Libri Duo
De Vocatione Omnium Gentium, PL 51, cols 0712A–0712B. For a discussion on Gregory’s
separation of anxiety from fear see Hailstone, ‘Fear in the Mind’, p. 22.
32
Gregory of Tours, DLH X.31, p. 534: ‘Nonus decimus Gregorius ego indignus ecclesiam urbis
Turonicae, in qua beatus Martinus vel ceteri sacerdotes Domini ad pontificatus officium
consecrati sunt, ab incendio dissolutam dirutamque nanctus sum, quam reaedificatam in
ampliori altiorique fastigio septimo decimo ordinationis meae anno dedicavi.’

The holy Gregory now raises up the church restored

and its former glory and honour has been returned.
The roof of the church shines especially brilliantly
and after long use the shrine glitters anew,crumbling in age, it is
renewed for the better,
once a wreck, but after its collapse it is now securely established
in place. (ll. 11–16)[. . .]Now the church gives pleasure, with wide
windows like eyes,
by which the daylight is artfully confined in the shadows of night.
The splendour of the paintings brilliantly decorates the architecture,
you would believe that the bodies depicted in paint are alive.33
(ll. 89–92)
Ramsay MacMullen and Ann Marie Yasin have already identified
several reasons why Christian bishops increasingly sought to amplify
the scale of their churches and basilicas from the fourth century
onwards. On a practical level, bigger churches afforded the increasing
numbers of Christians the space needed to participate in liturgical
services.34 Larger buildings further ensured that the church could
accommodate the growing interest in ad sanctos burials, provide
provision for funerary feasting, and allow the bishop and clergy to have
separate, elevated spaces that projected their special status to the
congregants below.35 From a theological standpoint, large basilicas were
also constructed by prominent bishops like Ambrose of Milan and
Victricius of Rouen to perpetuate their growing interest in relic
theology, the cult of martyrs, and as way of mimicking the toil that the
martyrs endured.36 Given Tours’s association with St Martin and its
status as a place of religious and political significance in Gaul, Gregory’s
decision to increase the size of the cathedral (I will discuss the Basilica
of St Martin below) could simply be interpreted as being indicative of
his need to create a larger sacred space that could house more holy
33
Venantius Fortunatus, Venanti Fortunati Opera Poetica X.6, ed. F. Leo MGH AA 4.1 (Berlin,
1881) [hereafter Carm.], pp. 234–237: ‘quae modo templa sacer renovata Gregorius effert / et
reditt priscus cultus honorque suus. / Fulgida praecipui nituerunt culmina templi / postque
usus veteres praemicat aula rudis, / in senium vergens, melius revirescere discens, / diruta,
post casum firmius acta situ. [. . .] nunc placet aula decens, patulis oculata fenestris, / quo
noctis tenebris clauditur arte dies. / Lucidius fabricam picturae pompa perornat, / ductaque
qua fucis vivere membra putes.’ For a published translation see Venantius Fortunatus, Poems,
trans. M. Roberts (Harvard, 2017), X.6, pp. 654–67.
34
R. MacMullen, Second Church: Popular Christianity A.D. 200–400 (Atlanta, 2009), pp. 15–20.
35
MacMullen, Second Church, pp. 82–94.
36
A.M. Yasin, ‘Sight Lines of Sanctity at Late Antique Martyria’, in B.D. Wescoat and R.G.
Ousterhout (eds), Architecture of the Sacred Space, Ritual, and Experience from Classical Greece
to Byzantium (Cambridge, 2014), pp. 248–306, at pp. 248–50. Also, Victricius of Rouen,
‘Praising the Saints’, in G. Clark, ‘Victricius of Rouen: Praising the Saints’, Journal of Early
Christian History 7.3 (1999), pp. 365–99, at pp. 399.

relics, pilgrims and visitors. Yet if his and Fortunatus’ accounts of the
repairs made to Tours Cathedral are contextualized alongside Gregory’s
wider descriptions of, and reactions towards, other churches in his
writings, it becomes clear that there is more going on. Gregory’s
decision to increase the cathedral’s height, width and windows not only
indicates that the damage that had been caused in 557 was considerable,
but that he also wanted to use the cathedral’s architectural magnitude
to elicit the fear of God and instruct his flock in its theological
importance.
Although the historian is hard-pressed to find many tales in Gregory’s
Histories which describe the architecture of different churches in any
detail,37 there are two notable exceptions: Histories II.14, where Gregory
describes the new basilica that Perpetuus had constructed over St
Martin’s tomb, and Histories II.16, in which he recalls the cathedral
which St Namatius built at Clermont.
Describing Namatius’ cathedral, Gregory declares that it is
150 feet in length, 60 feet in width, that is inside the nave, and 50 feet
in height as far as the vaulting. It has a space with a rounded apse and
two wings of elegant construction on both sides. In this way the
whole building has the shape of a cross. It has 42 windows, 70
columns and 8 doorways. In that very place one witnesses the
terror of God (terror . . . Dei) and a great brightness. Many, in
truth, sense a most sweet odour in that place, just as if the aroma
is coming from the sacred. The walls to the altar have been
38
embellished, fashioned with various kinds of marble.
In this passage, Gregory outlines some of the cathedral’s basic architectural
details including its height, width, cruciform shape and number of
windows and doors. He also gives us a detailed account of the scents,
interior decoration and atmosphere which these features elicit. These
details are particularly interesting because they show that in Gregory’s
perspective it was the structural and internal elements of this cathedral
37
It should be noted that Gregory does discuss other architectural features of Gaulish cities in his
Histories: e.g. DLH III.19, pp. 120–1. More details: J. Guyon, ‘L’architecture religeuse chez
Gregoire de Tours’, in N. Gauthier and H. Galinié (eds), Grégoire de Tours et l’espace gaulois:
Actes du Congrès International Tours, 3–5 Novembre 1984 (Tours, 1997), pp. 199–207.
38
Gregory of Tours, DLH II.16, p. 64: ‘Sanctus vero Namatius post obitum Rustici episcopi apud
Arvernus in diebus illis octavus erat episcopus. Hic ecclesiam, qui nunc constant et senior infra
murus civitatis habetur, suo studio fabricavit, habentem in longo pedes 150, in lato pedes 60, id
est infra capso, in alto usque cameram pedes 50, inante absidam rotundam habens, ab utroque
latere ascellas eleganti constructas opere; totumque aedificium in modum crucis habetur
expositum. Habet fenestras 42, columnas 70, ostia 8. Terror namque ibidem Dei et claritas
magna conspicitur, et vere plerumque inibi odor suavissimus quasi aromatum advenire a
religiosis sentitur. Parietes ad altarium opere sarsurio ex multa marmorum genera exornatos
habet.’

that transformed it into a place in which one could perceive the terror of
God (terror . . . Dei). The cathedral’s height and width, combined with
its impressive number of columns and doorways, reflects and emphasizes
the might of God, whose house the cathedral symbolically represented,
and simultaneously imparts a sense of perspective, causing any sense of
self-importance or entitlement to diminish in those that enter. The
forty-two windows, a feature that Gregory also modified in Tours
Cathedral, introduces a greater volume of light into the building’s
interior. This natural light, combined with the light given off by the
candles and oil lamps, would have refracted off the marble walls,
bringing the ‘great brightness’ into the cathedral that Gregory
recollected, and allowing the viewer to acquire a sense of what it would
be like to be in heaven, the dwelling place of God and home of eternal
light.39 Cumulatively, the cathedral’s magnitude, space, shape and levels
of light, especially when combined with the murals and potent incense,
ensures that the authority and might of God are ‘felt’ by those who
enter. This sensation ultimately translates into the terror of God, as
people are reminded of the true majesty of the One who will ultimately
choose whether they merit eternal salvation or damnation.
Gregory’s recollection of this cathedral as one that inspires the terror of
God is especially significant in the context of the volume of architectural
detail he provides. While Gregory’s passage is neither unique nor the
most elaborate example of an ekphrastic architectural description of
churches in this period, it stands out for the explicit and specific
connection it forges between the cathedral’s features and its ability to
elicit the terror of God.40 Given that Gregory hailed from the
39
The use of light to mimic heaven in their churches was something that Fortunatus praised
several bishops for in his Carmina, including Gregory. M. Roberts, ‘Light, Colour and
Visual Illusion in the Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 65/66
(2011–12), pp. 113–20, at pp. 114–15. For a wider study of the contemporary use of marble to
simulate heaven in basilicas and churches of the period, see F. Barry, Painting in Stone:
Architecture and the Poetics of Marble from Antiquity to the Enlightenment (New Haven,
2020), esp. pp. 129–207.
40
This link never explicitly appears in the writings of many of Gregory’s contemporaries,
including Orosius, Paul the Silentiary, Procopius, Sidonius Apollinaris, Avitus of Vienne and
Fortunatus. See Fortunatus, Carm. III.6–7, pp. 55–8. Avitus of Vienne, ‘Homilia 25’ and
‘Epistula 50’, both in Alcimi Ecdici Aviti Viennensis Episcopi Opera, ed. R. Peiper, MGH AA
6.2 (Berlin, 1883), pp. 145–46 and 78 respectively. Sidonius Apollinaris, ‘Letters of Gaius
Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius’ II.10, in idem, Poems and Letters, Volume 1, ed. W.B. Anderson
(Harvard, 1936), pp. 464–5. Sidonius Apollinaris, ‘Letters of Gaius Sollius Apollinaris
Sidonius’ IV.18, V.17 and VI.12, in idem, Poems and Letters, Volume 2, ed. W.B. Anderson
(Harvard, 1984), pp. 132–5, 228–9 and 278–81. Paul never uses the fear of God in reference
to the architecture or atmosphere of the Hagia Sophia. See Paul the Silentiary, ‘Description
of the Church of Hagia Sophia’, in C. Mango (ed.), The Art of the Byzantine Empire
312–1453 (Toronto, 1986), pp. 81–91. Procopius states that Justinian’s new circuit-wall at
Satala inspired ‘terror in the hearts of the enemy’, but never refers to any churches inciting
fear or terror. See Procopius of Caesarea, Buildings III.4, trans. H.B. Dewing (Cambridge,

Auvergne (where both his paternal uncle, Gallus, and his tutor, Avitus,
served as the bishops of Clermont),41 this connection could be the
result of a collision between his personal memory of the building, in
which he likely spent a lot of time, and his wider concern to promote
the importance of this fear throughout his writings. Yet Gregory’s
detailed description of the cathedral’s architecture shows that he
clearly associated the building’s ability to inspire the terror of God
with its physical structure and material features. It is significant
therefore, that both Gregory’s and Fortunatus’ descriptions of the
renovations that Gregory made to Tours Cathedral highlight that
Gregory enhanced the same architectural features (windows, height,
width and walls) that he associated with Namatius’ fear-of-God-
inspiring cathedral at Clermont. In Gregory’s mind, these features
combined to create an atmosphere that elicited the terror of God. His
subsequent decision to improve on these exact same features when
restoring the cathedral at Tours, indicates that he wanted his cathedral
to elicit the same response.
Given that Gregory states that both Namatius’ cathedral and the one
at Tours were considered to be the oldest infra muros churches (he uses
the terms senior infra murus and seniorem to refer to Namatius’
cathedral and Tours Cathedral respectively),42 it is possible that
Gregory might have deliberately chosen to model his alterations to
Tours Cathedral on Namatius’ designs for this reason. Since Gregory
knew that his cathedral, like Namatius’, was the oldest church within
the city walls, it is likely that he would have wanted to base his
architectural improvements to this building on an example that he felt
would enable him to effectively fulfil his episcopal duties and display
0
MA, 1940), pp. 196–7. In his History, Orosius only ever uses the fear or terror of God in
reference to people: Orosius, Seven Books of History Against the Pagans I.10.18; VII.22.5, 26.3,
39.6, 41.3, 43.11 and 43.18, trans. A.T. Fear (Liverpool, 2010), pp. 60, 355, 364, 402, 406, 412
and 414. On Gregory and Fortunatus being part of a long-standing tradition of producing
ekphrastic descriptions of churches see Portbarré-Viard, ‘Les Discours’, pp. 1–3. For more on
ekphrasis and the Hagia Sophia see Barry, Painting in Stone, pp. 164–5.
41
On Gallus see Gregory of Tours, Liber Vitae Patrum VI.Pref.–7, ed. B. Krusch, MGH SRM 1.2
(Hanover, 1885) [hereafter VP], pp. 229–236. Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles, pp. 52–8. M.
Heinzelmann, ‘Gregory of Tours: The Elements of a Biography’, in A.C. Murray (ed.), A
Companion to Gregory of Tours (Leiden, 2015), pp. 7–34, at pp. 21–2. On Avitus see Gregory
of Tours, VP XI.3, p. 261. Also, Gregory of Tours, Liber in Gloria Confessorum, c. 40, ed. B.
Krusch, MGH SRM 1.2 (Hanover, 1885), pp. 322–3 and Gregory of Tours, DLH IV.35, pp.
167–8. Concerning the legal relationship between Gregory and Avitus see A.H.B. Breukelaar,
Historiography and Episcopal Authority in Sixth-Century Gaul (Göttingen, 1994), pp. 31–2. On
the date of Avitus’ episcopacy see Heinzelmann, ‘Elements of a Biography’, p. 23.
42
Gregory of Tours, DLH II.16, p. 64 and X.31, p. 534.

his status.43 The level of detail that Gregory provides about the features
and atmosphere of Namatius’ cathedral suggests that he thought that
this was a good example. It was both memorable and inspired the
terror of God, something about which Gregory, as the bishop of Tours,
was obligated to teach his flock. Whether Namatius had intended his
cathedral to inspire the terror of God through its architecture is
unknowable; there are no extant records from Namatius himself. Yet
the link that Gregory forges between this cathedral’s architectural
features and the invocation of this divine fear, shows that he derived
the knowledge that it was good practice to use a church’s architectural
features to encrypt the fear of God into its atmospheric ambiance from
this building. Even if it cannot be proved that Namatius decisively
wanted his cathedral to elicit a fear of God response, we can be certain
that the importance of doing this is what Gregory took from his
encounters with this cathedral.
Another way in which Gregory replicated Namatius’ model for
creating a terror-of-God-inspiring cathedral was by embellishing the
walls of Tours Cathedral. The frescoes that Gregory installed arguably
constitute one of the more intelligible ways through which he might
have sought to use the cathedral’s architecture to teach his flock about
the importance of having the fear of God. In his poem
commemorating Gregory’s rededication of the cathedral, Fortunatus
states that Gregory ordered murals portraying select episodes of
Martin’s life to be painted onto the walls.44 Fortunatus versified these
episodes, which include Martin’s healing of the leper, dividing of his
cloak, resurrection of a dead man, and the incident in which he
avoided being crushed by a falling tree.45 Although Paulinus of
Périgueux’s verse edition of Sulpicius Severus’ Life of Saint Martin is the
only version of the three that Gregory knew to include an explicit
43
While it is possible that Gregory might have wanted to align his new cathedral with Namatius’
in order to link his past and present cathedral experiences, it is unlikely that he was using this as
a recognized authority on which to project his personal choices. If Gregory was looking to
situate his cathedral within an established authority of church-building styles in the period,
the Histories would likely contain more than two detailed descriptions of other churches that
had similar renovations.
44
Here it is worth noting that Gregory’s decision to include murals in his cathedral might have
been partially inspired by Namatius’ wife, whom Gregory says was behind the installation of
the murals at St Stephen’s church. Unfortunately, Gregory mentions nothing in this passage
to link either the wife’s actions or chosen images with the fear of God. Nevertheless, it is
plausible that Gregory might have connected her actions with those of her husband,
especially since Gregory’s account of what she did directly follows his description of
Namatius’ cathedral. Gregory’s collective modifications to Tours Cathedral could have been
inspired by both Namatius and his wife. See Gregory of Tours, DLH II.17, pp. 64–5.
45
Fortunatus, Carm. X.6, pp. 237–9.

reference to the fear of God in any of these episodes,46 the writings of

Sulpicius, Paulinus and Fortunatus collectively testify to their awareness
of the ascetic theology that no Christian could acquire or retain
self-control without having the fear of God to instigate and preserve
it.47 This knowledge, which had been introduced into Gaul primarily
through Sulpicius’ hagiography on Martin and the writings of John
Cassian,48 was not only incorporated by Gregory into his works; it was
also amalgamated into the views of other authoritative figures such as
Hilary of Poitiers, Prosper of Aquitaine, Salvian of Marseilles, Caesarius
of Arles and Avitus of Vienne. Gregory would have known that Martin
could never have reached the level of self-control and sanctity required
to achieve his miracles without being guided by the fear of God.
When he gazed at the murals, Gregory would thus have seen a visual
representation of the heights that the fear of God could enable a person
to reach. Yet the act of installing these images on the cathedral walls
also suggests that Gregory hoped that this message would be conveyed
to the clergy and laity who saw the murals. Even if the uneducated
citizens and pilgrims could not decipher the meanings hidden in the
Latin Mass, they would be confronted with an example of a
God-fearing person’s behaviour every time they looked at the cathedral
walls.49 The images were a constant reminder to Gregory and anyone
who entered the cathedral, that people could only become good
Christians if they acted in the fear of God. Gregory’s inclusion of these
murals was not only about advertising Martin’s cult and status as the
patron saint of Tours (though that certainly was a part of it), it was also
an opportunity for him to visually instruct the people of Tours in how
a good Christian was supposed to behave – calm, controlled and with
the fear of God.
By making the same physical adjustments to the architecture and
decoration of Tours Cathedral, changes which he believed would create
an ambiance that would generate the fear of God, Gregory would have
viewed himself as following the precedent which Namatius had set with
his cathedral at Clermont. Remembering that Gregory also regarded
the fear of God as a theological concept which served to move people
onto the Christian path towards acquiring self-control and keep them
there,50 his decision to use the cathedral’s architecture and decoration
46
Paulinus of Périgueux, De Vita Sancti Martini Episcopi Libri VI, ed. M. Petschenig CSEL 16.1
(Vienna, 1888), pp. 16–159, at p. 46 (Book II, ll. 299–300).
47
Hailstone, ‘Fear in the Mind’, pp. 112–17 and 133–42.
48
See Leyser, Authority and Asceticism, pp. 33–61 and Rousseau, Ascetics, pp. 143–234.
49
Gregory describes this happening when he recalls how Eberulf’s servants gawked at the
wall-paintings and decorations over Martin’s tomb. Gregory of Tours, DLH VII.22, p. 341.
50
Hailstone, ‘Fear in the Mind’, pp. 119–68 and 254–61.

to create an atmosphere that would elicit this fear in those who saw or
entered into it, thus indicates that Gregory considered fear-of-God-
evoking church architecture to be a useful instrument for teaching his
flock how to behave like good Christians while also reminding them of
his elevated status as their episcopal guardian; a status that would have
been visually displayed through the general splendour exuding from
completely restored ‘triple cathedral’ complex at Tours.
Inscribing the fear of God in St Martin’s basilica

Gregory’s modifications at St Martin’s basilica also fit with his role as an
impresario of the fear of God. Yet in this case, Gregory followed the
example set by Perpetuus of Tours. Amidst his list of achievements as
the nineteenth bishop of Tours, Gregory describes the repairs he made
to the basilica in the following terms:
I found the walls of the Basilica of Saint Martin scorched by fire. I

ordered our artists to use their skills to paint or decorate them so
that they were as bright as before. I commanded a baptistry to be
built onto the basilica in which I placed the relics of Saint John and
the martyr Sergius. I moved the relics of Saint Benignus the martyr
into the former baptistry.51
Gregory’s passage reveals that he modified the scale and shape of the
basilica’s complex by adding a new baptistry and repaired the
decoration within the main space. With the exception of adding wider
windows, Gregory enhanced the same architectural features of the
basilica that he did with the nearby cathedral; the same features which
he associated with the cathedral at Clermont’s terror-of-God-eliciting
abilities. Yet in magnifying the size of the basilica’s complex, Gregory
not only followed Namatius’ church-building practices but also those of
Perpetuus, the sixth bishop of Tours. A glance at Gregory’s description
of the larger basilica which Perpetuus built to replace the one that had
been constructed by Bishop Bricius,52 shows that it closely mirrors his
narrative of Namatius’ cathedral:
He [Perpetuus] constructed the great basilica which stands there even

today and is 550 paces from the city. It is 160 feet in length and 60 feet
51
Gregory of Tours, DLH X.31, p. 535: ‘Basilicae sanctae parietes adustos incendio repperi, quos in
illo nitore vel pingi vel exornari, ut prius fuerant, artificum nostrum opere imperavi.
Baptisterium ad ipsam basilicam aedificare praecepi, in quo sancti Iohannis cum Sergii
martyris reliquias posui; et in illo priore baptisterio sancti Benigni martyris pignora collocavi.’
52
Gregory of Tours, DLH X.31, p. 529. Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles, pp. 18–20.

wide. It is 45 feet in height to the vaulted ceiling, with 32 windows in

the altar, 20 in the nave, and 41 columns. In total the building has 52
windows, 120 columns, and 8 doors; 3 in the altar and 5 in the nave.53
Although Gregory does not explicitly state that the architecture of
Perpetuus’ basilica evoked the terror of God, his narrative emphasizes
the same architectural features that he associated with the Clermont
Cathedral’s ability to elicit this response. In Gregory’s eyes, Perpetuus
still magnified the same architectural elements (width, height and
number of windows and doors) that Namatius had used to create a
terror-of-God-evoking atmosphere in Clermont Cathedral. Since most
of the structure of Perpetuus’ basilica, with the exception of the roof
which Eufronius had replaced,54 was still extant when Gregory arrived
in Tours, it did not present Gregory with the same degree of
opportunity for architectural development compared to the cathedral.
Yet by adding a new baptistry to the basilica, Gregory still managed to
architecturally modify the complex in such a way as to mimic the
church-building strategies of Namatius and Perpetuus and enable the
basilica, through its enlarged presence, to inspire the fear of God.
Besides the alterations that Gregory made to the scale of the basilica,
the notion that he followed Perpetuus’ precedent of using the basilica’s
architecture to inspire the fear of God is most clearly evidenced by the
mural inscriptions that are recorded in the family of manuscripts
known as the Martinellus.55 These manuscripts, which document the
poems, stories and morals that Perpetuus ordered to be engraved into
the basilica’s interior walls,56 reveal that Perpetuus used verse
inscriptions to encode the fear of God into the basilica and that
Gregory, by preserving these inscriptions, modelled his approach to
encoding this divine fear into his church-building projects on
Perpetuus’ example.
Two of the fourteen inscriptions that featured in the basilica show that
Perpetuus and Gregory, as impresarios of the fear of God, were interested
in using the basilica’s architecture to remind and instruct those who
entered to preserve and display this divine fear. These inscriptions,
which were all originally installed by Perpetuus, vary in length. The
53
Gregory of Tours, DLH II.14, pp. 63–4.
54
55
For wider studies on the use of inscriptions in this period see: C. Henriksén (ed.), A Companion
to the Ancient Epigram (Hoboken, NJ, 2019), esp. pp. 577–96 and 615–48; K. Bolle et al., (eds),
The Epigraphic Cultures of Late Antiquity (Stuttgart, 2017); M.A. Handley, ‘Beyond
Hagiography: Epigraphic Commemoration and the Cult of Saints in Late Antique Trier’, in
R.W. Mathisen and D. Shanzer (eds), Society and Culture in Late Antique Gaul: Revisiting the
Sources (London, 2017), pp. 187–200.
56
Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles, pp. 131–2 and 309.

one above the altar, for example, had only two lines. Another, which sat
above the western doorway, was sixteen lines long and must have
occupied considerable wall space. It is in the content of these two
inscriptions that the fear of God can be found.
The one above the western door retells the story of the widow who
purchased the kingdom of heaven for two mites.
Let whoever comes to renew his vows to the highest God

learn to confess Christ according to the Word in the Gospel.
Although the suppliant prays on bended knees with
trembling heart,
if he ceases his good works, his faith is certainly empty.
Rich and poor alike are subject to this law
he who lacks wealth must prove it by intention.
Nor do tenuous and limited means excuse anyone,
the glory is established by the intent, not the value.
He who bestows whatever is necessary presents the most,
although he will have given little, he wishes to obtain the
most.
Among the piles of wealth or gifts of the powerful we know
that the faith of the poor widow was preferred.
As she purchased the kingdom of heaven for two mites,
the just Father raised her high among the stars.
Not she who gave much, but she who left nothing for herself
has deserved to be praised by the mouth of the judge of
God.57
This tale would have taught the literate amongst the congregation that
the true value of their gifts lay in the intent behind them, not their
financial value. It would have reminded them that while they were
obliged to do good works, it was also important to constantly
contemplate God with trembling hearts (corde tremens) if they wished
to reach heaven.
57
E. Le Blant, Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule antérieures au VIIIe siècle: réunies et annotées par
Edmond Le Blant (Paris, 1856), no. 173, pp. 234–5: ‘Discat evangelico Xpm sermon fateri /
quisque venit summon vota referre Deo. / Quamvis corde tremens supplex genu cernuus ore
/ si cessent operae nempe fides vacua est. / Lege sub hac pariter locuples pauperque tenetur /
cui census desit mente probavit opus. / Nec quemquam excusat tenuis atque arta facultas /
affect constat gloria non pretio. / Qui tribuit quaecumque opus est is plurima confert / parva
licet dederit maxima quaeque capit. / Inter opum cumulos scimus vel dona potentum /
praelatam viduae pauperis esse fidem. / Mercantem nummis caelorum regna duobus /
sublime vexit iustus in astra pater. / Non quae multa dedit sed quae sibi nulla reliquit /
laudari meruit iudicis ore Dei.’ Note that the translation is my own but it is similar to Van
Dam’s in Saints and Their Miracles, p. 313.

The altar inscription (Fig. 3) refers to the fear of God more explicitly
and is significant because of its content, length and specific location
above the altar: ‘How frightful (metuendus) is this place? Truly this is
the temple of God and the gate of heaven.’58
Fig. 3 Inscription on the arch above the altar in the Basilica of St Martin. Source: Le
Blant (1856), p. 239
Rob Meens has convincingly suggested that the inscription was

deliberately positioned above the altar to increase the holy power of the
basilica and bolster its attraction as a place of sanctuary from the
persecution of secular powers.59 That Perpetuus clearly followed the
Ambrosian tradition when he built the basilica, creating a focal point of
holy power within the building by situating the altar directly above the
relics of its primary saint, only lends greater support to Meens’s
argument.60 The inscription’s position above the liturgical altar and
Martin’s tomb means that it would have been seen by virtually
everyone who entered. Its short length and simple grammar would
have also rendered it readable to more of the laity, who would not have
needed to be well-versed in Latin poetry to understand its meaning.
These elements would thus have made the inscription an ideal visual
reminder of the holy power that the altar and relics it was positioned
over, represented and contained.
Yet there is another purpose to this inscription that has not been
considered – the idea that it was included by Perpetuus and later
preserved by Gregory to remind all who entered the basilica, including
those who either sought sanctuary or tried to flout its laws of
protection, that they ought to allow their fear of God to guide their
behaviour as if they were already facing God in heaven. The
inscription, telling the viewer to regard the basilica as ‘the gate of
Heaven’, encourages them to treat being in the basilica as a dry run for
58
Le Blant, Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule, no. 177, p. 239: ‘Quam metuendus est locus iste
vere templum / Dei est et porta coeli.’ On the position of this inscription, ibid., no. 177, p.
239: ‘Item super arcum absidis altaris’.
59
R. Meens, ‘The Sanctity of the Basilica of St Martin. Gregory of Tours and the Practice of
Sanctuary in the Merovingian period’, in R. Corradini et al., (eds), Texts and Identities in the
Early Middle Ages (Vienna, 2006), pp. 277–87, at pp. 278–9. Also, Yasin, ‘Sight Lines of
Sanctity’, p. 249.
60
On the Ambrosian model see Yasin, ‘Sight Lines of Sanctity’, pp. 249–50.

being called into the presence of God after death. In fourth- and fifth-
century relic theology, facing the liturgical altar – the primary locus of
the basilica’s power – was equivalent to facing God and the saint(s)
whose relics lay below.61 The metuendus in the inscription was intended
to prompt the reader to recall their fear of God, rather than to induce
awe or reverence, because this would be what the person was required
to display when called before God and the saints.62 Exactly whether
this was the fear of being punished by God or the fear of losing the
love of God would depend on their current position on the spiritual
path to salvation. The knowing sinners, non-believers and those who
violated or abused the rights of sanctuary in the house of God, would
most likely be expected to experience the primary fear of being
punished. Those who were more ascetically inclined, however, would
have been inspired to fear performing actions that would result in them
losing their goodness and God’s love. While one cannot rule out the
possibility that members of the congregation would have experienced
reverence or an awe of God when facing the altar, it is not reverence or
awe but fear (metuendus) that the inscription calls people to remember.
As already highlighted, the fear of God carried very specific theological
connotations for bishops like Perpetuus and Gregory. The explicit use
of fearing terminology (metuendus) within the scenario which the
viewer was being prompted to consider, firmly indicates that this
inscription was specifically intended to evoke fear.
Recognizing that this inscription is about the fear of God, rather than
awe or reverence, is also the key to identifying how it relates to the other
inscriptions within the basilica, especially the one recounting the tale of
the widow and the two mites which sat above the western doorway.
Whereas the altar inscription instructed readers to recall their fear of
God and let this guide their actions whilst facing the locus of the
basilica’s holy power, the story of the widow reminded the departing
visitor (at least the literate ones) that the fear of God was essential to
enable them to perform the good works necessary to get into heaven.
Without having a trembling heart (corde tremens) like the widow,
readers would not perform the good works necessary to merit salvation.
Both the altar inscription and the one above the western doorway thus
worked together to convey the core principles of the fear of God. In
tandem they orchestrated their teachings to match the visitor’s physical
and spiritual progression through the basilica: on entering the sacred
61
Yasin, ‘Sight Lines of Sanctity’, pp. 265–70.
62
Hailstone, ‘Fear in the Mind’, pp. 89–101.

space to face the numinous, and on leaving worship to re-engage with the
world.
While the inscriptions reflect what Perpetuus wanted to be engraved
into the walls of his fifth-century basilica, it must be remembered that
it was Gregory who repaired these walls after Willichar set fire to them
in 558.63 Bissera Pentcheva’s and Fabio Barry’s studies of the use of
marble in the Hagia Sophia have shown that it is important for
historians to consider the material aspects of churches when thinking
about the atmospheres and emotional reactions that their
commissioners and controllers wanted to create.64 In the case of the
Basilica of St Martin, the archaeological reports of Noël Duval reveal
that the interior of Perpetuus’ fifth-century basilica was at least partly
formed of black marble (Fig. 4).65
The use of marble to structure the basilica’s internal walls and columns
is significant for demonstrating that Gregory, not just Perpetuus, was
interested in using the basilica’s interior to remind people about the
importance of having the fear of God. Because marble starts to
discolour and deteriorate (turning yellow, brown, or black) when
exposed to direct flame and temperatures of above 200°C,66 the fire
that Willichar caused would have stained and potentially weakened the
basilica’s engraved walls, which Gregory says were ‘scorched by fire’
(adustos incendio) when he arrived in 573.67 The aesthetic and possible
structural damage caused by the fire would have left Gregory needing
to repair both the murals and the inscriptions. Raymond Van Dam has
already highlighted that the inscriptions in the Martinellus manuscripts
often accompanied and described the basilica’s frescoes.68 Given
63
64
B. Pentcheva, ‘Hagia Sophia and the Liquidity of Light and Sound’, contribution to Hagia
Sophia: The History of the Building and the Building in History – Digital Webinar
(September, 2020), Dumbarton Oaks Videos, at https://vimeo.com/459070669. B.
Pentcheva, ‘Hagia Sophia and Multisensory Aesthetics’, Gesta 50.2 (2011), pp. 93–111, at pp.
95–8. Barry, Painting in Stone, pp. 163–90.
65
N. Duval, Les Premiers Monuments Chrétiens de la France. Volume 2: Sud-Ouest et Centre (Paris,
1996), p. 109. The image of the black marble column in Perpetuus’ basilica (Fig. 4 this article)
has been reproduced with permissions from C. Sapin, ‘La Basilique Primitive, du 5e au 10e
siècle’, in H. Galinié (ed.), Tours Antique et Médiéval: Lieux de vie Temps de la Ville (Tours,
2007), pp. 255–7, at p. 256 (Fig. 3).
66
B. Chakrabati et al., ‘Effect of Fire Damage on Natural Stonework in Buildings’, Construction
and Building Materials 10.7 (1996), pp. 539–44, at p. 541. J. Sippel et al., ‘Decay of Natural
Stones Caused by Fire Damage’, Geological Society Special Publication 271 (2007), pp. 139–51,
at p. 145 and B. Sasińska, ‘Fire-Damaged Stone: The Effects of Heat, Flame, and
Quenching’, MA thesis, Columbia University (2014), pp. 4–42, at pp. 16 and 21.
67
68
Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles, p. 309.

Fig. 4 An image of the black marble used in the fifth-century Basilica of St Martin.
Source: Sapin (2007), p. 256 [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Gregory’s declaration that he had his workmen repair the damaged walls
(parietes), it is likely that he would have had the inscriptions refreshed as
part of the restoration. Gregory’s willingness to repair the inscriptions,
which reminded and educated their viewers about the importance of
having the fear of God, thus demonstrates that he was interested in
ensuring that the basilica’s architecture continued to have this divine
fear encrypted into it.
Through their use of inscriptions to encode the fear of God into the
basilica’s walls, both Perpetuus and Gregory can be seen to have used
its architecture to guide the behaviour of those who entered the
building. In doing this, these men used the building to fulfil their
pastoral obligations, ensuring that their flock remained on the path
towards salvation, simultaneously emphasizing their status as the
basilica’s custodians and episcopal guardians to all who entered.
Conclusion
A close, comparative reading of Gregory of Tours’s Histories,

Fortunatus’ poem commemorating Gregory’s rededication of Tours
Cathedral, and the verse inscriptions that adorned the walls of St
Martin’s basilica demonstrates that Gregory used church architecture
and not just his writings to be an episcopal impresario of the fear of
God. It reveals the Gregory deliberately encrypted this divine fear
into the architecture of the cathedral and basilica for the purposes of
communicating its theological importance to those who entered these
buildings and displaying his own authoritative position as an
episcopal protector. Gregory’s understanding of the fear of God as an
instigator and preserver of self-discipline, meant that he also viewed
this fear as a useful device for controlling people’s behaviour. His
decision to build this divine fear into the architecture of the churches
for which he was responsible, demonstrates his recognition that it
was at least partly through this that these buildings became tools to
help him fulfil his pastoral obligations and promote his episcopal
position.
In using church architecture as a visual means to instruct people in
theology of the fear of God, Gregory modelled his church-building
practices on those of Namatius of Clermont and Perpetuus of Tours.
The three men encrypted the fear of God into church buildings in
order to transform them into another means by which bishops could
teach their congregants the beliefs and practices necessary to become
good Christians. In attempting to regulate their flock’s behaviour and
‘emotional’ experiences in this way, these bishops also solidified their
own elevated status and role as episcopal protectors, creating
atmospheres which constantly reminded their congregants of the
authority of the God whose voice and rulings they were duty-bound to
convey. In revealing this, this article suggests that the control of
‘emotions’ occupied a place of considerable importance in the minds of
certain Gallo-Frankish bishops. These men, Gregory included,
recognized that it was the encoding of the fear of God into the
architecture of their churches – the fear which brought about
regulation of the self (body and mind) – that transformed these
buildings into visual displays of their status and role as guardians of
God’s Word on earth. Whilst I would urge caution before assuming
that Gregory’s decision to follow the example of Namatius and Perpetuus

evidences the existence of a ‘shared community of feeling’ amongst
Gallo-Frankish bishops in this period,69 the inscriptions in the
Martinellus and Gregory’s texts do reveal that these three men saw the
fear of God as device that, if carefully managed, could be a vital key for
displaying their elevated status and fulfilling their duty to maintain
social cohesion. The study of how ‘emotions’ were encoded into church
architecture in this period thus represents a useful technique for
advancing our knowledge of the Merovingian world.
Department of History, University of York
69
There are no extant works directly voicing Namatius’ or Perpetuus’ opinions on the subject.
Perpetuus’ record of Martin’s posthumous miracles only survives through the voice of
Paulinus of Périgueux, who versified them. Without a systematic study of the modifications
that every Gallo-Frankish bishop made to their churches in this period, it is impossible to
judge whether Gregory, Perpetuus and Namatius represent a majority. For the idea of ‘shared
communities of feeling’ in this period see B.H. Rosenwein, Emotional Communities in the
Early Middle Ages (Ithaca, 2006), pp. 20–30, 57–78 and 100–90 and B.H. Rosenwein,
Generations of Feeling: A History of Emotions, c.600–1700 (Cambridge, 2016), pp. 35–47.


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Atmospheric architecture: Gregory of

Tours’s use of the fear of God in Tours

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3) 325–349

also incorporated ekphrastic descriptions of these buildings into their

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

sources reveals that while Gallo-Frankish bishops considered church

The religious and political signiﬁcance of the churches of Tours:

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

efforts of these men not only enhanced Martin’s reputation and

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Fig. 2 The walled city of Tours in the sixth century

extensive church-building programme.21 Nevertheless, Gregory arrived in

Architecture, decoration and the fear of God

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Basilica of St Martin by Perpetuus of Tours and was later restored by

In many places throughout Tours and its immediate region, I

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Despite being a primarily theological concept, both strands of the fear

I, Gregory, the unworthy nineteenth [bishop of the city], found the

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

The holy Gregory now raises up the church restored

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

reference to the fear of God in any of these episodes,46 the writings of

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Inscribing the fear of God in St Martin’s basilica

I found the walls of the Basilica of Saint Martin scorched by ﬁre. I

He [Perpetuus] constructed the great basilica which stands there even

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

wide. It is 45 feet in height to the vaulted ceiling, with 32 windows in

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Let whoever comes to renew his vows to the highest God

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Rob Meens has convincingly suggested that the inscription was

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

A close, comparative reading of Gregory of Tours’s Histories,

that Gregory’s decision to follow the example of Namatius and Perpetuus

Department of History, University of York

Early Medieval Europe 2022 30 (3)

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