Adelfius

The first council of Arles was the first council called by Constantine, and took place in Arelate, Gaul in 314, a year after the Edict of Milan which made Christianity a legal religion."Arles, Synod of" in Chambers's Encyclopædia. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 1, p. 597.

The list of those who signed the Acta – the decisions made by the Council – included three bishops from Britain, along with a presbyter and a deacon.{{cite book|editor-last=Munier |editor-first= C.|title=Concilia Galliae a. 314-a. 506.|series= Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina.|volume= 148|language=Latin|location= Turnhout|publisher= Brepols|publication-date= 1963|pages= 15–22}}{{cite book |last1=Rivet |first1=A. L. F. |last2= Smith|first2=Colin |date= 1979|title= The Place-Names of Roman Britain|location= London|publisher= Batsford|pages= 48–50}} W. H. C. Frend in the Dictionary of National Biography says that the presbyter and deacon were accompanying Adelfius, suggesting his was the senior see.{{cite encyclopedia|title=Eborius|encyclopedia=Dictionary of National Biography|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-8431|first=W.H.C.|last=Frend|date=23 September 2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/8431|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |url-access=subscription}}

This list only survives in later manuscript copies, the oldest and best of which (the Corbie Codex, from the 6th or 7th century) names the British bishops as:

• Eborius "de civitate Eboracensi" – from the city of Eboracum (York);
• Restitutus "de civitate Londenensi" – from the city of Londinium (London);
• Adelfius "de civitate Colonia Londenensium" – that is, from the "colonia of the people of London".

The Toulouse codex lists Adelfius as simply "ex civitate Colonia".{{cite book|title=England Before the Norman Conquest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buYQAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA180|page=180|first=Charles|last=Oman|date=1924|publisher=Methuen & Co|isbn = 9785878048347}}

Haddan and Stubbs note that Adelfius also appears as a signatory to a synodal letter to Pope Sylvester I; however, his see is not mentioned.{{cite book|title=Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collectio|volume=2|page=469|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k51584g/f241.item|first=Joannes Dominicus|last=Mansi|date=1759}}{{cite book|title=Councils and ecclesiastical documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland|first1=Arthur West|last1=Haddan|first2=William|last2=Stubbs|date=1869–1878|url=https://archive.org/details/councilsecclesia01hadduoft/page/7/mode/2up|page=7}}

It has been generally agreed that the surviving copies of the Acta of the Council of Arles must be corrupt in assigning two bishops to London.

Since London was not a colonia{{efn|Richmond identifies four coloniae – in Roman Britain – Camulodunum (Colchester), Lindum (Lincoln) Eboracum (York) and Glevum (Gloucester){{cite journal |last=Richmond |first=I. A.|authorlink= Ian Richmond |year=1946 |title=The four Coloniae of Roman Britain|journal= Archaeological Journal|volume= 103|pages=57–84}} – though Howorth says the identification of Lindum is suspect{{cite journal|title=Christianity in Roman Britain|first=Henry H.|last=Howorth|journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society|year=1885|volume=2|pages=117–172|doi=10.2307/3677866|jstor=3677866|s2cid=163711113 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3677866|url-access=subscription}}}} - suspicion has fallen on the place of origin of Adelfius, listed as bishop of the "colonia of the people of London".

Most authorities have suggested emending "Colonia Londenensium" to "Colonia Lindensium" – the colonia of the people of Lindum (Lincoln).{{cite journal |last=Mann |first=J. C.|date=December 1961 |title=The Administration of Roman Britain|journal= Antiquity|volume= 35|issue=140|pages=316–20|doi=10.1017/S0003598X00106465|s2cid=163142469 }}{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Charles|authorlink= Charles Thomas (historian)|date= 1981|title= Christianity in Roman Britain to AD 500|location= London|publisher= Batsford|page= 197}}

Others, including Haddan and Stubbs and the 1885 Dictionary of National Biography, proposed reading the location as Legionensium (Caerleon-on-Usk), though Miller disputed this as this was also not a colonia, and seemed an unlikely place to give rise to a bishop.{{cite book |last=Thackeray |first=Francis |authorlink=Francis Thackeray |year=1843 |title=Researches into the ecclesiastical and political state of Ancient Britain under the Roman Emperors, with observations upon the principal events and characters connected with the Christian religion during the first five centuries |language=Latin, English |url=https://archive.org/stream/researchesintoec01thacuoft#page/275/mode/1up |volume=1 |publisher=Thomas Cadell, Strand |location=London |access-date=23 February 2015 |page=275}}{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900|title=Eborius|first=Thomas Frederick|last=Tout|year=1885|url=https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Eborius}}

S. N. Miller considered that the word "colonia" was also suspect, noting that although many other coloniae had sent bishops to Arles, including York as well as Cologne, Trier and Lyons, none had been designated "colonia" in the list.{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=S. N. |year=1927 |title=The British bishops at the Council of Arles (314) |journal= English Historical Review|volume= 42|issue=165 |pages=80–1|jstor=551980 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/551980}} Miller argued that "de civitate Colonia Londenensium" was a mistake for "de civitate Camu/lodunensium" – "the city of the people of Camulodunum" (Colchester). This view was supported by archaeologist Sir Ian Richmond.{{cite journal |last=Richmond |first=I. A.|authorlink= Ian Richmond |year=1946 |title=The four Coloniae of Roman Britain|journal= Archaeological Journal|volume= 103|pages=57–84 at p. 64}}

Adelfius is portrayed as a character in the play Aaron and Julia by Oliver Myers, set in Roman Caerleon.{{cite web|url=https://www.list.co.uk/event/1627925-aaron-and-julia/|website=The List|title=Aaron and Julia|access-date=10 March 2021}}

• Early Christianity in Britain
• Celtic Christianity

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{{short description|4th-century Romano-British bishop}}

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Category:4th-century Romano-British bishops