Acts – Page 6 – OAJA.org

1. Full Date of Act	516 C.E.
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	“Legal Book of Gundobald Regarding Jews” (“Liber Legum Gundobadi de Judaeis”) issued by King Gundobad
3. Geography of Act	Roman Empire [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	“1) Jews who dare to lay a hand on Christians in a fight, or harm them with club, whips, stone, or by any other mean, we order that they should have their hand cut off, 2) unless they are able to pay a penance of 12 solidus* and a fine of 12 solidus* […]. 3) Furthermore, if a Jew dares to attack a clergymen, he shall be delivered to death and his possessions handed over to our treasury.”
5. Source	Monvmenta Germaniae Historica. Inde Ab Anno Christi Qvingentesimo vsque ad annvm Millesimvm et Qvingentesimvm. Auspiciis Societatis Apriendis Fontibvs Rervm Germanicarvm Medii Aevi. Edidit Georgivs Henricvs Pertz. Serenissimo Borussiae Regi a Consil. Regim. Int. Bibliothecae Regiae Praefectus. (Hannoverae; MDCCCLXIII); (Monuments of Germanic History. From the year of Christi 500 to 1500. With the aid of the Society for German Sources of the Middle Ages. Edited by Georgius Herichcus Pertz. Governor of the Royal Library of the serene King of Prussia.); (Hannover; 1863)
6. Researcher & Translator	Ziba Shadjaani
7. Year of Research & Translation	2018
8. Notes	Researcher *The solidus was a Late Roman cold coin. The date for this text is lost. All that is known is that it must have been issued before King Gundobad’s death in 516. Kingdom of the Burgundians

1. Full Date of Act	Sep. 6, 517
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canon 15 issued by the Council of Epaone
3. Geography of Act	France
4. Text of Act	Canon 15. If a higher cleric has taken part in a banquet of a heretical cleric, he must be excluded from the Church for a year. Younger clerics who do the same shall be beaten. But at the banquets of Jews, even a layman must not partake, and anyone who has done so once, may not again eat with a cleric.
5. Source	“A History of the councils of the church, from the original documents. By the Right Rev. Charles Joseph Hefele.” Karl Joseph von Hefele. 1895, Page 111. Online book.
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	2011
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	527
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Decree issued by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I
3. Geography of Act	Byzantine Empire
4. Text of Act	Commentary from other sources: 1) “Justinian issued a decree that said that slaves of the Jews are to gain their freedom by converting to Christianity without [offering their owners] any compensation.” Scherer, Johann E.: Die Rechtverhältnisse der Juden in den deutsch-österreichischen Ländern (Leipzig; 1901) p. 15
5. Source	None
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Jul. 527
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	"The Legal Status of Jews and Samaritans and Pagans" Issued by Emperors Justin and Justinian
3. Geography of Act	Byzantine Empire [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	Emperors Justin and Justinian, Between April and July 527…As for the other heretics, ...the Jews and the Samaritans, we intend not only that what was already laid down in the laws shall be recalled and made firmer through this present law…We order, therefore, that none of the above-mentioned shall share in any honor whatsoever, nor shall put on an official belt, neither civil nor military, nor belong to any office …
5. Source	“Roman Imperial Laws concerning Jews (329-553); 35. The Legal Status of Jews and Samaritans and Pagans.” No Author, Accessed online 9/14/2011
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	529
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Justinian Code law issued by Justinian I
3. Geography of Act	Byzantine Empire [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	If a Samaritan or Jew should attempt to make a man apostatize he shall be subjected to property confiscation and decapitated.
5. Source	Linder, Amnon: “The Jews in the Legal Sources of the Early Middle Ages.” Page 45
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	Editor Author's footnote dates this law in 529 as Justinian Code 1.9.18

1. Full Date of Act	Jul. 28, 531
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Law enacted by Emperor Justinian, 531 AD
3. Geography of Act	Roman Empire
4. Text of Act	...we decree that no one who is a heretic or who honors the Jewish superstition may be a witness against an Orthodox litigant…
5. Source	Codex Justinianus 1.5.21.
6. Researcher & Translator	Joan Paez
7. Year of Research & Translation	2015
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	532
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	“Testimony of Jews” decree issued by Justinian I
3. Geography of Act	Byzantine Empire
4. Text of Act	Commentary from other sources: 1) Justinian I decrees that the testimony of Jews shall be valid only in Jewish cases. Funk & Wagnalls: Jewish Encyclopedia, Volume IV (1903)
5. Source	None
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	533
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Justinian Code law issued by Justinian I
3. Geography of Act	Byzantine Empire [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	The Jews are permitted to circumcise their own sons. But if they should circumcise another, they shall be punished as castrators.
5. Source	Linder, Amnon: “The Jews in the Legal Sources of the Early Middle Ages.” Page 54
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	Editor Author's footnote dates this law in 533 as Justinian Code 48.8.11

1. Full Date of Act	Jun. 23, 533
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canon 19 issued at the Second Synod of Orleans.
3. Geography of Act	Kingdom of the Franks
4. Text of Act	No Christian may marry a Jew, and vice versa. If such a union has already been concluded, it must be dissolved, under penalty of excommunication.
5. Source	Karl Joseph von Hefele (ed.), “Conciliengeschichte nach dem Quellen [History of the Councils According to the Sources],” Volume 2, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1875, pp. 755-758, available from archive.org.
6. Researcher	Kate Wraith
7. Year of Research	2025
8. Notes	Translator The text of this Act was published in German in the source above. It was translated using Google translate.

1. Full Date of Act	534
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Law enacted by Emperor Justinian
3. Geography of Act	Roman Empire [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	“…those Jews who dare to deny our faith consistently, will be condemned for their treachery.”
5. Source	Codex Justinianus 1.1.8.22,
6. Researcher & Translator	Joan Paez
7. Year of Research & Translation	2015
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Aug. 1, 535
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	“Novella 37” issued by Justinian I
3. Geography of Act	North Africa
4. Text of Act	Novel 37…Concerning the African Church…The same emperor (Justinian) to Salomon…Your Sublimity must take care that no Arians, Donatists or Jews or others who are known not to adhere to the orthodox religion…but that impious persons are entirely excluded from sacred things and temples and no permission whatever shall be granted then to ordain bishops or clergymen, or to baptize any persons, making them adherents of their error…According to our laws which we enacted, all heretics are forbidden to perform any public acts, and they shall not be permitted to occupy any public office, or through any unlawful solicitation hold any administrative post…We further deny Jews the right to have any Christian slaves, as is also forbidden in former laws, and which we are anxious to uphold unimpaired, so that they shall not slaves of the orthodox religion, and if they perchance, receive catechumens, they shall not dare to circumcise them. Nor do we permit their synagogues to stand, but we want them to be changed to the form of churches. Nor do we permit Jews, pagans, Donatists, Arians, or any other heretics to even have grottos, or to perform any sort of ecclesiastical rite…Given August 1, 535 A.D.
5. Source	“Introduction to Justinian’s Novels, 2nd Edition.” Fred H. Blume, Accessed online.
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	2011
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Nov. 8, 535
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canon 6 issued at the Council of Clermont
3. Geography of Act	Kingdom of the Franks
4. Text of Act	If anyone should join the Jewish depravity in a conjugal union and if a Jewess should copulate carnally with a Christian or a Christian woman with a Jew, anyone of them known to have committed such a great wickedness should be segregated from Christian society and banquet as well as from the communion of the Church, whose enemies he had joined.
5. Source	Amnon Linder (ed.), “The Jews in the Legal Sources of the Early Middle Ages,” Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI, 1997, p. 469.
6. Researcher	Kate Wraith
7. Year of Research	2025
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Nov. 8, 535
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Council of Clermont
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	8. Jews must not be appointed as judges over a Christian population.
5. Source	Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church, v. 4: 191.
6. Researcher & Translator	Joan Paez
7. Year of Research & Translation	2016
8. Notes	Researcher Date by Dominik Jacobs 2/3/2020

1. Full Date of Act	Aug. 18, 537
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Novel 45 issued by Justinian Augustus to Johannes, Praetorian Prefect.
3. Geography of Act	Roman Empire
4. Text of Act	That Jews and Samaritans or heretics shall not be liberated from their curial condition on account of their religion, but that they shall indeed be subject to curial duties without enjoying the privilege of curials.
5. Source	Justinian Augustus, “Novel 45,” in Fred H. Blume, “The Annotated Justinian Code,” available from the George W. Hopper Law Library, uwyo.edu, accessed February 5, 2025.
6. Researcher	Kate Wraith
7. Year of Research	2025
8. Notes	Researcher According to the Glossary of Roman Law Terms in Bruce W. Frier, et al (eds.), “The Codex of Justinian: A New Annotated Translation, with Parallel Latin and Greek Text,” Cambridge University Press, 2016, p. 3060, available from archive.org, a curia is a “municipal council, or the building where it meets,” and a curialis is a “member of a municipal council, a decurion.”

1. Full Date of Act	May 7, 538
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canon 13, 28, 30 issued by the Third Synod of Orleans
3. Geography of Act	France
4. Text of Act	13. If Christians are slaves to Jews, and shall do anything contrary to the Christian religion, or if their masters venture to attempt to strike them on account of any act allowed by the Church, and they flee repeatedly to the church, the bishop is not to give them up unless the value of the slave in question is paid down (as a pledge that no harm shall be done him). Christians must not marry with Jews, nor even eat with them…28. It is a Jewish superstition that it is unlawful to ride or drive on Sunday, or do anything for the decoration of house or person. But field labours are forbidden, so that people may be able to come to church and worship. If anyone acts otherwise, he is to be punished, not by the laity, but by the bishop…30. From Maundy Thursday for four days onwards, Jews must not appear among Christians.
5. Source	“A History of the councils of the church, from the original documents. By the Right Rev. Charles Joseph Hefele.” Karl Joseph von Hefele. 1895, Page 207-209; Online book.
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	2011
8. Notes	Editor Author dates this law May 7, 538.

1. Full Date of Act	541
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canon 30 & 31 issued by the Fourth Synod of Orleans
3. Geography of Act	France [Provisional]
4. Text of Act	…30. If a Christian, who is the slave of a Jew, flees to a church or to any Christian requesting to be bought from the Jew, this shall be done, and the loss to the Jew made good according to just valuation. 31. If a Jew makes a proselyte called Advena to be a Jew, or perverts one who has been converted to Christianity to the Jewish superstition, or associates with his female Christian slave (for carnal connection), or perverts to Judaism one born of Christian parents, under the promise of freedom, he is to be punished with the loss of (all) his slaves. If one born of Christian parents has apostatised to Judaism, and has obtained his freedom on condition of remaining a Jew, this shall not be valid, for he ought not to remain free, who, being born of Christian parents, wishes to adhere to Jewish usages.
5. Source	“A History of the councils of the church, from the original documents. By the Right Rev. Charles Joseph Hefele.” Karl Joseph von Hefele. 1895, Page 213-214. Online book, Accessed 10/8/2011
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	May 14, 541
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canon 30 issued at the Fourth Council of Orleans
3. Geography of Act	Kingdom of the Franks
4. Text of Act	Although it had already been established in previous canons in regard to Christian slaves held by Jews, that if they should flee to a church and demand to be redeemed or even flee to any Christians and refuse to serve Jews, their just price should be estimated and paid by the faithful and they should be liberated from their ownership; we decree, therefore, that such a just law should be observed by all Catholics.
5. Source	Amnon Linder (ed.), “The Jews in the Legal Sources of the Early Middle Ages,” Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI, 1997, p.472.
6. Researcher	Kate Wraith
7. Year of Research	2025
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	May 14, 541
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Canon 31 issued at the Fourth Council of Orleans
3. Geography of Act	Kingdom of the Franks
4. Text of Act	We decree that this, too, must be observed, namely, that if any Jew should dare to turn a proselyte into Jew or induce one who had become Christian to the Jewish superstition, or if he should think that his Christian bondwoman should be married to a Jew, or if he should turn into Jew one born to Christian parents by promising him freedom, he shall be punished by the loss of his slaves. A man, however, who was born to Christian parents and became a Jew, if he was manumitted [set free] on condition, namely, that he shall have his liberty provided that he persists in the Jewish rite, such a condition shall have no force, because it is unjust that liberty shall be the lot of a man born to Christian parents yet wishing to adhere to the Jewish cults.
5. Source	Amnon Linder (ed.), “The Jews in the Legal Sources of the Early Middle Ages,” Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI, 1997, pp.472-473.
6. Researcher	Kate Wraith
7. Year of Research	2025
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Mar. 18, 545
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	"Church Property and Non-Christians" Issued by Justinian (From the Code of Justinian, Chapter XIV) “Novella 131”
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Italy; Roman Empire
4. Text of Act	Novel 131. Concerning ecclesiastical canons and privileges…1. If an orthodox person alienates or leaves possessions on which there is a holy church, either by emphyteusis (perpetual lease), lease (conduction) or for any other purpose, to a Jew, Samaritan, pagan, Montanist, Arian, or other heretic, the holy church of the place shall claim the ownership thereof. 2. If anyone of the heretics, among whom we number…should dare to build a hiding place for his impiety, or Jews should construct a new synagogue, the holy church shall claim ownership thereof. 3. If anyone lets out his possession on emphyteusis (perpetual lease), lease (conduction) or in some other way to such person, and the owner of the possession knew that he was giving it over to a heretic, the church of the city in whose jurisdiction the possession is, shall claim the income of the time specified in the contract. …Given at Constantinople March 18, 545 A.D.
5. Source	“Introduction to Justinian’s Novels, 2nd Edition.” Fred H. Blume, Accessed online.
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	2011
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	Feb. 8, 552
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Novel 146 issued by Justinian.
3. Geography of Act	Byzantine Empire
4. Text of Act	The Deuterosis shall be abolished. … Any Hebrew who does not confess the Last Judgement and the Resurrection or that the venerable angels are God’s Creation should be expelled from all places and corporally punished.
5. Source	Amnon Linder (ed.), “The Jews in the Legal Sources of the Early Middle Ages,” Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI, 1997, pp. 32-33.
6. Researcher	Kate Wraith
7. Year of Research	2025
8. Notes	Researcher According to the source above, this Act was promulgated in the 26th year of the reign of Justinian. According to Britannica.com, “Justinian I served as emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 527 to 565.” According to the Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary via freedictionary.com, the Deuterosis [or Mishnah / Mishna] is “the collection of oral laws compiled about a.d. 200 and forming the basic part of the Talmud.”

1. Full Date of Act	Feb. 8, 553
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	Prohibition of the Mishnah issued by Emperor Justinian
3. Geography of Act	Roman Empire
4. Text of Act	We decree, therefore, that it shall be permitted to those Hebrews who want it to read the Holy Books in their synagogues and, in general, in any place where there are Hebrews, in the Greek language before those assembled and comprehending, or possibly in our ancestral language (we speak of the Italian language), or simply in all the other languages, changing language and reading according to the different places;… What they call Mishnah, on the other hand, we prohibit entirely, for it is not included among the Holy Books, nor was it handed down from above by the prophets, but it is an invention of men in their chatter, exclusively of earthly origin and having in it nothing of the divine.
5. Source	Council of Centers on Jewish-Christan Relations, “Roman Imperial Laws Concerning Jews (329-553),” ccjr.us, December 19, 2008.
6. Researcher	Michael Bazyler
7. Year of Research	2025
8. Notes	Editor According to Britannica.com, the Mishnah (or Mishna), is “the oldest authoritative postbiblical collection and codification of Jewish oral laws, systematically compiled by numerous scholars (called tannaim) over a period of about two centuries. The codification was given final form early in the 3rd century ad. The Mishna supplements the written, or scriptural, laws found in the Pentateuch [Torah].”

1. Full Date of Act	Aug. 2, 553
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	“Novella 146” issued by Justinian I
3. Geography of Act	Present-day Italy
4. Text of Act	8.ii.553.Nov.146, Justinian to Areobindas, P.P…Ch. I. We therefore sanction that, wherever there is a Hebrew congregation, those who wish it may, in their synagogues, read the sacred books to those who are present in Greek, or even Latin, or any other tongue. For the language changes in different places, and the reading changes with it, so that all present may understand, and live and act according to what they hear. Thus there shall be no opportunity for their interpreters, who make use only of the Hebrew, to corrupt it in any way they like, since the ignorance of the public conceals their depravity…Ch.II. If any among them seek to introduce impious vanities, denying the resurrection or the judgment, or the work of God, or that angels are part of creation, we require them everywhere to be expelled forthwith; that no backslider raise his impious voice to contradict the evident purpose of God. Those who utter such sentiments shall be put to death, and thereby the Jewish people shall be purged of the errors which they introduced.
5. Source	“Medieval Sourcebook: Justinian: Novella 146: On Jews.” Paul Halsall. August 1998, Accessed online.
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	2011
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	554
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	"Expulsion of Jews"
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	Commentary from other sources: 1) Jews are expelled from the Catholic Diocese of Clement. "Expulsions of Jews from Host Nations:" israelect.com; "Jewish Persecution \| Timeline of Judaism \| History of AntiSemitism;" simpletoremember.com
5. Source	None
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	561
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	"Ultimatum to Jews" issued by the Bishop Saint Ferréol
3. Geography of Act	Present-day France
4. Text of Act	Commentary from other sources: 1) The Bishop of Uzès give Jew the option to either convert or to leave his Diocese. Bilecki, Henry: This Land is Mine God, God Gave This Land to Me (2010)
5. Source	None
6. Researcher	None
7. Year of Research	None
8. Notes	None

1. Full Date of Act	May 15, 576
2. Name of Act (or Short Description)	“Forced Conversion of Jews” ordered by Bishop Avitus
3. Geography of Act	Bishopric of Claremont / Gaul; Present-day France
4. Text of Act	[…] You [Jews] are the sheep of one God, also, why do you not go in unity? As there is one shepherd, so I urge, let there be one flock. […] Accept Christianity or leave Claremont. […]
5. Source	Avraham, Yerachmiel Ben: All in the Name of Jesus: The Murder of Millions (2016); Haaretz: This Day in Jewish History Hundreds of Jews Choose Baptism over Exile from French Towns. (2014); Crawford Howell Toy, Herman Rosenthal: Avitus of Auvergne by Crawford Howell Toy and Herman Rosenthal, Jewish Encyclopedia; Accessed online.
6. Researcher	Ziba Shadjaani
7. Year of Research	2017
8. Notes	None