Flobert, Pierre, “La Vie ancienne de saint Samson et l’histoire”, Études Celtiques 29 (1992): 183–190.
- journal article
[EN] The First Vita Samsonis and History.
The First Life of St. Samson is generally considered as dating back from the early VIIth c., which is rather unprobable. If saint Samson, probably attending the Paris Concile around 561, really died in 565, it is surprising that facts could be altered to such extent within fifty years : Childebert’s wife, for example, is depicted as a particularly hateful queen. One should also take into account that the redactor, himself very old, received his informations from an octogenarian, a nephew of Henoc the deacon, a cousin of saint Samson, who had written a Life and collected informations from the saint’s mother, long after he died. The author finally does not conceal the chronological gap : a span of 150 years, nearly three life-times, would not be exaggerated ; this would place the composition, at the earliest, in the early (or middle) VIIIth c. Such a date would not ruin the historical value of the Life (cf. Celtic customs, and some linguistical celticisms), but it invites us to treat it most cautiously. The Vita prima would then precede by more than one century the Vita secunda.
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