Canon 11 of the Council of Épaone (Gaul, AD 517) forbids clerics to seek help in secular courts but urges them to seek the secular judgement if they themselves were accused.
Intended for scholary use. For credentials see Bibliography
Canon 11
Clerici sine ordenatione episcopi sui adire uel interpellare publicum non praesumant; sed si pulsati fuerint, sequi ad saeculare iudicio non morentur.
(ed. de Clercq 1963: 26-27)
Canon 11
Clerics should not dare to go or appeal to civil courts without the permission of their bishop. But if they themselves were accused, they should not delay in seeking secular judgement.
(trans. J. Szafranowski)
Place of event:
Region
Gaul
City
Épaone
About the source:
Title: Council of Épaone 517, Concilium Epaonense anno 517 Origin: Épaone (Gaul) Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Just as the Council of Agde was held in 506 in the Visigothic kingdom and the First Council of Orléans in 511 in the Frankish realm, the Council of Épaone gathered bishops from the lands ruled by the Burgundians. The direct impulse for the council was the ascension to the throne of Sigismund in 516. The new king, unlike his Arian predecessors, followed the Catholic creed. Avitus, metropolitan of Vienne, and Viventiolus, metropolitan of Lyons, asked the bishops to convene on the day of 6th September 517 in Épaone, the exact location of which is unknown. It was most probably situated in the province of Vienne, possibly near present-day Anneyron or Saint-Maurice-l`Exil. The council gathered 24 bishops and one presbyter. It seems that also some other clerics and laymen attended the sessions.
Edition:
C. de Clercq ed., Concilia Galliae a. 511-a. 695, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 148 A, Turnhout 1963.
Translation:
J. Gaudemet, B. Basdevant, Les canons des conciles mérovingiens VIe-VIIe siècles, Sources chrétiennes 353, Paris 1989.
Categories:
Described by a title - Clericus
Public law - Ecclesiastical
Conflict
Relation with - Secular authority
Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical
Administration of justice - Secular
Please quote this record referring to
its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
J. Szafranowski, Presbyters
in the Late Antique West, ER1148, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1148
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