Berck, Oliver Das Soldatenleben des heiligen Martin. Eine Annäherung

St. Martin is one of the most popular saints in Christendom. It is generally known that as a Roman soldier he shared his coat with a freezing beggar. This good deed is so striking that his profession fades into the background. This effect was deliberate. For the author of the Vita sancti Martini, Sulpicius Severus, was writing primarily for a circle of Christian rigorists for whom soldiering was tainted with many blemishes.

His hero's well-known service in the armed forces was therefore not to be a disadvantage for him. Economy of detail was therefore another element of his defence strategy, which he pursued with masterly rhetoric. Oliver Berck, however, delves deeper into Martin's military service with the help of ancient sources and above all Ammianus Marcellinus' work of history. His study also reflects the current state of research on Martin. It provides well-founded answers and robust reflections on important questions surrounding this formative period in Martin's life: How long did his military service last and to which stations did it lead him? Why, for example, was he in Amiens, where the famous sharing of coats is said to have taken place? Where was he baptised? And how did he manage to be discharged from the army early as a pacifist? Oliver Berck takes the reader to the battlefields and parade grounds as well as to the churches and palaces of the time. As a result, not only does the historical Martin become more tangible, but the conflicts that the Church had to face in that era also become clear. Volume 42 of the series "Studien zur Geschichtsforschung des Altertums".