E03598: Marcellinus Comes, in his Chronicle, written in Latin in Constantinople, 518/534, records that Pulcheria, wife of the emperor Marcian, completed the church of *Laurence (deacon and martyr of Rome, S00037) in Constantinople just before her death in 453.

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posted on 2017-08-23, 00:00 authored by dlambert

Marcellinus Comes, Chronicle

VI. Vincomali et Opilionis
[...]
Pulcheria Augusta Marciani principis uxor beati Laurentii atrium inimitabili opere consummavit beatumque vivendi finem fuit.

'6th indiction, consulship of Vincomalus and Opilio [=453]
[...]
Pulcheria Augusta, wife of the emperor Marcian, completed the church of Blessed Laurence with exquisite workmanship and ended her life in sanctity.'

Text: Mommsen 1894. Translation: Croke 1995.

History

Evidence ID

E03598

Saint Name

Laurence, deacon and martyr of Rome : S00037

Saint Name in Source

Laurentius

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Laurence_Laurentius_deacon_and_martyr_of_Rome/13729198

Type of Evidence

Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

515

Evidence not after

535

Activity not before

450

Activity not after

453

Place of Evidence - Region

Constantinople and region

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Constantinople

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Constantinople Constantinople Κωνσταντινούπολις Konstantinoupolis Constantinopolis Constantinople Istanbul

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Construction of cult buildings

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Monarchs and their family Women

Source

Marcellinus (PLRE II, 'Marcellinus 9') was an imperial official at Constantinople under the emperors Anastasius, Justin, and Justinian. The epithet Comes ('Count') is his official rank. He came originally from the province of Dardania in the western Balkans, and wrote in Latin. Marcellinus' Chronicle was a continuation of the chronicle of Jerome, covering events from the 370s to 518. It was subsequently updated to 534 by Marcellinus himself, and to 548 by an anonymous continuator. Marcellinus dates events by indictions (the fifteen-year tax cycle used in the later Roman empire) and by the consuls of each year.

Discussion

Marcellinus implies that work was completed on the church of Laurence in Constantinople just before the death of Pulcheria in July 453. He states in another entry (E03601) that relics of *Stephen the protomartyr (S00030) were deposited in the church by Pulcheria's sister-in-law Eudocia in 439, which presumably marked its foundation.

Bibliography

Edition: Mommsen, T., Marcellini v.c. comitis Chronicon, in: Chronica minora saec. IV V VI VII (II) (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores antiquissimi 11; Berlin, 1894), 60-108 English translation and commentary: Croke, B., The Chronicle of Marcellinus: Text and Commentary (Byzantina Australiensia 7; Sydney, 1995). Further reading: Croke, B., Count Marcellinus and His Chronicle (Oxford, 2001).

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Keywords

S00037 History

Licence

CC0

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