Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
Search Presbyter Records
Search Evidence Records
Print:
ID
ER 2168
The Emperors Constantius and Julian issue a law confirming privileges of the churches and clerics of Rome. The law issued on 10 November 356, included in the Theodosian Code published in 438.
XVI.2.13
 
IDEM A. ET IVLIANVS CAES. AD LEONTIVM. Ecclesiae urbis Rom(ae) et clericis conCessa privilegia firmiter praecipimus custodiri. DAT. IIII ID. NOV. MED(IOLANO) CONSTANTIO A. VIIII ET IVLIANO CAES. II CONSS.
 
(ed. Mommsen 1905: 839)
XVI.2.13
 
THE SAME AUGUSTUS AND JULIAN CAESAR TO LEONTIUS. We command that the privileges granted to the Church of the City of Rome and to its clerics shall be firmly guarded. GIVEN ON THE FOURTH DAY BEFORE THE IDES OF NOVEMBER AT MILAN IN THE YEAR OF THE NINTH CONSULSHIP OF CONSTANTIUS AUGUSTUS AND THE SECOND CONSULSHIP OF JULIAN CAESAR. [November 10, 357; 356]
 
(trans. Pharr 1952: 442)

Discussion:

Flavius Leontius  was the prefect of the City twice in 355-56 and again from April 358. Constantius, however, left Milan in 357, so the law must have been issued in 356. The consular date, therefore, needs correction to CONSTANTIO A. VIII ET IVLIANO CAES. CONSS.

Place of event:

Region
  • Rome
City
  • Rome

About the source:

Title: Codex Theodosianus, Code of Theodosius, Theodosian Code
Origin: Constantinople (East), Milan (Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The Theodosian Code is a compilation of the Roman legislation from the times of the Emperor Constantine to the times of Theodosius II. The work was begun in 427 and finished in autumn 437 when it was accepted for publication. It was promulgated in February 438 and came into effect from the beginning of the year 439.
 
The compilation consist of sixteen books in which all imperial constitutions are gathered beginning with the year 312. Books 1-5 did not survive and are reconstructed from the manuscripts of the Lex Romana Visigothorum, i.e. the Breviary of Alaric, the legal corpus published in 506 by the Visigothic king, Alaric, containing excerpts from the Theodosian Code equipped with explanatory notes (interpretationes), post-Theodosian novels and several other juristic texts.
 
A new compilation was undertaken during the reign of the emperor Justinian. A committee of ten persons prepared and promulgated the Codex in 529. It was quickly outdated because of the legislative activities of the emperor and therefore its revised version had to be published in 534. The Codex together with the novels, the Pandecta, a digest of juristic writings, and the Institutes, an introductory handbook are known under the medieval name "Corpus Iuris Civilis".
Edition:
Theodor Mommsen and Paul Martin Meyer (eds.), Theodosiani libri XVI cum constitutionibus Sirmondianis et leges novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes, 2 vols., Berlin 1905
Paul Krüger (ed.), Codex Iustinianus, Berlin 1877
Gustav Hänel (ed.), Lex Romana Visigothorum, Leipzig 1849
 
Translations:
The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions, a translation with commentary, glossary, and bibliography by C. Pharr, Princeton 1952
Les lois religieuses des empereurs romains de Constantin à Théodose (312-438), v. 1, Code Théodosien livre XVI, text latin Th. Mommsen, trad. J. Rougé, introduction et notes R. Delmaire avec collab. F. Richard, Paris 2005
Bibliography:
(all those entries with extenstive, recent bibliography)

Categories:

Functions within the Church - Urban presbyter
    Described by a title - Clericus
      Public law - Secular
        Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2168, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2168
        Record by: Marta Szada
        last edited: 2020-08-14 09:20:52
        Contact
        Privacy policy
        FAQ
        About the project
        Team