Victorius of Aquitaine

Who is Victorius of Aquitaine?

Victorius of Aquitaine, a countryman of Prosper of Aquitaine and also working in Rome, produced in 457 an Easter Cycle, which was based on the consular list provided by Prosper's Chronicle. This dependency caused scholars to think that Prosper had been working on his own Easter Annals for quite some time. In fact, Victorius published his work only two years after the final publication of Prosper's Chronicle.

Victorius finished his Cursus Paschalis in 457. From that date onward he left blank the column giving the names of the consuls, but his table continued until the year AD 559 or Anno Passionis 532, hence the name Cursus Paschalis annorum DXXXII. This first version was later continued by other authors, who filled in the names of the consuls as the years passed.

The Victorian system of the Cursus Paschalis was made official by a synod in Gaul in 541 and was still in use for historical work in England by 743, when an East Anglian king-list was created, which was double-dated with Victorian and Dionysian eras. Also, it was used for a letter to Charlemagne in 773, and probably, in its continued form, a source for both Bede and the Historia Brittonum.