741_GA | Fontes Istrie medievalis

Era

Vol. 1: A seculo VI usque ad 803

Series

Epistolae

Epistolae pontificum Romanorum

Date

Circa 741 according to Gundlach; between 739 and 740 according to Cessi

Place

Roma

Regestum

Pope Gregory III writes to Patriarch Anthony of Grado, inviting him and his suffragans to a synod that is to take place in Rome and assuring him of safe passage through Lombard lands.

Subjects

Gregorius III, papa (731-741)

Antoninus, patriarcha Gradensis (725-748)

Liutprandus, rex Longobardorum (712-744)

Source

The original is lost; the document survives in one late manuscript tradition:

T = Venice, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Pacta e aggregati, Codex Trevisanues, fol. 25r; late 15th-/early 16th-century simple copy based on a copy from the nowadays lost Codex Egnatii, presumably from the 14th century, under the following title: Gregorius 3us pontificus ad Antoninum patriarcham Gradensem.

Previous Editions

Wilhelm Gundlach (ed.), “Epistolae Langobardicae collectae,” in Epistolae Merowingici et Karolini aevi I, Monumenta Germaniae historica, Episolae 1 (Berlin 1892), doc. 17, pp. 708–709.

Roberto Cessi (ed.), Documenti relativi alla storia di Venezia anteriori al mille, vol. 1 (Padua 1940), doc. 25, pp. 39–40.

FIM Edition

Diplomatic edition based on T with emendations proposed by Gundlach and Cessi reported in the critical apparatus.

Transcription

Saepius evocatus, ut apostolorum liminibus dilectam fraternitatem tuam cum episcopis qui sub tua ordinatione consistunt presentari^a, diversis insurgentibus perturbationibus, venire secus eos, dilectissime, innotuisti esse impossibile. Quod quia principalis causa est, et^b pre ceteris salutare^c fidei christianę et domum Domini diligentiam^d procuremus.

Iuxta quod obsecravit rex Longobardorum pro suis archiepiscopis nostros partem^e, post tertium diem Dominicę resurectionis ut etiam ipse cum tuis iter arripias, volumus, quia et Venetiarum episcopis^f ita scripsimus: si valet ad generalitate[m]^g exercitum, ut nullius prepediant venire^h, dihortatiⁱ sumus. In hac enim causa nulla debet intercedere negligentia, quia Deo per omnia, si desides extiterimus, districtam solvemus rationem, beato inquiente apostolo Paulo: “Attendite”, inquit, “vobis et universo gregi, in quo vos Spiritus Sanctus posuit episcopos, regere Ecclesiam suam, quam acquisivit sanguine suo”.¹ Proinde ut ad statutum conveniatis tempus, ex apostolico vigore vestram omnium hortamur fraternitatem; possumus enim, ortam contentionem ab Ecclesia Dei expellentes^j, pręmia^k ab aeterno^l iudice percipere et perpetuam vitam.

Deus te incolumem custodiat, dilectissime^m frater.

Apparato critico

a) praesentari em. Cessi et saepe sic -e et -ę in -ae mutavit. b) ut em. Cessi. c) salute em. Cessi. d) diligentia cum sign. abbr. T; diligentia em. Gundlach. e) nostros partem] subsignavit T; nostra parte em. Cessi. f) ex epicopis corr. T. g) generalitate cum quoddam signo T; generalitatem em. Cessi. h) veniendi em. Cessi. i) hortati em. Cessi. j) expellantes em. Cessi. k) sic T; premia ed. Gundlach et Cessi. l) eterno ed. Cessi. m) delectissime ed. Cessi.

1) Vulg, Act. 20, 28.

Selected Bibliography

Gianfranco Spiazzi, “Antonino,” Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 3 (Rome 1961), online.

Editor's Notes

Following the Lombard conquest of Ravenna under King Liutprand, the bishops of the Byzantine territories of the province Venetia et Histria were cut off from Rome – hence the phrase “diversis insurgentibus perturbationibus” in the hereby edited letter. Following the improvement in the relations between the papacy and King Liutprand, a safe passage was ensured for the Byzantine bishops to journey to Rome and attend Pope Gregory III’s synod, as attested by this letter. The synod, however, never met as Pope Gregory III died in 741, most probably in the same year that the letter was dispatched to Patriarch Anthony of Grado. This is also the last notice regarding patriarcha Gradensis Antoninus.

How to Cite

First citation: Josip Banić (ed.), Fontes Istrie medievalis, vol. 1: A seculo VI usque ad 803, doc. 741_GA, fontesistrie.eu/741_GA (last access: date).

Subsequent citations: FIM, 1: doc. 741_GA.

Facsimile

Image Source and Info

The publication of the facsimile of T (Venice, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Pacta e aggregati, Codex Trevisanues, fol. 25r) is granted free of charge by Archivio di Stato di Venezia by way of the “simplified procedure” of publishing archival facsimiles (La circolare della Direzione generale archivi n. 39 del 29 settembre 2017: procedura semplificata: pubblicazioni online che perseguano finalità scientifiche o pedagogiche, non beneficino di inserzioni pubblicitarie o commerciali e non siano soggette ad accesso a pagamento).

The digital facsimile remains under the exclusive copyright of Archivio di Stato di Venezia.