Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus

Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus was a late ancient Roman historian who very likely lived in the second half of the 5th century .

Life

Nothing specific is known about the life of Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus apart from the fact that he apparently lived at the end of the 5th century and wrote a historical work. A relationship with similar namesake (such as two military men named Profuturus and / or Frigeridus in the late 4th century) is possible, but by no means certain; Renaming is also conceivable. One can therefore only speculate about its background. However, it is obvious that Frigeridus belonged to the civil or military late Roman ruling class.

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Frigeridus wrote a history work in Latin, which included at least twelve books and, as the name Historiae ( histories ) already suggests, was dedicated to contemporary history. It probably ended with the death of Flavius ​​Aëtius in 454.

The work has not survived, but it was used by the bishop and historian Gregory of Tours , who lived in the 6th century, and quoted it twice in relative detail. The first quotation contains a very advantageous character sketch of Aëtius, which Gregory apparently took verbatim from Frigeridus, since, among other things, the divinization of the Western Roman emperor Flavius ​​Honorius is mentioned. Research points to the similarity with the praises of Flavius ​​Merobaudes . Frigeridus orientated himself here on prime examples of the classical Latin literature.

In the second quote, Frigeridus goes into the Rhine crossing in 406 and describes the battles between Vandals and Franconian federations that opposed the attackers before the Alans under Respendial came to the aid of the Vandals. A few years ago Phillip Wynn proposed a new interpretation of this passage: Since, according to Gregory, Frigeridus related this episode in the context of the sack of Rome (410) , this event should also be moved to the year 410 and not to the Rhine, but to Hispania . In Wynn's view, the Alans were also " Alamanni " (or possibly Suebi ) due to the form of the name in some manuscripts . In research, however, Wynn's thesis is controversial and is often rejected. In the same section of text with Gregory Frigeridus is still with regard to the usurpation of Constantine III. cited at this time.

Frigeridus was likely a Christian author. In addition to the Historia of Sulpicius Alexander, which has also not survived, Gregor apparently served his work as an important source for the early history of the Franks and especially for the events in the west of the Roman Empire . In this context it is possible that Frigeridus continued the work of Sulpicius Alexander. Both works were evidently in the tradition of classical historiography and point (like the great work of Ammianus Marcellinus ) to a final phase of late antique historical literature, which soon broke off. They are also likely to have influenced Gregor in a certain way, in whose histories the influences of secular historiography in late antiquity can be seen.

expenditure

Entry in Clavis Historicorum Antiquitatis Posterioris (CHAP) .

• Gregory of Tours: Ten Books of Stories. Based on the translation by Wilhelm Giesebrecht , revised by Rudolf Buchner. Volume 1 (of 2). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1955/1956, pp. 78-89 (with the corresponding text passages in Gregor's second book: 2, 8 and 2, 9).
• Lieve Van Hoof, Peter Van Nuffelen ( eds / translators) : The Fragmentary Latin Histories of Late Antiquity (AD 300-620). Edition, Translation and Commentary. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2020, p. 99 ff.

literature

• Helmut Castritius :  Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 24, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2003, ISBN 3-11-017575-4 , pp. 507-508.
• François Paschoud : Les descendants d'Ammien Marcellin (Sulpicius Alexander et Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus) . In: Denis Knoepfler (Ed.): Nomen Latinum. Mélanges André Schneider . Neuchatel 1997, pp. 141-147.
• Otto Seeck : Frigeridus 2) . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VII, 1, Stuttgart 1910, Col. 102.
• Phillip Wynn: Frigeridus, the British tyrants and the early fifth century barbarian invasions of Gaul and Spain . In: Athenaeum . Volume 85, 1997, pp. 69–117 (with partly controversial reinterpretation).
• Giuseppe Zecchini: Ricerche di storiografia latina tardoantica. L'erma di Bretschneider, Rome 1993.

Remarks

1. ↑ Cf. Castritius, Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus , in: RGA 24, p. 508.
2. ↑ See Aulus Gellius , Noctes Atticae , 5, 18, 1ff.
3. ↑ Gregor von Tours names Historia or Historiae as the title , for the presumable structure cf. Castritius, Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus , in: RGA 24, p. 507.
4. ^ Gregory of Tours, Historiae , 2.8 and 2.9. In the first quote, Frigeridus Renatus Frigeridus , in the second Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus .
5. ↑ Quote: In the twelfth book he tells his stories, like after the death of the divine Honorius ... - Gregor, Historiae , 2, 8 (translation Giesebrecht / Buchner, p. 79).
6. ↑ Zecchini, Ricerche di storiografia latina tardoantica , p. 163ff.
7. ^ Gregor, Historiae , 2, 9.
8. ^ Wynn, Frigeridus, the British tyrants and the early fifth century barbarian invasions of Gaul and Spain, pp. 81ff.
9. ↑ See for example Walter A. Goffart : Barbarian tides. The migration age and the later Roman Empire . Philadelphia 2006, pp. 301f., Note 95; Ralf Scharf: The Dux Mogontiacensis and the Notitia Dignitatum. A study of late antique border defense . Berlin et al. 2005, pp. 135-137.
10. Jump up ↑ Seeck, Frigeridus , in: RE VII, Sp. 102.
11. ↑ Different positions (successor of Ammian or Gallo-Roman local historian) in Paschoud, Les descendants d'Ammien Marcellin and Zecchini, Ricerche di storiografia latina tardoantica , p. 241ff. It speaks more for Paschoud's position.
12. ↑ See Rudolf Buchner's introduction in Ten Books Stories , Volume 1, pp. XV and pp. XXVIII.