446 Sessa
Vigilius succumbed to imperial pressure and publicly condemned both the
Three Chapters and all its defenders, including his own deacon (and future
pope) Pelagius. In 555, Justinian permitted Vigilius to return to Rome, sending
him back with a bundle of documents regarding Italy’s economic and political
reconstruction known as the Pragmatic Sanction. Vigilius died in Syracuse and
was the first Roman bishop since Leo not to be buried at St Peter’s.
Vigilius’ erratic behaviour when faced with the inimitable Justinian has
long been interpreted as marking the beginning of the Roman church’s politi-
cal decline. Indeed many African and northern Italian churches consequently
broke communion with Rome over the Three Chapters controversy, and the
so-called Istrian schism lasted until the mid 7th century.96 Moreover, western
sources depicting Vigilius’ actions during the controversy, including the Liber
Pontificalis, are almost universally negative and are steeped in accusations of
lying, secret letters, and unchecked ambition. However, as Sotinel has recently
shown, our late ancient documents are not only contradictory but also in some
cases reflective of later interests and concerns. The account of Vigilius in the
Liber Pontificalis, Sotinel shows, refracts late 6th-century preoccupations with
the Istrian schism.97 Sotinel also reminds us that Vigilius’ actions and reactions
to Justinian’s commands to condemn the Three Chapters must be read within
the context of the Gothic War, which directly overlaps with this religious con-
flict, when many Italian senatorial aristocrats, like Vigilius, had pinned their
hopes for the future on a reunified empire.98
Conclusion
As this chapter has shown, the ‘rise and fall’ of the papacy as an Ostrogothic
religious institution is an old scholarly narrative that demands rethinking.
Even within the parameters of high politics, it is difficult to accept a linear
trajectory, as studies more attuned to the rhetorical nature of papal discourse
and the broader historical context (such as war) have shown. By paying atten-
tion to the quotidian concerns of the Roman church and its bishops, we have
also complicated the notion of papal authority as a form of limitless ecclesias-
tical influence within the pope’s Italian jurisdiction. The steady flow of resis-
tance Roman bishops experienced over clerical discipline and the continued
pushback the popes received from Roman clergy and laymen over episcopal
96 Sotinel, “Three Chapters”.
97 Sotinel, “Pontifical Authority and Imperial Power” and “Vigilius in the Liber Ponfiticalis”.
98 Sotinel, “Pontifical Authority and Imperial Power”, pp. 24–5.