The Presbyters Project

XII.3.19

FLAVIUS GLORIOSUS ERVIGIUS REX.

Ne Iudei administratorio usu sub ordine vilicorum atque actorum christianam familiam regere audeant; et de damnis eorum, qui his talia ordinanda iniunxerint.

Si quis Iudeorum a quolibet ex laicis commissam curam vel potestatem supra christianos acceperit, id est, ut christianis familiis presit, quicquid administrationis sue cura visus fuerit inperare, totum fisco adplicare debebit; ita ut ipsi, qui hanc administrandi susceperint curam, et C flagella decalvati suscipiant et medietatem rei sue fisco sociandam amittant. Sane si episcopi vel quislibet ex sacerdotibus vel

ministris, clericis quoque vel monachis, administrationem ecclesiastice rei illis supra christianos explendam iniunxerint, quantum id ipsud fuerit, quod inperandum eis preceperint, tantum de bonis proprietatis sue fisco nostro adplicandum amittant. Quod si rebus expoliatus extiterit, exilio subiacebit, quo, diutinis detritus penitentie damnis, discat quam sit inpium infidos fidelibus preponere christianis.

(ed. Zeumer 1902: 448)

XII.3.19

Glorious King Flavius Ervig.

That no Jew shall dare to rule over a Christian family by having administering power as a bailiff or overseer; and on the penalties for those who charge Jews with administering their property.

If a Jew resumes from any layman charge, or power over Christians, that if a supervision is offered to him and not to a Christian, he shall give to the fisc everything that was under his supervision. And the person who offered him this supervision shall be punished with decalvation, flogging with a hundred lashes, and he will lose the half of his property which will be confiscated by the fisc. And if a bishop, or a priest, or a minister, a cleric, or a monk offer supervision over ecclesiastical property to a Jew instead of a Christian, he will give to the fisc as much property as he offered to the Jew to administer. And stripped of his means he shall be exiled so that having been punished with the penalties of long penance he will know how impious it is to favour infidels more than faithful Christians.

(trans. by M. Szada)

Discussion:

This is one of thirty-four laws that are the original contribution of king Ervig to the codification revised during his reign. Twenty-eigth of these laws concerned 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:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Described by a title - Clericus

Ecclesiastical administration - Administering Church property

Private law - Secular

Relation with - Jew

Described by a title - Minister/λειτουργός/ὑπηρέτης

Administration of justice - Secular

Administration of justice - Exile

Administration of justice - Financial punishment

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER555, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=555