Dynamius or Dinamius was the Rector of Provence (''rector Provinciae'') from 575, when he replaced Albinus. At the time,

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border ...

and

Austrasia Austrasia was a territory which formed the north-eastern section of the Merovingian Kingdom of the Franks during the 6th to 8th centuries. It was centred on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers, and was the original territory of th ...

lay within the kingdom of

Childebert II Childebert II (c.570–596) was the Merovingian king of Austrasia (which included Provence at the time) from 575 until his death in March 596, as the only son of Sigebert I and Brunhilda of Austrasia; and the king of Burgundy from 592 to hi ...

, though half of

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

, the chief Provençal city, was under the lordship of

Guntram Saint Gontrand (c. 532 in Soissons – 28 March 592 in Chalon-sur-Saône), also called Gontran, Gontram, Guntram, Gunthram, Gunthchramn, and Guntramnus, was the king of the Kingdom of Orléans from AD 561 to AD 592. He was the third eldest and ...

King of Burgundy The following is a list of the kings of the two kingdoms of Burgundy, and a number of related political entities devolving from Carolingian machinations over family relations. Kings of the Burgundians * Gebicca (late 4th century – c. 40 ...

. Dynamius and Guntram allied together for their own mutual benefit at the expense of Childebert. Dynamius instigated the canons of the

Diocese of Uzès In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

to elect their deacon Marcellus, son of the senator Felix, as bishop in opposition to their already-elected bishop

Jovinus :''Jovinus is a Roman cognomen, most often used for a 5th-century Roman usurper emperor. This article is about the Roman usurper. For the saint, see Saint Jovinus. For the Frankish duke, see Jovinus of Provence.'' For the 4th century Roman general ...

, a former governor of Provence. While Jovinus and

Theodore, Bishop of Marseille Theodore ( la, Theodorus) was the bishop of Marseille from at least 566 until 591/594. In the 580s, Theodore was at the centre of a dispute over the city of Marseille between King Guntram and his nephew, King Childebert II. He was arrested several ...

, were travelling to the court of Childebert II, Guntram had them arrested. Dynamius, meanwhile, blocked Gundulf, a duke of an important senatorial family and Childebert's former '' domesticus'', from entering Marseille on behalf of Childebert. Eventually he was forced to yield, though he later arrested Theodore again and had him sent to Guntram. Despite his revolt, which saw him replaced by Leudegisel (585) and

Nicetius Saint Nicetius (french: Saint Nizier) (c. 525 - c. 566) was a bishop of Trier, born in the latter part of the fifth century, exact date unknown; died in 563 or more probably 566. Nicetius was the most important bishop of the ancient see of Trier ...

(587), he was reconciled with Childebert and formally restored to favour on 28 November 587. According to the poet

Venantius Fortunatus Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus ( 530 600/609 AD; french: Venance Fortunat), known as Saint Venantius Fortunatus (, ), was a Latin poet and hymnographer in the Merovingian Court, and a bishop of the Early Church who has been venerated ...

, with whom he had a correspondence, Dynamius was a man of culture, a poet, and an author of

saints' lives A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

. Dynamius' wife, Eucheria, wrote poetry as well: one of her poems, a list of impossible things, is extant. Dynamius also corresponded with

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florent ...

, who mentions that he was "pious" and a founder of monasteries.

Sources

. ''The History of the Franks''. 2 vol. trans. O. M. Dalton. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967. * Peter Dronke, Women Writers of the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. {{Authority control Rulers of Provence