Apollinaris

Apollinaris of Clermont (the Auvergne, ancient Augustonemetum) was an aristocrat of the late-fifth/early-sixth-century Gallo-Roman nobility, almost certainly the son of the poet-bishop Sidonius Apollinaris, in whose letter-collection a kinsman of this name is addressed (e.g. Ep. 4.6, 5.3) and who is later attested as a correspondent of Bishop Avitus of Vienne. Living in the Auvergne as the Visigothic and then Frankish kingdoms absorbed Roman Gaul, he belonged to the generation that managed the transition from Roman provincial elite to office-holder under the new barbarian rulers; Gregory of Tours records that an Apollinaris, son of Sidonius, briefly held the see of Clermont before dying soon after. The match between the two collections (Sidonius and Avitus of Vienne) and the Clermont location strongly supports this identification, though precise dates for his life are not securely recorded. He appears here only as a recipient of letters, so much of his career is known indirectly.