Primicerius
As primicerius ( primus in cera or primus in tabula cerata , ie the first on a waxed board with a list of officials) each head of a civil administration branch was referred to in Roman late antiquity . B. primicerius notariorum , primicerius protectorum . Often the incumbents were eunuchs . Even in the Byzantine Empire , the title was graced as primikerios (πριμικήριος) with various forms of increase in use.
In the Catholic Church of the early Middle Ages , whose organization was in many ways based on that of the late Roman state, this title was bestowed on the head of a group of notarii and defensores . When the Church began to gather young men in formation for Church service in schools in the sixth century , the directors of these institutions were also commonly called primicerius : an inscription in Lyons from 551 mentions Stephanus primicerius scholae lectorum servientium in ecclesia Lugdunensi . Isidore of Seville describes in his Epistola ad Ludefredum around 600 the tasks of a primicerius of the lower clergy. If one follows this description, the primicerii acquired an increase in importance with regard to the liturgical functions.
In the rules of Chrodegangs and the statutes of Amalarius of Metz on the daily life of the clergy in collegiate churches and cathedrals, the primicerius is listed third in the order of the chapter after the archdeacon and the archipresbyter ; he was the superior of the lower clergy and directed the liturgy and the chant. In this form the primicerius was a further development of the earlier primicerii of the scola cantorum or lectorum .
literature
- Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange : Glossarium , sv Primicerius .
- Arnold Hugh Martin Jones : The Later Roman Empire . 2 vols. Baltimore 1986 (orig. In 3 vols. 1964).
- Paulius Rabikauskas: Primicerius notariorum . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Vol. 7, Col. 212.
Web links
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), keyword primicerius ( online at Wikisource )
Individual evidence
- ^ Glossary in Prosopography of the Byzantine World ( Memento June 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).