436 Sessa
electoral reforms, which attempted to eradicate the interference of clergy
through canvassing and bribes, and to place control of succession squarely in
the hands of the living bishop.56 However, Laurentius’ supporters did not relent
and pursued Symmachus to Ravenna in 501 with serious charges that included
the observance of Easter on the wrong date; financial malfeasance concerning
Roman ecclesiastical property; and unnamed sex crimes.57 After Symmachus
refused to answer charges before Theoderic, he retreated to St Peter’s, where he
remained until 506/7. During that time Laurentius controlled Rome’s churches
and an outside bishop (Peter of Altinum) was dispatched to oversee the litur-
gical services. At Theoderic’s command a synod of Italian bishops at Rome
heard the charges against Symmachus in 501 and 502, but declared that they
could not judge the Roman bishop in absentia and exonerated him. However,
Symmachus retook control of Rome’s churches only after Theoderic issued a
fiat in late 506 or 507. The entire episode was a massive public relations disas-
ter for Symmachus, whose legitimacy to govern the church remained in ques-
tion for years. In the attempt to counter the charges against him (ritual and
financial misconduct; sexual activity with a woman) and sway public opinion,
Symmachus’ proponents crafted documents known to modern scholars as the
‘Symmachan Forgeries’.58 Among other things, these documents present both
historical and fictional 4th- and 5th-century bishops accused of similar crimes
to Symmachus, who are uniformly declared innocent by a jury of clergy, monks,
and senators on the grounds that “it is unlawful to pass judgment against the
pontifex” (non licet enim adversus pontificum dare sententiam).59
While the Laurentian schism is perhaps an extreme example of a botched
episcopal election, and likely escalated due to unrelated issues, it was hardly
the last time that Romans disagreed over who should lead their church.
Moreover, Symmachus’ own regulations, decreed at the Council of 499, did
little to end clerical interference or to shore up the living bishop’s control over
succession. Thus in 530, Felix IV, Theoderic’s appointee in what had also been
a contested election, issued a praeceptum announcing that he had handed over
56 Acta syn. a. CCCCICVIIII, ed. Mommsen, pp. 403–5.
57 Our knowledge of the charges against Symmachus derive from the so-called Laurentian
Fragment, an alternative life of Symmachus that closely resembles the form of the vitae
in the Liber Pontificalis, but presents a hostile assessment of his tenure. For the text, see
Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, pp. 44–6.
58 On the Symmachan documenta, see Townsend, “So-called Symmachan Forgeries”, and
Wirbelauer, Zwei Päpste in Rom, which includes new editions of the texts.
59 Gesta de Xysti purgatione, ed. Wirbelauer, p. 268.