Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 178
Canon 4 of the Second Council of Toledo (Iberian Peninsula, AD 527) forbids clerics to bequeath lands and vineyards on the grounds of the Church, unless their bishop grants it to them.
Canon 4
 
Si quis sane clericorum agella uel uineolas in terras ecclesiae sibi fecisse probantur sustentandae uitae causa, usque ad diem obitus sui possideat; uero post suum de hac luce discessum iuxta priorum canonum constitutiones ius suum ecclesiae sanctae restituat nec testamentario ac successorio iure cuiquam heredum proheredumue relinquat, nisi forsitan cui episcopus pro seruitiis ac praestatione ecclesiae largire uoluerit.
 
(ed. Martínez Díez, Rodríguez 1984: 351-352)
Canon 4
 
If a cleric was allowed to cultivate a field or vineyard in the grounds of the Church for the sustenance of his life, he should possess them to the day of his death. But after his departure from this world they will be restored to the Church according to the dispositions of the former canons. He cannot bequeath them by will or by the law of succession to any heir or successor (heredum proheredumue) unless the bishop grants it to him for his services and provisions to the Church.
 
(trans. M. Szada)

Place of event:

Region
  • Iberian Peninsula
City
  • Toledo

About the source:

Title: Second Council of Toledo, Second Synod of Toledo, Council II of Toledo, Concilium Toletanum II, Concilium Toletanum secundum, Concilio de Toledo II
Origin: Toledo (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The council was hosted by Bishop Montanus of Toledo on the 16th day before the Kalends of June (that is May 17th) in the fifth year of the reign of Amalaric, in the year 565 of the Spanish era (Vives 1963: 42). The Spanish era started in 38 BC. Thus the exact day of the gathering would be 17th of May, 527. But already in 16th c. the accuracy of this information was challenged by Caesar Baronius (later followed by Antoine Pagi). They assumed that the years of the reign of Amalaric should be counted from 526, the year of death of Amalaric`s grandfather Theodoric the Great who acted as a regent in Visigothic kingdom. The fifth year of Amalaric would be then 531 and not 527. The defenders of the date transmitted in manuscript tradition proposed a solution. The councils in Tarragona in 516 and in Gerona in 517 were dated by the years of reign of Theodoric in Spain. It was then argued that after the expulsion of King Gesalic in 511, Theodoric ruled Spain in his own right and not as a regent. Only in 522 did he accept the title of regent and guardian of his grand-son Amalaric and this was the formal beginning of the latter`s rule. To corroborate this version R. Collins quotes also Isidore of Seville, Historia Gothorum 39, who says that Theodoric left the kingdom of Spain to Amalaric while still alive (Collins 2004: 41).
Edition:
Editions:
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:
C. Baronius, Annales Ecclesiastici, v. 7, ed. A. Theiner, Bar-le-Duc 1864 (this is 19th c. edition of the volume orignally published in 1596 in Rome; this edition contains also the emendations of Antoine Pagi published for the first time in 1705).
R. Collins, Visigothic Spain, 409-711, Oxford, OX, UK; Malden, MA, USA 2004.
J. Orlandis, D. Ramos-Lissón, Die Synoden auf der Iberischen Halbinsel bis zum Einbruch des Islam (711), Paderborn 1981.
E.A. Thompson, The Goths in Spain, Oxford 1969.

Categories:

Described by a title - Clericus
    Ecclesiastical administration - Administering Church property
      Economic status and activity - Farming
        Economic status and activity - Ownership or possession of land
          Economic status and activity - Inheritance
            Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
              Livelihood/income
                Private law - Ecclesiastical
                  Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER178, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=178