BISHOPS IN LATE ANTIQUE ITALY:

SOCIAL IMPORTANCE VS POLITICAL POWER

Adam Izdebski
introduction
Those who study late antique society and its religion within the frame-
work established by Peter Brown argue that ecclesiastical leaders, thanks to their
social power, undertook numerous important social and political roles already in
the fth century.
1
It is possible, however, to disagree with this position and to
argue for a different view of local politics, which asserts that the view founded by
Brown ignores the diversity of local circumstances and the disparity of evidence
among regions, and is often based on poor and complicated source materials, a
common concern in the study of late antique Italy.
2
Claudia Rapp recently published a study of episcopal leadership in late anti-
quity in which she reassesses the historiographic tradition based on Browns
work. She rejects completely the view which concentrates on the episcopal ex-
ercise of political and social power and ignores regional differences and the bish-
ops religious duties.
3
Instead, Rapp argues that the bishops spiritual authority
and ascetic practices formed the foundation of their secular authority, which
sometimes led to a powerful political position within their communities. Rapp
focuses on the sources pertaining to eastern bishops and analyses their political
activities in the Levant; however, she refrains from considering the western ev-
idence. Thus, there is a need to reassess the western evidence in the light of
her conclusions. In this paper, I will attempt such a reassessment of the Italian
context.
In order to make the following analyses as precise as possible, I reject the
notion of social power and substitute for it the separate concepts of social im-
portance and political power. In my interpretation social importance refers to
the signicance of the social roles played by the bishop that could be identied
as reecting his prominence within the local community. Presiding over im-
portant religious ceremonies, preaching to the urban community, and caring for
I would like to thank the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) for its kind support of my research
(through the START Program).
1
Literature on the subject is enormously rich: for the most recent important contributions, see
Heinzelmann 1976; Brown 1992: 89103; Maym o i Capdevila 1997; Allen and Mayer 2000; Rapp
2000; Liebeschuetz 2001: 137168; Brown 2002.
2
See for instance Steins (1949/1928: 119130, 564622) silence regarding the role of bishops
in Italian society during the entire Gothic period. See also Zanini 1998. In the case of Italy, one
of the key sources informing the opinio communis is contemporary legislation (e.g., Mochi Onory
1933; Mor 1979); its application in actual practice, however, has become a controversial issue (e.g.,
Wickham 2005: 383384).
3
Rapp 2005: 616.
PHOENIX, VOL. 66 (2012) 12.
158
BISHOPS IN LATE ANTIQUE ITALY 159
the poor and for those temporarily aficted by misfortune through famine and
warfare made the bishop one of the most socially prominent public gures in his
city. Political power, however, goes beyond social prominence to mean actively
taking part in local politics, not only representing the community in relation
to external powers, but rst and foremost aspiring to participate in, and even
to direct, decision-making processes within the community itself. In order to
understand the position of the bishops in late antique Italy we need not only to
assess their social importance but also the degree of their participation in local
politics by identifying the situations in which they acted as local leaders.
I undertake in this paper an exploration of various sources describing the
social, political, and ecclesiastical history of late antique Italy, with a view to
nding all the evidence of Italian bishops taking part in any way in the social and
political life of their local communities. This evidence includes historiographic
texts describing political and military events in Italy in the period,
4
imperial
legislation,
5
various types of ecclesiastical history,
6
Italian hagiography,
7
letters of
the bishops of Rome and the prefect Cassiodorus,
8
and other useful ecclesiastical
sources.
9
Most of these texts refer to the bishops of Rome, which creates yet
another complication, as the head of the Roman church was no ordinary bishop
and his activities cannot be used to draw conclusions regarding Italy as a whole.
10
To avoid any confusion, in the sections that follow I will deal separately with
the bishops of Rome and other Italian bishops.
The issue of bishops political power within Italian cities cannot be discussed
without rst addressing the question of the decline of traditional urban politics
and the state. In fact, only one contemporary source provides substantial detail
about the mechanisms of urban politics during the period: Procopius mid-sixth-
century narrative of the siege and subsequent sack of Naples by Belisarius.
11
In
Procopius account Belisarius demand for the citys surrender became a matter of
public discussion by the citizens of Naples, which would suggest that traditional
urban institutions founded upon public debate still functioned. Those arguing
for retaining allegiance to the Goths won the debate; Belisarius and his army
4
Claudian De bello gothico (Garuti 1979); Zosimos Nea historia (Paschoud 19711989); Auctarii
Hauniensis Extrema (Mommsen 1892); Prosper Chronicon (Mommsen 1892); Hydacius Chronicon
(Mommsen 1894); Malchus Fragmenta (Blockley 1983); Priscus Fragmenta (Blockley 1983); Pro-
copius De bellis (Haury and Wirth 19621963); Paulus Diaconus Historia Longobardorum (Capo
1992).
5
Codex Theodosianus (Mommsen 1905), Corpus Iuris Civilis: Novellae (Schoell and Kroll 1959).
6
Sozomenos Historia ecclesiastica (Hansen 2004); Philostorgius Historia ecclesiastica; Liber Pon-
ticalis (Duchesne 1886); Andreas Agnellus Liber Ponticalis Ravennatis (Nauerth 1996).
7
Gerontius Vita Melaniae (Gorece 1962); Ennodius Vita Epiphanii (Cesa 1988); Vita Floridi
(Spitzbart and Maaz 1988); Gregorius Magnus Dialogi (Vog u e 19781980).
8
Cassiodorus Variae (Mommsen 1894); Epistolae Romanorum ponticum genuinae a s. Hilario
usque ad Pelagium (Thiel 1974); Gelasius La lettre contre les Lupercales (Pomar` es 1959); Gregorius
Magnus Registrum epistolarum (Ewald and Hartmann 1957).
9
Maximus episcopus Taurinensis Sermones (Mutzenbecher 1962).
10
Both Liebeschuetz (2001: 157158) and Sotinel (1998b) disregarded this discrepancy.
11
Proc. Bell. 5.8
160 PHOENIX
then attacked the city and killed many of its inhabitants.
12
While Procopius
stylistic dependence on Thucydides narrative of the siege of Plataeia might make
one doubt how much information about the siege of Naples this account actually
conveys, Procopius use of the words demos, politai, and plethos suggests that in
his view the only way to force the city to open its gates was to persuade the
majority of its inhabitants to accept this decision. It seems, therefore, that in
536 a.d. urban politics in this important Italian city still followed the traditional
pattern.
13
This conclusion concurs entirely with the history of Roman governmen-
tal institutions in Italy, which shows that until the catastrophic period of the
Gothic war traditional urban life and its institutions continued without much
interruption.
14
Consequently, this paper begins with a presentation of the evi-
dence before 535 (the outbreak of the Gothic war), followed by an analysis of
the sources describing the crucial period of 535604.
before the gothic war
The bishops of Rome
In the fth century a.d. the bishops of Rome participated in political life
as members of larger delegations sent to emperors or enemies menacing Rome.
The rst such bishop was Innocentius, who in 409 travelled to Ravenna with
a few members of the Senate with the aim of persuading Honorius to accept
Alarics terms.
15
In 452 Leo the Great, together with the consular Avienus and
the prefect Trigetius, served as an envoy to Attila. While two sources related
to the ecclesiastical milieu of Rome (one written just after this event and one
eighty years later), as well as Jordanes copying Priscus, tended to attribute the
success of this mission to Leo, it was in fact the Roman military threat that
made Attila withdraw his exhausted army from Italy.
16
Three years later Leo
helped to negotiate the surrender of the city to Gaiseric in the chaotic times that
followed the escape and murder of emperor Petronius Maximus.
17
In all these
cases the bishop was just one of several envoys, meant to lend his charisma to
the authority of a mission led by members of the local elite.
Some further evidence of the social activity of Roman bishops at this time
is offered by the Liber Ponticalis. Two bishops living at the turn of the sixth
century, Gelasius (492496) and Symmachus (498514), are described as caring
12
See also Lib. Pont. Silverius 3.
13
Izdebski 2009. For other stylistic comparisons of the two historians, yet without any reference
to political or social history, see Braun 1886 and Bornmann 1974.
14
For example, Wickham 2005: 3337.
15
Zos. 5.45.5.
16
Contemporary account: Prosper Chron. ann. 452; cf. Zecchini 2003. later account: Lib.
Pont. Leo 7; cf. Davis 2000; Carmassi 2002; Geertman 2002a; Priscus Frag. 22. Attila: Hydatius
Chronicon 153.
17
Prosper Chron. ann. 455; see Stein 1959: 366; Courcelle 1964: 185186.
BISHOPS IN LATE ANTIQUE ITALY 161
for the aficted in the city. Both testimonies are short. Gelasius is remembered
as the amator pauperum (one who loved the poor) who saved the city from
famine.
18
Nothing certain is known about this food crisis,
19
thus it is impossible
to say what the bishop actually did; he might have simply helped some of
the citys poor who were in urgent need of food. The scope of Symmachus
social activities is likewise unknown; two mid-sixth-century Epitomai of the
Liber Ponticalis (Feliciana and Cononiana) commence his biography with the
words Hic amavit clerum et pauperes (He [this one] loved the clergy and the
poor), possibly borrowed from Gelasius biography in order to create a saintly
image for Symmachus.
20
Apart from this, Symmachus is reported to have aided
in paying ransom and ensuring basic provisions for some Ligurian captives.
21
These passages reect normal charitable activities of the Roman church which
might be construed as building a bishops social importance, yet which did not
have much to do with Roman urban politics.
Other bishops
Until the 470s, when the only known vita of a late antique Italian bishop
(Ennodius Vita Epiphanii) begins, extant sources permit few conclusions about
the social importance of bishops in Italian cities. Of some interest are six
sermons by bishop Maximus of Turin (see 8286) referring to an unspecied
barbarian threat. This might have been either Alarics rst attack on Italy in
401/2, Radagaisus invasion of 405/6, or the passage of the Goths through Italy
on their way to Gaul in 411, which is the likeliest date, given the probable dates
of Maximus espicopate.
22
The main objective of the sermons was to encourage
the citizens of Turin to cooperate in preparing defences and to trust in God.
The immediate fate of Turin after these sermons is unknown; most probably, it
was not conquered by the invaders, as there is no mention of such an event in
other sermons by Maximus. Importantly, there are no grounds to claim that the
bishop did anything more than preach civic values and thus aim to strengthen
his local community.
Another testimony from this early period, included in the Life of St Melania,
a wealthy Roman aristocrat famous for her piety, refers to an unknown bishop
from an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. When the saint together with her husband
was sailing in 410 from Sicily to Naples, unfavourable winds made them stop on
an island recently attacked by barbarians, who were now holding the members of
18
Lib. Pont. Gelasius 2.
19
The only other relevant source, Gelasius Letter against the Lupercalia, which refers to the
difculties of transporting food from Sicily to Rome, does not shed any light on the brief acccount
of the Liber; cf. Pomar` es 1959: 18.
20
Mommsen 1898: 120, l. 7; Carmassi 2002.
21
Lib. Pont. Symmachus 11.
22
See Mutzenbecher 1962: xxxv, n. For Maximus espicopate, see Gennadius De viris illustribus
41, PL LVIII 1081; cf. Gallesio 1975; Pietri and Pietri 19992000 s.v. maximvs 12.
162 PHOENIX
the local elite for ransom. Having learnt that Melania had arrived, a local bishop
asked her to pay the ransom, which she did.
23
If the story can be considered
factual, it would be the rst attested situation in Italy in which a bishop tried
to help his community in a time of trouble.
Much more is known about Epiphanius, the bishop of Ticinum (471498),
thanks to a Vita composed by his successor Ennodius. This is an unusual life
of a saint, as Epiphanius is not shown performing miracles. His extraordinary
skill at persuasion, which he uses to promote reconciliation, is offered as his
only miraculous attribute. Indeed, the purpose of the text is to argue for
reconciliation and cooperation between the various elite groups in Ostrogothic
Italy, in particular traditional Roman elites as well as leading ecclesiastical gures
and the Gothic king Theodoric.
24
As bishop Epiphanius negotiated not only with subsequent political leaders
and invaders of Italy but also with the rulers of neighbouring lands as their en-
voy. Thus, at the beginning of his episcopate, he mediated between Ricimer and
the new emperor Anthemius,
25
and shortly afterwards, between the inhabitants
of Liguria and the emperor Glycerius.
26
In 476 he convinced the soldiers of
Odoacer to release captives taken from among the members of Ticinums elite
and obtained scal relief from the new ruler for the city.
27
During the ensu-
ing war between Odoacer and Theoderic (489493), as Ticinum became the
temporary headquarters of the Gothic king, Epiphanius worked towards ensur-
ing the peaceful coexistence of the local population and the invaders.
28
Then,
after a damaging year-long occupation by a group of Rugian soldiers allied with
Odoacer,
29
the bishop took part in the reconstruction of the city by encouraging
the inux of new settlers and reconciling Theoderic with Odoacers followers.
30
Finally, when peace was settled, Theoderic entrusted him with a mission to
ransom Italian captives from Burgundy.
31
Epiphanius can be seen as a useful diplomatic partner for successive rulers of
Italy. He provided the necessary service of a rhetorician, a professional speaker
whose tasks were to present the interests of his patron in an eloquent way and
to ensure the smooth conduct of negotiations. If he became a notable gure
in north Italian society it was due not to the political power of his ofce but
to his own particular abilities.
32
Yet he is nowhere attested as acting in the
place of any civilian or political authority, as both of these were still functioning
23
V. Mel. 19.
24
Cesa 1988b.
25
Ennod. V. Ep. 5274.
26
Ennod. V. Ep. 79. He served in a diplomatic mission sent by emperor Nepos to king Euric
of the Visigoths (V. Ep. 8094).
27
Ennod. V. Ep. 95100, 106107.
28
Ennod. V. Ep. 111116.
29
Ennod. V. Ep. 118119.
30
Ennod. V. Ep. 120135.
31
Ennod. V. Ep. 136175.
32
See Herrmann-Otto 1995.
BISHOPS IN LATE ANTIQUE ITALY 163
during his lifetime. His activities thus offer convincing evidence that already at
this time the talented bishop of an important city could do much for his local
community in extreme situations without aspiring to political power.
The paucity of evidence concerning the involvement of bishops in local
politicsexcept for a few who helped their communities in times of trouble
demonstrates that as long as state structures were strong and local political life
was following traditional patterns, there was little incentive for bishops to play
a continuing role in decision-making processes in their cities.
the gothic war and the lombard invasion
The bishops of Rome
As soon as the army led by Belisarius approached Rome, the unusual wartime
circumstances led the popes to engage in the citys political life. In 536 Pope
Sylverius, anxious that Rome would suffer the same fate as Naples, encouraged
the populace of Rome to admit Belisarius.
33
Soon after, Rome was besieged
by the Goths led by Vitiges and a famine ensued. Worried about the loyalty
of the Romans, Belisarius accused Silverius and some senators of negotiating
clandestinely with the Goths. As a result Silverius was deposed from his ofce
and exiled.
34
While Procopius did not take sides in his version of events, a
passage in the Liber Ponticalis (written at least forty and perhaps even seventy
to eighty years later) vigorously defended the pope, claiming that he had been
falsely accused.
35
Some historians even suggest that Justinians religious policies
were behind Belisarius actions.
36
Given the involvement of the Senate,
37
it
cannot be concluded that the bishop played a key political role in these events.
Silverius successor Vigilius himself became embroiled in religious controver-
sies and was ordered to travel to Constantinople. According to a passage from
the Liber Ponticalis, written long after the event, as Pope Vigilius was being
taken away by Justinians soldiers, the people of Rome began shouting at him,
claiming that he was responsible for the famine in the city.
38
This mysteri-
ous reproach was recorded at least three generations later, and most probably
reects the fact that Vigilius and Pelagius, both associated with Justinians re-
ligious policies, were disliked by many in Rome. This animosity might have
inuenced sources that were used by the author of the Liber but are no longer
extant. Procopius, however, records a story about Vigilius sending a transport
of food from Sicily to Rome while on his way to Constantinople.
39
Sea com-
33
Proc. Bell. 5.14.4.
34
Proc. Bell. 5.25.1317
35
Vogel 1975; Lib. Pont. Silverius 69.
36
Leppin 2006.
37
Cass. Var. 10.13; 11.13; Proc. Bell. 5.14.46, 5.20.520. Cf. the ruin of the whole senatorial
group in the 540s: Proc. Bell. 7.21.17.
38
Lib. Pont. Vigilius 4.
39
Proc. Bell. 7.15.914.
164 PHOENIX
munication in the vicinity of Naples was interrupted by the Goths at this time
and the popes ships were captured.
40
During Totilas siege (546547) the archdeacon Pelagius acted as the head
of the Church due to the absence of Vigilius and is said by Procopius to have
spent both ecclesiastical and his personal monies on those in need.
41
Moreover,
he negotiated with Totila on behalf of the populace of Rome and begged the
king to offer generous terms to the city.
42
Pelagius himself, however, is most
probably responsible for this particular account in Procopius work. The historian
wrote the account in Constantinople, where the archdeacon had acquired many
sympathisers during his time as regular papal representative (apocrisiarius) at the
imperial court.
43
In addition, Pelagius himself could have contacted Procopius
when he was in Constantinople as Totilas envoy in 547.
44
Therefore one cannot
be sure if Procopius description of the archdeacon as the sole person leading
and caring for the city is accurate, especially when compared with the rather
modest deeds of his predecessors.
With Gregory the Great, who presided over the church of Rome during the
Lombard wars in Italy at the end of the sixth century, the papacy saw a shift
toward greater political engagement. Gregory too had to cope with famine, as
in the winter of 589/590 the whole of Italy suffered huge oods and the grain
stored in Roman granaries was lost.
45
The new pope responded with vigorous
action: as soon as he was consecrated in September 590, he sent his envoy to
Sicily with orders to organise grain transports to Rome
46
and in 591 he asked
the same envoy to reorganise farming on the papacys Sicilian estates and to
prepare additional transports of grain for Rome.
47
More could be inferred from Gregorys correspondence with members of
imperial administration of Sicily. In February 599 he asked one such ofcial to
assist papal agents in collecting grain to be sent by the proconsul Leontius, an
extraordinary imperial envoy controlling the state of affairs in Sicily.
48
At the
same time Gregory wrote to Cyridanus, who had been entrusted by the emperor
to manage the grain stock in Sicily in both the imperial and the ecclesiastical
granaries.
49
In his correspondence the pope argued for keeping the existing
40
Proc. Bell. 7.13.57.
41
Proc. Bell. 7.16.68.
42
Proc. Bell. 7.20.2225, 7.21.1217.
43
Buchberger 1936: 6566.
44
Proc. Bell. 7.21.1825.
45
Gr. Tur. Libr. hist. 3.1.
46
Gr. Magn. Ep. 1.2.
47
Ep. 1.42. For an extensive analysis of papal estates at the end of late antiquity and an
estimation of crop production, see Markus 1997: 112124. In a letter sent in August Gregory
asked for preparations of emergency dispatches for February (Ep. 1.70). Moreover, he bought grain
from Sardinia on at least one occasion (Ep. 9.2).
48
Pietri and Pietri 19992000 s.v. leontius 18.
49
Ep. 9.31
BISHOPS IN LATE ANTIQUE ITALY 165
rules of papal-imperial cooperation in Sicily, which allowed him to administer
his reserves independently and to use them for the relief of the poor in Rome.
50
When all of this evidence is weighed, a picture emerges of a pope playing an
important role in providing food for the lower stratum of the urban population;
yet we cannot conclude that he was the only one responsible for the food supply
of Rome.
51
There is no positive evidence for the disappearance of imperial or
public administration of grain, and it is an exaggeration to argue from Gregorys
letters, a source with a strong ecclesiastical bias, that the pope took control of
everything. The situation could be said to resemble the events of the 540s, when
charitable activities undertaken by the pope gained special importance in a time
of crisis.
52
Gregorys predecessor, Pelagius ii, undertook some modest diplomatic efforts
aimed at ensuring the security of Rome against the Lombards. He rst had to
confront them in 579, when they besieged Rome,
53
and some time later he wrote
a letter to a Gallic bishop Aunarius asking him to persuade the Franks to defend
the Christians in Italy against the pagan attackers.
54
Moreover, in October 584
he asked his representative in Constantinople to convince the emperor Maurice
to establish a regular garrison in Rome.
55
Gregory seems to have done much
more, but it is also true that we know much more about Gregory simply because
an abundant body of his letters has been preserved. What is most striking in
this context is his involvement in inuencing the course of ghting in central
Italy. Thus, in September 591, when Rome was threatened by an aggressive
Lombard warlord Ariulf from Spoleto,
56
Gregory begged a Roman commander
to attack Ariulf from the rear.
57
He asked once more in July 592,
58
while
also informing the imperial army about Ariulfs moves in Tuscany.
59
At the
same time the pope also paid attention to Naples, advising its garrison, which
was likewise threatened by Ariulf.
60
Apart from advice and encouragement,
the letter to Naples contains one astonishing sentence: we have appointed
Constantius the tribune to lead the defence of the city.
61
This could mean
that in the climactic moment of war, when the Roman army was powerless,
Gregory tried to help organise resistance on his own. However, in a letter
50
Ep. 9.115.
51
Markus 1997: 123124.
52
It is also worth remembering that apart from organising food, he also participated in ransoming
captives: Ep. 2.45.6, 4.17, 8.2.
53
Lib. Pont. Pelagius 2.1, repeated by Paul. Diac. Hist. Long. 3220.
54
PL LXXII 705.
55
Gr. Magn. Ep. App. 2.
56
Paul. Diac. Hist. Long. 4.16.
57
Ep. 2.7.
58
Ep. 2.32.
59
Ep. 2.33.
60
Ep. 2.45.5.
61
Gr. Magn. Ep. 2.34: virum Constantium tribunum custodiae civitatis deputavimus praeesse.
166 PHOENIX
written two years later to his representative in Constantinople he claimed he
had never wanted to take over any sort of military command.
62
Nonetheless,
he continued concerning himself with matters of defence, asking Maurentius
in Campania to allow the monks to stop keeping guard at night on city walls
of an unidentied town
63
and advising bishop Januarius of Caralis to persist
in carefully watching Lombard activities and to be ready to oppose an attack
at any time.
64
In addition, Gregory increased diplomatic efforts, continuing
the strategy already employed by his predecessor. Initially, he attempted to
facilitate contacts between the Lombards and the exarch, begging his fellow
bishops from Ravenna and Milan (exiled to Genoa) to inuence the exarch
65
and to extend Gregorys offer of mediation to Agilulf, the Lombard king.
66
He
also engaged in autonomous parleys with Lombard leaders. A few of his letters
include extensive information on Lombard eagerness to conclude peace
67
and
there is one explicit mention of a formal agreement with the enemy.
68
Finally
he sent letters expressing his gratitude to king Agilulf
69
and queen Teodolinda
70
when the peace was concluded in the autumn of 598. This level of political
engagement by a pope in late antique Italy is unprecedented.
Yet denite conclusions about Gregorys relative signicance and the extent
of his political power within Rome cannot be proposed due to the bias of the
sources. From the one extant source, the popes own letters, there are insufcient
grounds to claim that from the beginning of his ponticate Gregory was, or
strove to be, a civic leader.
71
At the same time the letters clearly show his
sense of personal responsibility and his commitment to saving the community
in his pastoral care.
The entire history of papal activity during the last two centuries of Roman
Italy shows a growing need for charitable intervention as a consequence of the
gradual decline of traditional elites, social institutions, and power structures in
Italy. However, with the exception of Gregory, active involvement by bishops
in local politics is not recorded. Yet had Gregorys letters been lost, we would
only know that during his ponticate Rome suffered famine and was threatened
by Lombard attacks; his role in these events would be completely unknown.
Other bishops
With the outbreak of the Gothic war, several bishops are recorded as having
played an important role in their local communities. Datius, the bishop of Mi-
62
Ep. 5.6.2.
63
Ep. 9.162; cf. Gregorys worries about the size of Romes garrison (Ep. 9.240).
64
Ep. 9.195.
65
July 592 (Ep. 2.45.3); April 596 (Ep. 5.63).
66
September 593 (Ep. 4.2.3).
67
Ep. 5.34.2, 5.36.2, 9.44.2.
68
This probably refers to an armistice with Ariulf in the autumn of 592 (Ep. 5.36.5).
69
Ep. 9.66.
70
Ep. 9.67.
71
Liebeschuetz 2001: 157158.
BISHOPS IN LATE ANTIQUE ITALY 167
lan, cooperated with civilian authorities during the great famine of 537, when
the prefect Cassiorodus asked him to administer (with the help of civilian of-
cers) grain transports from Ticinum and Dertona.
72
This is the only attested sit-
uation during the whole period in which a high-ranking civilian ofcer formally
asked a bishop for assistance in fullling his duties. A year later Datius was a
member of a delegation from Milan which was sent to Rome to offer Belisarius
the citys submission.
73
The bishop did not then return with a detachment of
Belisarius army, but stayed in Rome, leaving it unclear whether he went there
simply as one of the envoys or if he also hoped to obtain food for his starving
city. Nevertheless, it is worth remembering that Milan was not an ordinary
Italian city. It was a large urban centre and a former imperial capital with a
distinguished Christian tradition; thus the role its bishop played in overcoming
the catastrophes of the late 530s might be at least partially attributed to his
unusual position among north Italian bishops.
In the 540s a few bishops of small towns in central Italy were killed dur-
ing military operations. Herculanus of Perusia (Perugia), as related by a later
hagiographic tradition preserved in the Gregorian Dialogues, was murdered by
the order of king Totila just after the town had been sacked.
74
According to
Procopius, another bishop, from the town of Tibur, also died together with
other inhabitants of his town during the nal assault by the Gothic besiegers.
75
The Dialogues has two other bishops greet the ruler on his arrival to their towns:
Cassius of Narnia
76
and Fulgentius of Utriculum.
77
There may be a link be-
tween the fact that two bishops greeted the king (one of them, Fulgentius, had
even prepared gifts for him) and that two other bishops were killed during the
nal assaults on a town. The Dialogues emphasise that bishop Herculanus did
not leave his town as did many of its other inhabitants but stayed until the
very end of the siege. He may have been planning to do the same service for
his local community as Cassius and Fulgentius did for theirs: greet the winner,
either in the capacity of the towns sole representative (as the Dialogues would
have the bishops do) or as a member of a delegation of the local elite (which
seems more probable). These deaths suggest that social prominence was some-
times detrimental to individual bishops, as in instances when a king wanted
to punish a town and made an example of its representatives, in particular its
bishop.
There is no direct evidence that any bishops took over local leadership in
this time of turmoil. In this context, Justinians post-war regulations concerning
bishops, which made them judges alongside local elites,
78
should not be seen as
72
Cass. Var. 12.25 and 12.27.2; Lib. Pont. Silverius 5.
73
Proc. Bell. 6.7.3536.
74
Dial. 3.13.13 and Vita Floridi 5.
75
Proc. Bell. 7.10.22.
76
Dial. 3.6.1; his epitaph: CIL XI 4164.
77
Dial. 3.12.2.
78
Constitutio pragmatica, App. Novellae App. 7.12 (Schoell and Kroll 1959: 3.800801).
168 PHOENIX
marking a shift in the balance of power in Italian society.
79
Similar regulations
were implemented in other parts of the empire, so this particular constitutional
change referring to Italy cannot be considered a reaction to a change of local
realities; it was rather the realisation of a general policy. Outside of Rome, the
activities carried out by bishops in the period of the Lombard invasions do not
differ from what we have seen at the time of the Gothic war. There is one
imprecise testimony of a bishop greeting a Lombard king (Felix of Tarvisium
welcoming Alboin),
80
and a story of two bishops paying ransom for a bour-
gade captured by the Franks (who fought with the Lombards).
81
One of those
bishops, Agnellus of Trent, later travelled to Frankish lands in order to liberate
prisoners from Liguria,
82
and in a letter Gregory suggests that other bishops
collected money for ransom payments and cared for captives as well.
83
other evidence of the social importance of italian bishops
Episcopal residences and resources
The most notable change in the structure of late antique Italian cities was
probably the appearance of episcopeia, complexes of episcopal churches and
residences.
84
Yet, however convincing these episcopal palaces might be as
evidence for the growing importance of the bishop within a city, there remain
numerous problems, rst in identifying the actual structures of such complexes,
and second, in interpreting the ways in which any given complex reected a
bishops power.
85
Five such complexes have been carefully excavated and stud-
ied in Italy over the last two decades, three in the north (Aquileia, Milan, and
Parenzo-Pore c) and two in the south (Canosa and San Giusto).
86
The complex
in Aquileia is the oldest among the important urban centres of Italy and of the
west. Its development reects the strength and signicance of this ourishing
Christian community in the post-Constantinian period. From the middle of
the fourth century it comprised a basilica with an identiable bishops residence.
Both were destroyed and rebuilt a century later in a more elaborate form, with
another basilica added to them. The episcopal residence was splendidly adorned
with mosaic oors similar to those that embellished the basilicas, making a
sharp contrast to the impoverishment of other buildings in Aquileia in the pe-
riod after 450. Almost at the same time, a similar set of buildings reecting
remarkable wealth was constructed in the centre of Milan, and was repeatedly
restored over the following centuries. The third north Italian episcopal complex,
79
As Sotinel 1998b would suggest.
80
Paul. Diac. Hist. Long. 2.12.
81
Paul. Diac. Hist. Long. 3.31.2637. Certainly not a relic of Justinianic regulations, as proposed
by Capo (1992: 487488), but a normal charitable activity.
82
Paul. Diac. Hist. Long. 4.1.
83
Ep. 7.13.
84
Ellis 2007a: 20.
85
Uvtterhoeven 2007.
86
For a complete bibliography, see Ellis 2007b.
BISHOPS IN LATE ANTIQUE ITALY 169
Parenzo-Pore c (Parentium in Istria), was built later, probably in the middle of
the fth century, during a period of relative prosperity in this particular region.
It includes several notable basilicas and a prestigious episcopal residence, and
resembles other episcopal residences and palaces which are attributed to secular
authorities further to the east and south in the Balkans.
87
The next two sites, urban Canosa/Canusium and rural San Giusto, were ex-
cavated in the regions of Apulia and Calabria as part of a broader research pro-
gram which concentrated on the transitional period of a.d. 400600. Canusium
was the administrative and economic hub of the region, and although several
bishops from this city are recorded in various synod acts before a.d. 500, a
notable episcopal complex was built as late as the rst half of the sixth century
and included a cathedral, a residence, a ceremonial atrium, and a few other
buildings which might have housed industrial activities such as pottery produc-
tion. Volpe (2007) interprets this impressive ecclesiastical complex, a verita-
ble bishops palace which became the towns focal point, as the imposition of
Christian topography on the city. However, apart from medieval hagiographical
narratives, nothing is known about the activities of the bishops from Canusium,
so there is no basis to claim that the possession of the opulent residence made
them loom larger in local politics. Moreover, it is certain that after the period
of the Lombard invasion the town was deprived of a bishop and did not play
an important role in the region. San Giusto is an even more elusive example.
Originally a Roman villa with a small church built in the early phase of late
antique Christianity, it was enlarged with a second church and a complex of
buildings which might have been somehow related to the church, and became
the seat of a rural bishop (episcopus Carmeianensis), according to Volpe, at the
turn of the sixth century. It lost its splendour and signicance a century later.
88
These impressive episcopal complexes can be interpreted as evidence of the
largesse of wealthy aristocrats towards local churches, rather than manifestations
of the power of local bishops. The supposed importance of these residences
within Italian cities is poorly reected in written sources. In fact, only one text
includes a story in which such a site played a key role, a story told by Ennodius:
during the sack of Ticinium in the war between Odoacer and Orestes (Romulus
Augustulus father) in 476, the soldiers of Odoacer overran the house of the
bishop Epiphanius in expectation of nding great riches. Coming away empty-
handed, they then took captives from among the citizens of Ticinum, whom
the saint/bishop later liberated using his skills of persuasion.
89
Such complexes, as Rapp has pointed out, were rather modest when compared
to governors palaces and private aristocratic residences.
90
While they did become
important features in many Italian cities, they did not share any uniform plan
and do not seem to reect special civic and political functions of the episcopal
87
Marano 2007.
88
Volpe 2007.
89
Ennod. V. Ep. 97.
90
Rapp 2005: 208211; Miller 2000: 1653.
170 PHOENIX
ofce in the way, for example, that early medieval episcopal palaces in Italy
do.
91
Nor can the construction of numerous churches associated with local
bishops, recorded in homilies and inscriptions,
92
be considered an argument for
the political power of a bishop. All these new Christian buildings might well
have been possible thanks to the generosity of prosperous benefactors from local
aristocracies and do not necessarily imply the existence of vast resources readily
available to the head of the local church.
93
Many archaeologists excavating late
antique cities in Italy adopt the opinio communis about bishops becoming local
political leaders because they hold it to be an obvious fact based on an assumed
abundance of written sources,
94
whereas the archaeological evidence interpreted
by itself does not support such conclusions.
Finally, a few other aspects of bishops social resources should be mentioned.
Firstly, Italian bishops in the fth century did not yet have a substantial ad-
ministrative apparatus which would have allowed them to intervene in the life
of their local communities, especially in smaller cities.
95
Moreover, their social
capital, as determined by their social origin and education, was not signicant in
this period. According to prosopographical research conducted by Sotinel, Ital-
ian bishops in late antiquity came from educated but not aristocratic families.
96
The same data led her later to conclude that Italian bishops in late antiquity
did not form a separate social group: there were no episcopal dynasties even
though many bishops were married and had children.
97
However, in the case
of the bigger sees such as Rome, Milan, and Ravenna, one factor may have
enhanced the position of bishops in their local societies towards the end of the
sixth century: the possession of large estates in Sicily which would have allowed
them, as we have seen with Gregory the Great (above, 164165), to provide
some part of the food supply for the poor in their cities.
98
Episcopal ethosepitaphs
Further light can be shed on the question of whether the Italian bishops
aspired to leadership in their local communities, or were perceived as having such
91
Miller 2000: 8385.
92
Homilies and inscriptions: Cantino Walaghin 2006; Perrin 1998. See, for instance, the texts
related to the reconstruction of Milanese churches after Attilas invasion: CIL V p. 617,2. Ps.-Max.
Taur. Serm. 94, PL LVII 472.
93
See Sodini 2003. It should be said, however, that Sodini (37) believes that the development
of episcopal residences in late antiquity is in fact evidence for the rise of episcopal power.
94
For example, Cantino Walaghin 2006: 302; Marano 2007: 98.
95
Exceptions to this are Rome, probably Ravenna, Milan, and Aquileia; see Sotinel 1998a.
96
Sotinel 1997. This is contrary to Gaul, where many bishops came from among the aristocracy
already in the sixth century (Wickham 2005: 168209).
97
Sotinel 2006.
98
Pietri 1978. Sicily, unaffected by military operations, saw a rapid development of its agriculture
at this time, and was probably becoming increasingly important in feeding the population of Italy,
especially the larger centres: see Banaji 2001: 622; Brubaker and Haldon 2011: 490493; Prigent
2006.
BISHOPS IN LATE ANTIQUE ITALY 171
ambitions, by analysing their epitaphs.
99
Using the Prosopographie chr etienne du
Bas-Empire it is possible to analyse thirty epitaphs of bishops (fourteen dating
to the fth century and the rest to the sixth) from all over Italy except Rome,
where a distinct papal ethos developed. The majority of these epitaphs serve
solely to identify the deceased. Two express faith in the resurrection of the dead
and four describe strictly religious virtues. Only three offer some clues about
the social activities of the interred bishop:
Glycerivs 1 (attested 431, died 15 September 440; Milan); content: pastoral virtues and
benignity praised (Ennodius Carmen II 82, MGH AA VII, p. 164165). It includes
the sentence haec dedit auxilium Hesperiis Libiaeque petenti, which Ferrua (1964: 3233)
interpreted as a memory of generous help to the inhabitants of places destroyed by
invaders or natural catastrophes. Hesperiis would mean either those living West of Milan
or West of the Alps, in Gaul or on the Iberian Peninsula (CIL V, p. 620 # 5).
Ivstinianvs 1 (attested 451; Vercellae); content: a praise of pastoral virtues containing
words iustitiae cultor (cultivator of justice, CIL V 6724).
Andreas 4 (attested 529; Formiae); content: similar to Ivstinianvs 1 (CIL X 6218).
By contrast, in both late antique Gaul and Spain relatively numerous descriptive
epitaphs of bishops were erected. For the Iberian Peninsula, Pere Maym o i
Capdevila (2001) analysed in total nine such inscriptions which included ref-
erences to the social activities of the commemorated bishop (e.g., Isidorus of
Tarraco: gerens cura pauper(um) (managing the care of the poor); Sergius of
Tarragona: hunc pauperes patrem, hunc tutoremhab<u>ere pupilli, uidu<i>s solamen,
captibis pretium, / esurien<tibu>s repperit alimentum) (In him the poor had their
father, and the orphans their protector. He obtained consolation for widows,
support for prisoners [or: ransom for those in captivity], and food to the hun-
gry); several similar epitaphs were also composed in late antique Gaul.
100
Thus
Italy stands apart from Gaul and Spain as a region in which the epigraphic habit
of commemorating bishops and praising their Christian social virtues did not
develop in late antiquity.
This difference might be explained by the fact that the Italian bishops were
not members of local elites. As has been pointed out by Mark Handley (2003:
3465), in Gaul and Spain many members of the elite, both laymen and eccle-
siastics, were honoured with elaborate funeral epigrams. Thus, the fact that the
Italian bishops, with the exception of those from the most notable sees, did not
enjoy such commemoration supports the view already argued by Sotinel
101
that
they did not become incorporated into the local elite in late antiquity. Secondly,
the fact that there existed no incentives for honouring individual bishops meant
that their social importance, as attested in the written evidence, should rather be
99
For similar research on Visigothic Spain, see Maym o i Capdevila 2001.
100
Heinzelmann 1976: 61178.
101
Sotinel 1997; 2006.
172 PHOENIX
attributed to the role that Christianity in general played in social life rather than
to the power of the ofce itself, or of the individual who held it. In antiquity, by
contrast, the development of distinctive epigraphic habits can in itself be con-
sidered a form of self-representation and an expression of social aspirations.
102
The lack of such epigraphic evidence in the case of Italian bishops suggests the
absence of social aspirations. This observation reinforces the argument that the
construction of churches and episcopal palaces in this period was due to the
involvement of elites, including the senatorial families, in the Christianisation
of the urban space, rather than a manifestation of the economic and political
power of the Italian bishops.
conclusion
It is not suprising that the social importance and the actual political power of
Italian bishops was different from that of their counterparts in Gaul or Spain,
given that political developments in late antique Italy followed a distinct path.
While the ascent of Christianity undoubtedly led to a higher social prole for
bishops, the available evidence, meagre as it is, suggests that there was no such
phenomenon as a signicant rise in the political power of Italian bishops, at
least not until the very last years of the sixth century, and then seemingly only
in Rome.
Institute of History
Polish Academy of Sciences
Rynek St. Miasta 29/31
01-031 Warsaw
Poland
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