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L’opera di Venanzio tra letteratura e storia

Il caso di Radegonda e del suo monastero

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Abstract

The article focuses on Venantius Fortunatus’ important contribution to our knowledge of the historical profile of Radengund and the monastery she founded. Venantius’ works constitute, in fact, one of the main sources on the Thuringian princess, first war booty and Clotaire I’s wife, then founder of the Abbey of the Holy Cross at Poitiers. The study is introduced by a brief methodological premise on the controversial issue of the use of literary sources for history, and especially for the history of late-antique Christianity, with reference to the debate on historical research and writing.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: June 19, 2025 | Accepted: July 15, 2025 | Published Jan. 21, 2026 | Language: it

Keywords History • Literature • Late-antique Christianity • Diakonia • Venantius Fortunatus • Women’s asceticism

Copyright © 2026 Rossana Barcellona. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


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