Penal cloistering in Spain in the sixth and seventh centuries

ABSTRACT

Confinement in monasteries was applied in the Iberian Peninsula in Late Antiquity and in Visigothic times both for voluntary cathartic reasons (to achieve spiritual perfection) and as a form of punishment. Penal cloistering was imposed on laymen as well as on clergymen (both regular and secular). This article surveys these punitive functions of confinement, focusing on the sixth and seventh centuries, paying particular attention to the records of Visigothic church councils in Iberia, where Visigoths, Sueves and Byzantines co-existed. It addresses the similarities and differences between Iberia and other regions such as the Byzantine empire, particularly in Italy.

KEYWORDS:

• confinement
• monasticism
• punishment
• ergastulum
• Visigoths
• council

Notes on contributor

Gregoria Cavero Domínguez, PhD History, Universidad de Oviedo (Spain), PhD Dissertation on Medieval Confraternities, an issue which has always been one of her research lines. Las cofradías de Astorga durante la Edad Media, Universidad de León, León, 1992. Currently, Professor at the Department of History, Area of Medieval History, and Director of the Institute of Medieval Studies. University of León. Visiting Fellow at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Instituut voor Middeleuws Studies, Leuven (Belgium), 2002. Invited Professor at Università degli Studi di Firenze (Italy), 2006; Maison de la Recherche de l'Université de Toulouse 2, Le Mirail (France), 2007; Università degli Studi de Roma la Sapienza (Italy), 2007. Participating in courses at the Université de la Sorbonne, IV, Paris (France), 2003. Main Researcher of several projects, particularly one in 2008–2011 promoted and funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Iglesia y ciudad. Espacio y poder (siglos VIII-XIII), Instituto de Estudios Medievales: Universidad de Oviedo & Universidad de León, León, 2011. Recent publications include El esplendor del Císter en León (siglos XII-XIII), Fundación Hullera Vascoleonesa, León, 2007; “Anchorites in the Spanish Tradition”, in L. Herbert McAvoy (ed.), Anchoritic Traditions of Medieval Europe, The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 2010; Inclusa intra parietes. La reclusión voluntaria en la España medieval, Editions Meridiennes de l'Université de Toulouse 2, Le Mirail, 2010; edited with Dr. García Lobo, San Miguel de Escalada (913–2013), recently published by the Institute of Medieval Studies in its collection Folia Medievalia, 2, 2014.

Notes

1 For Byzantine Italy, see Hillner, “Gregory”.

2 Cavero, Inclusa. Bibliography on this matter is abundant, but see also Penco, “Monasterium-Carcer”; Leclercq, “Le cloître”; Morris and Rothman, The Oxford History; De Jong, “Monastic Prisoners”; Iogna-Prat, “Topographies”; or Geltner, Medieval Prison. It should also be noted that regulated and institutionalized monasticism was by no means the only kind of monastic life, and that eremitic and anchoretic formulas also used penitential confinement (see the works of P.C. Díaz Martínez, in particular “La recepción”; and “El monacato”; and Diem, “Inventing”).

3 Vives, Concilios.

4 Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro.

5 Besides the Sentencias alluded to in the preceding note, we are also referring to the Etimologías.

6 Díaz y Díaz, La vida.

7 Cardelle and Collins, Victoris.

8 Gregory the Great, Epistolae.

9 Concerning the defensor civitatis, see Justinian, Corpus Juris Civilis I, 55, 8. This early municipal magistrate was conferred the role of supervising public prisons, and bishops were bestowed with control over magistrates, compelling them to provide detainees with the minimum necessary for subsistence, as they were frequently deprived of it by corrupt guards. Likewise, it would be bishops who would ensure that the right of inmates to go to the baths every Sunday could be fully exercised. Codex Theodosianus, IX, 3, 7. Haenel, Lex romana visigothorum, 174–76.

10 Breviarium Alarici, IX, 2, 3. Haenel, Lex romana visigothorum, 174.

11 Geltner, “Detrusio”, 90.

12 Eighth and Eleventh Councils of Toledo. Vives, Concilios, 280 and 360.

13 In the Sixth Council of Toledo we find retrusus (from retrudere). In the Eighth we find retrudendus (also from retrudere): “monasterii claustris donec advixerit sub poenitentia retrudendus”. In the Eleventh we find retrusio. Vives, Concilios, 241, 281 and 361.

14 Seventh Council of Toledo. Vives, Concilios, 255.

15 Seventh and Eighth Councils of Toledo. Vives, Concilios, 254–55 and 278.

16 Fourth Council of Toledo. Vives, Concilios, 207.

17 Council of Tarragona and Seventh Council of Toledo. Vives, Concilios, 34 and 255.

18 Tenth, Eleventh, Sixteenth and Seventeenth councils of Toledo. Vives, Concilios, 320, 360, 508–509, 532–33. In addition, see Mellado, Léxico.

19 They were still used in Spanish medieval chronicles. See, for example, the reference in Sampiro's chronicle, “ergastulo carceris”. Pérez de Urbel, Sampiro, 311–12 and 316.

20 Pavón Torrejón, La cárcel, 200. This author points out that Eusebius's appraisal might have led some people to doubt that Tertullian the jurist and Tertullian the Church Father were the same person.

21 According to Isidore of Seville, “Carcer est a quo prohibemur exire, et dictus carcer a coercendo”, Oroz and Casquero, Etimologías, 1, 532. He also says, “Carcer, in quo custudiuntur noxii. Et dictus carcer quod eo homines coerceantur includanturque, quasi arcer, ab arcendo scilicet”. Oroz and Casquero, Etimologías, 1, 532.

22 Pavón, La cárcel, 74.

23 Geltner, “La prison”, particularly 322.

24 Pavón, La cárcel, 212–14.

25 Cavero, Inclusa, 41–42.

26 According to Siricius, “Has igitur impudicas detestabilesque personas a monasteriorum coetu, ecclesiarumque conventibus eliminandas esse mandamus, quatenus retrusae in suis ergastulis tantum facinus continua lamentatione deflentes”. Epistola I, 1137 B-C.

27 Torres, “El término”, 287–90.

28 Pavón, La cárcel, 167–68.

29 “[ … ] unde etiam et ferme per novem menses sponte deseruisse regimen ecclesiae suae et ergastulo quodam ob admissum flagitium acturus poenitentiam se conclusisse praedixit.” Tenth Council of Toledo: “Item Decretum pro Potamio episcopo in eodem concilio.” Vives, Concilios visigóticos, 320.

30 In the laws it is stated: “Postquam eorum professio cum iurisiurandi adtestatione regie agnitioni claruerit, licitum habeat principales pietas et rebus eos iterum revestire et ab exiliorum ergastulis revocare.” Leges Visigothorum XII, 3, 27, 454.

31 There are several studies concerning place and space. Particularly relevant are those collected in H. Dey and E. Fentress (eds.), Western Monasticism, especially P.C. Díaz, “Regula”. See also Cavero, Inclusa, 40–43.

32 Regula Sancti Fructuosi, XV, and Regula Communis, XIV: Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 154–55, 196 and 198.

33 Council of Tarragona, I. Vives, Concilios, 34.

34 Leges Visigothorum, III, 5.1 (“De coniugiis et adulteriis incestivis”); III, 5.3 (“De viris et mulieribus tonsuram et vestem religionis prevaricantibus”); and VI, 2.4 (“De maleficis et consulentibus eos”). Zeumer, MGH, I, 159, 161–63, 259.

35 See Sanz, “La excomunión”, especially 275.

36 See what was prescribed by Gallo-Roman and Merovingian councils in Vogel, “Les sanctions infligées aux laïcs”, 2 (Mars, 1952): 5–29, in particular 8–20; and 2 (Juin, 1952): 311–28, in particular 171–94, for laymen, and 171–77 for ecclesiastics.

37 Council of Tarragona, I, Vives, Concilios, 34; and the Council of Narbonne, V; Vives, Concilios, 147.

38 This can be observed not only in Visigothic legislation but also in the Gallo-Roman and Merovingian councils. Vogel, “Les sanctions”, 24–25.

39 Vives, Concilios, 416–18.

40 The reader is referred to Hillner's works, particularly “Gregory the Great's ‘Prisons'”.

41 Sanz, “La excomunión”, 277.

42 Hillner, “Gregory the Great's ‘Prisons'”, 451.

43 Brown, The Body.

44 Council of Elvira XVIII: “De sacerdotibus et ministris si moechaverint” and XXVII: “De clericis ut extraneas feminas in domo non habeant.” Vives, Concilios, 5–6. See also Fernández, “Poder y corrupción”, especially 171.

45 Council of Tarragona, I: “Ut etiam ad proximas sanguinis clerici cum testimonio vadant.” Vives, Concilios, 34–35.

46 The specific text says, “[ … ] si vero religiosus vel monacus, in cella monasterii reclusus poenitentiae lamentis incumbat, ubi singulari afflictione panis et aquae victum ex abbatis ordinatione percipiant”. Vives, Concilios, 34–35.

47 Siricius, 13, 1137 B-C.

48 Penalties for women are already found in the records of the first Hispanic councils. For instance, in the First Council of Toledo it was decreed that clerics should be separated from their wives if the latter were sinful. They were also granted a special concession. They were permitted to confine and tie their wives in their houses, subject them to fasting and not live with them. Vives, Concilios, 21–22. The sale of women appears in the records of the Third Council of Toledo, where priests and other minor clerics (levitae) are mentioned in relation with chastity. Violation of the regulations prescribed in Canon V will entail the sale of the women involved: “mulieres vero ipsae ab episcopis venundatae pretium ipsud pauperibus erogetur.” Vives, Concilios, 126–27.

49 There are multiple works dealing with women in Visigothic times and in conciliar regulations. See, for example, Sanz, “La mujer”; Jiménez, “La mujer”; Gallego, “Legislación”; Pérez de Tudela, La mujer; Ayerbe, “La mujer”; Pardo, “La condición”; or García, “La mujer”.

50 Justinian claims: “Adulteram vero mulierem competentibus vulneribus subactam in monasterio mitti.” Novella 134.10.1. Curiously enough, during the first two years a woman could return to her husband if he was willing to take her back. After those two years, or if the husband died, the woman would have to take the monastic habit and stay in the monastery until the end of her days. This Novella has been surveyed by Goria, “La Novella”, but see also Arjava, Women and Law, especially 200–205.

51 Fourth Council of Toledo, XLII and XLIII. Vives, Concilios, 207.

52 Vives, Concilios, 279.

53 Eighth Council of Toledo, VI. Vives, Concilios, 279–80.

54 Eighth Council of Toledo, VII. Vives, Concilios, 280–81.

55 Lex Visigothorum, III, 5.3. Zeumer, MGH, 161–62.

56 Orlandis, Estudios, 61.

57 See Villegas's comments in “Ciudad”.

58 St. Cyprian, Epistle 55:11, Campos, Obras de San Cipriano, 528; and Epistle 59:10. Campos, Obras de San Cipriano, 575. See also Fernández Ubiña, “Poder y corrupción”, especially 166–67.

59 Epistle 67. Campos, Obras de San Cipriano, 631–40.

60 Tenth Council of Toledo: “Item Decretum pro Potamio episcopo in eodem concilio”. Vives, Concilios, 320.

61 Tenth Council of Toledo. Vives, Concilios, 321.

62 See again Tenth Council of Toledo. Vives, Concilios, 321.

63 See, for example, De masculorum stupris in Leges Visigothorum, III, 5.4. Zeumer, MGH, 163.

64 Orlandis, Instituciones, 102–103.

65 Hillner, “L'enfermement”, especially 45.

66 Gregory the Great, Epistola 1.3.40, 197–98; and Epistola 1.3.42, 199. See also Hillner's comments in “Gregory the Great's ‘Prisons’”, 7–8.

67 See Hillner, “L'enfermement”, 45.

68 This is the Latin text: “Scribitur enim in lege mundiali de colonis agrorum, ut ubi esse quiesque iam coepit ibi perduret”, Second Council of Seville, III: “De desertoribus clericis ut episcopis suis restituantur.” Vives, Concilios, 164–65.

69 Seventh Council of Toledo, V: “De reclusis honestis sive vagis.” Vives, Concilios, 255–56. St. Augustine, St. Isidore, and the Rule of St. Benedict criticize the behavior of itinerant monks.

70 It is worth recalling the well-known case of Valerius of the Bierzo. Valerio went through several different stages in his life, at times living a monastic or a hermit life. On one occasion he rejected the request of his bishop, Isidore, for him to attend a council (it is not known which council or where it was held) and in so doing he eluded the bishop's control. The reader is referred to Díaz y Díaz, Valerio del Bierzo. These hermits had very strange behavior patterns. See Henriet, “Origines”.

71 Council of Narbonne, XI. Vives, Concilios, 148–49.

72 Regula Communis, XX. Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 207–08.

73 Council of Narbonne, V. Vives, Concilios, 147.

74 Fourth Council of Toledo, XLV. Vives Concilios, 207. The influence of Gregory the Great seems likely. In Canon VI, where triple-immersion baptism is dealt with, the conciliar fathers allude specifically to him: “Beatae igitur memoriae Gregorius Romanae ecclesiae pontifex, qui non solum partes Italiae inlustravit sed et longe existentes ecclesias sua doctrina perdocuit, efflagitante sanctissimo Leandro episcopo de hac Spaniae diversitate quid potius esset sequendum, inter cetera rescribens ei sic ait.” Vives, Concilios, 191.

75 An example would be the case mentioned in the records of the Cathedral Chapter of León in 1425. Two clerics from that cathedral had been fighting each other either with swords or with knives and one of them was wounded in the hand. According to the old constitutions of that church, they were to be punished not merely with cash fines and certain prohibitions but also with internment in two different monasteries. Later on, at the request of the chapter, the bishop commuted monastic reclusion to other penalties. Álvarez, Colección, 362–63.

76 Geltner, “Detrusio”, 90.

77 Sixteenth Council of Toledo, IX. Vives, Concilios, 507–509.

78 Cardelle and Collins, Victoris, 79 and 87.

79 See Velázquez, “Wamba y Paulo”.

80 See González, “Las cartas”.

81 Epistola 2.13.47: “Gregorius Iohanni defensori in nomine Domini eunti Spania. Capitulare, quid observandum sit a Iohanne Defensore.” Gregory, Epistolae, 410–12. See also Arnaldi, “Gregorio Magno”, 74.

82 Epistola 2.13.49: “Gregorius Ioanni defensori eunti Spaniae”, Gregory, Epistolae, 413–14.

83 Epistola 2.13.50: “Gregorius Iohanni defensori eunti Spania. Exemplum legis.” Gregory, Epistolae, 414–18.

84 See also González, “Las cartas”, especially 296–98.

85 Juvenal, Satura 6, especially lines 560–64.

86 Pseudo Paul, Sententiae V, 21.1: “De vaticinatoribus et mathematicis.” See also Castello, “Cenni”.

87 See Pavón, La cárcel, 49.

88 Fourth Council of Toledo, XXIX. Vives, Concilios, 203.

89 Seventeenth Council of Toledo V. Vives, Concilios, 531–32.

90 Hillner, “L'enfermement”, 39–40. Another case is that of Brunhilda and Cherovech. She was the youngest of the two daughters of the Visigothic King Athanahild (510–567) and Queen Goiswintha, she married Sigebert I of Austrasia, and was imprisoned in a monastery in Rouen by her brother-in-law, Chilperich of Neustria, after the latter killed his brother Sigebert. Cherovech was a son of Chilperich's, but he married Brunhilda without the consent of his father. Chilperich had him tonsured and sent to the monastery of Le Mans.

91 Pérez, “Cárcel”, 239.

92 Vives, Concilios, 420–21. The documents from Visigothic Hispania give some examples of the legitimation of a king by marrying a widowed queen. Audeca took up power among the Sueves after marrying Siseguntia, the wife of the deceased King Miro. Cardelle and Collins, Victoris, 74.

93 The heading of the fifth canon of the Third Council of Zaragoza was, “Ut defuncto principe subprestis regina statim et vestem secularem deponat et in coenobio virginum mancipetur permansura.” Vives, Concilios, 479.

94 García, Historia, 181; Valverde, Ideología, 267.

95 Montenegro and del Castillo Álvarez, “Unusual Episode”.

96 This was not exclusive to the Iberian Peninsula. The letters of Gregory the Great mention that Honorata (the widow of Speciosus, who had been a sub-deacon in Palermo) married a cleric after she had entered a nunnery and become a nun, thus breaking the law. Consequently she was sentenced to monastic reclusion. Gregory, Epistolae 1.5.19, 301–302.

97 Tenth Council of Toledo, V: “[ … ] et in monasteriis redactae excommunicationis condignae sententia feriantur.” And later, when alluding to those who return to the cloisters after committing an offense: “[ … ] et excomunicationis sententiam ferant, et rursum mutato habitu in monasteriis donec diem ultimum claudant sub aerumnis arduae poenitentiae maneant religatae.” Vives, Concilios, 312–13.

98 See the Council of Lyon, III. Vogel, “Les sanctions”, 20.

99 Cardelle and Collins, Victoris, 74, 67.

100 Cardelle and Collins, Victoris, 76, 75.

101 Historia Wambae regis seu rebellionis ducis Pauli 6:32. Martínez, The Story of Wamba.

102 See Díaz, “Las cárceles”, 204.

103 Vives, Concilios, 411–14.

104 Seventh Council of Toledo, III. Vives, Concilios, 254.

105 Eleventh Council of Toledo, VI. Vives, Concilios, 360.

106 As already mentioned, see Oroz and Casquero, Etimologías 1, 532 and 2, 234.

107 Vives, Concilios, 147–48.

108 Cited in Geltner, “La prison”, 99.

109 Leges Visigothorum IV.5.6: “De coercitione pontificum, qui pro rebus, quas a suis ecclesiis auferunt tricennium intercessisse causantur.” Zeumer, MGH, 202–03. See also the regulations of the Eleventh Council of Toledo with this law (Canon V). Vives, Concilios, 358–60.

110 Dailey, “Confinement”. See also Melville and Müller, Female. As virtuous as such practice may have been in principle, St. Isidore mentions voluntary monastic reclusion only once, suggesting that it might be associated with a vainglorious pursuit of worldly fame (Regula Sancti Isidori Episcopi, XIX. Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 118).

111 About both rules and St. Fructuosus's role in general, the reader is referred to Díaz y Díaz, “El monacato”; and Cantera and Rodríguez de la Peña, “Conciencia hispánica”.

112 See Dias, “O lugar”, especially 219.

113 Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 153.

114 See Regula Sancti Fructuosi, XIV. Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 153–54.

115 Regula Sancti Fructuosi, XV: “De mendace, fure et percussore monachorum.” Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 154–55.

116 Regula Sancti Fructuosi, XIV. Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 153–54.

117 “Si cum paruulo iocauerit, riserit uel osculatus fuerit; si cum altero in uno lecto iacuerit.”Regula Sancti Isidori Episcopi, XVII, Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 116.

118 Regula Sancti Fructuosi, XV. Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 154.

119 See Gregorio Magno e il suo tempo; Judic, “Structure”; and Ricci, “La retorica”.

120 Hillner, “Gregory the Great's ‘Prisons,’” 441–42.

121 Regula Sancti Fructuosi, XV. Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 155.

122 Perea, “El soldado”, 121–22.

123 Liber Iudiciorum III, 5, 4. Zeumer, Monumenta, 163.

124 See Chapter XV, cited above; and Regino de Prüm, Libri duo de synodalibus causis in Wasserschleben, Reginonis abbatis Prumiensis libri duo de synodalibus causis, 315, cited in Geltner, “Detrusio”, 97.

125 See Dias, “O lugar”, 227.

126 Regula Communis, XIV: “Qualiter debent abbates esse solliciti erga excommunicatos.” Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 196–98.

127 Chapter VI is also quite interesting: “Qualiter debeant uiri cum uxoribus ac filiis absque periculo uiuere in monasterio”, Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 182–83.

128 Ch. XV: “Qualiter monasteria uirorum ac puellarum se custodire debeant.” Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 198–200.

129 Regula Communis, XIX: “Quid in monasterio debeant obseruare qui peccata grauiora in saeculo commiserint.” Campos, San Leandro, 204–207.

130 Chapter XIX. Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 205.

131 Guillou, who has studied the prison system in southern Italy and Sicily drawing mainly on St. Gregory's letters, provides some cases in which it is clearly expressed that the monastery had to meet the expenses originated by the inmate's maintenance: “Ma il nostro dossier è eloquente sopratutto sulle condizioni economiche della detenzione nei monasteri. Una lettera generica indirizzata del papa nel Maggio del 591 al suddiacono Pietro, suo rettore per la Sicilia, nell'articolo 19, esprime a riguardo dei principi generali: a proposito dei preti, dei diaconi o di qualche altro chierico sottomesso a penitenza vogliamo che tu badi a non essere immischiato ai loro beni per nessuna corruzione.” Guillou, “Il mondo”, 116. However, inmates' belongings were frequently used to insure their maintenance.

132 Riera, “Restricciones”, 1309–10.

133 Regula Sancti Fructuosi, XIV–XV. Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 154–55.

134 Regula Communis, chapter XIV. Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 196.

135 Riera, “Restricciones”, 1316.

136 Regula Communis, chapter XIV. Campos and Roca Melia, San Leandro, 196.

137 Hillner, “L'enfermement”, 47–48.