Gelasius and the Ostrogoths: jurisdiction and religious community in late fifth‐century Italy

Abstract

This essay examines the relationship between Gelasius, bishop of Rome from 492 to 496, and the Ostrogothic court, which occasioned several jurisdictional questions: the Roman church’s authority to adjudicate controversies within suburbicarian Italy, the proper venue to judge disputes involving clerics, and the appropriate involvement of the Ostrogoths in resolving these questions. Importantly, Gelasius did not identify the Ostrogoths as Arian heretics; but neither did he view their religion as equivalent to his own. This ambiguity, together with Theoderic’s stated aim of preserving traditional Roman law, provided Gelasius with rhetorical ammunition as he attempted to navigate the vexing jurisdictional landscape that characterized Ostrogothic Italy.