The Sirmondian Constitutions are a collection of sixteen Imperial Codes passed between AD 333 and 425, dealing with "bishops courts", or laws dealing with church matters.[1] They take their name from their first editor, Jacques Sirmond. Some of the laws appeared in abbreviated form in the Theodosian Code. The full collection survives only in a single early medieval manuscript now in Berlin, termed the Codex Lugdunensis.

The Constitution's authenticity is disputed. Some historians, such as Elisabeth Magnou-Nortier, think they are church forgeries; others, such as Olivier Huck, find them genuine.[2] Recent work has tended to suggest that they are essentially genuine but may have been edited, perhaps as part of preparations for the Second Council of Mâcon in 582.[3]

Editions

The standard edition is Theodosiani libri XVI cum Constitutionibus Sirmondianis et Leges Novellae ad  Theodosianum pertinentes, edited by T. Mommsen and P. M. Meyer, in 2 volumes in Berlin in1905.

The English language version is The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions. A Translation with Commentary, Glossary, and Bibliography, translated and edited by C. Pharr and published in New York, in 1952.

References

  1. ^ Pharr, Clyde (1952) The Theosdian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions Princeton University Press, Pharr
  2. ^ Huck, O. (January 2004). "Encore à propos des Sirmondiennes… : arguments présentés à l'appui de la thèse de l'authenticité, en réponse à une mise en cause récente". Antiquité Tardive (in German). 11: 181–196. doi:10.1484/J.AT.2.300257. ISSN 1250-7334.
  3. ^ Esders, Stefan; Reimitz, Helmut (2019). "After Gundovald, before Pseudo-Isidore: episcopal jurisdiction, clerical privilege and the uses of Roman law in the Frankish kingdoms". Early Medieval Europe. 27 (1): 85–111. doi:10.1111/emed.12315. ISSN 1468-0254.
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