Agricola the Pelagian

fl. AD 429 (death unrecorded) · Pelagian teacher in Britain · Britannia

The Nicene Age

Who Agricola the Pelagian was

The man whose teaching brought Germanus of Auxerre across the Channel. Prosper of Aquitaine records that Agricola, son of the Pelagian bishop Severianus, corrupted the churches of Britain by insinuating his doctrine, and that the British bishops appealed to Gaul; Germanus was sent in 429 by the authority of Pope Celestine. It is the best-dated event in fifth-century British church history and the archive held neither of the men behind it.

Verified single attestation

Named once in the sources within the horizon; no other ancient witness names him.

Common questions

When was Agricola active?

Agricola the Pelagian is dated fl. AD 429 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Agricola in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400).

Which early sources mention Agricola?

Agricola the Pelagian is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Prosper of Aquitaine. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Agricola from?

The archive associates Agricola the Pelagian with Britannia.

Who were Agricola’s contemporaries?

The archive links Agricola the Pelagian to 2 other figures, including Severianus and Pelagius. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.

Primary-source mentions (1)

Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Epitoma Chronicon, s.a. 429 (the mission of Germanus to Britain)

c. AD 440

Agricola, the Pelagian, son of the Pelagian bishop Severianus, corrupted the churches of Britain by the insinuation of his doctrine.

Prosper of Aquitaine · Epitoma Chronicon s.a. 429

Prosper of Aquitaine’s continuation of Jerome’s chronicle, written in Gaul and carried down to AD 455. Edited by Theodor Mommsen in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Chronica Minora I (1892).