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ER 2226
The Emperors Arcadius and Honorius issue a law forbidding tenants to join the clergy without consent of their landowner. They can only become clerics in their own villages. The law issued on 27 July 398, included in the Theodosian Code (16.2.33) published in 438 and repeated in the Justinian Code promulgated in 529 and then again 534.
16.2.33 = cf. CJ 1.3.11
 
IDEM AA. EUTYCHIANO P(RAEFECTO) P(RAETORI)O.
Ecclesiis, quae in possessionibus, ut adsolet, diversorum, vicis etiam vel quibuslibet locis sunt constitutae, clerici non ex alia possessione vel vico, sed ex eo, ubi ecclesiam esse constiterit, eatenus ordinentur, ut propriae capitationis onus ac sarcinam recognoscant, ita ut pro magnitudine vel celebritate uniuscuiusque vici ecclesiis certus iudicio episcopi clericorum numerus ordinetur.
DAT. VI KAL. AUG. MNIZO HONO(RIO) A. IIII ET EVTYCHIANO CONSS. [=27 July 398]
 
(ed. Mommsen 1905: 846)
16.2.33
 
THE SAME AUGUSTI TO EUTYCHIANUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
For the churches which have been established, as is customary, on the landholdings of various proprietors, or in the villages also, or in any place whatsoever, clerics shall not be ordained from any other landholding or village, but from that one where it appears that the church is located, so that such clerics shall assume the responsibility and burden of their own capitation tax. Moreover, in proportion to the size and population of each village, a fixed number of clerics shall be ordained for the churches, according to the judgement of the bishop.
GIVEN ON THE SIXTH DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF AUGUST AT MNIZUM IN THE YEAR OF FOURTH CONSULSHIP OF HONORIUS AUGUSTUS AND THE CONSULSHIP OF EUTYCHIANUS [=26 July 398]
 
(trans. Pharr 1952: 446; lightly adapted)

Discussion:

A person assigned in the census to the domain could not have become a cleric without consent of the master of the domain. A cleric could enjoy immunity from poll tax only if his master pays for him and provides a replacement for him to work on land. The present law forbidding people to become clerics outside the domain to which they are assigned attempts to make it more difficult to evade taxation by entering the holy orders without consent of one's master. See Delmaire 2005: 187n3.

Place of event:

Region
  • East
City
  • Constantinople
  • Mnizos

About the source:

Title: Codex Theodosianus, Code of Theodosius, Theodosian Code, Codex Iustinianus, Codex Justinianus, Code of Justinian, Justianianic Code
Origin: Mnizos (East)Constantinople (East),
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
 
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:

Social origin or status - Peasants
    Functions within the Church - Rural presbyter
      Described by a title - Clericus
        Impediments or requisits for the office - Social/Economic/Legal status
          Public law - Secular
            Economic status and activity - Taxes and services
              Functions within the Church - Presbyter in a lay foundation
                Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2226, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2226
                Record by: Marta Szada
                last edited: 2019-08-12 10:26:29
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