Victor from Vita

Victor von Vita (or Viktor von Vita ; † after 490) was a late antique church historian . He was bishop of his hometown Vita in Byzacena , Africa , which was then under the rule of the Vandals . He was later canonized; his feast day is August 23 .

Around 489/90, Victor wrote a Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae on behalf of the Catholic Bishop Eugenius of Carthage , a history (of the persecutions) of the Catholic population of Africa under the Arian vandal kings Geiserich and Hunerich . The work is one of the most important sources for the history of the Vandal Empire; it contains, among other things, the text of three edicts of Hunerich, including his edict of persecution, and the Liber fidei catholicae , a Catholic creed. It is written in a strongly hagiographic character: Victor emphasizes the courage of the Catholic Christians against the Vandals, but was not always objective; Victor's Roman view of the world against the “barbarians” also played a role.

The work enjoyed great popularity in the Middle Ages and the early modern period . The Passio beatorum martyrum qui apud Carthaginem passi sunt appended in some manuscripts does not come from Victor himself, but was written by an anonymous author.

Editions and translations

• Karl Halm (Ed.): Auctores antiquissimi 3.1: Victoris Vitensis Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae sub Geiserico et Hunirico regibus Wandalorum. Berlin 1879, pp. 1–58 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
• John Moorhead (translator): Victor of Vita: History of the Vandal Persecution (= Translated Texts for Historians , Volume 10). Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 1992, ISBN 0-85323-127-3 (English translation).
• Serge Lancel (ed.): Victor de Vita: Histoire de la persécution vandale en Afrique suivie de La passion des sept martyrs. Registre des provinces et des cités d'Afrique . Les Belles Lettres, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-251-01429-2 (edition with French translation and commentary; standard edition)
• Konrad Vössing (Hrsg.): Victor von Vita: Church fight and persecution among the Vandals in Africa. Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae temporum Geiserici et Hunerici regum Wandalorum. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2011, ISBN 978-3-534-23209-3 (Latin text and German translation)

literature

• Tankred Howe: Vandals, Barbarians and Arians at Victor von Vita . Verlag Antike, Frankfurt am Main 2007.
• Andreas Schwarcz: Victor von Vita . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Vol. 8, Col. 1628f.
• Andreas Schwarcz: Meaning and textual transmission of the Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae of Victor von Vita . In: Anton Scharer, Georg Scheibelreiter (Hrsg.): Historiography in the early Middle Ages . Vienna / Munich 1994, pp. 115-140.