The Presbyters Project

XII.3.26

FLAVIUS GLORIOSUS ERVIGIUS REX.

Ut episcopi tunc inmunes habeantur a damnis, cum eorum presbiteri ea, que ipsi non correxerunt, ad eos non remiserint corrigenda.

Presbiteri , diacones seu cetera religiositas universa vel iudices universi per diversa loca vel territoria constituti, prout unusquisque conventum Iudeorum ad se pertinere cognoverit, secundum totius institutionis nostre decreta eos distringere et coercere non differat. Ea vero, que ab ipsis nequiverint corrigi, ad agnitionem principis atque pontificum emendanda reducant; sicque fiet, ut constituta damna non ferat, si suis quisque hec pontificibus innotescat. Episcopi quoque ipsi tunc constitutum non percipient damnum, quando eis crimen talium non fuerit per subditos nuntiatum.

(ed. Zeumer 1902: 452-453)

XII.3.26

Glorious King Flavius Ervig

That bishops will not receive penalties if their presbyters have not informed them about things that shall be corrected since they have not corrected them themselves

If presbyters, deacons and all those of consecrated life (religiositas universa), and all the judges appointed in diverse places and territories learn that there is a Jewish community in their district, they shall not delay in applying to them the decrees issued by us. They shall bring to the knowledge of the king and the bishops all those things that needed to be corrected and that they were not able to accomplish. Let it be that they will not be punished by the decreed penalties if they have informed their bishops. Similarly bishops will not receive the decreed penalties if they have not been notified about this crime by their subjects.

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

This is one of 34 laws that are the original contribution of King Ervig to the codification revised during his reign. Twenty-eight of these laws concerned the Jews (Collins 2004: 236).

Place of event:

Region

Iberian Peninsula

About the source:

Title: Lex Visigothorum, Liber iudiciorum, Liber iudiciorum sive Lex Visigothorum
Origin: Toledo (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Lex Visigothorum is a codification of law first composed during the reign of King Leovigild (569-586) on the basis of the Code of Euric, but the origin of all extant manuscripts is its revised version from the reign of King Recceswinth (649-672). The codification was also enlarged in the times of King Ervig (680-687) and Ecgica (687-702).

Edition:

K. Zeumer ed., Liber iudiciorum sive lex Visigothorum, Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Leges nationum Germanicarum 1, Hannover, Leipzig 1902, 33-456.

Translation:

The Visigothic Code (Forum Judicum), trans. S.P. Scott, Boston 1910

Bibliography:

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

Leges Visigothorum in: Bibliotheca legum regni Francorum manuscripta, Karl Ubl (Ed.) assisted by Dominik Trump and Daniela Schulz, Cologne 2012. URL: http://www.leges.uni-koeln.de/en

J. Juster, 'The Legal Condition of the Jews Under the Visigothic Kings Part I', Israel Law Review 11 (1976), 259-287.

J. Juster, 'The Legal Condition of the Jews Under the Visigothic Kings Part II', Israel Law Review 11 (1976), 391-414.

J. Juster, 'The Legal Condition of the Jews Under the Visigothic Kings Part III', Israel Law Review 11 (1976), 563-590.

K. Schäferdiek, Die Kirche in den Reichen der Westgoten und Suewen bis zur Errichtung der westgotischen katholischen Staatskirche, Berlin 1967.

Categories:

Public law - Secular

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Relation with - Monarch and royal/imperial family

Relation with - Jew

Administration of justice - 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, ER553, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=553