The Presbyters Project

Canon 12

Vt, si episcopus intestatus obierit, inuentarium de rebus eius clerici faciant et nullus exinde aliquid auferat.

Sicubi defunctus fuerit episcopus intestatus, post depositionem eius a presbyteris et diaconibus rebus ipsius breuis fideliter conscribatur, a minimo usque ad maximum, id est de utensilibus uel omni supellectile, ita tamen ut si quis exinde uel praesumpsisse uel occulte fuerit tulisse conuictus, secundum furti tenorem restituat universa.

(eds. Martínez Díez, Rodríguez 1984: 278-279)

Canon 12

That if a bishop dies without a will, clerics shall make an inventory of his things and no one shall take anything of his property.

If anywhere a bishop dies without a will, after the funeral a list of his things (that is articles of daily use and household furnishings) shall be briefly and conscientiously written down written down by the presbyters and deacons, from the smallest to the largest things, so that if it is proved that anyone has taken anything from the bishop's property, he shall return it as if it were a matter of theft.

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

This is the earliest surviving canon of the Iberian councils dealing with the vulnerability of the bishop's property after his death and the risk of plundering the movables goods of the episcopal household. The subject is later discussed in more detail at the councils of Lerida [252], Valencia [283] and IX Toledo [720].

See the discussion in Stocking 2000, 39-41.

Place of event:

Region

Iberian Peninsula

City

Tarragona

About the source:

Title: Council of Tarragona, Concilium Tarraconense
Origin: Tarragona (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

In AD 516 the provincial council was held in Tarragona which at the time was ruled by the Ostrogothic King Theodoric (he acted as a guardian for the King of Spain Amalaric). The anomalous presence of two bishops is worth noting - Hector of Cartagena and Orontius of Grenada. Their episcopal sees were outside the province of Tarragona.

Edition:

Edition:

G. Martínez Díez, F. Rodríguez, eds., La colección canónica Hispana, v. 4 Concilios Galos. Concilios Hispanos: primera parte, Madrid 1984.

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

Bibliography:

R. Stocking, Bishops, Councils, and Consensus in the Visigothic Kingdom, 589-633, Ann Arbor 2000

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Described by a title - Clericus

Ecclesiastical administration - Administering Church property

Economic status and activity - Inheritance

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Relation with - Deacon

Private law

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER150, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=150