This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Canon Law in Post Imperial Gaul Griffith, Patrick Joseph Edward Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 09. Oct. 2021 Canon Law in Post-Imperial Gaul Patrick Griffith A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy King’s College London 2018 Abstract This dissertation traces the transition of ‘canon law’, the episcopate’s own legislation on matters of ecclesiastical organisation, clerical discipline and select aspects of lay religious activity, from the context of a functioning Roman Empire and into the successor kingdoms, which dominated Gaul in the fifth and sixth centuries. Ecclesiastical canons developed in the early fourth century from the ‘internal’ rules of minority Christian communities, and by the fifth had matured into organisational and disciplinary norms deeply intertwined with Empire’s own institutions and legal system. This dissertation examines the effect the ‘ending’ of the imperial system had upon canon law in Gaul. It seeks to reintegrate canon law into the extensive historiographical debates over the utility of Late-Antique normative legislation, as a source capable of illuminating the myriad social, economic and institutional transformations underway in Gallic society. It will attempt to highlight and above all to explain changes in the form, content and application of conciliar canons, the key component of canon law in this context, in terms which emphasize the shifting institutional and legal-cultural landscape. In particular, this dissertation will argue that the period c.570 – 614 saw the manifestation of an ecclesiastically-driven legal culture, which arose from the relatively unique matrix of political and institutional conditions presented by Merovingian Gaul. It will also seek to highlight previously undervalued historical contingencies, such as the impact upon legal culture of ‘Arian’ rulership in the first generation of Gallic successor states, and the complex interplay between political fragmentation on the one hand and the survival of ecclesiastical institutions and legislation which were intrinsically pan-Mediterranean. 2 I would like to thank my supervisors, Professors Peter Heather and David D’Avray, the London Arts and Humanities Partnership, Professors Stefan Esders and Stefan Rebenich, who were generous hosts and interlocutors in Berlin and Bern respectively, Professors Catherine Cubitt and Caroline Humfress, who agreed to examine this dissertation, and finally, for their fathomless support and love, Edith and my parents, Jane and John. 3 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 7 Dissertation structure 29 Chapter One: Canon Law in the Roman Empire 33 1.A: The evolution of ‘canon law’ 34 1.B: Canon law and Empire 47 1.C The ‘application’ of canons 62 Imperial and inter-provincial contexts 62 Provincial contexts. 68 Conclusions 74 Chapter Two: Imperial Fragmentation, Successor-Kingdom Formation and Canon Law c.400 - 536 76 2.A Imperial crises and ecclesiastical legislation 82 2.B Successor kingdoms and canon law 96 2.C Christianisation and property 127 Conclusions 132 Chapter Three: Gallic Canon Law c.400 - 536 134 3.A The impact of balkanisation 134 3.B The function of canon law 151 3.C The application of canons 163 Conclusions 175 Chapter Four: Gallic Canon Law c.537 - 614 177 4.A: Late-sixth century canonical legislation 179 Conciliar judgments and ‘transactional instruments’ 192 4.B Royal Merovingian legislation and canon law 204 4.C The application of canons 212 Episcopal institutional integrity 221 The Nuns’ Revolt. 226 Conclusions 234 Chapter Five: Explaining Change in Canonical Legislation, c. 537 – 614 237 5.A Royal power 237 5.B Teilreiche dynamics 244 5.C Shifting institutional and legal landscape 260 5.D Relations with Rome 269 Conclusions 276 Conclusions 278 Appendix one: sixth-century Gallic councils 290 Appendix two: references to Rome in fifth- and sixth-century Gallic conciliar acta 292 Appendix three: Gallic conciliar subscriptions 293 Bibliography 302 4 Abbreviations Brev. Breviarium Alarici or Lex Romana Visigothorum, ed. G. Hänel (Berlin/Leipzig, 1849). CCSL Corpus Christianorum: Series Latina (Turnhout). CE Codex Euricianus, K. Zeumer, Leges Visigothorum, MGH Leges Nationum Germanicarum 1.1 (Hanover/Leipzig, 1902), 1 – 32. CTh The Theodosian Code and Novels, and the Sirmondian Constitutions, trans. and ed. C. Pharr, in collaboration with T. Sherrer Davidson and M. Brown Pharr. With an introduction. by C. Dickerman Williams. (London, 1952). EOMIA Ecclesiae Occidentalis Monumenta Iuris Antiquissima 2 tomes., C. H. Turner, (1899 - 1939). JRS Journal of Roman Studies. JTS Journal of Theological Studies. LC Liber Constitutionum, L. R. de Salis, Leges Burgundionum, MGH Leges I.2.1 (Hanover, 1892). LH Gregorii Episcopi Turonensis Libri Historiarum X, MGH Scriptores Rerum Merowingicarum I.I B. Krusch and W. Levison (Hannover, 1937-51) (= Gregory LH Krusch/Levison). LRE The Later Roman Empire 284 - 602, A Social Economic And Administrative Survey, 2 Vols., A. H. M. Jones, (Oxford, 1964). LRB Lex Romana Burgundionum L. R. de Salis, Leges Burgundionum, MGH Leges I.2.1 (Hanover, 1892). MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Berlin, Hanover, and Leipzig). Pactus Pactus legis Salicae, MGH LL nat. Germ. 4.1, Karl August Eckhardt ed., (Hannover, 1962). PL Patrologia Latina, ed. J. P. Migne (Paris). Sirm. Sirmondian Constitutions (see Pharr above). ZRG Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte RA Romanistische Abteilung GA Germanistische Abteilung KA Kanonistische Abteilung. Tables Known Church Councils in Merovingian Gaul Per Decade, p. 229 (cf. Appendix 1). Extant Conciliar Subscriptions Per Decade, p. 230 (cf. Appendix 3). Maps Councils in the First-Generation Successor States of the Visigoths, Franks and Burgundians, pp. 93-95 (cf. Appendix 3); including, • Attendance at the Council of Agde 506, • Attendance at the Council of Orleans 511, • Attendance at the Council of Epaon 517. 5 Unifying Councils of the Merovingian Kingdoms, pp 233 – 238; including, • Attendance at Orleans 511 • Attendance at Orleans 533 • Attendance at Orleans 541 • Attendance at Orleans 549 • Attendance at Macon 585 • Attendance at Paris 614. Note on quotations Unfortunately, due to constraints of space, it has not been possible to include verbatim quotations of all legislation and non-legislative sources. I have included text from the most essential laws and canons where possible, but have been forced to summarize in many instances. For most non-legal texts, for example Gregory of Tour’s History, I have opted to quote from Latin editions, since my argument often involves highlighting parallels in terminology between contemporaneous legislative and literary sources. Merovingian royal legislation, canons, epistles and the works of Gregory of Tours can be accessed at the Monumenta Germaniae Historica site: [http://www.dmgh.de]. 6 Introduction In the spacious, modernist Haus Potsdammer Straße, located in the Prussian State Library in Berlin’s KulturForum, is stored an eighth-century manuscript, the Codex Remensis. 1 Its folios preserve one of roughly eleven compilations of canon law, (norms which governed religion and ‘the Church’, see below), identified as having been produced in sixth- century Gaul.2 Most of the ‘rules’ contained within the Collection were generated by church councils of varying sizes, held at locations spanning the Mediterranean Basin over the two centuries preceding the compilation of the collection. They are interspersed with other assorted materials, including interpretations of ecclesiastical law authored by popes, legislation issued by Gothic kings, a definition of faith, an embellished list of Gallic provinces and an edict of the Frankish King Chlothar II (r.584-629), issued shortly after a great church council at Paris in 614, whose canons are listed beneath. The manuscript has been damaged in places by water and rot, whose obscuring effects have been substantially worsened in parts by the addition of a reactive agent, presumably applied in an attempt to reveal underlying script.3 Unfortunately, the folios worst affected bear the sole surviving copy of Edictum Chlotharii, of which only 18 fragmentary clauses 1 Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Phill. Lat.