Decretum Gratiani Research Articles

Horn, Hoof and Hound’s Tooth in Medieval Frisian and Danish Law

Abstract The medieval Frisian Twenty-four Land-laws and the Danish Law of Scania share an eye-catching phrasing in their provisions on animal liability: they refer to a number of animals’ injurious body parts, e.g., a dog’s tooth. Similar formulas have been identified in the Decretum Gratiani and the Edictum Rothari, but the author’s analysis shows that the Frisian and Danish formulas and the legal rules in which they are embedded correspond to a much higher degree than with any other legal source.

Neue Erkenntnisse und Überlegungen zur Edition der Summa decretorum des Huguccio

Abstract New insights and ideas for an edition of Huguccio’s Summa decretorum. A critical edition of Huguccio’s monumental and eminently influential Summa decretorum has long been an urgent desideratum of canonist research. The present contribution evaluates previous research conducted by Oldřich Přerovský (1924–2013) and presents the results of our own sample edition of parts of Huguccio’s commentary on the pars prima of the Decretum Gratiani. In particular, we offer new insights into the Summa’s complex manuscript tradition and propose a thorough revision of Přerovský’s editorial methodology with the aim of relaunching the Huguccio edition in the future.

Liturgy and Ecclesiastical Law

The subject-matter of this study is liturgical law in the Czech lands in the Middle Ages, i.e. in Great Moravia, in the Duchy of Bohemia, and in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Liturgical law was shaped by the decrees of popes, ecumenical councils, Decretum Gratiani, and collections of decrees. The ordinances of the metropolitan and diocesan bishop or the statutes of a monastic order played a role at the particular church level. The customs of the metropolitan church and the cathedral church are summarised in the agenda in force within the territory of the ecclesiastical province or diocese. A new Slavonic liturgy arrived in Great Moravia in the final third of the 9th century and at the beginning of the 10th century. Popes issued several decrees regulating its use. The newly-established bishopric of Prague and subsequently the restored bishopric of Olomouc used the Latin liturgy alone. The form of the liturgy used was determined by surviving liturgical manuscripts: pontificals, missals, breviaries, lectionaries, psalters, antiphonaries, and graduals. These codices are often richly-illuminated, the most elaborate ones being used by the owner, often the bishop, for prestige promotion. A large number of these liturgical books survive in Czech libraries and manuscript collections from the Middle Ages, most of them from the 14th and in particular the 15th centuries.

A házassági javak megjelenése a Corpus Iuris Canoniciben

For a long time, the regulation of marriage law in a unified system was not realized. In the late Middle Ages, canon law regulated the most important elements of marriage in systematic collections. The goods of the marriage were primarily contained in the Decretum Gratiani and the Liber extra. These goods were: fidelity, indissolubility, birth and care of children, sacramental character. Marriage law had four layers: ius naturalis, Holy Scripture, Roman law and canon law. Later, there was a unified regulation both in the field of Catholic dogmatics and canon law (Catechism (1566, 1992) and Corpus Iuris Canonici (1917, 1983).

Coacta voluntas est voluntas: Baptism and Return in Canon Law

Abstract Throughout the early Middle Ages, the border between Christianity and Judaism was comparatively permeable, and baptized Jews, particularly those baptized under duress, frequently returned openly to Judaism. While modern scholars of Jewish-Christian relations often assume that medieval canon law always forbade this, a single norm governing converts’ re-conversion, or reversion, did not begin to emerge until the mid-twelfth century with the Decretum Gratiani. The Decretum established the preeminence of the canon that barred Jewish baptizands’ reversion and acted as a catalyst for discussions about the limits of consent and coercion, baptism and conversion. These debates provided the foundation for the mandates of the early thirteenth century that did establish the legal boundary between Jew and Christian which lasted into modernity: so long as baptizands consented, even if under duress, they were Christians and could not return to Judaism.

Ancora un apporto per la storia della miniatura tolosana del XIV secolo: una nuova attribuzione per le miniature del MS 45 (vol. 1) del Corpus Christi College di Cambridge

The study of the illumination of the MS 45 (vol. 1), preserved in the library of Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, has made it possible to attribute his illustrative apparatus to the hand of the illuminator from Toulouse, active around the middle of the fourteenth century, designated as Master of the Avignon Decretum for having illuminated the ms. 659 of the Municipal Library of Avignon, containing precisely the text of the Decretum Gratiani

Destroyed but not Lost: A Digital Reconstruction of the Chartrain Copy of Burchard's Liber decretorum (Chartres BM 161)

Destroyed but not Lost:A Digital Reconstruction of the Chartrain Copy of Burchard's Liber decretorum (Chartres BM 161)1 Michela Galli and Christof Rolker Part I: Burchard's Place in the History of Canon Law The Liber decretorum compiled shortly before 1023 by Burchard of Worms (†1025) was the most influential canon law collection of the eleventh century. Bishops, abbots, teachers, and many other prelates valued the Liber decretorum as a comprehensive, well-structured canon law collection covering a very wide range of issues; it was copied frequently, and many compilers used Burchard's work as a model for their own canonical collections. Thus, not only are there some 100 medieval copies (or fragments thereof) still extant, but also a large number of other collections drawing on the Liber decretorum. Crucially, this group includes the Decretum of Ivo of Chartres, which incorporated most of Burchard's Liber decretorum and in turn became widely influential both in its own right and via the large number of derivative collections drawing on it. Via these later collections, the decisions Burchard had made in omitting, retaining, reworking, and arranging his material had a profound impact on medieval and even early modern canon law, if only because material not found in his comprehensive collection had a significantly lower chance of being included in any of the most influential collections of the twelfth century. After all, the Tripartita (in part B), the Panormia, and the Decretum Gratiani [End Page 19] all depend either directly or indirectly on the Decretum of Ivo of Chartres mentioned above as an important Burchard derivative. Yet before the Burchadian material ended up (or not) in the collections of the twelfth century, the Liber decretorum already had undergone considerable changes. From early on, the Liber decretorum existed in different versions, as Burchard and his collaborators were still making additions and other changes to their work when the collection began to be used outside Worms.2 As Hoffmann and Pokorny established, the arrangement of canons differs significantly already among the very early copies. In particular, they distinguish two variants of the 'Order of Worms': 'type A' (found only in the Vatican double codex, two Würzburg copies, and the editio princeps), and 'type B', also known as 'Frankfurt' order, which is found in almost all extant copies of the Liber decretorum. For the textual history of the collection, special attention has to be paid to the reception of Burchard in northern Italy, as it was here that several distinct versions emerged in the second half of the eleventh century. The most important branch of transmission are the so-called 'deteriores' manuscripts. As Gérard Fransen demonstrated in a number of studies,3 many copies of the Liber decretorum go back directly or indirectly to exemplars which either have a number of distinctive omissions in books 8, 12, 19, and 20, or 'scars' suggesting that these gaps had been mended one way or the other. By 'scars' we refer to all phenomena which can be best explained as the result of adding some or all of [End Page 20] the missing canons from a complete version of the Liber decretorum. For example, the missing material may be found in the margin rather than the main text, inserted at the end of the respective book, written by a different hand, and/or the gaps may be commented upon; sometimes, canons were conflated (or mutilated) as a result of the insertion of missing material, or inscriptions became muddled, or the capitulatio was not, or not adequately, brought up to date. As already Fransen observed, some of these features were often preserved, at least in part, when new copies were made from such 'mended' exemplars. For example, the phrase 'hic minus habetur' in several Burchard manuscripts is found in the main text of a canon to which it originally was a marginal comment.4 In all probability, the characteristic gaps first occurred with a Burchard manuscript written in or brought to northern Italy in the mid-eleventh century. Indeed, most Burchard copies written in northern Italy display the characteristic 'deteriores' gaps and/or 'scars' in the above sense; vice versa, most extant manuscripts belonging to the...

Die Juden im Decretum Gratiani

Abstract Although it never entered the Church’s official legal code, the Decretum Gratiani, completed around 1140, systematically summarizes a millennium of ecclesiastical legislature and therefore forms the basis of later canonistic teachings. This applies also to the numerous clauses it contains relating to Jews and Christian-Jewish co-existence. Besides the specific articles that explicitly refer to Jews, importance must be assigned to numerous others which, though they do not expressly name Jews, relate equally to them, and have scarcely been considered in previous analyses. In fact, historical research has also overlooked many of the articles explicitly concerned with Jews. The number of relevant edicts presented in this essay is therefore more than twice that of previous compilations. This extensive material is systematically compiled in groupings: toleration, acknowledgement and legal protection for Jews; efforts at conversion, Christian-Jewish intermarriages, children and slaves of Jews; prevention of proselytising and the apostasy of converts; theological disavowal, rights limitation and suppression of the Jews. In conclusion, the significance of the Decretum Gratiani for the treatment of Jews is examined in comparison with other canonistic collections of the High Middle Ages, and is found to be relatively moderate. The appended tables not only provide a systematic overview of the relevant articles, but also list their origin, and their appearance in the more important pre-Gratian canonical collections.

Вплив римського права на правову систему Держави-Міста Ватикан

The author of the research paper established that Roman Private Law had effect on all legal families and systems, in particular, the legal system of the Vatican City State. The process of Canon Law formation as the main source of a legal system of the Vatican City State was highlighted. Particularly, it was established that Roman Law had direct influence on development of the Canon Law, its structure and content, which is evidenced by its several codifications. Also, Roman Law development process, creation of new compilations, abridgments and codifications of law as well as their influence on formation and development of the Vatican state is considered in the paper. In particular, the Codex Theodosianus, the Corpus Juris Civilis, the Decretum Gratiani, etc. were worked out.

RAPTUS PUELLAE JAKO PRZESZKODA MAŁŻEŃSKA W DEKRECIE GRACJANA

Marriage has always been a concern of the Church. Christian doctrine gave matrimonium sacred meaning and at the same time fully endorsed the concept of mutual consent which originated from Roman law. The act of abduction with its legal and ethical consequences was described in detail in the Decretum Gratiani. The punishment for the abductor was public penance and prohibition of marriage. If the fiancé was unwilling to take back the abducted bride he was allowed to marry another woman. However, if the fiancé and the bride wanted to get married afresh, they were to be both excommunicated until they had made their reparation. The Decretum Gratiani clearly indicated that the raptus puellae was an obstacle which prevented marriage. The reason was the duress of abduction, which was contrasted with free will, voluntarily consent and the approval of father, parents or guardians.

"Dulcor misericordiae". Justicia y misericordia en el ejercicio de la autoridad canónica. I. Historia

In the early stages of canon law there was a specific need to intervene to ensure equity in given situations. Canonical equity began to take two forms: perfect justice and benign intervention. These two «souls» have coexisted since the start. Equity encompasses epikeia when the general nature of the law prevents the just appraisal of a specific case. Three representative cases are considered to provide a clearer understanding of the medieval canonical doctrine on aequitas: a letter by St. Augustine in the Decretum Gratiani; a passage from a decretal by Honorius III contained in the Liber Extra; and the great debate between Martinus Gosia and Bulgarus. A number of conclusions as to the ongoing value of equity and some hermeneutical rules relating to its application are drawn on the basis of this discussion.

Las incertidumbres históricas sobre la potestad pontificia de disolver un matrimonio rato y no consumado: una clave interpretativa de la formación del vínculo matrimonial

Papal power to dissolve a non-consummated marriage was established mainly during the pontificates of Popes Alexander III and Innocent III. Since the beginning, this institution has faced significant objections from both theologians and canonists. First, this article focuses on the elements required for an adequate understanding of such papal authority, including the underlying sacramental theology of marriage. Second, a historical overview of the origin and evolution of this power will be outlined, setting the so-called «consent theory» and «coital theory» in their proper context. Special attention will be paid to the distinction between matrimonium initiatum and matrimonium ratum in the Decretum Gratiani, taking into account the different stages of its composition. Finally, there is a brief discussion of the degree to which such papal authority is coherent with the indissolubility of marriage.

Crime and Punishment, Sin and Retribution: From the History of Religious and Legal Traditions of East and Wes

The concepts of “sin” and “crime”, “reward” and “punishment” are found in the ancient Indian religious and ethical treatises - dharmasastra Manu, Yajnavalkya and Vishnu, and canon law manuscripts of Western Europe of early and High Middle Ages. The issue of the relationship between Eastern and Western religious and legal views is examined in the paper. The authors defend the idea that religion is a key component having influenced the basic principles of morality and law, the construction of crime and punishment concepts. It is proved that officially already in the early Middle Ages, both in the East and in the West the sources of law differentiate between the sinful and criminal acts, which, however, at that time still was not clear and unambiguous. Based on the application of comparative analysis, hermeneutics, contextual analysis, historical, legal and other methods while studying the dharmasastra texts, the authors propose several classifications of sins against various reasons: according to the form of guilt, the degree of public danger, according to the order imposition and execution of the expiation. In turn, the methods mentioned above contributed to the detailed study of the medieval sources of canon law, which allowed us to formulate the thesis on the official differentiation between the concepts of “sin” and “crime” only after the adoption of the Decretum Gratiani to have been the main source of Western canon law in the Middle Ages. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s2p662

Ley y potestades eclesiásticas del Trecento: patrimonio visual y contexto jurídico en las Causas de un Decretum Gratiani catalán (British Library, Add. 15274-15275)

Some copies of the Decretum Gratiani were richly illustrated with miniatures that allow us to study the image given of ecclesiastical power. Throughout the 14th c. old and new issues were embodied in representations accompanying the Causes and other texts included in ancient compilations of canon law. The illustrations are a synthesis that leads us into a complex world of relationships and theories in which religious power is manifested and highlights the status conferred on popes, cardinals and bishops. In the adoption of a position the confrontation with other powers and social sectors is essential. The analysis of one of these luxury manuscripts (London, BL, ms. Add.15274-15275), linked to the workshop of Ferrer Bassa and Catalan art most implicated in the search of the Italian Trecento, is the main object of study of this article. Its narrative and its textual and figurative complexities must be located and understood in the time of the Avignon exile and the papacy of Pope Clement VI. It is a work of ...

The Origin of the Pauline Privilege

The indissolubility of marriage is a distinctive trait of the Catholic doctrine on marriage, also compared to the other Christian denominations. According to the doctrine, this indissolubility is characteristic not only for the Christian marriage, but for every marriage. As a matter of fact, in some cases the Church acknowledges itself the power of dissolution of non-sacramental marriages. Traditionally, the historical and doctrinal origin of this power is traced back to the so-called « Pauline privilege ». This article deals with the study of the historical origins of the above-mentioned privilege, first through the exegetical study of 1Cor 7,15, that represents the scriptural basis of the privilege, and then analysing the history of interpretation of this passage, up to the Decretum Gratiani (xii century). For this purpose, not only canonical, but also exegetical and theological sources will be taken into consideration.

Gratian’s De penitentia in Twelfth-Century Manuscripts

Gratian’s De penitentia in Twelfth-Century Manuscripts Atria A. Larson Through the research of Rudolf Weigand, Titus Lenherr, Regula Gujer, Anders Winroth, Carlos Larrainzar, José Miguel Viejo-Ximénez, and Melodie Eichbauer, certain twelfth-century Decretum Gratiani manuscripts have achieved prominence in textual studies of the work. These studies are important for determining which manuscripts to use in an eventual critical edition. Weigand focused his attention on early glosses, but his research on the glosses identified many Decretum manuscripts as belonging to the twelfth century.1 Lenherr worked out a methodology for determining which of the many twelfth-century manuscripts could reliably be utilized to create a working edition of Gratian’s text (and one superior to Friedberg’s edition). He ultimately recommended four manuscripts.2 Gujer used a total of eighteen manuscripts, including three of Lenherr’s manuscripts [End Page 57] for her edition of prima pars D.16.3 Winroth complicated matters but also breathed new life into old debates and answered many questions, by discovering an earlier recension of Gratian’s text preserved in extant manuscripts.4 Although each manuscript has its own characteristics and they do not all fall neatly into the category of a single, unified recension, the number of these confirmed manuscripts, including fragments and abbreviations, now stands at six.5 Larrainzar properly drew attention to the unique and valuable characteristics of the Florence manuscript of those six.6 He and Viejo-Ximénez have published numerous studies tracing the textual development of small portions of Gratian’s text through at least three successive stages, beginning with UrGratian, or the original text of the Decretum Gratiani, which is not extant but to which, of all extant manuscripts, Sankt Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek 673 (Sg) might have the closest relationship.7 They have emphasized how the Concordia, or the [End Page 58] stage of the Decretum present in Winroth’s identified manuscripts (the stage which Winroth and others call the ‘first recension’) received numerous additiones and in the process transformed from the earlier Concordia into the later Decretum (the stage of Gratian’s text which Winroth and others call the ‘second recension’). Eichbauer has compared the additiones in the three relevant earlier manuscripts (Aa, Bc, and Fd).8 Collectively, the scholarship of the past three decades provides a surer basis for determining which manuscripts to collate for a critical edition of the Decretum, but much work remains to be done. Any critical edition of the Decretum must, as Kuttner urged thirty years ago, portray the various stages in the development of Gratian’s text.9 How precisely to do this remains unsettled. Certain manuscripts chosen by Lenherr and Gujer might be more valuable for ‘first-recension’ texts than for ‘second-recension’ texts, or vice versa.10 The additiones of Aa, Bc, and Fd either should or should not be collated for a critical edition of ‘second-recension’ texts, but the research of Larrainzar, Viejo-Ximénez, and Eichbauer strongly suggests that they should at least be given serious consideration. Their research also strongly suggests that, in a future critical edition, the ‘second-recension’ texts should not be treated as a monolithic category but rather as a group of texts added organically or diachronically to the ‘first recension’, only the first (and largest) stage of which can be defined with any certainty. My reflections in this essay on eight manuscripts result from my work in producing a new edition of Gratian’s Tractatus de penitentia, or Decretum C.33 q.3. The eight manuscripts are: [End Page 59] Aa, Bi, Fd, Fs, Mk, Pf, Sb, and Sg.11 I collated the first seven for my edition.12 I transcribed the text of Sg for an appendix to the edition. The process of creating a new edition that improves upon Friedberg’s has clarified different properties of these manuscripts, which should assist those in the future facing the daunting task of producing a critical edition of the Decretum in its entirety. I will present my findings in a discursive way with only limited statistical analysis, for the type of evidence I am interested in presenting has more to do with the qualities or nature of each manuscript than...

Pierre de Jean Olivi. Traité des Contrats by Sylvain Piron

Reviewed by: Pierre de Jean Olivi. Traité des Contrats by Sylvain Piron David Flood, OFM Sylvain Piron, Pierre de Jean Olivi. Traité des Contrats (Bibliothèque Scolastique, Volume 5), Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2012, 7.6 x 5 x 1.3 inches, Pages 439, ISBN 978-2251610054 Sylvain Piron has brought a new manuscript into play in his recent edition of Peter of John Olivi’s contribution to medieval economics. The new manuscript, Oxford, Bodleian Library, cod. Bodley 52, gives us the reworked and developed views of the author. Bodley 52’s version of the treatise allows the editor to fuse the previously known three parts together into one text, A Treatise on Contracts. On the occasion of the new edition, Piron argues its importance as a scholastic text, a treatise on the economics of its time and one of wide influence. He offers us a highly informative study of the text, then, before he gets to an excellent critical edition. The edition is accompanied by a translation of the treatise into French. It is followed by brief references to the text as aid to its study. Piron’s book is an impressive contribution to medieval studies. Piron introduces the treatise by requesting acknowledgement of scholastic economics. The intellectual context of Brother Peter of John’s era differs from the discussions on economics that take place in the Western world in our day. There existed then presuppositions that resulted in an understandable approach to the production and distribution of goods. Following on the Decretum Gratiani (1141) theologians and canonists made explicit that an excess of property obliged the rich to see to the needs of the poor. Wealth was a special burden that the materially lucky bore. Or, in truth, if Christian, were to bear. Moreover, charity as a Christian imperative forbade preying on the poor (as U.S. economics allows; which, when impressively successful, even wins esteem). [End Page 511] Such a simple observation helps us understand sensitivity to usury in the Middle Ages. In our day Amartya Sen (whom Piron references) has spoken clearly about the relation of ethics to economics in a positive fashion. Sen proposes we consider the origin of economics either through concern for ethics or by solutions to practical matters (engineering is Sen’s term). How can we settle down and how can we all settle down. Inevitably, Jesus’ concern for the other and its consequent censure of the wealthy will weigh in heavily on economic reflection in a Christian context. Economic thought in Peter of John’s day was otherwise concerned with people than is economics in our day. His economics was not one early stage towards the complete grasp of economic realities in our advanced day, as many of today’s historians would see it. Once Piron justifies scholastic economics (11-26), he goes on to sketch out the social context of Peter of John’s treatise (27-71). He surfaces historical scenes in which the treatise guides business in the interests of society. Once he has made the treatise come alive historically, he goes on to the technical work of the edition. He explains how he will use what sources. He goes further when he makes a few remarks on his translation of the text. Before Piron begins with the edition and its translation, pages 94-321, Latin to the left, French to the right, he has a few remarks (a page and a half, 91-92) on the text’s passage from Latin into French. He explains where he places himself as regards the text and as regards the reader of the translation. He is sensitive to both. He has a duty to the text and would make it understandable to today’s reader. Once clear on the point, Piron goes into a list of words. He explains how he will handle them, given context. Now languages are different. There is no verbal or syntactical correspondence between them. And an economic treatise is drenched in precise detail. In a way, a translator will never get it right because the two linguistic worlds differ. Yet she or he has to make it work somehow. Piron’s brief explanation of the several...

On the origin of the constitution Alearum lusus (C. 3,43,1) and its insertion into the Codex Justinianus

The article explores the origin of C. 3,43,1, which is a Latin epitome (Alearum lusus) of an originally Greek constitution of Justinian’s. The main issues discussed are when this constitution was translated, epitomized and by whom and when it was inserted in book III of the Codex. This is done by investigating the traces of the approximate times when the influence of the constitution in legal doctrine is apparent, both in civil and canon law. Furthermore, some com­mentaries on the Decretum Gratiani appear to reveal further information on the origin of the Latin text. The article aims at contributing to a better understanding of the genesis of the text of the Codex Justinianus as we know it in the early modern editions and Krüger’s 1877 edition.

IV. Una Caro and the Consummation of Marriage in the Decretum Gratiani

In the Decretum Gratiani physical consummation is given an essential role in the formation of Christian marriage. The Decretum relies on the biblical image of one flesh ( una caro, unum corpus ) to support this theory and to explain the ensuing marital rights and obligations. Una caro describes principally the abiding reality of the marital relationship, but it also provides the rationale for marriage's attributes: the bilateralism required of the spouses ( the mutuality of the debitum coniugale and the departure to enter religious life ), indissolubility and its violation by divorce, sacramental symbolism and the negative effect of sequential bigamy, fidelity and the contradiction of adultery, affinity and the transfer of spiritual relationship. By sistematically examining and interpreting Gratian's arguments and sources, this article illustrates the cohesiveness of the Decretum's theory on marriage and how the biblical image of una caro is used to support it.

Il Tractatus De iuramento di Nicola della Rosa Nera

The House At the Black in Prague was a singular centre of study and instruction by the University's Natio Bohemica. Since 1411 there were three teutonici guest professors linked to the party of John Hus: Master Peter of Dresden, Master Frederick Eppinge, and Master Nicholas of the Black Rose (de Rosa Nera); they were given the nickname of Dresdeners. In 1412 after the renewed sentence of Wyclif's 45 Articles passed by ecclesiastical and university authorities, Hus's party decided to publicly defend some of these articles including the one that prohibited the oath in certain cases. A treatise discussing this issue is in Prague, former Chapter Library, now Archiv Pra skeho Hradu, MS C 116, of which the edition is here given: the text is by Nicolaus de Rosa Nera and can be considered his testament. As a bachelor of Canon Law he quotes canonical texts: Decretum Gratiani, the Decretals with the glosses. Besides, a basic authority quoted is Pseudo-Chrysostom's Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum, in order to support the view that the six Evangelical Recommendations of Mt 5, including Mt 5,37, are to be considered commandments. Nicolaus states the duty to fight against the Antichrist, present in the Council of Constance and in the dominant simony of ecclesiastical organization. There are connections with the imitation of Christ in the spirit of the Devotio Moderna, but no connection with Waldesianism.