Dead Boethius: Sixth-Century Accounts of a Future Martyr

Abstract

Boethius is known primarily as a statesman and a scholar, but at some point in the Middle Ages he also became a martyr. The cult of St. Severinus Boethius, centered at Pavia, is not often investigated. Studies of Boethius’s martyrdom have usually focused on the question of whether or not he died a genuine martyr’s death, while little attention has been paid to the development of the cult itself. This article examines early legends of the last days of Boethius, not to shed light on his death itself but to demonstrate the variety of ways in which this event was perceived over the course of the sixth century. It is particularly significant that several narrative accounts portray this episode not as a political event, but as a religious conflict between Arians and Catholics. This development may represent the earliest evidence for the emergence of an organized cult.