Pretres en Gaule merovingienne (review)

In their treatment of the clergy, studies of the Merovingian church have up to this point focused almost exclusively on bishops. Robert Godding attempts to balance this picture by taking a comprehensive look at priests. His book, based on a Louvain doctoral thesis, does not attempt to cover Arian priests (only a few of whom are known) or priests living outside the diocesan structures (hermits, monks), but otherwise exhausts the canonical, hagiographical, and literary sources for the Gallic priesthood in the period between 481 and 714. A prosopography at the end of the book identifies almost 400 Merovingian priests, most by name. For an understanding of their recruitment, training, marital status, position within the local church, cursus honorum, legal standing, material resources, and broad spectrum of duties, privileges, and activities, Godding's work is now the obvious starting point for research.

After an introduction and full listing of primary and secondary sources, especially good for its list of saints' lives (pp. v-lxviii), Godding studies the careers of Merovingian priests in two parts: from birth through ordination (chapters 1-5) and from ordination to death (chapters 6-12). A brief conclusion, ten tables, prosopography, and full index complete the book. The biographical and topical framework is not out of place, in view of the author's focus on priestly careers, but it does have its disadvantages. Each chapter is rather mechanically arranged, first by source category (usually headed by church councils and saints' lives) and then diachronically within each category, a format that encourages repetition, overemphasizes topics well represented in the sources, and complicates the discussion of problems or events that cross source categories. While the book's organization is a good way to deal with the uneven distribution of surviving sources about Merovingian priests, it also has the unfortunate side effect of privileging institutional structures and limiting discussion of priestly strategies and actions. The priest's most important activity, for instance—the delivery of pastoral care—is only systematically discussed in a single chapter near the end of the book ("L'activité pastorale"), not because the author does not recognize the topic's importance—he clearly does—but because the arrangement of chapters provides no other way to look at pastoral care. The result is a summary of the priest's sacramental duties, a few anecdotes connecting priests to pagans, heretics, and Jews, and a general discussion of asylum and charity. It is a disappointing penultimate chapter, especially since the final chapter ("La mort du prêtre") consists almost solely of under-interpreted priests' epitaphs.

These observations should not detract from the book's overall value, however. A wealth of detail, gathered from an impressive range of sources, is readily accessible here, in both narrative and tabular form. Godding has written clearly and perceptively about all aspects of the priest's life and has succeeded (as well as anyone could) in bringing Merovingian priests out from under the long shadow cast by their bishops. Indeed, he pays particular attention to a growing autonomy for priests in the sixth century and later, especially abbés de basilique heading suburban shrines and archpriests controlling rural parishes. He also has much to say about the division between married priests and celibate priests, and about the gradual marginalization of the former over the seventh and eighth centuries as strong beliefs about ritual purity brought celibate priests into greater prominence. Perhaps the book's most durable contribution will be to stimulate further questions about the changing roles of priests in Merovingian society. As Roman political, fiscal, and cultural structures weakened and collapsed in fifth- and sixth-century Gaul, church leaders were well positioned to take over necessary civic resources and responsibilities, whether in competition or co-operation with lay aristocrats and royal officials. How life in Gaul changed as a result has usually been examined by looking at bishops such as Gregory of Tours and Caesarius of Arles. Godding's book makes us ask whether—especially for...