Die Politik der Form. Das Edictum Theoderici, das Prätorische Edikt und die Semantiken königlicher Rechtsetzung im postimperialen Westen

Abstract

Edictum Theoderici is the name conventionally given in research to a collection of 154 legal sentences framed by a prologue and an epilogue, which describe both the collection as a whole and the individual rules contained therein as edicts. The authorship, origin and purpose of the collection have long been disputed, and no clear consensus has yet emerged. Moreover, the question of why the text refers to itself as an edict has not yet been investigated. This paper first defends the collection’s attribution to the Ostrogothic king Theoderic and, from this premise, goes on to argue that, although the document was indeed intended for use in legal proceedings, it was first and foremost intended to convey a symbolic message. Not only was the collection to show Theoderic as a restlessly active and caring ruler; the formal design of the Edictum Theoderici was also a conscious nod to the Praetorian edict, which was known in Late Antiquity in the form of the Edictum perpetuum and regarded as the epitome of jurisdiction by Roman magistrates. Through publishing a collection of legal rules that was formally modelled on the Praetorian edict – probably in the context of his visit to Rome in 500 – the king styled himself as a Roman magistrate, although not as the holder of a specific office. The ‹magistrate style› of Ostrogothic legislation, which Theoderic arguably promoted, was the manifestation and means of a policy by which he sought to win the cooperation of non-military elites in Italy and to get the emperor to accept him as ruler of the Western empire. His grandson and successor Athalaric cultivated the same style, which only disappeared when the coalition between the Gothic kings and the West Roman senatorial class broke down during the Roman-Gothic War. A concluding comparison with the collections of laws that were published at the same time in the dominions of Visigothic and Burgundian kings underscores the unique character of the Edictum Theoderici.