Letter 13: PEIvAGlUS UITO DEFENSORI.

Pope Pelagius IUnknown|c. 558 AD|Pope Pelagius I|From Rome|AI-assisted
barbarian invasionimperial politicspapal authority

PELAGIUS TO VITUS THE DEFENSOR. [Among other things.] And therefore by the present command we charge you that you not fail to carry through the management of that same patrimony [that is, the estates of the Church], knowing that we shall now exact from you both the remaining sixth indiction and all the payments of each of the indictions thereafter, from the seventh onward, so that, according to custom, you may both deposit a written bond in the records office and be able to receive a receipt of that same patrimony.

[Editorial summary: Pelagius announces to the bishop of Praeneste that there have now been received at the Roman curia the dues which he himself paid out of the administration of the patrimony of Hildibad, from the first day of September of the year 552 down to the thirty-first day of August of the year 558.]

PELAGIUS TO MAURUS, BISHOP OF PRAENESTE. We have learned, by the testimony of the notaries, that your Fraternity held, through the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth indictions, the patrimony of the holy Roman Church over which by God's authorship we preside, the patrimony which was formerly of the lawful right of the late Hildibad. Concerning which patrimony you have, with assured trust, paid in full: for the first, second, and third indictions, while Ampliatus, the late presbyter, and Stephen the deacon were discharging the office of vicar of the pontiff in the city of Rome; and for the fourth indiction, according to the ordinance of our son, the glorious man Narses, <provost> of the sacred palace, you paid in to our sons Dulcitius, Felix, and John, the presbyters, that which had been exacted. And when we ourselves arrived and by the grace of God had been ordained, you paid in for that same fourth indiction. [And below.] And therefore, since your Affection makes supplication, out of all the aforesaid past dues, in the sixth indiction we have judged that your Fraternity should be fortified by this assurance, so that no calumny may in future be raised against your Charity by anyone.

[Editorial regest of a further letter (ep. 13bis): John, bishop of Narnia, considering himself unequal to the administration of the patrimony and to the maintenance of discipline, asks Pelagius that he be willing to entrust business of this kind to the presbyter Constitutus. Pelagius assents to the petition and demands of the clergy of Narnia that they both render due reverence to their bishop and not disdain to give obedience to the presbyter Constitutus.]

[The remainder of the source consists of the critical edition's apparatus: manuscript variant readings (sigla D, B, Bg, Mansi, and the conjectures of Stein), and learned Latin footnotes citing Mommsen, L. M. Hartmann, E. Caspar, P. Fabre, P. Ewald, R. Devreesse, E. Stein, W. Ensslin and others. This editorial apparatus is not part of the letter text and is not translated here.]

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.

Latin / Greek Original

PEIvAGlUS UITO DEFENSORI. [Inter cetera]. Ideoque
praesenti tibi iussione mandamus, ut curam ipsius patrimonii per¬
agere non omittas* sciens quod nos a te iam et reliquam sextam
indictionem et omnes singularum deinceps indictionum a septima
exigemus pensiones, ut secundum morem et emittas in scrinio cau¬
tionem, et breuem eiusdem patrimonii possis accipere.

tam] VI D 4 septima] VII^ D 5 exigemus] ex exegemus D^\ exigimus Bg.

patrimonii: Id est, praedia Ecclesiae. Verbum hac significatione
usitatum primo apparet in synodo Romana a. 502 (Th. Mommsen, Acta
synhodorum..., l. c., p. 448) Nomen desumptum fuit a terris sub dicione
imperatoris, quae ita vocabantur. Earum administratio primo episcopis
commissa, serius defensoribus tradita est; S. Gregorius Magnus eam tandem
perfecte definivit et in ordinem redegit. Cf. P. Fabre, o. c.] L. M. HarT-
MANN, Geschichte..., t. II, p. 137 sS.; E. Caspar, o. c., p. 326-339; 776;
R. AiGRAIST, 0 . c., l. c., p. 543-553; O. BerEoeini, Patrimonio di S. Pietro,
in Enc. Cattol., t. IX, c. 957-960; Tempore autem Pelagii non raro epis¬
copi adhuc Ecclesiae patrimonii curam gerebant. Cf. ep. 15,1, p. 47.

reliquam sextam indictionem: Epistula scripta videtur post sex¬
tam indictionem, aut circa finem eiusdem et initium septimae, ideoque
mensibus augusti-septembris a. 558.

emittas in scrinio: Momentum habet ad dinoscendum ordinem
et modum administrationis bonorum Ecclesiae. Cf. P. Fabre, o. c., p. 38.

PEI.AGII I PAPAE

Praencstincnsi episcopo nuntiat, in curia Romana acceptas iam
esse mercedes quas ipse persolvit ex administratione patrimonii Hildi-
badae, a die 1 septembris a. 552 ad diem usque 31 augusti a. 558.

J-K 951; Kehr III, p. 48, 1

in. m. Septembri - m. octobri a. 558

GLANVELL, Deusdedit Coli, can., III, 124, p. 322; MANSI, IX, c. 736; MIGNE,
PL. 69, c. 417.

PEI.AGIUS MAURO EPISCOPO PRAENESTINO. Fra¬
ternitatem tuam testificatione notariorum, per primam, secundam,
tertiam, quartam, quintam et sextam indictiones, patrimonium
sanctae Romanae ecclesiae, cui Deo auctore praesidemus, quod fuit
de iure quondam Hildiuade, didicimus tenuisse. De quo patri-

clesiae (saepissime) B 5 hildiuade] scripsi cumD, quae hic nomen om.\ hisdeualde B
5-6 didicimus... ante] B'. didicimus de patrimonio hildiuade ante D

Hac epistula incipit series epistularum Coli. Britannicae. P. Ewai^d,
0 . c., l. c., p. 505-509 bene probavit, hanc esse primam epistularum Pe¬
lagii, quae in collectione continentur. Reliquae sequuntur ordine temporis

quo aliae post alias fuerunt datae. Hunc autem ordinem interdum interrumpi
perturbarique (p. XXXIII-XXXV) ostendi. Cum ep. 14 sit posterior diei
septembris a. 558 (cf. infra) sequitur, omnes epistulas huius collectionis
scriptas probabiliter fuisse post illum diem.

1. per primam ... et sextam indictionem; Id est, a die 1 septembris

a. 552 ad 31 augusti a. 558. Propter ea, epistula haec scripta fuit initio

septimae indictionis: Septembri aut octobri mense a. 558. Sequentium
epistularum usque ad. ep. 18 chronologia statuitur ope huius et 18 epp.
Omnes datae fuerunt post diem 1 septembris a. 558 et ante mensem ianua-
rium a 559, quo circiter tempore data fuit ep. 18. Cf. notulas ibidem positas,
p. 53.

Hildiuade: Recta orthographia huius gothici nominis est Hil-
dibade. Cf. E. FoERSTEMANN, AUdeutsches Namenbuch, 1.1, Personennamen,
Bonn, 19002, p 322 . Forsan sit hic gothus rex Hildibad, regis Totilae patruus.
p. 368; 560; 566-567; 568 (n. p. 567).

monio ante quidem, de prima, [et] secunda et tertia indictionibus,
Ampliato quondam praesbytero et Stephano diacono uices pontificis
in urbe Roma agentibus, quod exegisti fide media persoluisse. De
quarta uero indictione, secundum ordinationem filii nostri, uiri
gloriosi Narsae <praepositi> sacri palatii, filiis nostris Dulcitio, Felici

applicato B 8 roma] r exegisti] Z),: exigistis B, exigisti (recte fortasse)

(cf. tamen epp. 12, 5, 9; 13, 5; 22, l. 8; 33, l. 8 et 23) 9 ordinatione Z), nostri] ex
uestri 10 gloriosi] Stein: religiosi D (cf. ep. 52, 2) praepos.] add. coni. Stein

2. Ampliato quondam praesbytero: Vicedominus Vigilii, qui a. 546
Romam missus a papa, nescimus quo pacto, evasit incolumis, ut eruitur
ex epistula, a caede quam fecit Totila in emissarios pontificis. Cf. Lib.
Pontif., LXI. Vigilius (L. Duchesne, Le Lib. Pontif., p. 297; 301, 16-17);
L. M. HarTm;ann, Geschichte ..., t. II, p. 303; E. Stein, Histoire ..., p. 581
(n. 2. p. 580). Ex modo loquendi PCldigii quondam praesbytero, deducitur Am¬
pliatum tunc temporis iam decessisse. Quod autem spectat ad munus vice-
domini, cf. M. AndriEU, 0 . c., t. II, p. 42.

Stephano diacono: R. DevrEESSE, 0 . c., p. XLH, n. 2 putavit
eum forte fuisse apocrisiarium Stephanum, qui Constantinopoli fuerat
aa. 545-546, sed iste iam mortuus erat aa. 547-548, quando Facundus
Hermianensis scribebat suum opus Pro defensione Trium Capitulorum.

persoluisse: Ut etiam intulisse paragraphi sequentis, regitur
a didicimus, quod subauditur.

quidem nullius momenti sunt haec verba; nam nos docent pensiones annuas
non uno tempore solutas fuisse, sed binis aut ternis solutionibus, quemadmo¬
dum administratio imperialis solebat. Cf. L. M. HarTmann, Geschichte...,
t. I., p. 109-110 et n. 19; P. Ewaed, MGH., Epp., t. I, p. 64,1. 37-46.

3. secundum ordinationem: Vacante sede apostolica, Narses admi-
nistrationi bonorum Ecclesiae incubuit, ut videtur.

uiri gloriosi: Coniectura E. Stein, qui hic gloriosi lectum vole¬
bat, congruit dignitati Narsetis, patricii nimirum et exconsulis. Robora¬
tur mendo quod in ep. 52,1 commisit scriba Coli. Vindobonensis, qui scripsit
religiosa pro gloriosa ... intentio in loco ubi similiter ad patricium quendam
scripserat pontifex. Cf. adnotationes in ep. 22,2, p. 68 , et. P. Koch,
0 . c., p. 68-69.

Narsae: Semper F® decl. graeco-latinae formae in codd. epis¬
tularum occurrunt, loco duarum usitatiorum declinationum: Narses, -etis,
Narsis, -is. In textu igitur servavi formam quam codd. constanter osten¬
dunt. Narseti papa duas alias scripsit epistulas, id est, epp. 60 et 90, ubi
patricii titulo eum decorat. Ille pontificem efficaciter adiuvit eumque
tutatus est. Occubuit a. 574. Quoad Narsetem cf. L. M. HarTmann, IJn-

PEI^AGII I PAPAK

atque Iohanni praesbyteris, quod exactum fuerat intulisse. Su- 4
peruenientibus uero nobis et per Dei gratiam ordinatis, intulisti de
eadem quarta indictione. [Et infra]. Ideoque, supplicante dilec- 5
tione tua, ex omnibus suprascriptis praeteritis, sexta indictione
fraternitatem tuam hac securitate credidimus muniendam, ut nulla
caritati tuae in posterum a quolibet calum[p]nia moueatur.

iohannis 13 eodem Mansi TV indictione ("dictione sup, ras.) 14 sexta
indictione] VI indictione Dj, VI indictionibus Mansi, an leg. de sexta indictione (?)

tersuchungen ..., p. 108; 138; Idem, Geschichte ..., t. I, p. 273-276; 320-334;
340-357; t, II, p. 24-25; W. Enssein, Narses 13 in Pauly-Wissowa, t. XVI,
c. 1759-1760; E. Stein, Siudien zuv Geschichte der byzantinisches Reiches,
Stuttgart, 1919, p. 34, n. 17; Histoive ..., p. 355-360; 522-523; 597-616;
671-672.

<praepositi> : Nomen, quod aperte deest, ad designandum Narsetis
mtmus supplevi; illud enim quaestoris, quod excogitavit P. Ewaed, o. c.,

1. c., p. 533, n. 5, Narseti non convenit. Quae vero ei convenire posstmt sunt:
praepositus, expraepositus, exconsul. Cf. CIL., t. VI, 1, 1199 (p. 250); Th.
Mommsen, Nachtrdge ..., l. c., p. 184, n. 2; E. Stein, Histoire ..., p. 599, n. 4.

Dulcitio, Felici atque Iohanni praesbyteris: Ceteroqui nobis
ignoti. Cf. notulas in titulum ep. 12 , p. 41.

4 . Superuenientibus uero nobis: Merito exinde coniedt P. Ewaed,

0 . c., L c., p. 506; 533, hanc epistulam non esse Gelasii, qui ad solium Ro¬
manum non quarta indictione evectus est.

5. praeteritis, sexta indictione: Post praeteritis subintellegitur forte
indictionibus. Sensus videtur: (in) sexta indictione de praeteritis tributis
(tandem) securitatem tibi damus. Attamen, litterarum contextus quoddam
de ante sexta indictione suspicari plane permittit. Est etenim in § 2 : de
prima, secunda et tertia indictionibus; in § 3: De quarta uero; in § 4: de eadem
quarta; an [Et infra]. ~ De quinta...? Et sensus quidem tunc esset: his
litteris (de) sexta indictione persoluta te securum facimus (nam de ceteris
iam eras securus). Nisi forte cum Mansi foret legendum praeteritis sex indic¬
tionibus, quod tamen codd. non probatur.

I

n

loannes, episcopus Narniae, ad administrationem patrimonii disci¬
plinaeque conservationem imparem sese considerans. Pelagium rogat
ut huiusmodi negotia presbytero Constituto commendare velit. Pelagius,
petitioni accedit atque a clero Narniensi flagitat, ut et debitam suo epi¬
scopo reverentiam praestent et oboedientiam presbytero Constituto
praebere non dedignentur.

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern pelagius i retranslated v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/gasso-batlle-1956-pelagius

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