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 NOTITIA

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NOTITIA

in the first legislature of Belgium. He declared for the district of Arlon to which, in 1831. he g.ave proof of his gratitude by doing his utmost to prevent its union with Germany. Nothomb, who was the young- est incniber of the legislative a.ssembly, was appointed one of its secretaries and a member of the committee on foreign affairs. In the chamber he strongly op- posed the advocates of the union of Belgium with France and those who were for a repubhcan govern- ment. His political ideal, which he defended with great oIdciuciicc, was a representative monarchy with two hduses, lilierty of the press, and complete inde- pendeuci', in their own spheres, of the secular and re- ligious powers.

From 18.31-36 he was general secretary for foreign affairs; ^-ith Devaux he went to London to carry on secret negotiations at the conference which had met in that city to settle the new state of affairs cre- ated by the Belgian revolution, and did much to re- move the difficulties which had delayed the departure for Belgium of Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. He pub- lished in 1833 his "Essai historique et politique sur la revolution beige", a remarkable work which was translated into German and ItaUan and was reprinted three times in the same year. In 1836 Nothomb re- signed as general secretary for foreign affairs and in 1S37 became minister of Public Works in the Catholic administration of dc Theux. He gave a powerful impetus to the construction of railroads and when he resigned in 1840 more than 300 kilometres had been built. In the same year he was sent as an extraordi- nary envoy to the German Confederation and in 1841 became minister of the interior in a unionist adminis- tration; but the positions of the parties were not what they had been in the preceding decade, and Nothomb Boon realized that a union of the Catholics and Lib- erals was no longer possible. In 1845 he withdrew from the political arena to enter the diplomatic corps. Ho was for many years minister plenipotentiary of Belgium in Berlin. In 1840 he had become a member of the Royal Academy of Brussels; and he received many distinctions from foreign countries.

Nothomb, Alphonse, brother of Jean-Baptiste, b. 12 July, 1817; d. 15 May, 1898. He had a briUiant career in the magistracy, was minister of justice in 1855, and became a member of the lower house of Par- liament in 1859. In 1884 he was made a minister of State. Like his brother he was a staunch Catholic; in the latter part of his life he had become a convert to the pohtical creed of the new Catholic democratic party.

Juste, Le Baron Noihomb (Bnissela, 1874) ; Thonissen, His- toire du rkgne de lAo-pold /•"■ (Louvain, 1861); Htmans, Histoire parlementaire de la Belffique (Brussels, 1877-80).

P. J. Maeique.

Notitia Dignitatum (Register of Offices), the official liaiullioiik of the civil and military officials in the later Roman Empire. The extant Latin form be- longs to the early fifth century. The last addenda con- cerning the Eastern Empire point to the year 397 as the latest chronological limit, while supplementary notices concerning the Western Empire extend into the reign of Valentinian III (42.5-55). The bulk of the state- ments, however, point to earlier years of the fourth century, individual notices showing conditions at the beginning of this century. The first part of the " No- titia" gives a list of the officials in the Eastern Empire: "Notitia dignit.atum omnium tam civilium quam mil- itarium in partibus Orientis"; the second part gives a corresponding list for the Western Empire: "Notitia ... in partibus Occidentis". Both give, first the highest official positions of the central administration, then the officials in positions subordinate to the.se, and also the officials of the various "dioceses" and prov- inces, the civil officials being regularly stated along with the miUtary. In addition, the insignia of the of-

ficials and of the army divisions are shown by draw- ings. This register was used in the imperial chan- cery; the chief official of the chancery {primiariua jtotariorum) found in it all necessary information for drawing up the announcements of the ajiiiointiMent of officials and of their positions, Tlie "Notitia", pre- served as it is in an incomplete condition, is |)artly an abstract, partly an exact tjanscripl of tliis dflicial reg- ister. It shows that at vaiinus pn imls, cxtriiding as late as the first part of tlirii 111 I ccnl my, :u Mil ions were made to the state register and gives tlii' essential form of the list in the era just mentioned. It is, therefore, a very important authority for the divisions of the Empire, for an understanding of the Uoiiian bureau- cracy, and for the distribution of the army during the late Roman Empire. The first printed edition was "Notitia utraque cum Orientis turn <Tidontis" (Basle, 1552) ; the latest editions were edited bv Bock- ing (2 vols., Bonn, 1839-53), and O. Seeck, ""Notitia dignitatum. Accedunt Notitia urbis Constantino- politana; et Laterculi provinciarum " (Berlin, 1876). Seeck, Quwstiones de Nnlilin dignitatum (Berlin. 1872); Idem, Die Zeit des Vegeliiif: in Hrrmrs, XI (Berlin. 1876). 77 sqq.; Idem, Zur Kritik ,l,r X^.nim ,h<i„ilatum in Hermes, IX (1875), 217 sqq.; Steffen'hai.i n, l)-r u.,tfiir/er Codex der Notitia dignita- tum in Hermes, XIX ^!^^!l, t."is sqq.; Mommsen, Die Conscrip- tionsordnung der rom. Kauazi il m Hermes. XIX (1884), 233 sqq.; Tedffei^Schwabe, Oesch. der romischen Literatur (5tb ed., Leipzig, 1890), 1163.

J. P. KiRSCH.

Notitiae Episcopatuum, the name given to official documents that furnish for Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a Church. Whilst, in the Patriarchate of Rome, archbishops and bishops were classed according to the seniority of their conse- cration, and in Africa according to their age, in the Eastern patriarchates the hierarchical rank of each bishop was determined by the see he occupied. Thus, in the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the first metropolitan was not the longest ordained, but who- ever happened to be the incumbent of the See of Ca'sa- rea; the second was the Archbishop of Ephesus, and so on. In every ecclesiastical province, the rank of each suffragan was thus determined, and remained un- changed unless the fist was subsequently modified. The hierarchical order included first of all, the patri- arch; then the greater metropolitans, i. e., those who had dioceses with suffragan sees; the autocephalous metropolitans, who had no suffragans, and were di- rectly subject to the patriarch; next archbishops who, although not differing from autocephalous metropoli- tans, occupied hierarchical rank inferior to theirs, and were also immediately dependent on the patriarch; then simple bishops, i. e., exempt bishops, and lastly suffragan bishops. It is not known by whom this very ancient order was estabfished, but it is likely that, in the beginning, metropolitan sees and simple bishop- rics must have been classified according to the date of their respective foundations, this order being modified later on for political and religious considerations. We here append. Church by Church, the principal of these documents.

A. Constantinople: The "Ecthesis of psetido-Epi- phanius", a revision of an earlier Notitia episcopa- tuum (probably compiled by Patriarch Ejiiphanius under Justinian), made during the reign of Ileraclius (about 040); a Notitia dating back to the first years of the ninth century and differing but little from the earlier one; the "Notitia of Basil the Armenian", drawn up between 820 and 842; the Notitia coni- piled bv Emperor Leo VI the Philo.soiilier, and Patri- arch Nicholas Mvsticus between 001 and !K17, modify- ing the hierarehical ord( r wliifh had liccii cst.alilished in thesevenlh century, but had been disturbed by the incorporation of the ecclesiastical provinces of Illyri- cum and .Southern Italy in the Byzantine Patriar- chate; the Notitise episcopatuum of Constantine Per-