Apollinaris (died 515) was a count of Auvergne who led a auvergnat army for the

Visigoth The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

s in the

Battle of Vouillé The Battle of Vouillé (from Latin ''Campus Vogladensis'') was fought in the northern marches of Visigothic territory, at Vouillé, near Poitiers (Gaul), in the spring of 507 between the Franks, commanded by Clovis, and the Visigoths, command ...

, and was

bishop of Clermont The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Clermont (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Claromontana''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Clermont'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman ...

for four months before his death.

Life

Apollinaris was the son of the aristocrat and poet

Sidonius Apollinaris Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris (5 November of an unknown year, 430 – 481/490 AD), was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius is "the single most important surviving author from 5th-century Gaul ...

and Papianilla. A number of contemporary Romano-Gallic aristocrats were his cousins, including bishops

Avitus Eparchius Avitus (c. 390 – 457) was Roman emperor of the West from July 455 to October 456. He was a senator of Gallic extraction and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza. He o ...

Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.Ruricius Ruricius I (c. 440c. 510) was a Gallo-Roman aristocrat and bishop of Limoges from c. 485 to 510. He is one of the writers whose letters survive from late Roman Gaul, depicting the influence of the Visigoths on the Roman lifestyle. He should not ...

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

. Earliest records of Apollinaris are in the letters of his father Sidonius. Although Apollinaris is the recipient of one letter (''Epistulae'' III.13), E.H. Warmington considers it a "show-piece" which was never actually sent to him. Sidonius mentions Apollinaris in several of his letters: two allude to his youth (in V.11, he describes Apollinaris as "in these budding years of manhood", and in V.9 hopes that Apollinaris would have children), another mentions Apollinaris' love of hunting, and in the last laments his disinterest in literature. Despite his father's opinion, Apollinaris did at least once display an interest in literature: according to a letter of Ruricius, he helped to distribute his father's writings. After the Visigothic capture of Clermont, Apollinaris fled the town with ''

comes ''Comes'' ( ), plural ''comites'' ( ), was a Roman title or office, and the origin Latin form of the medieval and modern title "count". Before becoming a word for various types of title or office, the word originally meant "companion", either i ...

'' Victorius to Italy; there Victorius was killed, and Apollinaris was taken captive, but managed to escape with his servant and return home. Apollinaris apparently got along with king

Alaric II Alaric II ( got, 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃, , "ruler of all"; la, Alaricus; – August 507) was the King of the Visigoths from 484 until 507. He succeeded his father Euric as king of the Visigoths in Toulouse on 28 December 484; he was ...

far better than Alaric's predecessor, for

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...

records that Apollinaris led a militia raised in Clermont on the Visigothic side of the Battle of Vouillé in 507. Although several letters written to him from his other cousin, bishop

Avitus of Vienne Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus (c. 450 – February 5, 517/518 or 519) was a Latin poet and bishop of Vienne in Gaul. His fame rests in part on his poetry, but also on the role he played as secretary for the Burgundian kings. Avitus was born of a promi ...

, are dated to the years after that battle, Apollinaris' activities until 515 are unknown. In that year, with the help of his sister Alcima and his wife Placidana, he was appointed bishop of Clermont by the Frankish king

Theuderic I __NOTOC__ Theuderic I (c. 485 – 533/34) was the Merovingian king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia—as it is variously called—from 511 to 533 or 534. He was the son of Clovis I and one of his earlier wives or concubines (possibly a Franco- ...

. However, he held the office only four months before he died.''Decem Libri'', III.2; translated by Thorpe, pp. 162f He was survived by a son, Arcadius, of whom Gregory of Tours tells several unflattering stories.

Life

References

Further reading