Julia Hillner

Religion, dynasty, and patronage in early Christian Rome, 300-900

This collection of essays traces the central role played by aristocratic patronage in the transformation of the city of Rome at the end of antiquity. Rather than privileging the administrative and institutional developments related to the rise of papal authority as the paramount theme in the post-classical history of the city, as previous studies have tended to do, here the focus shifts to the networks of reciprocity between patrons and their dependants. Using material culture and social theory to challenge traditional readings of the textual sources, the volume undermines the teleological picture of ecclesiastical sources such as the Liber Pontificalis, and presents the lay, clerical and ascetic populations of the city of Rome at the end of antiquity as interacting in a fluid environment of alliance-building and status negotiation. Drawing on work by members of the Centre for Late Antiquity at theUniversity ofManchester over the last decade, the collection focuses on a wide range of topics, from imperial policy, to the inheritance strategies of aristocratic households, to the rise of monastic foundations. By bringing the city whose aristocracy is the best documented of any ancient population squarely into the centre of discussion, the volume makes an important contribution to our understanding of the role played by elites across the end of antiquity.

Monastic Imprisonment in Justinian's Novels

In the period between 542 and 556 c.e. Justinian issued a number of laws that prescribed monastic imprisonment as punishment for both higher clergy and members of the lay elite. Through this legislation, the emperor introduced into Roman law the unprecedented concept of corrective imprisonment as a penalty. Starting from a detailed analysis of the laws, this article demonstrates how the emperors innovations built upon both traditional legal practices and on more recent ecclesiastical and monastic ideals. With monastic imprisonment, Justinian adapted the Roman custom of domestic internment as a substitute for the penalty of exile for elite criminals. The reason for using monasteries, rather than private households, to provide this public service of prisoner internment may, on the one hand, have been practical. Ideals of hospitality within a Christian monastic context and imperial influence especially over Constantinopolitan monasteries may have encouraged Justinian to believe that monasteries were far less likely to avoid an obligation to host an exile convict than private households. On the other hand, the emperor also saw monastic imprisonment as offering additional, historically unprecedented benefits over traditional domestic internment. As the emperor tried to make sure in his own legislation on monastic life, monasteries ideally provided an institutional and architectural framework, as well as a guiding penitential ideology based on an ideal of correction, which not only offered the opportunity for enhanced supervision, but also for spiritual correction of the criminal. Justinians innovations may have been inspired by the established use of monasteries as penitential space for failing clerics in ecclesiastical legislation. However, his specific aim in using monasteries as places of penance, for which an ecclesiastical precedent does not exist, seems to have been to police the sexual promiscuity which he discerned among the married laity at his own court.

Clerics, property and patronage: the case of the Roman titular churches

On sait qu’un certain nombre d’eglises romaines de l’antiquite tardive etaient designees par le terme titulus suivi d’un nom de personne au genitif. Une analyse de l’emploi legal du terme titulus c...

DOMUS, FAMILY, AND INHERITANCE: THE SENATORIAL FAMILY HOUSE IN LATE ANTIQUE ROME

Scholars have traditionally believed that the late antique city of Rome concretely reflected the organization of late Roman senatorial society in terms of gentes. It is assumed that grand senatorial houses, each occupied by the leader of a gens , and passed down from father to son, characterized the urban landscape. This has led to a number of conclusions about the diachronic and synchronic aspects of domestic property ownership in late antique Rome.

Gregory the Great's "Prisons": Monastic Confinement in Early Byzantine Italy

In the sixth century, emperors, kings, and bishops discovered the monastery as a tool of government. In particular, this century saw the transition of confinement in a monastery from a voluntary form of penance to a legal penalty. Recent scholarship has very much concentrated on the role of civic rulers in this development. This article investigates a bishops view on and practice of monastic confinement. Some of the most detailed evidence for the employment of both clerical and lay monastic confinement in the sixth century comes from the letters of Gregory the Great (590-604). They provide a unique case study of episcopal engagement with Roman criminal law at a time when bishops in general, and the Roman bishop in particular, increasingly assumed a role in civil judicial administration. They also show that Gregorys interest in the monastery lay mostly in its ability to provide a (sometimes temporary) space for the correction of everyone—clergy, ascetics, and lay people alike. The article demonstrates that Gregory employed the sentence of monastic confinement as an extraordinary form of structured penitential routine for stubborn offenders within his larger program of pastoral flexibility.

Monks and children: corporal punishment in Late Antiquity1*

This article examines the place of corporal punishment in early monastic discipline. By comparing the role assigned to corporal punishment in a variety of monastic rules from across the late antique Mediterranean, from the Rules ascribed to Pachomius (d. 348), to the Rule of Benedict from the mid-sixth century, it demonstrates that late antique monastic writers had a sophisticated and ordered approach to this type of penalty. This approach drew both on the concept of the absolute authority of the punishing father in Scripture, and on the limitations of Roman social expectations and ancient educational values to such absolute authority. As a result corporal punishment was seen either as a last resort when all other disciplinary measures had failed to bring about a reasonable response, or the appropriate punishment for an offence that originated from irrational conduct. Contrary to ancient household practices, however, which seem to have reserved corporal punishment for small children and slaves – conventionally perceived to lack ability to reason – late antique monastic rules invoked corporal punishment as a possibility for every member in the community who demonstrated irrational behaviour. In this way they blurred traditional boundaries between children, slaves and adults.

Religion, Dynasty, and Patronage in Early Christian Rome, 300–900: ICONS OF AUTHORITY: POPE AND EMPEROR

This collection of essays traces the central role played by aristocratic patronage in the transformation of the city of Rome at the end of antiquity. Rather than privileging the administrative and institutional developments related to the rise of papal authority as the paramount theme in the post-classical history of the city, as previous studies have tended to do, here the focus shifts to the networks of reciprocity between patrons and their dependants. Using material culture and social theory to challenge traditional readings of the textual sources, the volume undermines the teleological picture of ecclesiastical sources such as the Liber Pontificalis, and presents the lay, clerical and ascetic populations of the city of Rome at the end of antiquity as interacting in a fluid environment of alliance-building and status negotiation. Drawing on work by members of the Centre for Late Antiquity at theUniversity ofManchester over the last decade, the collection focuses on a wide range of topics, from imperial policy, to the inheritance strategies of aristocratic households, to the rise of monastic foundations. By bringing the city whose aristocracy is the best documented of any ancient population squarely into the centre of discussion, the volume makes an important contribution to our understanding of the role played by elites across the end of antiquity.

Religion, Dynasty, and Patronage in Early Christian Rome, 300–900: LAY, CLERICAL, AND ASCETIC CONTEXTS FOR THE ROMAN GESTA MARTYRUM

This collection of essays traces the central role played by aristocratic patronage in the transformation of the city of Rome at the end of antiquity. Rather than privileging the administrative and institutional developments related to the rise of papal authority as the paramount theme in the post-classical history of the city, as previous studies have tended to do, here the focus shifts to the networks of reciprocity between patrons and their dependants. Using material culture and social theory to challenge traditional readings of the textual sources, the volume undermines the teleological picture of ecclesiastical sources such as the Liber Pontificalis, and presents the lay, clerical and ascetic populations of the city of Rome at the end of antiquity as interacting in a fluid environment of alliance-building and status negotiation. Drawing on work by members of the Centre for Late Antiquity at theUniversity ofManchester over the last decade, the collection focuses on a wide range of topics, from imperial policy, to the inheritance strategies of aristocratic households, to the rise of monastic foundations. By bringing the city whose aristocracy is the best documented of any ancient population squarely into the centre of discussion, the volume makes an important contribution to our understanding of the role played by elites across the end of antiquity.

Religion, Dynasty, and Patronage in Early Christian Rome, 300–900: Contents

This collection of essays traces the central role played by aristocratic patronage in the transformation of the city of Rome at the end of antiquity. Rather than privileging the administrative and institutional developments related to the rise of papal authority as the paramount theme in the post-classical history of the city, as previous studies have tended to do, here the focus shifts to the networks of reciprocity between patrons and their dependants. Using material culture and social theory to challenge traditional readings of the textual sources, the volume undermines the teleological picture of ecclesiastical sources such as the Liber Pontificalis, and presents the lay, clerical and ascetic populations of the city of Rome at the end of antiquity as interacting in a fluid environment of alliance-building and status negotiation. Drawing on work by members of the Centre for Late Antiquity at theUniversity ofManchester over the last decade, the collection focuses on a wide range of topics, from imperial policy, to the inheritance strategies of aristocratic households, to the rise of monastic foundations. By bringing the city whose aristocracy is the best documented of any ancient population squarely into the centre of discussion, the volume makes an important contribution to our understanding of the role played by elites across the end of antiquity.

Religion, Dynasty, and Patronage in Early Christian Rome, 300–900: Abbreviations

This collection of essays traces the central role played by aristocratic patronage in the transformation of the city of Rome at the end of antiquity. Rather than privileging the administrative and institutional developments related to the rise of papal authority as the paramount theme in the post-classical history of the city, as previous studies have tended to do, here the focus shifts to the networks of reciprocity between patrons and their dependants. Using material culture and social theory to challenge traditional readings of the textual sources, the volume undermines the teleological picture of ecclesiastical sources such as the Liber Pontificalis, and presents the lay, clerical and ascetic populations of the city of Rome at the end of antiquity as interacting in a fluid environment of alliance-building and status negotiation. Drawing on work by members of the Centre for Late Antiquity at theUniversity ofManchester over the last decade, the collection focuses on a wide range of topics, from imperial policy, to the inheritance strategies of aristocratic households, to the rise of monastic foundations. By bringing the city whose aristocracy is the best documented of any ancient population squarely into the centre of discussion, the volume makes an important contribution to our understanding of the role played by elites across the end of antiquity.