Jonas of Bobbio: Life of Columbanus, Life of John of Réomé, and Life of Vedast

by Jonas of Bobbio, Alexander O'Hara (Translator), Ian N. Wood (Translator)

Jonas of Bobbio was an Italian monk, author, and abbot, active in Lombard Italy and Merovingian Gaul during the seventh century. He is best known as the author of the Life of Columbanus and His Disciples, one of the most important works of hagiography from the early medieval period, that charts the remarkable journey of the Irish exile and monastic founder, Columbanus (d. 615), through Western Europe, as well as the monastic movement initiated by him and his Frankish successors in the Merovingian kingdoms. In the years following Columbanus's death numerous new monasteries were built by his successors and their elite patrons in Francia that decisively transformed the inter-relationship between monasteries and secular authorities in the Early Middle Ages. Jonas also wrote two other, occasional works set in the late fifth and sixth centuries: the Life of John, the abbot and founder of the monastery of Reome in Burgundy, and the Life of Vedast, the first bishop of Arras and a contemporary of Clovis. Both works provide perspectives on how the past Gallic monastic tradition, the role of bishops, and the Christianization of the Franks were perceived in Jonas's time. Jonas's hagiography also provides important evidence for the reception of classical and late antique texts as well as the works of Gregory the Great and Gregory of Tours.This volume presents the first complete English translation of all of Jonas of Bobbio's saints' Lives with detailed notes and scholarly introduction that will be of value to all those interested in this period.
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400 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2016

Reviews

[Henry Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

FOR ME THIS WAS LIKE A WINDOW INTO A HIDDEN WORLD. We do not have the future to learn from and so we owe scholars like Dr. O'Hara a profound debt of gratitude for producing works like this. Who else is going to show us our ancestors in tumultuous times, if not for scholars like him? I have read many lightweight books about Columbanus and his time, but if readers want real 'meat', then these are the books to go to. At the level of the individual, these works show us Europeans as we ever were; the same hopes, fears, dreams, triumphs, and tragedies. At the wider level, we see our forebears patching together the sacred and secular realms on the rubble of Rome.
O'Hara's work shows both the strands of continuity and discontinuity, but most importantly the revolutionary monastic movements bursting forth in 'real-time.' And, even for a non-specialist like me, he does so in a way that engages and enthralls.
It is an easy area of history to either romanticise or demonise. But much of the Renaissance view of the 'dark ages', and much of our own ignorance, is because we have not bothered to dialogue seriously with the sources.
O'Hara, through his translations and histories, has undertaken this on our behalf, so that we can see those times as they were, and not as others wish us to. My debt is really a double one as I plundered both volumes mercilessly as sources for my own work, and took both on my filming tour of Europe for the 'Saving Europe' series.