The two accounts of St. Radegund’s life paint very different pictures for this woman saint. The First account was written by Venantius Fortunatus an Italian scholar some time before the end of the seventh century CE. The Second was written during the seventh century by a nun who wanted to supplement Fortunatus writing and further explain the holiness of St. Radegund. What we get instead is St. Radegunda used as something close to holy propaganda.
Fortunatus writing displays Radegund as human with a very interesting story. He accounts for her life events as any historian would do. He simply tells the story of her life. The later account tries to dive in and make statements about Radegund as though the author knew what was actually going on; “She determined with great devotion, to collect relics of all the saints” (54). How does this author know what she determined to do? And why does the account from Fortunatus, written closer to the time of the actual events speak nothing of the relic collecting? This is because Fortunatus only made the point to tell the story not to try and use Radegund for an agenda. In the forward of the second account it states, “We should not take literally her profession of intellectual inadequacy...” (53). If we can’t take her intellectual profession literally, that leaves me very little reason to take anything to say literally. In fact, much of her writings might in fact be fabrications.
Besides the question of historical accuracy presented in the second account, there seems to a deviation of which Radegund is described and even her very personality. In Fortunatus’ writing, Radegund lives a hard devoted life. She only eats a little at banquets, she is constantly helping those less fortunate than herself, but even still her life seems dark. At night she would sneak out to “prostrate herself in prayer under” a gourmet worn by ascetics (49). It goes on to state how she “scarcely get warm either by hearth or in her bed” (49). To add earlier apparently had a “desire to be a martyr if she had the chance” meaning she was willing to die. If you add these all up and put into account that she was a captive of war likely forcible married to her captor, it would seem that the saint was clinically depressed. However this may just be my twenty first century bias speaking out. In the second account Radegund is depict as being “exulted in joy” (56). Extremely contradictory to the woman described in the first account. There are some similarities as they both recognize Radegund as a holy individual. Though even here there is some deviation. The second account makes her sound like the everyday nun. They even give her soon negative (non-ascetic) qualities, stating, she “drank the information in greedily and thirstily” (54). This completely contracts everything Fortunatus talks about. He went into good detail about how she lived a very ascetic life and nothing as far as having greed for anything. The second account continues to state that she is “truly a hand-maid of the lord” (54). Like many in the monastery, they claim to be servants of the lord but it seems rather lowly when Fortunatus states that “she was more Christ’ partner than her husband’s companion” (48). Here she is the Lord’s partner, an equal perhaps not a lowly hand servant. The second account simply was using this Saint as a tool to lure woman and nuns in by making Radegund more like them, so they would be inspired to take pilgrimages and collect relics instead of living a hard ascetic life.
Fortunatus writing displays Radegund as human with a very interesting story. He accounts for her life events as any historian would do. He simply tells the story of her life. The later account tries to dive in and make statements about Radegund as though the author knew what was actually going on; “She determined with great devotion, to collect relics of all the saints” (54). How does this author know what she determined to do? And why does the account from Fortunatus, written closer to the time of the actual events speak nothing of the relic collecting? This is because Fortunatus only made the point to tell the story not to try and use Radegund for an agenda. In the forward of the second account it states, “We should not take literally her profession of intellectual inadequacy...” (53). If we can’t take her intellectual profession literally, that leaves me very little reason to take anything to say literally. In fact, much of her writings might in fact be fabrications.
Besides the question of historical accuracy presented in the second account, there seems to a deviation of which Radegund is described and even her very personality. In Fortunatus’ writing, Radegund lives a hard devoted life. She only eats a little at banquets, she is constantly helping those less fortunate than herself, but even still her life seems dark. At night she would sneak out to “prostrate herself in prayer under” a gourmet worn by ascetics (49). It goes on to state how she “scarcely get warm either by hearth or in her bed” (49). To add earlier apparently had a “desire to be a martyr if she had the chance” meaning she was willing to die. If you add these all up and put into account that she was a captive of war likely forcible married to her captor, it would seem that the saint was clinically depressed. However this may just be my twenty first century bias speaking out. In the second account Radegund is depict as being “exulted in joy” (56). Extremely contradictory to the woman described in the first account. There are some similarities as they both recognize Radegund as a holy individual. Though even here there is some deviation. The second account makes her sound like the everyday nun. They even give her soon negative (non-ascetic) qualities, stating, she “drank the information in greedily and thirstily” (54). This completely contracts everything Fortunatus talks about. He went into good detail about how she lived a very ascetic life and nothing as far as having greed for anything. The second account continues to state that she is “truly a hand-maid of the lord” (54). Like many in the monastery, they claim to be servants of the lord but it seems rather lowly when Fortunatus states that “she was more Christ’ partner than her husband’s companion” (48). Here she is the Lord’s partner, an equal perhaps not a lowly hand servant. The second account simply was using this Saint as a tool to lure woman and nuns in by making Radegund more like them, so they would be inspired to take pilgrimages and collect relics instead of living a hard ascetic life.