The Presbyters Project

I.9

EVSTORGIO VIRO VENERABILI MEDIOLANENSI EPISCOPO THEODERICVS REX

[...] Atque ideo, quod beatitudini uestrae gratissimum esse confidimus, praesenti tenore declaramus Augustanae ciuitatis episcopum proditionis patriae falsis criminationibus accusatum: qui a uobis honori pristino restitutus ius habeat episcopatus omne quod habuit. Nihil enim tali honore temeraria cogitatione praesumendum est, ubi, si proposito creditur, etiam tacitus ab excessibus excusatur. Manifesta proinde crimina in talibus uix capiunt fidem: quicquid autem ex inuidia dicitur, ueritas non patitur. Volumus enim inpugnatores eius legitima poena percellere: sed quoniam et ipsi clericatus nomine fungebantur, ad sanctitatis uestrae iudicium cuncta transmisimus ordinanda, cuius est et probitatem moribus talibus imponere et districtionem ecclesiasticam custodire.

(ed. Fridh 1973: 19-20)

I.9

KING THEODORICUS TO THE VENERABLE BISHOP OF MILAN, EUSTORGIUS

[...] And therefore, we declare by this letter that the accusations of treason against the bishop of the city of Aosta were false and we believe that your Beatitude will be glad to receive this news. The bishop restored by you to his previous honour shall have all the episcopal power he used to have. Nothing should be presumed with temerity against the person of such an honour, since his way of life would exonerate him of these offences even if he remained silent. Indeed, it is difficult to believe even in the most apparent crimes of people of such dignity. Anything said because of envy cannot be considered to be true. We want, then, that the accusers be struck with a proper punishment but because they are of clerical order themselves, we delegate this issue to the judgement of your Sanctity who is responsible for bringing honesty to the behaviour of these persons and for exercising the ecclesiastical coercion.

(trans. M. Szada)

Place of event:

Region

Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia

City

Ravenna
Milan
Aosta

About the source:

Author: Cassiodorus
Title: Variae, Variarum libri duodecim
Origin: Ravenna (Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia)
Denomination: Arian, Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The present letter was written in the name of King Theodoric the Great by Cassidorus and is roughly dated to the period between 507 and 511 by its position in the collection in relation to datable documents. In this period, Cassiodorus most probably held an office of quaestor at the court of the Ostrogothic king in Ravenna (on the dating of the documents within the Variae see O`Donnell 1979, chap. 3). The letter was included by Cassiodorus in the Variae, the collection of documents drafted by him while in office, which was composed either between 538 and 540 (the last letter in the Variae is dated to 538, Belisarius captured Ravenna in 540; for this dating see Mommsen 1894: xxx-xxxi; Fridh 1973: x; O`Donnell 1979: 103; Krautschick 1983: 11; Barnish 1992: xiv; Gillet 2003: 175; Amici 2005: 221) or in the late 540s or even 550s, as was recently argued by Bjornlie 2013: 19–26.

Edition:

Fridh Å.J. ed., Magni Aurelii Cassiodori variarum libri XII, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 96, Turnhout 1973

Mommsen Th., Cassiodori senatoris Variae, Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Auctores Antiquissimi 12, Berlin 1894

Bibliography:

S.J.B. Barnish ed., The Variae of Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator, Liverpool 1992.

M.S. Bjornlie, Politics and tradition between Rome, Ravenna and Constantinople: a study of Cassiodorus and the Variae 527-554, Cambridge; New York 2013

J.J. O'Donnell, Cassiodorus, Berkeley 1979.

Categories:

Described by a title - Clericus

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Public law - Secular

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1956, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1956