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 in this post. His surname was Samuel (Samuhel).^[1]

Life

Taius was ordained as a priest in 632, and later served as an abbot in an unknown monastery.^[2]

At the request of Quiricus of Barcelona, Taius compiled a collection of extracts from the work of Gregory the Great in 653–654, when progress on the compilation was slowed by the revolt of Froia and the invasion of the Basques.^[3] He traveled to Rome, where he was sent to procure the third part of Gregory's Moralia missing in Spain. He received this work from Pope Martin I. He worked as a compiler of others' works, and in a letter to Eugene II of Toledo, explained the plan of his writing and its relationship to Gregory’s model.

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

The result was what has been regarded as a “poorly organized”^[4] book called Sententiarum libri V, which drew heavily upon the writings of Gregory and Saint Augustine, his only known work.^[5]

He participated in the Eighth Council of Toledo, the Ninth Council of Toledo and the Tenth Council of Toledo.^[2]

Notes

1. Léopold Delisle, Inventaire des manuscripts de la Bibliothèque nationale: Fonds de Cluny (H. Champion, 1884) (Digitized August 29, 2007) 111.
2. Wilhelm Kohl (1996). "Taius". In Bautz, Traugott. Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). 11. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 431–433. ISBN 3-88309-064-6.]
3. Collins, Visigothic Spain, 84.
4. Joseph F. O'Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain (Cornell University Press, 1975), 87
5. "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. Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). 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.