92 EARLY MEDIEVAL SPAINsuccession to a bishopric, although uncanonical, was not uncommon
in the western Church at this period. A more famous Spanish exam-
ple is the succession of Isidore to his brother Leander in the see of
Seville (c. 600). In the case of Fidelis there was some opposition from
the local clergy, and he offered to stand down, taking with him the
fortune he had inherited from his uncle and which had previously
been put to the service of the Church. The threat of this great finan-
cialloss proved sufficient to still all opposition and a compromise was
reached whereby Fidelis retained the bishopric on condition that his
personal wealth became the property of the see of Merida upon his
demise. This is not an isolated incident of financial motivation affect-
ing ecclesiastical appointments, as local churches were very largely
dependent upon the wealth of their clergy, both to pay for the erec-
tion or restoration of buildings and for the financing of a wide range
of charitable activities, such as those soon to be described in the case
of Bishop Masona. Priests as well as bishops could be expected to
contribute and in many cases, as the clergy were generally, though
not necessarily, required to be celibate, their personal wealth might
well be bequeathed to their church to become its institutional prop-
erty on their deaths. As the Church from the fifth century onwards
became increasingly important for the economic as well as the spir-
itual well-being of local communities, and with the system of ecclesi-
astical financing by way of a tithe on the incomes of the laity still no
more than a pious wish, the acquisition of a wealthy clergy became a
matter of considerable importance. Thus unsuitable or otherwise
unpopular candidates might be elected if financial considerations
proved paramount. This could also lead to the effectively forcible
ordination of wealthy laymen by local congregations. This happened
to the enormously wealthy Aquitanian aristocrat Paulinus of Nola in
Barcelona, and Augustine describes the narrow escape of the Roman
Senator Pinianus from a similar fate in Mrica, when he was taking
refuge there after the sack of Rome in 410.^9 Of course, the Church
could and did rely for its founds upon the charitable offerings or
legacies of members of the laity, as some of the sermons that have
survived from the fourth and sixth centuries make clear, but these
can at best have been irregular and unreliable. So, however sordid
the episode of Fidelis's election may now seem, it makes sense in
the light of the problems of church financing of his day, all the
more so as receipt of Fidelis's legacy made Merida into the wealthiest
episcopal seen in the peninsula.