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“Episcopae”: Bishops' Wives Viewed in Sixth-Century Gaul

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Brian Brennan
Brian Brennan
Affiliation:
Mr. Brennan is professor of history in the Blacktown College of Technical and Further Education, Sydney, Australia.
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Extract

The sixth-century Gallic episcopacy contained within its ranks three distinct groups of men. The first group comprised those who had come to the episcopacy from a monastic background; the tradition of the monk-bishop, nurtured in the fifth century by the monastery of Lérins, was still strong, particularly in southern Gaul. The second group consisted of men who, although celibate, were not monks. The third group was composed of married clerics who at the time of ordination had taken a vow of sexual continence. Since source material for this period is comparatively scanty and many bishops are little more than names to us, we have no means by which to establish the proportion of men in the Gallic episcopacy who fit in this third category.1 The most we can say is that the married bishop was a familiar figure in the Merovingian church.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 54 , Issue 3 , September 1985 , pp. 311 - 323
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1985

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References

1. There are numerous works on the Gallic episcopacy as an institution. Of particular importance for the sixth century are the following: Scheibelreiter, Georg, Der Bischof in merowingischer Zeit, Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 27 (Vienna, 1983);Google ScholarHeinzelmann, Martin, Bischofsherrschaft in Gallien: Zur Kontinuität römischer Führungsschichten vom 4. bis zum 7. Jahrhundert, Beihefte der Francia 5 (Munich, 1976).Google Scholar The standard reference for episcopal lists is Duchesne, Louis Marie, Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, 3 vols, (Paris, 1907, 1910, 1915),Google Scholar hereafter cited as FE.

2. For the term presbytera, see Concilium Turonense A.567, canon 20 in Concilia Galliae, ed. Charles DeClercq (Turnhout, 1963),Google Scholar Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 148 A, p. 184 (hereafter cited as CG 2). For the term episcopa, see Concilium Turonense A.567, canon 14, in CG 2, p. 181.

3. Wemple, Susan F., Women in Frankish Society: Marriage and the Cloister, 500–900 (Philadelpia, 1981), p. 134.Google Scholar

4. Elberitanum, Concilium, canon 33, in Die Kanones der wichtigsten Altkirchlichen Concilien, ed. Lauchert, Friedrich (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1896), pp. 18–19.Google Scholar

5. Damasus, Ad episcopos Galliae 2.5, wrongly attributed to Siricius, Pope, in Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Latina, ed. Migne, Jacques Paul, 221 vols. (Paris, 1843–1864),Google Scholar vol. 13, col. 1184 (hereafter cited as PL). Pope Siricius expressed a similar view, based on passages culled from the Pauline epistles: Siricius, , Ad Episcopos Africae 3,Google Scholar in PL 13, cols. 1160–1161.

6. Paulinus, Epistulae 23.42 in PL 61, col. 284.

7. See the Coptic encomium of Flavianus on Demetrius, Archbishop of Alexandria, 289–295, in Budge, Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis, ed., Coptic Martyrdoms etc. in the Dialect of Upper Egypt (London, 1914), pp. 390–408;Google Scholar Epiphanius, Adversus Haereses 59.4., in Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Graeca, ed. Jacques Paul Migne, 162 vols. (Paris, 1857–1912)Google Scholar, vol. 41, cols. 1021–1024 (hereafter cited as PG).

8. Synesius, , Epistulae 105 in PG 66,Google Scholar col. 1485.

9. See Rousseau, Philip, “The Spiritual authority of the monk-bishop,” Journal of Theological Studies, n.s. 22 (1971): 406–419;Google ScholarPrinz, Friedrich, Frühes Mönchtum im Frankenreich (Munich, 1965), pp. 47–62.Google Scholar

10. Dalmatius's successor should be non coniugali uinculo nexus; Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks 5.46 (hereafter cited as HF). The edition cited here is Krusch, Bruno and Levison, Wilhelm, eds., Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum, vol. 1, pt. 1, 2d ed. (Hannover, 1951),Google Scholar hereafter cited as MGHSRM.

11. Concilium Agathense A.506, canon 16, in Concilia Galliae A.314–506, ed. C. Munier (Turnhout, 1963), Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 148:201.

12. Wemple, , Frankish Women, p. 132.Google Scholar

13. Leo the Great, Epistolae 167, resp. 3, to Rusticus of Narbonne, in PL 54, col. 1204.

14. Concilium Arelatense A.524, canon 2, CG 2:43–44.

15. Concilium Cleremontanum A.535, canon 13, CG 2:108.

16. Concilium Aurelianense A.538, canon 7, CG 2:117.

17. Concilium Aurelianense A.541, canon 17, CG 2:136.

18. Concilium Turonense A.567, canon 11, CG 2:179–180.

19. Concilium Turonense A.567, canon 13(12), CG 2:180; 14(13), CG 2:181.

20. Conc. Matisconense A.581–583, canon 3, CG 2:224.

21. HF 1.44. On the episcopate of Urbicus, see FE 2:33.

22. Gregory, Vitae Patrum 8, reveals promotion of the cult of Saint Nicetius: MGH SRM, 1st ed., ed. Bruno Krusch, 7 vols. (Hannover, 1884–1920), vol. 1, pt. 2, pp. 240–252.Google Scholar On the episcopates of Nicetius and Priscus, see FE 2:166–168.

23. Gregory, Vitae Patrum 8.5; HF 4.36.

24. HF 4.36.

25. Note HF 6.36.

26. Peter Brown, Relics and Social Status in the Age of Gregory of Tours, Stenton Lecture, 1976 (Reading, 1977), p. 17.

27. HF 4.36.

28. HF 8.39; 10.5. On the episcopate of Badegisil, see FE 2:338.

29. Venantius Fortunatus, Carmina, bk. 3, no. 8, lines 29–38, in MGH Auctores Antiquissimi, ed. Friedrich Leo, 15 vols. (Berlin, 1877–1919),Google Scholar vol. 4, pt. 1. On the episcopacy of Felix see FE 2:366.

30. Gregory, , Liber in Gloria Confessorum 77,Google Scholar in MGH SRM, vol. 1, pt. 2.

31. Gregory, , Liber in Gloria Confessorum 74, 75.Google Scholar Similar stories, based on Proverbs 6.27, are told by Gregory about the fourth-century Saint Bricius, the successor to Saint Martin at Tours, HF 2.1., and by Flavianus about Archbishop Demetrius of Alexandria; see note 9.

32. HF 2.17. Author's translation.

33. Sidonius Epistulae 7.9.24; MGH Auctores Antiquissimi, ed. Christian Leutjohann, vol. 8 (Berlin, 1887).Google Scholar On the episcopate of Simplicius of Bourges, see FE 2:27.

34. Stroheker, Karl Friedrich, Der senatorische Adel im spätantiken Gallien (Tübingen, 1948), pp. 112–114;Google ScholarWieruszowski, Helene, “Die Zusammensetzung des gallischen and fränkischen Episkopats bis zum Vertrag von Verdun (843) mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Nationalität und des Standes,” Bonner Jahrbücher 127 (1922); 1–83,Google Scholar and at section 11, pp. 50–56, “Das Nepotensystem im gallischen Episkopat”; Heinzelmann, Bischofsherrschaft, passim.

35. Fortunatus, Carmina, bk. 4, no. 5. On the episcopate of the Ruricii, see FE 2:50–51.

36. Carmina, bk. 4, no. 1, lines 31–32. See FE 2:366.

37. Carmina, bk. 4, no. 8, lines 7–8. See FE 2:87.

38. Compare Carmina, bk. 1, no. 15, lines 93–106 with Carmina, bk. 6, no. la, lines 35–42 and with Carmina, bk. 9, no. 1, lines 115–126. On Leontius's episcopacy see FE 2:61.

39. For Placidina's family Connections see Stroheker, Der senatorische Adel, prosopography, no. 307: Placidina; no. 29: Arcadius. Note also Stroheker's appendix: Stammbäume spätrömischer Senatorengeschlechter in Gallien: Stammbäume der Ruricii der Avitj und der Apollinares.

40. Carmina, bk. 1, no. 15. lines 99–100.

41. Carmina, bk. 1, no. 15, lines 93–94, 105–106; no. 17.

42. Carmina, bk. 1, no. 6, lines 21–22. On the inscriptional nature of the verse see LeBlant, Edmond, Inscriptions chrétzennes de la Gaule antérieures an VIlle siècle, 2 vols. (Paris, 1856–1865), 2:379–380.Google Scholar

43. Carmina, bk. 1, no. 14: “Summus in arce Dei pia dona Leontius offert,/Votis iuncta sacris et Placidina simul,/Felices quorum labor est altaribus aptus,/Tempore qui parvo non peritura ferunt.” (Leontius offers these pious gifts in the citadel of God, and Placidina joined by holy vows does likewise. Lucky are those whose labor is fit for the altars, for within a little time they bring the things that will not perish). On the inscriptional nature of the verse see LeBlant, , Inscriptions chrétiennes, 2:382–383.Google Scholar

44. Carmina, bk. 1, no. 12, lines 13–18. On the inscriptional nature of the verse see LeBlant, , Inscriptions chrétiennes, 2:365.Google Scholar

45. Carmina, bk. 1, no. 7.

46. Carmina, bk. 4, no. 10, lines 25–26. The epitaph of Leontius was: “Funeris oflicium, magni solamen amoris Dulcis adhuc cineri dat Placidina tibi” (Sweet still to your ashes, Placidina gives to you a funeral observance, thus a consolation for her great love).

47. Concilium Aurelianense A.511, canon 13, CG2:8; Conciltum Epaonense A.517, canon 32, CG 2:32–33; Synodus Dioecesana Autissiodorensis A.561–605, canon 22, CG2:268.

48. Carmina, bk. 4, no. 27. Note especially lines 11–16.

49. Pope Homisdas (514–523) was married, and his son, Silverius, later became Pope (536–537): Duchesne, Louis Marie, ed., Le Liber Pontificalis, 2d ed., 2 vols. (Paris, 1955), 1:290Google Scholar (hereafter cited as LP). Pope Theodore (642–649) was the son of another Theodore, bishop of Jerusalem: LP 1:331.

50. Gregory, Epistolae 1.50, 9.110 in MGH Epistolae, ed. Paul Ewald and Ludo M. Hartmann, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1887–1899).Google Scholar

51. Gregory, Dialogi 4.11, inPL 77, cols. 336–337.

52. We have no evidence that Theodora had been married to a bishop. Paschal's background is described as “natione Romanus, cx patre Bonoso”: LP 2:52. There is no indication that Bonosus was a bishop. Duchesne gives the text of Paschal's inscription in a note in his edition of the LP, vol. 2, note 12, pp. 63–64.

53. Krueger, Paul, ed. Corpus Iuris Civilis 1.3.44; 1.3.47, 12th ed. (Berlin, 1959), pp. 30–31, 34;Google ScholarSchoell, Rudolf and Kroll, William, eds., Novellae 6.1, 123.1, 7th ed. (Berlin, 1959), pp. 36–40, 594–595.Google Scholar

54. Concilium Quinisextum, Canon 12, in Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, ed. Giovanni Domenico Mansi, Philippe Labbe, and Gabriel Cossart, 31 vols. (Florence, 1759–1798)Google Scholar, vol. 11(1765), cols. 945–947.

55. Chrodegang, Regula Canonicorum in PL 89, cols. 1097–1120.