Bishops, Ecclesiastical Institutions, and the Ostrogothic Regime 467
against fraudulent canonicarii and numerarii helps to illustrate the vital rela-
tionship between the government in Ravenna and the owners of these south-
ern Italian estates. Above all, when the edict was issued—either on the eve
of Belisarius’ landing in Catania ( June 535) or during the subsequent arrival
of the eastern Roman army in Calabria in mid 536 —reliance upon churches
and southern domini seemed decisive to the Ostrogothic king. They had reor-
ganized the urban and rural structure of these areas and were the owners of
massae, with many clients who could be conscripted as soldiers. Nevertheless,
it is known that Cassiodorus’ speed in treating the situation was not enough
to prevent ruin—the future of Ostrogothic Italy was decided in the south by
the lay and ecclesiastical domini of the region who no longer felt sufficiently
protected by the Ostrogothic regime.
Granting of Privileges
Nevertheless, Theoderic had ruled the peninsula with good results for many
years, maintaining a high level of loyalty to his government among the prop-
ertied classes. He succeeded, furthermore, in pursuing a policy of ‘mea-
sured privileges’ for the churches that had been typical of Roman emperors.
This is confirmed in the letter to the comes Adila, in which the king assured
protection for the lands of the church of Milan located in Sicily. The tuitio,
which requested the spectabilis comes (tuitionem studeas... praestare), was
an institution that pertained to every form of abuse of power.75 Cassiodorus
framed the content of the letter between an excess of obligations (grava-
men), from which the king could free his subjects by ensuring them an otiosa
tranquillitas (peaceful tranquility), and the aggressive action of foreign natio-
nes that the comes had to fight. Its limits were defined by the terms aequa-
bilia (equitable privileges) and the expression salva civilitate.76 The former
referred to legal privileges, which Theoderic guaranteed for those exempt
by tradition such as the churches, while the latter regarded the respect for
general laws to which everyone, including landowners and churchmen,
were held responsible.77 Essentially, urban Christianity continued to receive
75 Cass., Va r. 2.29, ed. Fridh, p. 78, line 10.
76 Cass., Va r. 2.29, ed. Fridh, p. 78, lines 4–6: “tamen specialiter ecclesias ab omni iniuria
reddi cupimus alienas, quibus dum aequabilia praestantur, misericordia divinitatis
acquiritur.”
77 In the formula tuitionis (Cass., Va r. 7.39, ed. Fridh, p. 289) salva civilitate is synonymous
with salvis legibus.