Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
Search Presbyter Records
Search Evidence Records
Print:
ID
ER 2218
The Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius issue a law concerning deaconesses abolishing the law XVI.2.27 from two months later which forbade the deaconesses to bequeath their property to clerics. The law issued on 23 August 390, included in the Theodosian Code published in 438 and repeated in in the Justinian Code, promulgated in 529 and then again 534.
XVI.2.28 = cf. Nov. Marc. 5.1
 
IDEM AAA. TATIANO PRAEFECTO PRAETORIO.
Legem, quae de diaconissis vel viduis nuper est promulgata, ne quis videlicet clericus neve sub ecclesiae nomine mancipia superlectilem praedam velut infirmi sexus dispoliator invaderet et remotis adfinibus ac propinquis ipse sub praetextu catholicae disciplinae se ageret viventis heredem, eatenus animadvertat esse revocatam, ut de omnium chartis, si iam nota est, auferatur neque quisquam aut litigator ea sibi utendum aut iudex noverit exequendum.
DAT. X KAL. SEPTEMB. VERONAE VALENTINIANO A. IIII ET NEOTERIO CONSS.
 
(ed. Mommsen 1905: 844)
XVI.2.28 = cf. Nov. Marc. 5.1
 
THE SAME AUGUSTI TO TATIANUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
A law was recently promulgated with reference to deaconesses and widows to the effect that no cleric as a despoiler of the infirm sex should appropriate slaves and household goods as plunder, not even under the name of the Church, and that in the absence of kinsmen by marriage or by blood he should not conduct himself as an heir of the living, under pretext of the Catholic discipline. Such person shall observe that the aforesaid law has been repealed, to the extent that it shall be removed from all records if it has already been registered. All litigants shall know that this law shall not be utilized to their advantage and all judges that it shall not be executed.
GIVEN ON THE TENTH DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER AT VERONA IN THE YEAR OF THE FOURTH CONSULSHIP OF VALENTINIAN AUGUSTUS AND THE CONSULSHIP OF NEOTERIUS [=23 August 395]
 
(trans. Pharr 1952: 445; lightly adapted)

Discussion:

For the repealed law see [2217]. Possibly, Theodosius revoked the law, unfavourable to the Church interest, in consequence of the events in Thessalonica where the massacre was ordered by Theodosius in April. For that he was excommunicated by Bishop Ambrose of Milan. At the same time he issued several laws concerning the Church XVI.2.27 [2217], XVI.3.1 and XII.1.121 [2143]. See Delmaire 2005: 177n3.

Place of event:

Region
  • East
  • Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia
City
  • Constantinople
  • Verona

About the source:

Title: Codex Theodosianus, Code of Theodosius, Theodosian Code, Novellae Marciani
Origin: Constantinople (East), Milan (Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia)
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 consists 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)
 
G. Savagnone, "Le origini del sinodo diocesano, e l'interpretatio alla c. 23, C. Th. XVI, 2", Studi in onore di Biagio Brugi, Palermo 1910

Categories:

Described by a title - Clericus
    Private law - Secular
      Economic status and activity - Inheritance
        Economic status and activity - Slave ownership
          Relation with - Woman
            Female ministry
              Livelihood/income
                Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2218, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2218
                Record by: Marta Szada
                last edited: 2020-04-15 11:08:09
                Contact
                Privacy policy
                FAQ
                About the project
                Team