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Jornandez

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

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Jortin, Johns, D.D.

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(Jornandes or Jordanes), a celebrated historian of the 6th century, was by birth a Goth, or both of Alan and Gothic descent. After adopting the Christian religion he became a zealous churchman, subsequently entered a monastery, and was finally made bishop of Croton, in Italy. He wrote two historical works in the Latin language, De Regnorum ac Temporum Successione — a short compendium of the most important events in history from the Creation down to A.D. 552; valuable from the. accounts it contains of several barbarous northern nations — and De Getarum Origine et Rebus Gestis (concerning the origin and deeds of the Goths), which has obtained great renown, chiefly from its being our only source of information about the Goths and other barbarian tribes, except when they are casually mentioned by some Greek or Latin historian. The work, which in the main is a compilation of other writers, is full of inaccuracies, both of time, place, and person; Jornandez himself, however, seems to have been aware of the imperfect condition of his works, for he makes no claims to erudition or extended research. The aim of the works is believed to have been first to extol the Gothic nation, and, secondly, to bring about a union of the Goths and the Romans, for he tries to prove that both nations have long been friends and confederates, and that their perpetuation depended upon the most intimate alliance of the two. See Grimm and Krafft, K. gesch. d. gener. Volker, 1, 1, 77, etc.; Schmidt's Zeitschr. J. Geschichtl. Wissenschaft., 6, 516 sq.; Sybel. De fontibus libri Jordanis, etc. (Berlin, 1838), Herzog, Real-Encyklop. 6, s.v.