The Roman Church And Its Bishops 427
looked beyond the binaries of East/West and church/state for new insights
into the development of Roman episcopal and ecclesiastical authority.8 Very
recent work incorporates lessons of the linguistic turn, and studies such as
George Demacopoulos’ book on Petrine discourse and Claire Sotinel’s essay
on the representation of Vigilius masterfully deconstruct the rhetorical pro-
grammes embedded in the sources.9 Most significantly, this chapter will con-
tinue in the path forged by scholars behind the recent ‘minimalist revolution’
in late ancient papal studies. These historians describe the Roman church dur-
ing our period as a significantly less sophisticated institution than previously
believed, and many view Rome’s bishops less as ‘Popes’ than as struggling civic
and spiritual leaders working within a highly competitive and radically chang-
ing socio-political landscape.10
The Roman Church and its Bishops: Jurisdiction
The bishop of Rome did not directly govern the whole of Italy, let alone Western
Christendom. Rather, his ecclesiastical jurisdiction was geographically circum-
scribed to Italia Suburbicaria, the imperial administrative diocese comprising
Italy’s central and southern territories, along with the islands of Sicily, Sardinia,
and Corsica.11 Theoretically, the Roman bishop was not a metropolitan because
Italy was never divided into provinces, but in practice he exercised a metropol-
itan’s authority over the churches and clerics in suburbicarian Italy.12 He was
responsible for consecrating all bishops in the region; for convening regular
councils in Rome to be attended by the suburbicarian clergy; for governing the
churches according to the canons; and for casting final judgement on appeals
from regional ecclesiastical courts. According to Rome, its bishop could also
8 See Pietri, “Evergétisme et richesses ecclésiastique”, “Donateurs et pieux établissments”,
and “Aristocracie e société cléricale”; and Llewellyn “Roman Church”. More recently, see
the collected essays in Cooper/Hillner, Religion, Dynasty, and Patronage; Sessa, Formation
of Papal Authority; and Sotinel, “Les évêques italiens dans la société de l’Antiquité tardive”.
9 Sotinel, “Vigilius in the Liber Pontificalis”, and Demacopoulos, Invention of Peter.
10 See, for example, Sotinel, “Le personnel episcopal”; Delogu, “Il passagio”; Lizzi Testa,
Senatori, popolo, papi; Bowes, Private Worship, Public Values; and Demacopoulos, Invention
of Peter.
11 The peninsular territories under Rome’s direct ecclesiastical supervision were Tuscany,
Umbria, Campania, Samnium, Lucania, Bruttium, Apulia, Calabria, and Valeria.
Gaudemet, L’eglise dans l’empire romain, pp. 445–6.
12 By 450, there were approximately 200 bishoprics in Italia Suburbicaria. See G. Otranto, Per
una storia dell’Italia, pp. 95–6.