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Vigilantius—Viglius
See H. H. Bancroft, Popular Tribunals (2 vols., San Francisco, 1887); and T. J. Dimsdale, The Vigilantes of Montana (Virginia City, 1866).
VIGILANTIUS (fl. c. 400), the presbyter, celebrated as the author of a work, no longer extant, against superstitious practices, which called forth one of the most violent and scurrilous of Jerome's polemical treatises, was born about 370 at Calagurris in Aquitania (the modern Cazères or perhaps Saint Bertrand de Comminges in the department of Haute-Garonne), where his father kept a “statio” or inn on the great Roman road from Aquitania to Spain. While still a youth his talent became known to Sulpicius Severus, who had estates in that neighbourhood, and in 395 Sulpicius, who probably baptized him, sent him with letters to Paulinus of Nola, where he met with a friendly reception. On his return to Severus in Gaul he was ordained; and, having soon afterwards inherited means through the death of his father, he set out for Palestine, where he was received with great respect by Jerome at Bethlehem. The stay of Vigilantius lasted for some time; but, as was almost inevitable, he was dragged into the dispute then raging about Origen, in which he did not see fit wholly to adopt Jerome's attitude. On his return to the West he was the bearer of a letter from Jerome to Paulinus, and at various places where he stopped on the way he appears to have expressed himself about Jerome in a manner that when reported gave great offence to that father, and provoked him to write a reply (Ep. 61). Vigilantius now settled for some time in Gaul, and is said by one authority (Gennadius) to have afterwards held a charge in the diocese of Barcelona. About 403, some years after his return from the East, Vigilantius wrote his celebrated work against superstitious practices, in which he argued against relic worship, as also against the vigils in the basilicas of the martyrs, then so common, the sending of alms to Jerusalem, the rejection of earthly goods and the attribution of special virtue to the unmarried state, especially in the case of the clergy. He thus covers a wider range than Jovinian, whom he surpasses also in intensity. He was especially indignant at the way in which spiritual worship was being ousted by the adoration of saints and their relics. All that is known of his work is through Jerome's treatise Contra Vigilantium, or, as that controversialist would seem to prefer saying, “Contra Dormitantium.” Notwithstanding Jerome's exceedingly unfavourable opinion, there is no reason to believe that the tract of Vigilantius was exceptionally illiterate, or that the views it advocated were exceedingly “heretical.” Soon, however, the great influence of Jerome in the Western Church caused its leaders to espouse all his quarrels, and Vigilantius gradually came to be ranked in popular opinion among heretics, though his influence long remained potent both in France and Spain, as is proved by the polemical tract of Faustus of Rhegium (d. c. 490).
VIGILIUS, pope from 537 to 555, succeeded Silverius and was followed by Pelagius I. He was ordained by order of Belisarius while Silverius was still alive; his elevation was due to Theodora, who, by an appeal at once to his ambition and, it is said, to his covetousness, had induced him to promise to disallow the council of Chalcedon, in connexion with the “three chapters” controversy. When, however, the time came for the fulfilment of his bargain, Vigilius declined to give his assent to the condemnation of that council involved in the imperial edict against the three chapters, and for this act of disobedience he was peremptorily summoned to Constantinople, which he reached in 547. Shortly after his arrival there he issued a document known to history as his Judicatum (548), in which he condemned indeed the three chapters, but expressly disavowed any intentions thereby to disparage the council of Chalcedon. After a good deal of trimming (for he desired to stand well with his own clergy, who were strongly orthodox, as well as with the court), he prepared another document, the Constitutum ad Imperatorem, which was laid before the so-called fifth “oecumenical” council in 553, and led to his condemnation by the majority of that body, some say even to his banishment. Ultimately, however, he was induced to assent to and confirm the decrees of the council, and was allowed after an enforced absence of seven years to set out for Rome. He died, however, at Syracuse, before he reached his destination, on the 7th of June 555.
VIGINTISEXVIRI, in Roman history, the collective name given in republican times to “twenty-six” magistrates of inferior rank. They were divided into six boards, two of which were abolished by Augustus. Their number was thereby reduced to twenty and their name altered to Vigintiviri (“the twenty”). They were originally nominated by the higher magistrates, but subsequently elected in a body at a single sitting of the comitia tributa; under the empire they were chosen by the senate. The following are the names of the six boards: (1) Tresviri capitales (see Tresviri); (2) Tresviri monetales; (3) Quatuorviri viis in urbe purgandis, who had the care of the streets and roads inside the city; (4) Duoviri viis extra urbem purgandis (see Duoviri), abolished by Augustus; (5) Decemviri stlitibus judicandis (see Decemviri); (6) Quatuor praefecti Capuam Cumas, abolished by Augustus. The members of the last-named board were appointed by the praetor urbanus of Rome to administer justice in ten Campanian towns (list in Mommsen), and received their name from the two most important of these. They were subsequently elected by the people under the title of quatuorviri jure dicundo, but the date is not known.
See Mommsen, Römisches Staatsrecht, ii. (1887), p. 592.
VIGLIUS, the name taken by Wigle van Aytta van Zuichem (1507–1577), Dutch statesman and jurist, a Frisian by birth, who was born on the 19th of October 1507. He studied at various universities—Louvain, Dôle and Bourges among others—devoting himself mainly to the study of jurisprudence, and afterwards visited many of the principal seats of learning in Europe. His great abilities attracted the notice of Erasmus and other celebrated men, and his renown was soon wide and general. Having lectured on law at the universities of Bourges and Padua, he accepted a judicial position under the bishop of Munster which he resigned in 1535 to become assessor of the imperial court of justice (Reichskammergericht). He would not, however, undertake the post of tutor to Philip, son of the emperor Charles V.; nor would he accept any of the many lucrative and honourable positions offered him by various European princes, preferring instead to remain at the university of Ingolstadt, where for five years he occupied a professorial chair. In 1542 the official connexion of Viglius with the Netherlands began. At the emperor's invitation he became a member of the council of Mechlin, and some years later president of that body. Other responsible positions were entrusted to him, and he was soon one of the most trusted of the ministers of Charles V., whom he accompanied during the war of the league of Schmalkalden in 1546. His rapid rise in the emperor's favour was probably due to his immense store of learning, which was useful in asserting the imperial rights where disputes arose between the empire and the estates. He was generally regarded as the author of the edict against toleration issued in 1550; a charge which he denied, maintaining, on the contrary, that he had vainly tried to induce Charles to modify its rigour. When the emperor abdicated in 1555 Viglius was anxious to retire also, but at the instance of King Philip II. he remained at his post and was rewarded by being made coadjutor abbot of St Bavon, and in other ways. In 1559, when Margaret, duchess of Parma, became regent of the Netherlands, Viglius was an important member of the small circle who assisted her in the work of government. He was president of the privy council, member, and subsequently president, of the state council, and a member of the committee of the state council called the consulta. But his desire to resign soon returned. In 1565 he was allowed to give up the presidency of the state council, but was persuaded to retain his other posts. However, he had lost favour with Margaret, who accused him to Philip of dishonesty and simony, while his orthodoxy was suspected. When the duke of Alva arrived in the Netherlands Viglius at first assisted him, but he subsequently
