Venantius Fortunatus and the Transforming of 'Evaluations'

This paper intends to show how two poems of Venantius Fortunatus (530–600), Carm. 10.7 and Carm. 10.19, connect the everyday world of Francian elites in the sixth century CE with the Christian cosmology of the early Middle Ages. The poems transform 'strong' into 'weak' and 'weak' into 'strong' evaluations. According to Hartmut Rosa, the coincidence of 'weak' and 'strong' evaluations often leads to states of 'resonance'. I argue that Venantius Fortunatus uses the technique of transforming evaluations to make Christianity appear more relevant to his recipients.