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Latin · Treatises ·

Constitutio De Abolendis Reliquis Idolatriae

Chidelbertus II Rex Francorum · ogl-pl

BothSourceEnglish
JSON Dossier
machine-draft · no human review 2 passages · 412 words

Work dossier · summary and historical context

Summary

The 'Constitutio De Abolendis Reliquiis Idolatriae' is a modern editorial title for a capitulary attributed to a Frankish king named Chidelbertus II, a figure unattested in independent historical records. The sole surviving witness is a 10th-century manuscript (BnF lat. 1234) showing signs of scribal interpolation, especially in the anathemas. The text lacks the formal structure of early medieval royal decrees and may be a composite of homiletic and penitential material. It was cited by 16th-century Catholic controversialists as evidence of early Frankish opposition to pagan survivals but never included in official canon law collections. The edition's critical apparatus is based solely on the base manuscript, without collation against 17th-century transcriptions.

The text is significant as a purported early medieval royal decree against pagan survivals, reflecting the ongoing Christianization of Gaul. However, its uncertain attribution and manuscript transmission raise questions about its authenticity and date. It illustrates how later Catholic controversialists used such texts to argue for early Frankish opposition to paganism, and it highlights the challenges of studying medieval forgeries and misattributions.

Historical context

The work is attributed to a supposed Merovingian or Carolingian king named Chidelbertus II, but no independent historical record confirms such a ruler. The text survives in a single 10th-century manuscript, suggesting it may be a later forgery or misattribution from the Carolingian period. The genre 'constitutio' is anachronistic; the text lacks the formal structure of early medieval royal decrees and may be a composite of homiletic and penitential material. The manuscript shows signs of scribal interpolation, especially in the anathemas. The work was cited by 16th-century Catholic controversialists as evidence of early Frankish opposition to pagan survivals, but it was never included in any official collection of canon law. The edition does not collate the manuscript against the two known 17th-century transcriptions, which may contain variant readings.

Apparatus · what the pipeline recorded

Annotation and terms

12 commentary units 3 background2 term2 structure2 caution2 sense1 reception 0 derived notes 3 open questions 2 narrative
What the kinds mean

Pipeline notes

  • coverageNo English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed.
  • limitThe English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve.
  • registerRegister: treatise in Latin; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them.
  • structurePassages: 2 narrative.
  • sourceSource edition: ogl-pl — Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Term index

CopticRenderingCountFirst
no glossary terms recorded
tmp1267.tmp1267.opp-lat1:1 · narrativehigh
Source
VII. CHILDEBERTUS, REX FRANCORUM. CBILDEBERTI, FRANCORUM REGIS, CONSTITUTIO. DB ABOLENDIS RELIQUIIS IDOLOLATRIÆ, ET DE SACRORUM DIERUM FESTIVITATIBUS CASTE CELEBRANDIS. (Ex Labbei appendice tomi V.) Epistola clementissimi et beati regia nostri Childeberti data per ecclesias sacerdotum, vel omni populo. Credimus hoc, Deo propitio, et ad nostram mercedem, et ad salutem populi pertinere, si populus Christianus relicta idolorum cultura, Deo, cui integram promisimus fidem, in quantum inspirare dignatus fuerit, pure deservire debeamus. Et quia necesse est ut plebs quae sacerdotis praeceptum non ita ut oportet custodit nostro etiam corrigatur imperio, hanc chartam generaliter per omnia loca decrevimus mittendam, praecipientes ut quicunque admoniti de agro, ubicunque fuerint simulacra constructa, vel idola daemonibus dedicata ab hominibus, facto non statim abjecerint, vel sacerdotibus haec destruentibus prohibuerint, datis (iJejussoribus non aliter discedant, nisi in nostris obtutibus præsententur. Qualiterin sacrilegos Dei injuria vindicetur, nostrum est pertractandum.
English
VII. Childebertus, King of the Franks. Constitution of Childebertus, King of the Franks. On Abolishing the Remnants of Idolatry, and on Chastely Celebrating the Festivals of Holy Days. (From Labbe’s appendix to volume V.) A letter of our most clement and blessed royal lord Childebertus, given through the churches to the priests and to all the people. We believe this, with God propitious, to pertain both to our reward and to the salvation of the people: that the Christian people, having abandoned the worship of idols, should purely serve God, to whom we have promised our whole faith, insofar as He has deigned to inspire us. And because it is necessary that the people, who do not keep the priest’s precept as they ought, be also corrected by our authority, we have decreed that this charter be sent generally to all places, commanding that whoever, having been admonished concerning the field, wherever there may be constructed simulacra or idols dedicated to demons by men, do not immediately cast them away after the deed, or have forbidden the priests from destroying them, shall not depart otherwise, having given guarantors, unless they be presented before our eyes. How the injury to God is to be avenged against the sacrilegious is for us to consider.
tmp1267.tmp1267.opp-lat1:2 · narrativehigh
Source
Et quia fides nostra, ut verbum de altario a sacerdote faciente, quodcunque de Evangelio, prophetis, vel Apostolo fuerit annunciatum, in quantum Deus dat intellectum, ad nos querimonia processit multa sacrilegia in populo fieri, unde Deus laedatur, et populus per peccatum declinet ad mortem; noctes pervigiles cum ebrietate, scurrilitate, vel canticis, etiam in ipsis sacris diebus, Pascha, Natale Domini, et reliquis festivitatibus, vel adveniente die Dominico dansatrices a per villas am. bulare. Hæc omnia, unde Deus agnoscitur laedi, nullatenus lieri permittimus. Quicunque post commonitionem sacerdotum, vel nostrum praecepturi, sacrilegia ista perpetrare præsumpserit, si servilis persona est, centum ictus flagellorum ut suscipiat jubemus; si vero ingenuus, aut honoratior fortasse persona est, districta inclusione digna. Sunt hi autem in pænitentiam redigendi, ut qui salubria et a mortis periculo revocantia audire verba contemnunt, cruciatus saltemcorporiseosad desiderandam mentis valeat reducere sanitatem.
English
And because our faith, as the priest speaking the word from the altar announces whatever from the Gospel, the Prophets, or the Apostle, insofar as God grants understanding, a complaint has come to us that many sacrileges are being committed among the people, whereby God is offended and the people, through sin, decline toward death: night-long vigils with drunkenness, buffoonery, or songs, even on the sacred days themselves—Easter, the Nativity of the Lord, and the other festivals—or, as the Lord’s Day approaches, dancing women going about through the villages. All these things, by which God is acknowledged to be offended, we in no way permit to be done. Whoever, after the admonition of the priests or our command, presumes to perpetrate these sacrileges: if the person is of servile status, we order that he receive one hundred lashes of the whip; if, however, the person is freeborn or perhaps of higher rank, he is to be subjected to strict confinement. Moreover, these are to be reduced to penance, so that those who scorn to hear salutary words that recall them from the danger of death may at least be brought, through bodily torments, to desire the health of the mind.
Citation. Tergwame, “Constitutio De Abolendis Reliquis Idolatriae”, tmp1267.tmp1267.opp-lat1:1, machine-draft, 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/works/tmp1267.tmp1267.opp-lat1#s1
Colophon. Source: ogl-pl · licence: Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License · model: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor · provider: Relace · cost: $0.0018 · generated 2026-11-15.