The Presbyters Project

[Titulus in recensione Iuliana] XXI Vt non liceat iudicibus clericos uel seruos ecclesiae in suis angariis occupare.

[Titulus in recensione Vulgata] XXI Vt serui ecclesiae siue clericorum non debeant a iudicibus uel actoribus in aliqua angaria fatigari.

Canon 21

Quoniam cognouimus permultis ciuitatibus ecclesiarum seruos et episcoporum uel omnium clericorum a iudicibus uel actoribus publicis in diuersis angariis fatigari, omne concilium a pietate gloriosissimi domni nostri poposcit ut tales deinceps ausus inhibeat, sed serui suprascriptorum officiorum in eorum usibus uel ecclesiae elaborent. Si qui uero iudicum aut actorum clericum aut seruum clerici uel ecclesiae in publicis ac priuatis negotiis occupare uoluerit, a communione ecclesiastica, cui impedimentum facit, efficatur extraneus.

The summary of the canon in the latter part of the concilar acts, so-called Edictum regis:

[21] Quod serui ecclesiae siue clericorum non debeant a iudicibus uel nostris actoribus in aliqua angaria fatigari.

(eds. Martinez Diez, Rodriguez 1992: 105, 107-108, 129-130, 138)

[Title in the recension Iuliana] XXI That judges are not allowed to engage clerics or servants of the Church in services on their behalf.

[Title in the recension Vulgata] XXI That servants of the Church or of the clerics shall not be burdened with services by judges or officials.

Canon 21

For we have learnt that in many cities servants of the Church, of bishops and other clerics are oppressed with different services by public officials or judges, the council asked our most pious and glorious lord to restrain these attempts, and that rather servants of the above-mentioned officials shall work for the benefit of clerics or the Church. If a judge or an official wants to employ a cleric or a servant of a cleric or of the Church to public or private business, he will be excluded from the ecclesiastical communion against which he has acted.

The summary of the canon in the latter part of the conciliar acts, so-called Edictum regis:

[21] That servants of the Church or of the clerics shall not be oppressed with services by judges or officials.

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

In the first part of the canon, the problem of the compulsory services seems to concern only servants of clerics. In the second part, however, the canon also prohibits judges from employing clerics themselves. Probably publica ac privata negotia has a broader meaning than angaria. Canon 21 not only forbids using ecclesiastical servants to some compulsory services but also employing clerics in secular matters.

Place of event:

Region

Iberian Peninsula

City

Toledo

About the source:

Title: Third Council of Toledo (589), Concilium III Toletanum, III Concilium Toletanum a. 589
Origin: Toledo (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The Third Council of Toledo in 589 is a pivotal event that changed the religious allegiance of the Visigothic kingdom. The ruling elites of the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse (418-507), and later in the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula adhered to the Arian (Homoian) Christianity, whereas the Roman population were dominantly Catholic (though the frontiers between the denominations were not impenetrable, as we know Goths who converted to the Nicene Christianity and Romans who were Homoian). In 587 King Reccared converted to Catholicism. This was followed by the decision to eliminate the religious division in the kingdom. The Third Council of Toledo in 589 assembled in May to confirm the conversion of all the Gothic leaders and Arian clergy to the Catholicism.

The literature on the conversion of the Visigoths and the Third Council in Toledo is voluminous - only a few seminal books and papers are signalised in the bibliography section below.

The acts of the third council of Toledo are transmitted in the 7th-century canonical collection from Spain, the so-called Hispana. Its authorship has been atrributed to the Isidore of Seville (it is still accepted by Martinez Diez 1966; other scholars reject this attribution: Munier 1966; Gaudemet 1967: 122-124; Schaferdiek 1967: 144-148; Landau 1968: 406-418). This collection has several recensions: a primitive one, the so-called Isidoriana, is lost today; the Juliana recension edited after 681 and attributed to the Julian of Toledo, that adds to the previous recension the acts and canons of the councils from the Fifth council of Toledo do the Twelfth (in 681); the Vulgata recension edited between 694 and 702 that adds the acts and canons of the councils from the the Thirteenth Council of Toledo up to the Seventeenth held in 694, this recension was the most widespread during the Middle Ages (more bibliography see Kéry 1999: 61-67). The two recensions Iuliana and Vulgata give different titles to the canons of the Third Council of Toledo (Martinez Diez 1992: 17-20).

Edition:

Editions:

G. Martínez Díez, F. Rodríguez eds., La colección canónica Hispana, Monumenta Hispaniae sacra. Serie canónica 5, Madrid 1992.

J. Vives ed., Concilios visigóticos e hispano-romanos, Barcelona-Madrid 1963.

Bibliography:

El Concilio III de Toledo. XIV Centenario, ed. R. Gonzalvez, Toledo 1991.

R. Collins, Visigothic Spain, 409-711, Oxford, OX, UK; Malden, MA, USA 2004.

J. Gaudemet, review of: "G. Martinez Diez, La coleccion canonica Hispana 1", Revue historique de droit français et étranger 4e ser. 45 (1967), 122-124.

J.N. Hillgarth, "La conversión de los Visigodos. Notas criticas", Analecta Sacra Tarraconensia 34/1 (1961), 21-46.

L. Kéry, Canonical collections of the early Middle Ages (ca. 400-1140): a bibliographical guide to the manuscripts and literature, Washington, D.C 1999.

M. Koch, Ethnische Identität im Entstehungsprozess des spanischen Westgotenreiches, Berlin; New York 2012.

P. Landau, review of: "G. Martinez Diez, La coleccion canonica Hispana 1", Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte Kanonistische Abteilung 54 (1968), 406-414.

G. Martínez Díez, La Colección canónica Hispana, vol. 1 Estudio, Madrid 1966.

C. Munier, "Saint Isidore de Séville est-il l’auteur de I’Hispana chronologique?", Sacris Erudiri 17 (1966), 230-241.

K. Schaferdiek, review of: "G. Martinez Diez, La coleccion canonica Hispana 1", Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 78 (1967), 144-148.

E.A. Thompson, "The Conversion of the Visigoths to Catholicism", Nottingham Medieval Studies 4 (1960), 4-35.

Categories:

Described by a title - Clericus

Economic status and activity - Slave ownership

Relation with - Secular authority

Economic status and activity

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER362, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=362