BISHOPS IN LATE ANTIQUE ITALY: SOCIAL IMPORTANCE VS. POLITICAL POWER

Abstract

Those who study late antique society and its religion within the framework established by Peter Brown argue that ecclesiastical leaders, thanks to their social power, undertook numerous important social and political roles already in the fifth century. It is possible, however, to disagree with this position and to argue for a different view of local politics, which asserts that the view founded by Brown ignores the diversity of local circumstances and the disparity of evidence among regions, and is often based on poor and complicated source materials, a common concern in the study of late antique Italy. Claudia Rapp recently published a study of episcopal leadership in late antiquity in which she reassesses the historiographic tradition based on Brown’s work. She rejects completely the view which concentrates on the episcopal exercise of political and social power and ignores regional differences and the bishops’ religious duties. Instead, Rapp argues that the bishops’ spiritual authority and ascetic practices formed the foundation of their secular authority, which sometimes led to a powerful political position within their communities. Rapp focuses on the sources pertaining to eastern bishops and analyses their political activities in the Levant; however, she refrains from considering the western evidence. Thus, there is a need to reassess the western evidence in the light of her conclusions. In this paper, I will attempt such a reassessment of the Italian context. In order to make the following analyses as precise as possible, I reject the notion of social power and substitute for it the separate concepts of social importance and political power. In my interpretation social importance refers to the significance of the social roles played by the bishop that could be identified as reflecting his prominence within the local community. Presiding over important religious ceremonies, preaching to the urban community, and caring for