Victor Vitensis (or Victor of Vita; born circa 430) was an African bishop of the Province of

Byzacena Byzacena (or Byzacium) (, ''Byzakion'') was a Late Roman province in the central part of Roman North Africa, which is now roughly Tunisia, split off from Africa Proconsularis. History At the end of the 3rd century AD, the Roman emperor Dioclet ...

(called Vitensis from his See of Vita). His importance rests on his ''Historia persecutionis Africanae Provinciae, temporibus Genserici et Hunirici regum Wandalorum'' (''A History of the African Province Persecution, in the Times of Genseric and Huneric, the Kings of the Vandals'').

Life

Little is known of the author or his circumstances and so historians have put forward deductions based on the internal evidence of his work. It has been argued by John Moorhead that Victor wrote the ''Historia persecutionis'' whilst he was a priest in

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

and that he 'had access to the archives of the See of Carthage'. The 'text originated in the Church of Carthage' and was published circa 488; however, scholars contend that Victor wrote much of his work in 484 but subsequently added perspectives from after Huneric's death. Danuta Shanzer has argued that the use of medical terminology in Victor's descriptions of torture indicate that he may have had a medical background. It is contested in academic discourse whether or not Victor was actually the bishop of Vita or simply born there.

History

Victor is known for his ''Historia persecutionis Africanae Provinciae, temporibus Genserici et Hunirici regum Wandalorum'' (''A History of the African Province Persecution, in the Times of Genseric and Huneric, the Kings of the Vandals''). Divided into three books, the work is a predominantly contemporary narrative of the cruelties practiced against the orthodox Nicene Christians of Northern Africa by the

Arian Arianism (, ) is a Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God. It is named after its major proponent, Arius (). It is considered he ...

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

. The first book provides an account of the reign of

Gaiseric Gaiseric ( – 25 January 477), also known as Geiseric or Genseric (; reconstructed Vandalic: ) was king of the Vandals and Alans from 428 to 477. He ruled over a kingdom and played a key role in the decline of the Western Roman Empire during ...

, from the Vandal invasion of Africa in 429 until the king's death in 477; whilst, the second and third record events of

Huneric Huneric, Hunneric or Honeric (died December 23, 484) was King of the (North African) Vandal Kingdom (477–484) and the oldest son of Gaiseric. He abandoned the imperial politics of his father and concentrated mainly on internal affairs. He was ma ...

's reign (477–484) – of which Victor was an eyewitness. Andy Merrills and Richard Miles have argued that with the work Victor 'created a coherent narrative of a Vandal persecution where previously there had been none'. Victor throws much light on social and religious conditions in Carthage and on the African liturgy of the period, portraying 'the Vandals as being implacably and violently opposed to the true Catholic Faith'. His history contains many documents not otherwise accessible, e.g. the Confession of Faith drawn up for the orthodox bishops by

Eugenius of Carthage Eugenius of Carthage was a Christian prelate unanimously elected Bishop of Carthage in 480 to succeed Deogratias. He was caught up in the disputes of his day between Arianism and mainstream Christianity. He is revered as a saint. Biography His ...

and presented to

at the conference in 484 of

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and

bishops. Two documents: a ''Passio beatissimorum martyrum qui apud Carthaginem passi sunt sub impio rege Hunerico (die VI. Non. Julias 484)'' and a ''

Notitia Provinciarum et Civitatum Africae The ''Notitia provinciarum et civitatum Africae'' ("Notice of the Provinces and Cities of Africa") is a Byzantine Empire, Byzantine-era document listing the bishops and Episcopal see, sees in the Roman provinces of Roman North Africa, North Africa, ...

'' (List of the Provinces and Cities of Africa), formerly appended to all the manuscripts and now incorporated in the printed editions, are probably not Victor's. The former may be the work of one of his contemporaries. The latter is a list of the

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

s who were summoned to the 484 conference and their

Episcopal see An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...

s in the Latin provinces of North Africa, arranged according to provinces in this order:

Africa Proconsularis Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Numidia Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between ...

Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Caesariensis (Latin for "Caesarea, Numidia, Caesarean Mauretania") was a Roman province located in present-day Algeria. The full name refers to its capital Caesarea, Numidia, Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell). The province had ...

, Mauretania Sitifensis, Tripolitana,

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

Editions

*Early editions of Victor are found in Migne, ''

Patrologia Latina The ''Patrologia Latina'' (Latin for ''The Latin Patrology'') is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques Paul Migne between 1841 and 1855, with indices published betwe ...

'', LVIII. * Karl Felix Halm (Berlin, 1879) in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Auct. Antiq., III, 1; and Petchenig (Vienna, 1881); Corpus Scrip. Eccles. Lat., VII; Ferrere, De Victoris Vitensis libro qui inscribitur historia persecutionis Africanae Provinciae (Paris, 1898).

Translations

* Victor of Vita. ''History of the Vandal Persecution''. Translated by John Moorhead, (Translated Texts for Historians; 10). Liverpool, 1992.

Studies

* A. H. Merrills, "totum subuertere uoluerunt: ‘social martyrdom’ in the Historia persecutionis of Victor of Vita", in Christopher Kelly, Richard Flower, Michael Stuart Williams (eds), ''Unclassical Traditions. Vol. II: Perspectives from East and West in Late Antiquity'' (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2011) (Cambridge Classical Journal; Supplemental Volume 35), 102–115. * Danuta Shanzer, 'Intentions and Audiences: History, Hagiography, Martyrdom, and Confession in Victor of Vita's ''Historia Persecutionis in A.H. Merrills (ed.) ''Vandals, Romans and Berbers: New Perspectives on Late Antique North Africa'' (Aldershot, Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004), pp. 271–290. * Peter Heather, 'Christianity and the Vandals in the Reign of Geiseric', ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' 50 (2007), pp. 137–146.

References

External links

*
Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Victor Vitensis 5th-century bishops in Roman North Africa 5th-century writers in Latin 5th-century historians