Martin of Tours stands out as a paradoxical figure: born in Pannonia, he became the spiritual protector of Frankish kingship from the Merovingians to the Capetians. Viewed with suspicion by the Gallic episcopate during his lifetime, he embodied the ideal bishop in the eyes of the medieval hagiographers. Although he was mostly a man of action and did not author any written works, he exerted a decisive influence on western monasticism.

The son of a military tri…