Communities of the Blessed: Social Environment and Religious Change in Northern Italy, AD 200-400 (Oxford Early Christian Studies)

276 Pages·2000·1.04 MB·English

by  Mark Humphries

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OXFORD EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES
General Editors
Gillian Clark Andrew Louth
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Communities of the
Blessed
Social Environment and Religious Change
in Northern Italy, ad 200–400
MARK HUMPHRIES
3
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3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox26dp
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© Mark Humphries 1999
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First published 1999
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Humphries, Mark.
Communities of the blessed : social environment and religious
change in northern Italy, AD 200–400/ Mark Humphries.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Italy, Northern—Church history. 2. Church history—Primitive
and early church, ca. 30–600. I. Title.
BR877.NC7H65 2000
274.5¢01—dc21 99–25813
ISBN 0–19–826983–8
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Typeset by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong
Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by
Bookcraft (Bath) Ltd., Midsomer Norton
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To my parents, for everything
‘uincuntur tenebrae noctis lumine deuotionis’
Chromatius of Aquileia, Sermo 16. 3
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PREFACE
This book is a revised version of a St Andrews doctoral thesis writ-
ten between 1993 and 1996; it is anticipated that a second volume
will continue its analysis of north Italian Christianity through the
fifth and sixth centuries. Although this is a social history of reli-
gion, I write neither as a devout Christian nor as a sceptical atheist,
but as one sympathetic to all shades of religious belief. At the same
time, however, I write as one whose formative years were spent in
a country where Christian churches exercised considerable social lever-
age, and where religious hatred extended to murderous extremes. It
seems incredible to me that this should not have influenced the pre-
sent study, especially where matters of tolerance or intolerance are
at issue.
During the preparation of the thesis and its subsequent trans-
formation into a book I have incurred many debts of gratitude,
although none of those mentioned below should be held respons-
ible for the shortcomings of the finished product. I owe most to Jill
Harries, who supervised my thesis with exemplary skill and sym-
pathy, and who has continued to encourage me during the prepara-
tion of the book. In St Andrews I was also fortunate to enjoy the
camaraderie and support of a lively group of ancient historians
and classicists (many now dispersed to other universities): Colin
Adams, Philip Burton, Jon Coulston, Mary Harlow, Tom Harrison,
Peter Maxwell-Stuart, Helen Parkins, Roger Rees, John Serrati,
Christopher Smith, Shaun Tougher, and especially Michael Whitby
and Mary Whitby. My examiners, Julia Smith and David Hunt,
made many useful corrections and suggestions, and encouraged me
to publish. I was able to conduct some of my research and field-
work in Italy and Slovenia, and I am grateful to all who facilitated
my work there. The David Russell Trust in St Andrews supported
my travel with a generous grant. For a month I was a guest at the
Istituto di Filologia Classica at the University of Urbino. I should
like to thank the Director, Roberto Pretagostini, for his hospitality;
Adrian Gratwick (St Andrews) and Rosaria Falivene (Urbino) for
helping to arrange my visit; and Maria Cesa, who kindly took time
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viii Preface
to discuss my work with me. At Udine, the staff of the univer-
sity library provided a warm welcome even though I arrived un-
announced, and they did much to find obscure Aquileian material
for me. A productive period of study at the University of Bari was
facilitated by the kindness of Aldo Corcella, Liana Lomiento,
and Gennaro Lomiento (Director of the Istituto di Studi classici e
cristiani at Bari). Graham Shipley, Thomas Wiedemann, and Wolf
Liebeschuetz (who kindly allowed me to see the typescript of sec-
tions of his forthcoming book on late antique cities) all provided
timely encouragement, while Bryan Ward-Perkins, as editor of my
contribution to The Cambridge Ancient History, helped refine my
ideas about late antique Italy. As editor for Oxford Early Christian
Studies, Gillian Clark has provided endless inspiration, without
which I could never have finished the book.
At Oxford University Press, Hilary O’Shea and Georga Godwin
provided abundant assistance, encouragement, and reassurance, while
David Sanders copy-edited the typescript most conscientiously, thus
saving me from many errors and inconsistencies.
Other debts are more personal. Friends in Italy, the United
Kingdom, and Ireland have provided encouragement and coffee in
abundance. For support and tolerance during the completion of both
thesis and book, I owe more to Catherine Parker than words can
express. Finally, none of this would have been possible without the
love, patience, and understanding of my parents. Neither has ever
had leanings towards academe, but I have learned most from them.
M.D.H.
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CONTENTS
List of illustrations xi
Abbreviations xii
Introduction: regional history and religious history 1
Authority, history, and the study of early Christianity 1
Religious and regional diversity 4
Approaches 15
part i Religion and environment: Christian origins in
northern Italy 19
1. The north Italian human environment 21
Landscapes 21
The impact of Rome 27
Human geography 29
Divine geography 36
Late antique transformations 39
2. Subscribing bishops and invented apostles: the search
for the earliest north Italian churches 45
Councils and conflicts in the fourth century 46
Traditions and innovations in the early middle ages 53
3. Portraits in a landscape: Christian origins in
northern Italy 72
The Christian communities 72
Patterns of dissemination 95
part ii North Italian Christian communities in the
fourth century 107
4. Regional churches and imperial policy 109
Emperors and bishops: patterns of interaction 110
Defining deviance in northern Italy 127