Venantius Fortunatus - Works

Works

Fortunatus is best known for two poems that have become part of the liturgy of the Catholic Church, the Pange Lingua Gloriosi Proelium Certaminis ("Sing, O tongue, of the glorious struggle"), a hymn that later inspired St Thomas Aquinas's Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium. He also wrote Vexilla Regis prodeunt ("The royal banners forward go"), which is a sequence sung at Vespers during Holy Week. This poem was written in honour of a large piece of the True Cross, which explains its association also with the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The relic had been sent from the Byzantine Emperor Justin II to Queen Radegund of the Franks, who after her husband Chlotar I's death had founded a monastery in Poitiers. The Municipal Library in Poitiers houses an eleventh century manuscript on the life of Radegunde, copied from a sixth century account by Fortunatus.

Venantius Fortunatus wrote eleven surviving books of poetry in Latin in a diverse group of genres including epitaphs, panegyrics, georgics, consolations, and religious poems. A major genre of Fortunatus’ poetry is the panegyric. He wrote four major panegyrics to four Merovingian Kings: Sigibert and Brunhild, Charibert, Chilperic and Childebert II and Brunhild. The first was also his debut into the Merovingian Court in Gaul, at Metz, in honour of the marriage of Sigibert and Brunhild. It is a fanciful poem, telling the story of how the bride and groom were brought together by Cupid, recalling the style of the classical Latin poets. The second, for Charibert, celebrates his rule, and gives the impression that this Frankish king is descended from and succeeded the roman kings in an unbroken line. This means that he has a legitimate rule. The third, addressed to King Chilperic, is full of controversy. Chilperic was known as a headstrong and hot-tempered ruler, however in this panegyric, Fortunatus depicts him as being gracious, compassionate and merciful, never making judgements too quickly, and even praises the king’s poetry. The poem was given on the occasion of the trial for treason of Gregory of Tours, Fortunatus’ patron and friend. Some scholars have suggested that Fortunatus is simply trying to appease a new patron (Chilperic) because of Gregory’s uncertain future. However, other scholars, such as Brennan and George, disagree, postulating that Fortunatus was evoking more of a correctional and moralistic poem towards Chilperic, reminding him how the ideal king ruled, and gently suggesting that he act in that way as well. Thus, the poem becomes a plea for his friend Gregory of Tours, while avoiding an open disagreement with the king.

Fortunatus wrote panegyrics and other types of poems, including praise, eulogies, personal poems to bishops and friends alike, consolations and poems in support of political issues, particularly those presented by his friends Gregory of Tours and Radegunde. His eleven books of poetry contain his surviving poems, all ordered chronologically and by importance of subject. For instance, a poem about God will come before the panegyric to a king, which will come before a eulogy to a Bishop. This collection of poems is the main primary source for writing about his life.

His verse is important in the development of later Latin literature, largely because he wrote at a time when Latin prosody was moving away from the quantitative verse of classical Latin towards the accentual meters of medieval Latin. His style sometimes suggests the influence of Hiberno-Latin, in learned Greek coinages that occasionally appear in his poems.

Fortunatus' other major work was Vita S. Martini It is a long narrative poem, reminiscent of the classical epics of Greek and Roman cultures but replete with Christian references and allusions, depicting the life of Saint Martin. He also wrote a verse hagiography of his patron Queen Radegund (continued by the nun Baudovinia).

His hymns are used extensively in the Hymnal 1982 of the Episcopal Church. One of his hymns was set to music by the modern composer Randall Giles.