Early Medieval Canon Law

doi:10.1017/9781139177221.003

2 - Early Medieval Canon Law

from Part I - The History of Medieval Canon Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 January 2022

Abigail Firey

Edited by

Anders Winroth and

John C. Wei

Show author details

Anders Winroth: Affiliation:
Universitetet i Oslo

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Between the fourth and tenth centuries, across most of western Europe, law, legal institutions, and legal procedures became Christianized, in the sense that Christian rhetorical tropes, ideologies, and existential perspectives infused legal expression and practices. Royal and imperial courts were sites for interweaving secular and ecclesiastical authority, and hence for interweaving secular and ecclesiastical law. Such interweaving found voice in “mixed assemblies,” that is, assemblies in which both higher clergy and secular nobility participated in judicial and legislative processes; documents issued under the name of a king or emperor also show the integration of secular and ecclesiastical law. Law was not exclusively developed and implemented at royal courts and assemblies: complementing governmental efforts to instantiate Christian law, the educated elite took an interest in law, both as a subject for study and as a resource for informing arbitration, prosecution, or defense of rights and privileges. One of the many streams of legal formation was the practice of collecting, compiling, and conserving decrees and judicial opinions that would, in time, constitute the core of the canon law of subsequent centuries.

Keywords

Assemblies Christianization Medieval royal legislation Medieval penance Carolingians

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Medieval Canon Law , pp. 32 - 45

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139177221.003 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Select Bibliography

Berndt, Rainer, ed. Das Frankfurter Konzil von 794: Kristallisationspunkt karolingischer Kultur. Mainz, 1997.Google Scholar

Devisse, Jean. Hincmar, archevêque de Reims, 845–882. Travaux d’histoire éthico-politique 29. Geneva, 1975–6.Google Scholar

Hincmar et la loi. Université de Dakar, Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines, Publications de la section d’histoire 5. Dakar, 1962.Google Scholar

Fowler-Magerl, Linda. Clavis canonum: Selected Canon Law Collections before 1140; Access with Data Processing. MGH: Hilfsmittel 21. Hanover, 2005. A version at www.mgh.de/ext/clavis/.Google Scholar

Fuhrmann, Horst. Einfluss und Verbreitung der pseudoisidorischen Fälschungen von ihrem Auftauchen bis in die neuere Zeit. MGH: Schriften 24. Stuttgart, 1972–3.Google Scholar

Gaudemet, Jean. Les sources du droit de l’Église en Occident du II^e au VII^e siècle. Paris, 1985.Google Scholar

Harder, Clara. Pseudoisidor und das Papsttum: Funktion und Bedeutung des apostolischen Stuhls in den pseudoisidorischen Fälschungen. Cologne, 2014.Google Scholar

Hartmann, Wilfried. Die Synoden der Karolingerzeit im Frankenreich und in Italien. Paderborn, 1989.Google Scholar

Heydemann, Gerda. “The People of God and the Law: Biblical Models in Carolingian Legislation.” Speculum 95 (2020), 89–131.Google Scholar

Jasper, Detlev, and Fuhrmann, Horst. Papal Letters in the Early Middle Ages. Washington, DC, 2001.Google Scholar

Kéry, Lotte. Canonical Collections of the Early Middle Ages (ca. 400–1140): A Bibliographical Guide to the Manuscripts and Literature. HMCL. Washington, DC, 1999.Google Scholar

Liebs, Detlef. Römische Jurisprudenz in Gallien (2. bis 8. Jahrhundert). Berlin, 2002.Google Scholar

Maaßen, Friedrich. Geschichte der Quellen und der Literatur des canonischen Rechts im Abendlande, vol. 1, Die Rechtsammlungen bis zur Mitte des 9. Jahrhunderts. Graz, 1870.Google Scholar

Mordek, Hubert. Biblioteca capitularium regum Francorum manuscripta: Überlieferung und Traditionszusammenhang der fränkischen Herrschererlasse. MGH: Hilfsmittel 15. Munich, 1995.Google Scholar

Patzold, Steffen. Episcopus: Wissen über Bischöfe im Frankenreich des späten 8. bis frühen 10. Jahrhunderts. Mittelalter-Forschungen 25. Ostfildern, 2008.Google Scholar

Rouche, Michel, and Dumézil, Bruno, eds. Le Bréviaire d’Alaric aux origines du Code civil. Culture et civilisation médiévales 44. Paris, 2008.Google Scholar