Circumcellions and monks.

W. H. C. Frend.

The attempt to solve the problem of the Circumcellions by beginning with their legal condicio has produced some interesting results. Following Brisson, H. J. Diesner has seen the Circumcellions as an Ordo consisting of juridically free workers who were able to use their standing to provide a sort of patrocinium to the multitude of ruined coloni and runaway slaves referred to by Augustine as forming the mobs who sacked Catholic churches and terrorized agrarian society. Diesner’s detailed survey of Augustine’s references to Circumcellions in the diocese of Hippo has led him to believe that one could divide the movement into the solid core of Circumcellions who formed the Ordo, and the wide fringe of labourers who from time to time ‘went over to the Circumcellions’ and participated in violent actions against the authorities and the Catholics.

W. H. C. Frend. Circumcellions and monks. The Journal of Theological Studies, Volume XX, Issue 2, pp. 542–549. 1969.

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