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ER 2169

Presbyter Victor, possibly from Padua or its vicinity, in Italy is mentioned as a holder of the marshland Pampiliana in the area of Padova by the document on papyrus listing ecclesiastical property, most probably produced by the Church of Ravenna, mid-6th century.

P.3

The papyrus is incomplete, probably around the fifth of the original text survived. In the first part of the preserved text there is a list of due payments in money and in kind (pork, hens, eggs), as well as due days of corvee (sections I.1-3).

II.1 Terr(itorio) Patavino:

1 Locus, qui adpellatur saltus Erudianus, per Maximum vil(icum):

Col(onia) s(upra)s(cript)a per Iohannem, Vigilium et Bassum:

Idịiṣ: Col(onia) Noviciana pro medietate per Proiectum col(onum):

Idịiṣ: Col(onia) s(upra)s(cript)a pro parte alia pro medietate per Valerium col(onum):

5 Col(onia) Simpliciaca, que iacet in sentib(us), p(er) Re[paratum et Iustinum col(onos)]:

((Col(onia) Candidiana, que iacet in sentib(us), p(er) Reparatum et Iụstinum col(onos))):

Col(onia) Valeriaca p(er) Quintulum et Sabinionem:

Col(onia) Severiaca p(er) Ḷẹ[o]nem et Achillem, Victurinum et Severum:

D(e) palude Micauri:

10 D(e) palude Pampiliana, quem sibi dicet presb(yter) Victor donaṭ(am):

Col(onia) Candidiana, qui nuper ordenata est, uṭ post quinquennio possit aliquid praestare,

ịṭẹṃ [....] ex̣igẹ[.]ḍ[.] sịṇgụ[l]ịs anniṣ ị[n quibus] ḍeseṛta iacebat, et scrib[..] era[t] iṇ ḥịṣ

sol(idos) n(umero) III, siliq(uas) III.

Here follows the list of payments in money and kind (hens and chicks, eggs, honey, geese, milk) required from the above-mentioned estates.

(ed. Tjäder 1955: 188)

P.3

The papyrus is incomplete, probably around a fifth of the original text has survived. In the first part of the preserved text there is a list of due payments in money and in kind (pork, hens, eggs), as well as due days of corvee (sections I.1-3).

II.1 In the territory of Padua:

1 The place that is called saltus Erudianus through the steward Maximus:

The above-mentioned colony through Iohannes, Vigilius, and Bassus:

On the ides [?]: the colony Noviciana in half through the colonus Proiectus:

On the ides [?]: the above-mentioned colony in another half through the colonus Valerius:

5 The colony Simpliciaca which lies fallow through the coloni Reparatus and Iustinus:

((The colony Candidiana which lies fallow through the coloni Reparatus and Iustinus:))

The colony Valeriaca through Quintulus and Sabinion:

The colony Severiaca through Leo and Achilles, Victurinus and Severus:

From the marshland Micauri:

10 From the marshland Pampiliana which was donated to the presbyter Victor, as he claims:

The colony Candidiana on which it was recently arranged that it may provide something after five years, so ... it should be demanded for each year it was deserted, and it is written: 3 solidi, 3 siliquae.

Here follows the list of payments in money and kind (hens and chicks, eggs, honey, geese, milk) required from the above-mentioned estates.

(trans. and summary M. Szada)

Discussion:

The text says only that the presbyter Victor was in possession of a marshland in the region of Padua, we do not know where exactly he held his office.

The reading "idiis" in lines 3 and 4 is uncertain. If it is correct it probably refers to the situation in which part of the exactions is supposed to be paid at the beginning of the month, and another part in the middle of the month (see Tjader 1955: 408). Line 6 was crossed out by the scribe.

According to the list of payments, the marshland Pampiliana was obliged to pay three solidi and three siliquae (1 solidus = 24 siliquae) and provide one pound of milk as a voluntary donation (in xeniis).

Place of event:

Region

Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia

City

Ravenna
Padua

About the source:

Origin: Ravenna (Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The papyrus is kept in the Vatican Library in Rome (Bib. Vat. pap. lat. 4). The dimensions of the preserved fragment: 32,5 cm (height), 86 cm (length). Originally, the document was in the form of a scroll. There are no clear indications of where and when the document was drafted but it is similar to the documents issued by the Church of Ravenna. Marini (1805: 369-70) argued that the document is an official inventory of the property of the Church of Ravenna noting some similarities with the Codex Bavarus (the register of deeds known otherwise known as Breviarium ecclesiae Ravennatis) and the big, decorative letters in the last line, characteristic of the protocols of gesta municipalia. Tjäder (1955: 185), however, noticed that the form of a scroll would be surprising for such an official register, and suggested that it had a more provisional character. Moreover, he noted that apart from the decorative letters in one line, the document has little in common with gesta municipalia (on the g.m. see Tjäder 1955: 122-128).

Palaeographical dating places the text in the middle of the 6th century. It is possible that the present papyrus, as well as Nos. 2, 4 and 5 in Tjäder`s edition were drafted because of the reorganisation of the ecclesiastical property which followed the Gothic war, especially with the confiscation of the property of the Homoian Church (see Tjäder 1955: 185-86 and Goffart 1972).

Edition:

G. Marini, I papiri diplomatici, Roma 1805 (ill.)

J.-O. Tjäder, Die nichtliterarischen lateinischen Papyri Italiens aus der Zeit 445-700, I. Papyri 1-28, Lund 1955 (with German translation)

Bibliography:

W. Goffart, "From Roman Taxation to Mediaeval Seigneurie: Three Notes”, Speculum 47 (1972), 165–87, 373–94.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR994.

Economic status and activity - Ownership or possession of land

PR994.

Economic status and activity - Indication of wealth

PR994.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2169, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2169