Constitutiones Sirmondianae

The Constitutiones Sirmondianae are a collection of Roman imperial constitutions assembled in southern Gaul, probably in the region of Lyon, between 425 and 438. All constitutions deal with ecclesiastical matters. The collection takes its name from Sirmond, who identified it in 1631. The recent supposition that the constitutions are forgeries made during the reign of Charles Martel and are contemporary with the forged Donation of Constantine is generally rejected for a number of reasons, one of which is the age of the manuscripts. Transmissions of the Constitutiones vary somewhat. The form containing 16 constitutions, which Theodor Mommsen edited, is the basis for the present analysis (CS). It is found in two 7th century Burgundian manuscripts: St. Petersburg, Publičnaja Bibliotheka im. M. E. Saltykova-Ščedrina F. v. II. 3 and Berlin, SBPK Phill. 1745 and in the 9th/10th century Burgundian Ms Paris, BnF, lat. 1452.

Literature

The Constitutiones Sirmondianae were edited by Theodor Mommsen and Paul M. Meyer, Theodosiani libri XVI cum constitutionibus Sirmondianis et leges novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes, Berlin 1905 (reproduced 1970) 1.2, pp. 907–921. They were translated into English by Clyde Pharr, The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions, Princeton 1952, pp. 477–486. – Kéry, Canonical Collections, pp. 5–6.

Categories

• key is CS
• Clavis entries based on modern edition
• very small collection
• from Southern Gaul / Lyon
• saec. V