Taius

Taius (Taio, Tago, Tajo, Tajón, Tayon) (c. 600—c. 683) was a bishop of Zaragoza during the Visigothic period, from 651-664, succeeding his teacher Saint Braulius. His surname was Samuel (Samuhel).^[1] Taius, like Braulius and Bishop Ildefonsus, was also a pupil of Saint Isidore of Seville.^[2]

Career

Taius was ordained as a priest in 632, and later served as an abbot in an unknown monastery.^[3]

At the request of Quiricus of Barcelona, Taius compiled a collection of extracts from the work of Gregory the Great in 653–654. In 654 progress on the compilation was slowed by the revolt of Froia and the invasion of the Basques.^[4] He later traveled to Rome, where he was sent to procure the third part of Gregory's Moralia, then missing in Spain. He received this work from Pope Martin I. His main work involved compiling others' works. In a letter to Eugene II of Toledo, he explained the plan of his writing and its relationship to Gregory’s model.^{[clarification needed]}

During Froia's siege, Taius had been working on a revision of the Lex Visigothorum and was unable to leave the city.

The result was what has been regarded as a “poorly organized”^[5] book called Sententiarum libri V, which drew heavily upon the writings of Gregory and Saint Augustine, his only known work.^[6]

He participated in the Eighth Council of Toledo, the Ninth Council of Toledo and the Tenth Council of Toledo.^[3]

Notes

1. Léopold Delisle, Inventaire des manuscripts de la Bibliothèque nationale: Fonds de Cluny (H. Champion, 1884) (Digitized August 29, 2007) 111.
2. Judith Herrin,The Formation of Christendom, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989, p. 243; see also 232 and 273.
3. Wilhelm Kohl (1996). "Taius". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 11. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 431–433. ISBN 3-88309-064-6.]
4. Collins, Visigothic Spain, 84.
5. Joseph F. O'Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain (Cornell University Press, 1975), 87
6. "Five Books of the Sentences : Caii, vel Taionis, Caesaraugustanae urbis episcopi, cognomento Saorohelis, vel Samuhelis [...] Sententiarum libri V, quibus praemittitur Epistola noncupatoria". World Digital Library (in Latin). Retrieved 2014-02-28.

Sources

• Collins, Roger. Visigothic Spain, 409–711. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-631-18185-7.
• García Villada, Z. “Fragmentos inéditos de Tajón.” RABM 30 (1914), 23–31.
• Madoz, J. “Tajón de Zaragoza y su viaje a Roma.” Mélanges Joseph de Ghellink 1:345–60.
• Palacios Martín, A. “Tajón de Zaragoza y la ‘Explicatio in Cantica Canticorum.’” AEF 3 (1980) 115–27.
• Robles, L. “Tajón de Zaragoza, continuador de Isidoro.” Saitabi 21 (1971), 19–25.
• Serratosa, R. “Osio de Córdoba. Tajón de Zaragoza.” Estudios 19 (1951), 85–95.
• Vega, A. C. “Tajón de Zaragoza. Una obra inédita.” CD 155 (1943) 145–77.

External links

• Wilhelm Kohl (1996). "Taius". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 11. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 431–433. ISBN 3-88309-064-6.
• España sagrada: Vol. 31 Ed. Enrique Florez. Madrid: 1770. Includes a reprint of the Sententiarum Libri V and associated material (pp 152–544).
• "Caii, vel Taionis, Caesaraugustanae urbis episcopi, cognomento Saorohelis, vel Samuhelis [...] Sententiarum libri V, quibus praemittitur Epistola noncupatoria (Five Books of the Sentences)". World Digital Library (in Latin). Retrieved 2014-02-28.