As a background to this study of the Arians and Vandals in North Africa, and their impact on the Catholic Church, three books have been written recently by John Martyn, investigating the same period (late sixth century) and the same country. They are, firstly, Pope Gregory’s Letters (published with commentary and translation by P.I.M.S, three vols, 2, 2004); see introduction pp 32-42 and epp 1.74, 2.36 and 11.7, and for the Manichean heresy, see epp 2.31, 5.7 and 6.14. Next, the Life of Saint Gregory, bishop of Agrigento (published with his commentary and translation by Edwin Mellen, 2004), is set in North Africa in chapters 7-30, and also covers the main schisms of that time. Finally, in a book on Saint Leander, Archbishop of Seville, soon to be published by Lexington Books, in Maryland, he shows that Leander’s parents and baby sister were forced to flee from their home in Cartagena to Carthage, from where the Vandals had recently been expelled. Note also his review of L’Afrique Vandale et Byzantine: Ie Partie,’ Paris, 2002, which was published in Parergon, 21,1,2004, pp 155-157, and involved a study of the same schisms, history and archaeology of North Africa.
