Studies in Bracton

Abstract

I have elsewhere drawn attention to a manuscript containing three works on canon law that Bracton laid under contribution, namely Tancred's Ordo judiciarius, Raymond of Peñafort's Summa de matrimonio and William of Drogheda's Summa aurea. This manuscript has been ascribed to the late thirteenth century by Dr. M. R. James; but dating a manuscript by the character of the handwriting can rarely be exact, and there seemed a possibility that the book might prove to be one that Bracton himself had used or that was related in some way to such a one. Through the kindness of the Council of Gonville and Caius College I have been able to examine the manuscript at leisure and, while it tells us less than might have been hoped, yet it does seem to throw a little fresh light upon Bracton's treatise and one of Bracton's sources.