Canon Law and the Letters of Ivo of Chartres

Major new study of Ivo of Chartres, providing a new interpretation of the authorship of works attributed to him.

Christof Rolker (Author)

9780521766821, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 January 2010

400 pages
23.4 x 15.8 x 2.3 cm, 0.76 kg

'The author presents a painstaking and detailed study of the sources and the inter-relationship of the principal works attributed to Ivo: the Tripartita, Decretum, Panormia and Prologus. … Rolker does clearly give the state of the question on Ivo's canonical works, provides a fuller context for these works, and shines a brighter light on these sources, and it is in just this way that Ivo's letters prove most valuable.' Becket Soule, Ecclesiastical Law Journal

Ivo of Chartres was one of the most learned scholars of his time, a powerful bishop and a major figure in the so-called 'Investiture Contest'. Christof Rolker here offers a major new study of Ivo, his works and the role he played in the intellectual, religious and political culture of medieval Europe around 1100 AD. Comparing Ivo's extensive correspondence to the contemporary canon law collections attributed to him, Dr Rolker provides a new interpretation of their authorship. Contrary to current assumptions, he reveals that Ivo did not compile the Panormia, showing that its compiler worked in a distinctly different mental framework from Ivo. These findings call for a reassessment of the relationship between Church reform and scholasticism and shed new light on Ivo as both a scholar and bishop.

1. Ivo of Chartres - 'life and letters'?
2. Canon law before Ivo
3. Collections known to or compiled by Ivo
4. The canon law in Ivo's correspondence
5. Hierarchies of authority: Ivo's views on divine law and the ecclesiastical hierarchy
6. The laws of marriage: 'quod et natura disposuit, et lex tam ecclesiastica quam mundana firmavit'
7. Ivo's Decretum and the Panormia: character, receptions, authorship
8. Ivo's pastoral canon law and his place in legal history
A concordance table for the quotations in Ivo's letters
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Legal history [LAZ], European history [HBJD]