http://kentarchaeology.org.uk/research/archaeologia-cantiana/ Kent Archaeological Society is a registered charity number 223382 © 2017 Kent Archaeological Society S. GER1VLANUS IN BRITAIN By JOHN EVANS, F.S.A. S. GERMANUS or German, bishop of Auxerrel in Gaul became a famous if enigmatic figure in the dim records of the fifth century in Britain because he made two visits to this country in the first half of that century. The first of these took place in 429, which was within twenty years or so of the earliest date by which central Roman imperial authority is believed to have been withdrawn from the province, and the second, less certainly dated to 416, was made on the very eve of the traditional date of the landing of Hengist and Horsa in Kent. Conse. quently whatever we can learn from these visits bearing on the current state of affairs in Britain becomes of first interest to the student of our Dark Age. Unfortunately, as usual for this century, the record is confusing and conflicting for it is difficult to separate the few historical facts from a mass of legendary matter which has accrued around the actions of this Gaulish saint. The original, earliest and highest authority for the life and work of the saint is The Life of S. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre by Constantius of Lyons, for it was certainly written within thirty years of the death of its subject. Constantius, who had been a disciple of Germanus, undertook the writing of the Life at thd instance of his bishop, Patiens, who held the see of Lyons from 449, and later, at the request of Oen- surius, who was bishop of Auxerre from 470, it was revised and given a wider publicity. A précis of the Life follows, the quotations being translations of the words of Constantius.2 1 Auxerre, then known as Autessiodurum, lies some 85 miles south-east of Paris. A straight line from Auxerre passing through Paris and projected another 92 miles from the latter city would end at Dieppe. Boulogne, then known as Gessoriacurn or Bononia, is 157 miles north-north-west of Paris. 2 It has been taken from the translation of F. R. Hoare in The Western Fathers, 1954, which was made from the text of Wilhelm Levison, in which certain inter- polations from the Lives of other saints have been rightly eliminated. Constan- tius's Life has not escaped the critics, especially Schoell, whose `corrosive criticism' in the words of S. Baring Gould in Y. Cymmrodor, XVII, 65, would reduce the work to a forgery of the sixth century. Certainly, as noted, there have been certain interpolations taken from the Lives of other saints, principally S. Genoveva (Ste. Genevieve) and S. Amator, which were written in the sixth century, but there has since been discovered a MS of Constantius based upon a text so early that it pre-dates the adulterations of the sixth century and gives us the text of Constantius himself. 175 S. GERMANUS IN BRITAIN Germanus was born about 378 in Auxerre of Christian parents of some rank and importance. He received a liberal education in Gaul and later in Rome, and attained distinction as a jurist and barrister. Marriage followed, and then, when he was 'at the height of his reputa- tion in the legal profession the State promoted him to official rank by conferring on him the supreme office of dux and the rule over more than one province.' Next, 'all the clergy, the whole nobility, the townsfolk and the countryfolk with one accord demanded Germanus as their bishop.' Accepting this demand3 he was consecrated bishop (in 418) and 'deserted the earthly militia to be enrolled in the heavenly; the pomps of this world were trodden underfoot; a lowly way of life was adopted, his wife was turned into a sister, his riches were distributed among the poor and poverty became his ambition.' Chapters III to XI are largely concerned with accounts of miracles performed by the new bishop, and then in Chapter XII we are told of a deputation arriving from Britain to acquaint the Gaulish bishops with the extent and influence of the Pelagian heresy in the island, and at a synod Germanus and Lupus, bishop of Troyes (Trecassina) were requested to go to Britain to combat the heresy. They sailed from an unnamed port, but probably Boulogne, were caught in a Channel gale and saved by the usual miracle. On the British shore great crowds received the two bishops for, strangely enough, the 'enemies of souls' and the 'spirits of evil' had foretold their advent in Britain. It was not long before the visitors had 'filled all Britain . with their fame, their preaching and their miracles' and at a meeting with the Pelagians the Catholic party won the day with a sight-restoring miracle by Germanus. With Pelagianism suppressed the bishops visited the shrine of S. Alban, which closed with another miracle. Then in Chapters XVII and XVIII we are given an. account of the famous Alleluia victory. 'The Saxons and Picts had joined forces to make war upon the Britons' the natives had been forced to retreat and appealed to Germanus for aid. The bishops hastened to the British camp where, oddly enough, they spent some time building a rustic church and baptising the soldiers of the British army. Germanus then announced that he would be their general (i.e. dux proclii) 'in the direction from which the enemy were expected he saw a valley enclosed by steep mountains. Here he stationed an army on a new model, under his own command' The British forces were apparently spread out and hidden along the mountain sides and when the bishops three times repeated the cry of Alleluia the soldiers took up the shout and so 3 The sudden translation of civil officials of standing and wealth to the episcopacy was not unusual in the fourth and fifth centuries. That of S. Ambrose forty-five years before Germanus was a very parallel case as also was that of S. Appolmaris Sidonius some half century after the elevation of Germanus. 176 S. GERMANUS IN BRITAIN astounded the barbarians that they fell into a panic and fled, many being drowned in a river which they had just crossed. The British did not strike a blow and 'the bishops were elated at the rout of the enemy without bloodshed and a victory gained by faith and not by force.' Thus this most wealthy island, with the defeat both of its spiritual and of its human foes, was rendered secure in every sense.' The two bishops then returned home, and we pass to Chapter XXV where we are given a very short account of the second visit when the companion of Germanus was Severus, bishop of Treves (Trier). It is a doublet of the first visit; Pelagianism had revived, the Gaulish bishops again ask Germanus to repeat his earlier success, again the demons spread the news of his coming, there were the same crowds, the same miracles and the Catholic victory was assured by another crowning miracle, the curing of the crippled son of Elafius, 'one of the leading men of the country.' The preachers of the heresy were banished and the visitors returned to Gaul. It was at the then imperial capital of Ravenna that Germanus died in 448, closing a life of service to the communities of western Gaul and Britain. The first visit to Britain is confirmed by an entry under the year 429 in the chronicle of Prosper of Acquitaine which states that Pope Celestine I sent Germanus to combat the heresy at the suggestion of a deacon named Palladius.4 Overloaded as Constantius's Life is with marvel and miracle it is a sober narrative compared with the fantastic thaumaturgy of some later stories of, it is alleged, the same saint's doings in Britain. These occur in some fragments of a lost Book of S. Germanus which have been preserved in the Historia Brittonum, a work which goes under the name of its chief compiler Nennius. There are various manuscripts extant of differing dates and the work is obviously the end product of a long process of compilation. The Chartres MS. 98 of about 900 has an introduction which reads, 'Beginnings of excerpts. Discoveries of the son of Urbagen with regard to the Book of S. Germanus, and the origins and genealogies of the Britons.' The excerpts from this Lost Book are contained in chapters 32, 33, 34, 35, 39 and 47 of the Historia. and brief comments on them follow.5 Chapters 32 to 35. In the time of Vortigern (Guorthigirn) originally a king of Powys but later a kind of high-king in Britain, 'came S. Germanus to preach in Britain and he was renowned among them for many virtues . of some miracles . I am resolved to write. The first of his miracles.' This miracle was the destruction in his fortress of a wicked king Benlli and his followers by fire from heaven. 4 Mon. Hist. Brit., lxxxii. The Gaulish bishops probably recommended that Germanus and Lupus be sent and this was confirmed by the Pope. raken from A. W. Wade-Evans, Nennius's History of the Britons, (1938). 177 12 S. GERMANUS IN BRITAIN Chapter 39. 'Now adding to all his evils Vortigern took his own daughter to be his wife and she bore him a son.' There follows an incomprehensible story of Vortigern, his daughter-wife, his son- grandson and Germanus which seems to be a confused version of a pagan foster-age rite.° Chapter 47.