Victor Vitensis

Victor of Vita ( † after 490 ) was a late antique church historian. He was bishop of his hometown Vita in Byzacena, Africa, which was then under the rule of the Vandals. He was canonized later; his feast day is August 23.

Life and work

Victor wrote to 489/90 on behalf of the Catholic bishop of Carthage, Eugenius, a Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae, a history ( of persecution ) of the Catholic population Africas under the Arian Vandals Genseric kings and Huneric. The work is one of the most important sources for the history of the Vandal kingdom; it includes, among other things, the text of three edicts Huneric, including his persecution edict, and the Liber Fidei catholicae, a Catholic creed. It is written in a highly hagiographic nature Victor emphasizes the courage of Catholic Christians against the Vandals, but was not always objective; it also played Victor Roman worldview against the "barbarians" a role.

The work enjoyed in the Middle Ages and the early modern period some popularity. The attached in some manuscripts Passio beatorum martyrum qui sunt apud Carthage, passed does not come from Victor himself, but was written by an anonymous author.

Editions and translations

  • Karl Halm (ed.): Auctores antiquissimi 3.1: Victoris Vitensis Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae sub Geiserico et Hunirico Regibus Wandalorum. Berlin 1879, pp. 1-58 ( Monumenta Historica Germaniae, digitized )
  • Victor of Vita: History of the Vandal Persecution. Translated by John Moorhead (Translated Texts for Historians, 10). Liverpool 1992 ( English translation).
  • Victor de Vita: Histoire de la persécution vandal en Afrique suivie de La passion of the martyrs sept. Registre des provinces et des cités d' Afrique ( Collection Budé ). Text établis, traduits et Serge Lancel Most commented par. Paris 2002.
  • Victor of Vita: Vandals and the church struggle in Africa: Historia persecutionis Africanae. Latin and German. Edited, introduced and translated by Konrad Vössing. Darmstadt 2011.
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