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From: DON STONE< >
Subject: Re: Descent from Gallo-Roman consul Syagrius - Notes
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 1995 21:56:45 GMT


Here are the notes and list of sources for my chart of the
probable connection between the consul Syagrius and
Charlemagne (the preceding message in this thread).

NOTES (by generation):

Gen. 1. Settipani (1989) is the primary authority for this
chart. A number of years ago Kelley (1947) investigated the
connection with Syagrius in detail, utilizing a ninth-century
pedigree of Charlemagne (but rejecting its clearly incorrect
claim that St. Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, was the son of
Arnoald, Bishop of Metz) and also drawing on various saints'
lives. Jarnut (1986, pp. 14-22) has also explored this
connection.

Flavius was the given name, Afranius was the family name, and
Syagrius was a cognomen meaning "wild boar" (Moriarty, 1956).
See, however, Bagnall, et al. (1987, pp. 36, ff.), on the use
of the name Flavius as a courtesy title. There were two
different consuls named Syagrius in two successive years, 381
and 382. The consul of 381 was a friend and correspondent of
Symmachus, the noted orator and vigorous defender of the
pagan religion. The consul of 382 was probably the one who
was the maternal grandfather of Tonantius Ferreolus; he may
also have been the Syagrius who was a pupil and friend of the
poet Ausonius. Ausonius was the head of a famous school at
Bordeaux, was selected by emperor Valentinian as tutor for
his son (the future emperor) Gratian, and was prefect of the
Gauls in 378 and consul in 379 under Gratian; a number of his
relatives and friends held various high imperial offices (Van
Dam, 1985, p. 304). Each of these two Syagrii held a number
of offices besides consul, and determining which office goes
with which Syagrius is somewhat difficult. A relatively
plausible scenario is given in Jones, et al. (1971),
following Martindale (1967). Demandt (1971) proposes a
somewhat different assignment of offices to the Syagrii, but
later reviews (e. g., Bagnall, et al., 1987, p. 649, and
Errington, 1992, note 109) point out that Demandt probably
misinterpreted a comment of Mitteis, an earlier researcher.

The office of consul had great prestige and was eagerly
sought by Roman citizens. In the second half of the fourth
century it was usually attained as the culmination of a
distinguished career (Bagnall, et al., 1987, p. 3); at this
time it was largely an honorary office with minimal political
responsibilities. The following description of the duties of
a consul is extracted from volume 8, section 1 of Victor
Duruy's History of Rome and of the Roman People (ed. by J. P.
Mahaffy):
The old capital [Rome] retains its Senate, over which the
consuls preside; that of Constantinople has a pro-consul
for its presiding officer. The Emperor selects these
functionaries, and makes known his choice to the
magistrates and the cities by sending out ivory tablets
which bear the likeness of the consuls and their names;
this is necessary since these names serve to date all legal
acts, whether public or private. These successors of the
great consuls of the Republic still had their curule
chairs, their purple robes embroidered with silk and gold,
their gilded slippers, their lictors and rods surmounted by
axes which were no longer used; and on the first of January
they solemnly entered upon their office by going to the
Forum, where they enfranchised a slave, and then to the
circus, where they gave the signal for the games to begin.

Gen. 3. Details on Tonantius Ferreolus's offices come from
Martindale (1980). Additional information is supplied by
Stevens (1933) and Harries (1994). Settipani (1989 and 1991,
pp. 198-9) says that Ferreolus's wife Papianilla was probably
a niece of the emperor Avitus. Harries (1994, p. 34, n.
30) says that she was a generation older, perhaps a sister or
cousin of Avitus, while Mommaerts and Kelley (1992, pp. 112-
3) propose that she might be a generation younger.

Gen. 8. For a thorough discussion of the connection between
generations 7 and 8, see Settipani (1989).

Gen. 9. Ansegisel is sometimes referred to as Mayor of the
Palace, but Settipani and Van Kerrebrouck (1993, p. 151)
point out that this is not attested by any contemporaneous
source and thus can't be relied on.

Gen. 10. Gerberding (1987) provides a detailed analysis of
the status of Alpaida and the political significance of her
union with Pippin.

Gen. 11. Rotrude's possible descent from Syagrius, great-
grandson of Flavius Afranius Syagrius, is given by Settipani
(1989), but see also Settipani's more recent comments (1990,
pp. 20-3).

Gen. 13. Most modern authorities give Charlemagne's birth year
as 747, but Settipani and Van Kerrebrouck (1993) give 748; see
their detailed analysis in note 3, p. 191.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION:

Bagnall, R. S., A. Cameron, S. R. Schwartz, and K. A. Worp.
1987. Consuls of the Later Roman Empire. Philological
Monographs of the American Philological Association, Number
36. Atlanta: Scholars Press.

Demandt, A. 1971. "Die Konsuln der Jahr 381 und 382 namens
Syagrius." Byzantinische Zeitschrift 64: 38-45.

Errington, R. M. 1992. "The Praetorian Prefectures of
Virius Nicomachus Flavianus." Historia 41: 439-461.

Gerberding, Richard A. 1987. The Rise of the Carolingians
and the Liber Historiae Francorum. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Harries, Jill. 1994. Sidonius Apollinaris and the Fall of
Rome, AD 407-485. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Jarnut, Jorg. 1986. Agilolfingerstudien: Untersuchungen zur
Geschichte Einer Adligen Familie im 6. und 7. Jahrhundert.
Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann.

Jones, A. H. M., J. R. Martindale, and J. Morris. 1971. The
Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. I: A.D. 260-
395. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kelley, David H. 1947. "Genealogical Research in Europe: A
New Consideration of the Carolingians." New England
Historical and Genealogical Register 101: 109-112.

Martindale, J. R. 1967. "Note on the Consuls of 381 and
382." Historia 16: 254-256.

Martindale, J. R. 1980. The Prosopography of the Later
Roman Empire. Vol. II: A.D. 395-527. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Mommaerts, T. S., and D. H. Kelley. 1992. "The Anicii of
Gaul and Rome." In Fifth-century Gaul: a Crisis of Identity?
ed. by John Drinkwater and Hugh Elton. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Moriarty, G. Andrews. 1956. "Genealogical Research in
Europe: The Syagrii." New England Historical and
Genealogical Register 110: 38-40.

Schwennicke, Detlev. 1980. Europaische Stammtafeln. Band
I. Marburg: J. A. Stargardt.

Settipani, Christian. 1989. Les ancetres de Charlemagne.
Paris: Editions Christian.

Settipani, Christian. 1990. "Les ancetres de Charlemagne:
addenda et corridenda." Histoire et Genealogie 28: 19-36.

Settipani, Christian. 1991. "Ruricius Ier eveque de Limoges
et ses relations familiales." Francia 18/1: 195-222.

Settipani, Christian, and Patrick Van Kerrebrouck. 1993. La
prehistoire des Capetiens 481-987. Premiere partie:
Merovingiens, Carolingiens et Robertiens. Villeneuve d'Ascq
(France): P. Van Kerrebrouck.

Stevens, C. E. 1933. Sidonius Apollinaris and his Age.
Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Van Dam, Raymond. 1985. Leadership and Community in Late
Antique Gaul. Berkeley: University of California Press.

-- Don Stone, Computer Science Dept., Rowan College of NJ

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