Fulgence de Ruspe, l’aristocratie romano-africaine et le pouvoir vandale sous les règnes de Gunthamund et de Thrasamund : collaboration ou résistance ?

The hagiographic biography of Fulgentius of Ruspe shows two forms of Nicene resistance to Vandal Arianism at the end of the fifth and beginning of the sixth century: the creation of monasteries to compensate the persecution of the Nicene Church and the religious controversies. Some members of the Af...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bruno Pottier
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Anthropologie et Histoire des Mondes Antiques 2025-02-01
Series:Cahiers Mondes Anciens
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/mondesanciens/5382
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Summary:The hagiographic biography of Fulgentius of Ruspe shows two forms of Nicene resistance to Vandal Arianism at the end of the fifth and beginning of the sixth century: the creation of monasteries to compensate the persecution of the Nicene Church and the religious controversies. Some members of the African elites could compensate the compromissions engendered by participation in the Vandal administration by financing new monasteries and creating links with charismatic monks such as Fulgentius. In fact, the Vandal kings seldom persecuted the Nicene monasteries as if they granted them a necessary space of freedom. The debate organised by Thrasamund between 517 and 519 in Carthage with Fulgentius denoted the will of this king to give the African elite a new model of behaviour, combining mastery of classical culture and theological knowledge. Some of Fulgentius’ letters show that this policy was successful. Theology was integrated into the literary otium, especially in the dinner parties. The idea of the good acceptance by African elites of a religiously neutral secular space promoted by Vandal kings, often based only on the study of poems from the Anthologia Latina, should therefore be questioned. However, Fulgentius, who has always showed his loyalty, paradoxically contributed by his actions to make the Vandal regime more acceptable to the Nicene elites, since he was a kind of objective ally of their kings.
ISSN:2107-0199