Our association was established in Perugia in October 1991 by fourteen founders[1] (later defined in the statute, art. 3 co. 2, «Members founders») for the study and research on late antiquity. The name chosen is Accademia Storico-Giuridica Costantiniana (acronym ASGC, which will often be used here for brevity), the headquarters in Spello. It is non-profit and pursues exclusively cultural purposes (art. 3 deed of incorporation, art. 2 statute).

It places no limits on registration and implicitly addresses interested parties of all nationalities, so that numerous scholars from other countries immediately participate and representatives of the main European countries are elected to the Board of Directors.

It aims – according to the purpose indicated by the statute, art. 2 – the study of the society of the late Roman Empire (life; legal organization) and the diffusion of the knowledge achieved.

The main themes are

– constitutional structure and administrative system
– private law in its developments and transformations
– relationships with the pagan world and Christian thought
– economic life and social relationships
– imperial regulatory activity (forms, contents)
– formation of large regulatory collections.

To pursue these purposes you can

– establish and manage study and specialization courses at all levels
– promote conferences, seminars, meetings
– organize working groups
– set up documentation centers
– stipulate agreements with public and private bodies
– supervise (directly; indirectly) the drafting and editing of books, texts and periodicals in one’s field of study
– provide scholarships to researchers and subject matter experts to promote research.

Furthermore, it can arrange for the purchase and distribution of material for the benefit of Members and all interested parties (publications, phonographic editions, audiovisuals and more).

In the limited territory of Umbria, between Spello and Perugia, a scientific entity for research into late antiquity had already existed for some time, with a different legal regime. The university enclave of Perugia, especially the Romanistic group, eighteen years earlier, in June 1973, had established, by rectoral decree, a university study centre: the “Centre of historical-juridical studies of Constantinians and the late empire”, later called in first volume of conference proceedings, “Accademia Romanistica Costantiniana” (acronym ARC), upon the impulse and solicitation of Mario de’ Dominicis, professor of Roman law in Perugia and citizen of Spello . At the time the Historical-Juridical Academy was established, the ARC University Center had already held ten international conferences and published nine large volumes of proceedings: testimony to the success achieved and considerable funding for further research on the era and the topics of common interest .

The gravitation of the same group of scholars both around the ARC Center and in the ASGC Association, both under the direction of Arnaldo Biscardi, made the beginning of a close cooperation obvious. For more than three decades the two scientific entities have been able to proceed hand in hand, in close interaction: their common history is now much longer, almost double, than the history of the first of them.

We will question ourselves about the motivations and meaning of two entities, autonomous and with different natures[2], but now let’s focus on their interaction. In this sense we remember the appreciation expressed by the Rector of Perugia Giuseppe Calzoni to the Constantinian Romanistic Academy already in the 1998 International Symposium. In praising “the quality of studies”, as an economist he also praises “a wonderful example of organizational quality” with the creation of the “Constantinian Historical-Juridical Academy Association which supports it”: this is the path that various universities are following and which is exemplified with “the last three study courses in Perugia born at the same time as associations, study centers and initiatives that support them”, “with notable fruits allowing the University […] results for which its own efforts would not have been enough. It’s what we economists call “creating a system”: You have done it and you are reaping the benefits»[3].

[1] List of names in the Articles of Association, sub item “ACT OF CONSTITUTION – STATUTE”.

[2] Further on, paragraph 6, ARC/ASGC: two institutions, one place. The choice of the founding fathers.

[3] 25 years of studies on Late Antiquity, edited by A. Mancinelli, Naples 2007, p. 7. It is also necessary to refer to the rapid history of the Constantinian Romanistic Academy for its twenty-five years, with the mention and «even directly touching the status of the academy» of the constitution of an «association bearing the name of “Constantinian Historical-Juridical Academy” domiciled in Spello»: F. B. J. Wubbe, 1973-1998. Le premier quart de siècle de l’Accademia Costantinana à vol d’oiseau, Perugia 1998, p. 12.

It is a fact that the Constantinian Historical-Juridical Academy – benefiting from multidisciplinary skills and from multiple nations, making annual membership fees available for scientific meetings and publications, dealing where possible (increasingly less, unfortunately) with the raising of external funds – has been able and can act as scientific support and operational arm of the Centre. And it is at the head of it that, while accounting for a joint operation, leaves ownership of the initiatives: respect for tradition, fair recognition of the notoriety that the ARC center has been able to build in the previous eighteen years.

The results of this joint activity are known and, it must be said, fruitful.

For the scientific meetings – starting from the eleventh, 1993, on the administration of justice – they are with the presence and support of the Constantinian Historical-Juridical Academy[1] fifteen international conferences, the 1998 International Symposium (all under the high patronage of the President of the Republic). Furthermore, since 1992, sixteen Round Tables[2].

As for the publications, for the conference volumes, the intervention of the Constantinian Historical-Juridical Academy is formally reported starting from volume XVIII, 2012, on the reverse of the title page – «Work published with contributions from the Constantinian Historical-Juridical Academy» – and is repeated in the subsequent volumes up to XXIII, 2019. In volumes XXIV, 2021, and XXV, 2023, the reverse of the title page instead declares the work «published with the contribution of the Municipality of Spello», but carries a further declaration with a double logo, of the ARC Center and of the ASGC Association: «The contributions collected in this volume delve into the themes of the 2019 [or 2021] Conference of the Constantinian Romanistic Academy organized in collaboration with the Constantinian Historical-Juridical Academy».

The fourteen volumes of the Workbooks[3] series, which collect the materials of the Round Tables and published since 1998 , appear with the heading «Accademia Romanistica Costantiniana» without mention of the Accademia Storico-Juridica Costantiniana. However, this is actually present in two ways. The first is the direction entrusted to the ASGC President (“Under the direction of Giuliano Crifò”)[4] mentioned on the cover and title page since the first issue. The second is the express reference to the commitment of the ASGC in Maria Campolunghi’s Presentation in the firstQuaderno of 1998: «beyond the interest of the material, the initiative of the series is also intended to be a manifestation of the activity of the association established in 1991 alongside the Academy to support its efforts and aims: the Constantinian Historical-Juridical Academy»[5] .

We leave it to the reader to evaluate. Leafing through the indexes, reading sample pages almost always show interest, very often novelties, often originality of the collective volumes, surprising many ideas from the round tables that deserve to be revisited.

[1] For the conferences up to 2011, cooperation is indicated by indicating the Constantinian Historical-Juridical Academy among the sponsoring bodies, while the expression “collaboration ” then indicated financial contributions, until the progressive disappearance of such sponsorships allows, since 2013, Conference XXI, to use the clearer and more precise formula for ASGC “with the collaboration of” or “in collaboration with”. The Round Tables instead bear the double logo of ARC and ASGC on the poster.

[2] Sub voci “BIENNIAL SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS”, see, 1. International conferences and 2. Round tables.

[3] The complete list is sixteen volumes, but no. 9 and n.10 reported in the final list in each Notebook as “in the process of publication” never went to print and due to various vicissitudes it is feared it will no longer be possible.

[4] Up to n. 10, due to his passing at the beginning of 2011. Furthermore, for the Quaderni – from n. 1 to the last, number 16, «coordinated by Maria Campolunghi» (so cover and frontispiece) – the role is played by number 12 as ASGC President.

[5] M. Campolunghi, Presentation, in Workbooks 1, Perugia 1998, p. VI s.

Alongside a wealth of joint efforts, the Accademia Storico-Giuridica Costantiniana has independently developed a special program.

For some time, several members have proposed initiating a project aimed at younger scholars: series of seminars (or editions) with relatively small groups, led by teachers from various disciplines related to ancient studies, to prepare for research and study of Late Antiquity.

Accordingly, a scheme has been devised where each year one of the five editions of the series is held in sequence, thus providing a sufficiently broad overview in their totality. To consolidate the timing, each annual edition is structured into two sessions, the first in the afternoon and the second the following morning, and directly precedes either the international conference or the round table, depending on the year, to facilitate participation and create a fruitful link between the two events. One session always focuses on Roman law, while the other alternates among various ancient studies themes. The coordination of the series and editions is entrusted to two “Seminar Coordinators” appointed by the Executive Board, each of whom organizes and presides over the session in their field of expertise, with two to three presentations followed by discussion.

In 2013, it became possible to launch the first edition, thereafter dedicating the initiative to Giuliano Crifò, President and ‘spirit’ of the Accademia Storico-Giuridica Costantiniana, who had always provided support and opportunities to the new generation: the “Seminari Giuliano Crifò dell’Accademia“.

To facilitate attendance, twelve hospitality scholarships are available for Italian and international scholars who are under 35 years of age at the time of the seminar: the recipients are hosted by the Accademia Storico-Giuridica Costantiniana for dinner and overnight accommodation between the two sessions.

In June 2023, the fifth edition of the second series was realized.

Information under the entry “SEMINARS”.

In 2023 the Academy celebrated half a century of activity (1973: 12 June, establishment of the ARC Center; 18-20 September, the first congress[1]

An important milestone to be celebrated, the celebration is entrusted to the XXVI International Conference which already highlights the intent in the first line of the title: For the fifty years of the “Constantinian”. Between budgets and prospects. East and West in dialogue[2].

The occasion must not be a break between the past and the future, but it certainly places itself with a complex balance in a sort of watershed: evaluation of what has been done, openness to further scenarios.

The first session is reserved for the historiographical perspective: not merely celebratory, but rather aimed at bringing out fundamental profiles of an evaluation that will be fully expressed in the first volume of the collective volume which, as usual, will delve deeper into the conference results.

For further scenarios the conference is almost a number zero. After the first fifty years – one dares to define it as such, referring to the wish, realized, of Felix Wubbe: in 1998 he spoke of “premier quart de siècle”[3] and predicted just as many [4] – a new cycle of research opens.

From now on, in the place dedicated to the preparation of the conferences, the Round Tables, we will discuss – looking back to move forward – on overlooked topics, discussions to be explored in greater depth, further paths to take. Keyword: discuss together. As always the debate is open to all. The Center, with its scientific committee, and the Association, with its board of directors, will be able to make proposals, but will have to consider suggestions from members advanced by email or presented at the moment, ideas supported by the participants, suggestions arising gradually from what is said . Disorder? Any confusion? It is the usual climate of round tables, relaxed and friendly without primacy or even worse prevarication. Pierfrancesco Porena was keen to praise him, perhaps in 2018: the most democratic scientific meeting he had ever participated in. And the decision will be made democratically on the topic to be addressed in the next conference, setting aside others for the years to come. Bringing order to the setup will be the task of those who lead the two institutions.

Good work!

[1] In Spello, Foligno, Perugia.

[2] Spello, 15-17 June.

[3] Thus the title of F. B. J. Wubbe, 1973-1978. The first quarter de siècle of the Constantinian Academycit.

[4] F. B. J. Wubbe, Presentation of the International Symposium, in “25 years of studies on Late Antiquity</em > cit. p. 6: «in the year 2023 young men and women will be here at this table […]; We wish the Academy 25 more years, so that they can remember the first 50 years of the Academy.”

To finally clarify the values that inspire the Constantinian Historical-Juridical Academy, a few words on the role attributed to the members.

Anyone who intends to become a member is – must be – aware that they are not joining one of the many cultural associations that continually, even meritoriously, arise. He knows – he must know – that he is adhering to an overall plan, with a history of prestige behind him. He knows that membership implies working in favor of and within an ongoing project, to which he can make his own contribution.

This image of a member is not a mere wish but a thoughtful invitation to commitment. And in a certain sense also an observation of reality. Naturally, the pattern of members is not immutable: we also see the movement in, the exit and perhaps the return depending on contingencies. Our limited registration formalities facilitate changes and all that remains is to accept them as a fact, common to almost all associations.

However, the Constantinian Historical-Juridical Academy counts – knows it can count – on what in another context has been called “hard core”. There is a select group of members who are particularly attached to it. Their ever-renewed fidelitas goes back to the incessant commitment of the founding fathers. It also arises, as is expressed several times, from a sense of gratitude for what was offered to them perhaps at the time of their training: attention and empathetic attitude of masters of various disciplines; availability of a ‘stage’ for the first scientific tests; absolute freedom of speech and respectful listening in restricted discussions; the creation of scientific but also human bonds. Many insist on it as a privilege they had in their debut and reciprocate when they are seniors. Here we talked about [1] the trust that Giuliano Crifò had towards young people. Many remember his ‘throwing’ even recent graduates onto the track. A recklessness that was witnessed with bated breath, then his talents and knowledge were appreciated. The very strict Sargenti himself was ready to listen, he perhaps formulated criticisms but with grace, he knew how to encourage and support. What has been given is returned generously by the members: with the same attitude towards the juniors, above all with their commitment to identifying new research perspectives in the preparatory meetings and personally enriching the international conferences.

We chose to begin this paragraph with what was stated, at the end of the nineties, in a handcrafted booklet distributed to members and participants to illustrate the Constantinian Academy as a Center and as an Association [2]. Today, 2024, the ‘preaching’ of that time can be said to have been fulfilled.

[1] See above, in the paragraph on seminars.

[2] A few years later, the text of the booklet was published in Current Roman Law 11, 2004, pp. 7-15 (p. 14, the part reported here), with a double signature, Maria Campolunghi and Giuliano Crifò (or rather two acronyms, M.C. – G.C.) with some additions by Crifò. An appendix follows, The production of the Academy, pp. 16-19.

Let’s return to the simultaneous presence of two institutions which, both devoted to the study of late antiquity, chose the same town as their headquarters, glorious in its past but secluded. It has a strong justification.

One of the bodies is the university research centre, ARC: based in the Faculty of Law of Perugia, it enjoys the prestige offered by the University and benefits from institutional contacts. However, it must be said, it is inserted within the, sometimes heavy, meshes of national and statutory legislation, and must take into account the cultural policy that the University dictates: this ends up also indirectly conditioning its scientific freedom, to give rise to choices at least partly externally directed.

Precisely these aspects pushed the founding fathers to create, in the 1990s, a new and flexible instrument at the service of history and law. Their sensitivity already recognized the signs of a professionalizing trend in higher education (which the freer spirits had feared for decades), of a disaffection towards historical-juridical studies in Law (one will remember the idea of having Roman Law migrate to Letters), of an increase in bureaucratic tasks for teachers, or rather of a generalized bureaucratization and sclerotization of the University. We will be back. They felt the urgency of creating a historical-juridical body in which practical obstacles were minimised, in which choices on research topics were entrusted to an equal dialectic between President, Councilors and Members, each understood in their own individuality as scholars. In which, let it be said without emphasis, a purely Russovian democracy was applied, a free play of intelligences, subjected only to the principle of majority. Hence the push to create the ASGC.

The synergy between the two institutions would have been ‘strategic’. The University Center would have found in an association of legal historians a shelter from the feared bureaucratization, from possible cultural choices ruinous for the history of law, from limitations of scientific freedom. It would have benefited from a high number of scholars drawing on varied specific skills even beyond Roman and historical ones. He could also have enjoyed material subsidy thanks to the greater management freedom of the Association and the income coming from the Members. The Association, for its part, would have enjoyed above all the prestige of a twinning with a university in central Italy, with an excellent tradition and rooted in the territory, and of human resources coming from the same, however limited.

Even difficult or impossible creations for the Center become feasible thanks to the Association. As an example, the realization of the “Summa Perusina” Project conceived for the seventh centenary of the University of Perugia: restoration of the manuscript from the year 1000 preserved in the city; fine color facsimile reproduction; reprint of the unobtainable critical edition of Patetta. Under university constraints, complexity and costs would not have allowed it. Operation and management assumed intoto by ASGC, while leaving ownership of the result to ARC, allowed the thoughtful choice of the specialist publisher in the name of quality and without the dangerous constraints of low-cost tenders.

A further profile completes the sense of having wanted two institutions at the same time.

It is strange that the second is a ‘photograph’ of the first. It follows the name, distinguishing itself only by an adjective; has the same goals; almost the same scholars created it, direct it and gravitate towards it. Yet the founding documents of the ASGC Association do not refer to it, they ignore it. A diversity was thus pursued: another legal model. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence, it’s right to ascertain the motivation.

For some time, already in the 1990s, those who know how to ‘see’ far into the future feared the new pressures on university structures and doubted the model that was establishing itself. What are the possible impacts on the ARC Center?

Perugia does not and cannot make an exception to the new trend of the universities mentioned above: the importance of the study centers is weakening, with the smallest annual endowment [1], until it ceases; ‘barricading them’ to the point of making them available only to permanent Perugia teachers, in particular impoverishes the ARC and its international connotation previously shared and supported by the University.

Aspects that worried the founding fathers, as a sign of a university antithetical to the objectives of science.

Then, in the 2001 conference, Crifò denounced the risk that the teaching reform would lead to “progressive erosion of scientific research” in universities. He then anticipated the need to “take refuge in locations and opportunities” such as academies. As is the Constantinian[2].

With wise foresight it was already operated (remember, in 1991) in view of the feared dark times. Setting up a scientific entity that was already prepared, that knew how to function autonomously but for equal purposes, painlessly guaranteed the continuation of the 1973 program even if the Center was no longer left with vital space. Pessimism of reason, optimism of will, according to an old formula.

Fortunately, what was feared – the separation with abandonment of the Center and redemption entrusted to the Association – did not happen. The two entities continued to operate together as a single entity that was only externally bipartite. The founding fathers, regardless of their roles, exerted influence on both. The members, involved in the Costantiniana in its entirety, have no interest in differentiating.

Encouraging hope for the future, even if difficulties have recently emerged. Ignoring them is impossible. Keeping quiet about it would make no sense. The only way is to face them consciously. The shared intent to continue the common path of three decades involves a commitment for everyone to iron out and overcome them.

The Constantinian Historical-Juridical Academy is aware of the constraints and ties that the Center has. And he doesn’t intend to stiffen: compromise is not in itself a bad word, it implies reasonableness. In times gone by, common sense considered contracts with which both parties were only partially satisfied to be successful: they had lost “a”, gained “b”. Accommodations must be sought and found, in the name of the inalienable objective of equal dignity.

We don’t want to be blind, we aim for optimism. A splendid half-century adventure end due to some friction? You can’t – you shouldn’t! – contribute to causing death. We would all be co-responsible for it, ARC, ASGC. Today’s protagonists have a serious responsibility, towards themselves, towards the interlocutors in the discussion, towards the many who have believed and believe in the Constantinian and have worked and are still working for the Constantinian.

The ancient wish Quod bonum felix faustumque sit – with which Felix Wubbe concluded his presentation in 1998[3] – reunite together, once again, the Constantinian Romanistic Academy and the Constantinian Historical-Juridical Academy.

March 2024

Ad maiora

[1] Even if on particular occasions the joint interest of the Rector and the Administrative Director manages to translate into special funding.

[2] Crifò, in AARC, 15 cit., 22.

[3] Felix Wubbe wanted to use it in concluding the aforementioned (note 3, section 1. – The origin) presentation of the Symposium for the twenty-five years (p. 6).