Tonantius Ferreolus (senator)

Tonantius Ferreolus (also called Tonance Ferréol in modern French) (between about 440 and 450 – between 511 to after 517), was a vir clarissimus, or Gallo-Roman senator, and Praetorian prefect of Gaul.

He lived in Narbo (modern Narbonne). Tonantius Ferreolus was a witness when Sidonius Apollinaris, then bishop of Clermont, between 461 and 467, sent a letter to his friend, Donidius, describing a visit he made, a "most delightful time in the most beautiful country in the company of Tonantius Ferreolus (the elder) and Apollinaris, the most charming hosts in the world". Tonantius was on the estates of his father when Sidonius Appolinarius visited between 461 and 467. As Sidonius relates, "at Prusianum, as the other (estate) is called, (the young) Tonantius and his brothers turned out of their beds for us because we could not be always dragging our gear about: they are surely the elect among the nobles of our own age".

He is known to be a friend and relative of Sidonius Apollinaris. He was the son of Tonantius Ferreolus and wife Papianilla. Papianilla is generally regarded as belonging to the Arvernian family of the Aviti, though in a generation senior to Sidonius' wife of the same name.^[1] The younger Tonantius' wife's name was thought to have been lost to the ages but, according to the reference below she very likely was an Industria who lived at Narbonne, born ca 450 to 460, whom he married after 475, daughter, possibly, of Flavius Probus ^[2], Gallo-Roman Senator, and his wife Eulalia, cousin-german (first cousin) of Sidonius Apollinaris^[3]. No civil or church offices are known for the younger Tonantius Ferreolus ^[1] He had several siblings whose names are not preserved. There is some argument as to whether Ferreolus of Narbo referred to as husband of Industria and father of Firminus is Tonantius Ferreolus or a brother.^[4] Narbo was within the realm of the Visigoths and Tonantius Ferreolus most likely remained loyal to Euric and Alaric II prior to the Battle of Vouille. It is not known if he was involved in the Frankish Visigothic war and if he survived it for how long. Following the collapse of the Kingdom of Alaric, Southern Gaul including Narbo was briefly under the control of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy. However, after the fall of the Burgundian Kingdom in the early 530's the Austrasian Franks under Theodoric quickly took control of Burgundy to Provence as far as the Mediterranean and along the coast from at least Uzes on the west to the Italian border on the east leaving Narbo in Visigothic hands.

What is known of Tonantius Ferreolus' descendants from that time is derived either from the history of the see of Uzes or from those few noblemen in the family such as Ferreolus, father of Ansbert and Agilulf, who apparently relocated, or were kidnapped as hostages, (cf Gregory of Tours' relative Attalus ^[5]) to the heartland of the Austrasian Kingdom in the vicinity of Metz and Trier. Since Ferreolus' grandfather, Tonantius Ferreolus the Elder was Prefect of Gaul (451) and possessed several consular ancestors including the two Syagrii during the reign of Theodosius ^[6], Tonantius Ferreolus' Austrasia bound son Ferreolus would have possessed sufficient standing in the eyes of the Franks to marry a Frankish princess of a deposed house. Note also that at the time Ferreolus will have been relocating to Austrasia from Narbo, or more likely Frankish Provence, his second cousin Parthenius who had been made Patrician (Austrasian Governor - typically a Gallo-Roman) of Provence in 542 and Tax Collector at Trier by 548 may have been helpful in his relocation.^[7]

By his wife he had the following issue:

• Ferreolus, Senator of Narbonne, father of the Gallo-Roman Senator Ansbertus. Settipani here cites Paul the Deacon in his work on the Bishops of Metz where Agilulf, Bishop of Metz, brother of Ansbert and uncle of Arnoald Bishop of Metz, was referred to as the "son of a senator".^[8] Metz was in the Kingdom of Austrasia and Austrasia controlled Provence which included Uzes. Although Tonantius Ferreolus who was attested at Narbo likely took the side of the Goths before the death of Alaric II, by the mid 6th century his family had clearly relocated to within Frankish territory which began west of Uzes and extended West. Nîmes, just to the south and a little west of Uzes was in Visigothic hands until the Arab capture in the 8th century. Settipani, based on his reading of Paul the Deacon and the fact that the name Ferreolus was associated with the name Ansbert in two Autun Bishops in a Burgundian see that was regarded as both being hereditary and having ties with the Syagri-Ferreoli, was persuaded apparently to accept the slightly confused 9th century account stating that the senator in question was a "Ferreolus." Settipani suggests this Ferreolus tentatively as a son of Tonantius Ferreolus and Industria. Settipani further suggests that this son married to a daughter of Frankish Ripuarian Royal house which had survived through the clemency of Theoderic of Austrasia who was thought to have been a son of Clovis' 1st wife, an unattested daughter of Sigebert, the penultimate Ripuarian Frankish king. Kelley had come to the same or a similar conclusion in 1947 ^[9] but it appears from those who cite him that the original idea was that Ansbertus was a son of Tonantius Ferreolus and not a grandson.

• Ruricius (d. 506, 507 or shortly after 507), Bishop of Uzès He was called Bishop of Uzes in the Life of Firminus ^[10] and based on the existnece of "Ruricius of Uzes" of the Life of Firminus, Dr. David Kelley postulated that "Ruricius of Uzes" was a brother of Tonantius, a son of Papianilla, wife of the elder Tonantius and that Ruricius of Limoges was her brother and Tonantius' uncle. This is still the position of a significant number of researchers ^[11] however Mathisen ^[12] and Settipani ^[13] have concluded that the octagenarian Bishop Ruricius referred to in the Life of Firminus is in fact Ruricius of Limoges. Settipani has suggested that Papianilla was the sister of Hiberia, wife of Ruricius of Limoges and daughter of Gallo Roman Senator Ommatius of Clermont ^[14] Given that a Ferreolus would succeed Ruricius and his descendants to the Episcopal chair of Limoges and commission the epitaphs of Ruricius I and II (hence he was a kinsman and probably a descendant),^[15] it is likely there are aspects of the relationship between the Ruriciids and Ferreoli that are not yet explained by either theory.

• Firminus, Bishop of Uzès in 507 (ca 490 – 538, 551 or October 11, 553), Feast Day October 11^[16],^[17]

• Fidentius, the father of St. Ferreolus, Bishop of Uzès (553 - January 4, 581), Feast Day January 4, and Saint Tarsicia of Rodez (died ca 600), Feast Day January 15 Mommarets and Kelley ^[18] that Ferreolus Bishop of Uzes was son of a Ferreolus, presumably Ferreolus, Senator of Narbonne above.

He was visited by his cousin Saint Apollinaris of Valence in 517.

Ancestry

References and sources

• Sidonius Apollinaris, The Letters of Sidonius (Oxford: Clarendon, 1915), pp. clx-clxxxiii
• Christian Settipani, Les Ancêtres de Charlemagne (France: Éditions Christian, 1989).
• Christian Settipani, Continuite Gentilice et Continuite Familiale Dans Les Familles Senatoriales Romaines A L'epoque Imperiale, Mythe et Realite, Addenda I - III (juillet 2000- octobre 2002) (n.p.: Prosopographica et Genealogica, 2002).
• Ralph Whitney Mathisen, "The Ecclesiastical Aristocracy of Fifth Century Gaul: A Regional Analysis of Family Structure." Doctoral Dissertation, University of Wisconsin. University Microfilms (1979).
• Christian Settipani, "L'apport de l'onomastique dans l'etude des genealogies carolingiennes" in ONOMASTIQUE ET PARENTE DANS L'OCCIDENT MEDIEVAL, Ed. K. S. B. Rohan & C. Settipani, Prosopographica et Genealogica (2000)
• T. Stanford Mommaerts & David H. Kelley, "The Anicii of Gaul and Rome." in Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity? edited by John Drinkwater and Hugh Elton. Cambridge, 1992.
• Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks translated by Lewis Thorpe. Penguin. (1977) (free Latin edition)

References