Marcellinus Comes, in his Chronicle, 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.Written in Latin in Constantinople, 518/534.
Evidence ID
E03598
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
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.
Cult PlacesConstruction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesMonarchs and their family
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesMonarchs 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).
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
16/07/2020
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00037 | Laurence/Laurentius, deacon and martyr of Rome | Laurentius | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E03598 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E03598