Jovinus or Jovin was the
Governor of Provence
The land of Provence has a history quite separate from that of any of the larger nations of Europe. Its independent existence has its origins in the frontier nature of the dukedom in Merovingian Gaul. In this position, influenced and affected by ...
from 570 until he was replaced by
Sigebert I
Sigebert I (c. 535 – c. 575) was a Frankish king of Austrasia from the death of his father in 561 to his own death. He was the third surviving son out of four of Clotaire I and Ingund. His reign found him mostly occupied with a successful civ ...
with
Albinus in 573. He was a famous and cultured man and he maintained a brief correspondence with the poet
Venantius Fortunatus
Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus ( 530 600/609 AD; french: Venance Fortunat), known as Saint Venantius Fortunatus (, ), was a Latin poet and hymnographer in the Merovingian Court, and a bishop of the Early Church who has been venerate ...
.
Testimony
He testified against Albinus in court when the latter was charged with imprisoning an
archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...
unlawfully on
Christmas Day
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...
. Albinus was later replaced by
Dynamius
Dynamius or Dinamius was the Rector of Provence (''rector Provinciae'') from 575, when he replaced Albinus. At the time, Provence and Austrasia lay within the kingdom of Childebert II, though half of Marseille, the chief Provençal city, was under ...
and elected to the
Diocese of Uzès
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...
. When he died, Jovinus was elected bishop in his place.
Guntram of Burgundy
Saint Gontrand (c. 532 in Soissons – 28 March 592 in Chalon-sur-Saône), also called Gontran, Gontram, Guntram, Gunthram, Gunthchramn, and Guntramnus, was the king of the Kingdom of Orléans from AD 561 to AD 592. He was the third eldest and ...
later had Jovinus arrested as he travelled with
Theodore, Bishop of Marseille Theodore ( la, Theodorus) was the bishop of Marseille from at least 566 until 591/594. In the 580s, Theodore was at the centre of a dispute over the city of Marseille between King Guntram and his nephew, King Childebert II. He was arrested several ...
, to meet
Childebert II
Childebert II (c.570–596) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia (which included Provence at the time) from 575 until his death in March 596, as the only son of Sigebert I and Brunhilda of Austrasia; and the king of Burgundy from 592 to his de ...
, because Guntram was then in rivalry concerning the diocese of
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
. In alliance with Guntram, Dynamius instigated the election of rival candidate in the person of the deacon Marcellus, son of the senator Felix. Marcellus made war on Jovinus but eventually just bought him off.
Sources
*
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 ...
. ''The History of the Franks''. 2 vol. trans.
O. M. Dalton. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967.
{{authority control
6th-century Burgundian bishops
Governors of Provence
Bishops of Uzès