Era
Vol. 1: A seculo VI usque ad 803
Date
Between March and mid-April of 559
Regestum

Pope Pelagius I writes to patrician Narses, beseeching him to take action against the schismatic bishops, namely the bishop of Fossombrone and the bishops of Liguria, Venetia and Istria.

Source
Original lost; numerous later copies exist (cf. the edition referenced below); the editor has consulted the following manuscripts:
B = London, British Museum, Collectio Britanica, ms: 8873, fols. 32v-33r (fragment only); copy from the 1st half of the 12th century; the manuscript is digitized and available online for consultation here.
C = Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, codex 2153, fols. 54v-55r (fragments); 12th-century copy.
Previous Editions
Pius M. Gassó and Columba M. Batlle (eds.), Pelagii I Papae epistulae quae supersunt (556-561), Scripta et documenta 8 (Barcelona 1956), doc. 60, pp. 159-61.
FIM Edition
Diplomatic edition based on B with C used to reconstruct a part omitted in B following Gassó and Batlle's reconstructive edition.
Transcription

Pelagius Narse patricio.

Promiseratis de illo Paulino Forosimproniensi, eum ad nos collectis missibus occursurum. Et ecce, tanto tempore lapso, non solum hoc non fecit, sed et ibi multa scelera in episcopo quem nos in vicina ecclesia ordinavimus noscitur perpertasse.a

Erigite animum vestrum ad ista resecanda, quia sicut de pacata per vos Ecclesia merces vos adeo maxima prosequitur, ita si, quod absit, dissimulantibus aut negligentibus vobis scisma remanserit, peccatum incurritis, quia cum possitis emendare perperam, nescio qua ratione, despicitis.

Nam de Liguribus et Vienenetiisb atque Histriis episcopis quid dicam? Quos idonea est excellentia vestra et ratione et potestate reprimere, et dimititis eosc in contemptum apostolicarum sedium de sua rusticitate gloriari; cum, si quid eos de iudicio universalis sinodi, quamd in Constantinopoli per primam nuper elapsam indictionem actum est, forte movebat, ad Sedem Apostolicam, quomodo semper factum est, electis aliquibus de suis qui dare et accipere rationem possint, dirigere debuerunt, et non clausis oculis corpus Christi Dei nostri, hoc est, sanctam Ecclesiam, lacerare.

Nollite ergo dubitare huiuscemodi homines principali vel iudiciaria auctoritate conprimere, quia regule patrum specialiter hoc constituerunt, ut, si qua ecclesiastici officii persona [ei] cui subiectus est restiterit vel seorsum collegerit, aut aliud altare erexerit, seu crismae fecerit, iste excommunicetur atque dampnetur. Quod si forte et hoc contempserit, sed permanserit divisiones et scismata faciendo, per potestates publicas opprimatur.

Ecce, domine, quia animus vester fortef timidus est, ne persequi [illos] videaris, de patrum vobis auctoritate hec [vobis] breviter dirigenda curavi, cum mille alia exempla et constitutiones sint quibus evidenter agnoscitur, ut facientes scissuras in sanctam Ecclesiam, non solum exiliis sed et proscriptone rerum [suarum] et dura custodia, per publicas potestates debeant coherceri.

Critical apparatus

a) Promiseratis — perpertasse om. B; pars ex C legitur. bsic B: pro Veneticis cseq. et dimititis eos canc. B. dsic B: pro que esic B: pro scisma  fadd. sup. l. B.

Selected Bibliography
See the works referenced here.
Editor's Notes

Another letter issued by Pope Pelagius I to Byzantine officials in Italy similar to the four previous ones (see the list of six letters in this edition), urging the patrician to take immediate action against the schismatics and to support the papal quest to restore unity in the Church.

How to Cite
First citation: Josip Banic (ed.), Fontes Istrie medievalis, vol. 1: A seculo VI usque ad 803, doc. 559_PPN, fontesistrie.eu/559_PPN (last access: date).
Subsequent citations: FIM, 1: doc. 559_PPN.
Facsimile
Image Source and Info

The images are of manuscript B, screenshots from the digitized manuscript available on the official web pages of the British Museum.

The editor has subsequently marked the images with red vertical lines simply to denote the parts of the manuscript that are hereby edited.

All images remain under the copyright of their respective institutions.