Folia Theologica et Canonica 9. 31/23 (2020)
Ius canonicum
84 PÉTER ERDŐ Besides direct interventions by bishops and the initiatives of private landowners, it seems that the origins of country parishes can also be attributed to rural communities themselves. Historians of agriculture, and of rural communities among the Germanic and Slavic peoples, have discussed at length which was found earlier, large estate ownership or the communal use and ownership of land. However, these discussions have been coloured by political sentiments and ambitions.75 In the south of France, the foundation of “parishes” went hand in hand with the christianisation of the rural population as churches were built in villae and in vici.76 It is generally recognised that in various parts of Europe pastoral provision for the Christian population of different localities was directed by the clergy of the baptismal church, which served as the focus of ecclesiastical organisation in a particular district. In central and northern Italy these districts were calledpieve;77 in Germany, especially in the Tyrol but also elsewhere, they were known as gau or pagus, particularly in the era of the Frankish kingdoms. In any case, the districts in question were usually comprised of several villages, together with the land and common facilities which belonged to them,78 and they often coincided with the ecclesiastical parish. In legal historiography this entity is often called a Großmark or Gerichtsbezirk. As a general rule, the parish seems to have coincided with this territorial entity which existed for the purpose of economic cooperation and civil jurisdiction, although there were exceptions. There is documentary evidence of this correspondence in various Germanic territories in the late Middle Ages, but in some regions its existence even in the early Middle Ages is certain.79 These civil and ecclesiastical districts could be free, especially in the mountains, or semi-free under the authority of a “protector” or Vogt, who was sometimes even elected by the population, but they could also be subject to a great feudal lord who maintained the internal structure of the rural community.80 This structure of “large parishes” with a baptismal church at their centre seems to have served as a model during the organisation of the Church in Central and Eastern Europe. 75 Cf. already Hanssen, G., Agrarhistorische Abhandlungen, I. Leipzig 1880. 25-27. Maurer, G. L., Geschichte der Dorfverfassung in Deutschland, I-II. München 1865-1866. Horváth, R, A középkori falusi földközösség jogtörténeti vonatkozásai, Budapest 1960. Wernli, F., Markgenossenschaft, in HRGIII. 302-316, 309-314. 76 Cf. Baus, K. - Beck, H.-G. - Ewig, E. - Vogt, H. J., Die Reichskirche, 222. 77 On pievi see e.g., Forchielli, G., La pieve rurale. Ricerche sulla storia della costituzione della Chiesa in Italia e particolarmente nel Veronese, Bologna 1938; for the late Middle Ages: Pievi e parrocchie in Italia nel basso medioevo sec. XIII-XV. Atti del VI Convegno di Storia della Chiesa in Italia (Firenze, 21 - 25 sett. 1981), I-II. Padova 1984. 78 Cf. Horváth, P., A középkori falusi földközösség, 100. 79 Wernli, F., Markgenossenschaft, 308-309. 80 Cf. Wernli, F., Markgenossenschaft, 305.
