Charles Dumoulin's Annotations in a Lyon Edition of the Decretum

Abstract

Charles Dumoulin's Annotations in a Lyon Edition of the Decretum1 Thomas Izbicki In 1554 Ioannes Pidaeius, a printer in Lyon, published an edition of Gratian's Decretum. The most notable aspect of this edition was the addition of marginal annotations by the jurist Charles Dumoulin (Carolus Molinaeus) on both the text and the Ordinary Gloss. Dumoulin also numbered the canons, but not the paleae, in the Decretum.2 Dumoulin's annotations, signed 'C. M.', combined history, jurisprudence and Gallican ecclesiology. They also showed signs of a sympathy for Reformed theology, which the author had developed by 1540.3 The author of the notes participated in efforts to correct Gratian's text, but he also used history to undermine papal power in the church.4 Dumoulin's controversial opinions led to the edition being placed on the Index together with orders that those annotations be obliterated. As has been noted, efforts to remove these annotations were not universally successful.5 Scholarship on Dumoulin has not treated these marginal notes systematically, nor has it given adequate [End Page 179] attention to the inclusion of the annotations in the seventeenth-century editions of his Opera.6 The controversial opinions of Dumoulin were not new to this edition of the Decretum. His annotations refer to earlier writings and editions. The writings were: Commentarii in consuetudines Parisienses (begun in 1539);7 De usuris (1547);8 Commentarius ad edictum Henrici secondi contra parvas datas et abusus Curiae Romanae (1550); Commentarius analyticus in regulas Cancellariae Romanae hactenus in regno Franciae receptas (1552).9 The editions were of the Consilia of Alexander of Imola (1543) and the works of Philippus Decius (1553). (Decius was a jurist who had supported the effort of the 'conciliabulum' of Pisa [1512-1517]to depose Pope Julius II).10 In addition, Dumoulin had contributed annotations to a 1553 edition of the Liber extra or Decretals of Gregory IX.11 Careful study of a copy of the Lyon 1554 edition, reveals more than just censorship of Dumoulin's signed notes. Texts [End Page 180] signed 'C. M.' occasionally were ignored, and wrongly attributed notes (as will be seen) were censored. In addition, Dumoulin's notes were inserted where there already were summaries or glosses signed with the sigla of earlier canonists. (Those authors most often cited were Laurentius Hispanus, Huguccio of Pisa, Guido de Baysio (archdeacon of Bologna and known as the Archdeacon rather than as Guido de Baysio) and Johannes de Fantutiis.) In addition, the references in the Paris Opera can be incomplete because of omissions or incorrect, citing as Dumoulin's texts not attributable to him. How Dumoulin's annotations were inserted alongside earlier materials can be shown by looking at the glossed text to Si papa[D.40 c.6], which dealt with the legal vulnerability of a pope who fell into doctrinal error. Earlier editions of the Decretum provided brief notes concerning the contents of the canon's glosses by Johannes Teutonicus. The Paris 1539 edition of the Decretum provides an example of such notes:12 p.44va: 'Prelati tacere non debent. Papa iudicatur a nemine', a note to Johannes Teutonicus' gloss s.v. A nemine. p.44va: 'Papa an de crimine accusari possit', also attached to A nemine. p. 44va:A note that was an addition to Johannes Teutonicus' gloss A nemines.v. dicitur heresis: 'Dic quod hereticus dicitur pluribus modis: vt nota. xxiiii. q. iii. Inter (C.24 q.3 c.26) et extra. de here. Firmissime (X 5.7.3)'. p.44va: Also an addition to Teutonicus' gloss s.v. Si peccauerit in te frater tuus:'vt ii. q. i. si peccauerit'. p.44va: Also an addition to Teutonicus' gloss s.v. esset denunciatio: 'Sub. etiam denunciatio fit ad correctionem ad quam compelli non potestcum superiorem non habeat. Arc.' citing a text of Guido de Baysio on D.40 c.6.13 p.44va: A comment on the end of Teutonicus' gloss but without a lemma: 'Imperator pro quo peccato deponi potest'? The Lyon 1554 edition inserts a note by Dumoulin after these marginal comments on p.131a: 'Prelati tacere non debent. Papa iudicatur a nemine'. [End Page 181] p.131a-b: D.40...