Great Christian Jurists and Legal Collections in the First Millennium

Shows how Christian leaders before 1000 CE understood law and used normative texts and practices for social order and eternal salvation.

Philip L. Reynolds (Edited by)

9781108471718, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 June 2019

506 pages
23.4 x 15.6 x 3 cm, 0.84 kg

'An indispensable guide to key figures and legal concepts during the foundational age of Western, Christian, law. Essential reading for legal historians and theologians alike.' Caroline Humfress, University of St Andrews, Scotland

Great Christian Jurists and Legal Collections in the First Millennium is a systematic collection of essays describing how Christian leaders and scholars of the first millennium in the West contributed to law and jurisprudence and used written norms and corrective practices to maintain social order and to guide people from this life into the next. With chapters on topics such as Roman and post-Roman law, church councils, the papacy, and the relationship between royal and ecclesiastical authority, as well as on individual authors such as Lactantius, Ambrosiaster, Augustine, Leo I, Gelasius I, and Gregory the Great, this book invites a more holistic and realistic appreciation of early-medieval contributions to the history of law and jurisprudence for entry-level students and scholars alike. Great Christian Jurists and Legal Collections in the First Millennium provides a fresh look, from a new perspective, enabling readers to see these familiar authors in a fresh light.

Part I: 1. Normative texts and practices of the first millennium Philip L. Reynolds
2. The many voices of Roman law Jill Harries
3. The law of the post-Roman kingdoms Alexander Callander Murray
4. Ecclesiastical councils Gregory I. Halfond
5. The papacy Clemens Gantner and Stefan Schima
6. The sacred palace, public penance, and the Carolingian polity Mayke de Jong
7. Canonical collections Roy Flechner
8. The practice and literature of penance Rob Meens
9. Monastic rules Albrecht Diem
Part II: 10. Lactantius Elizabeth De Palma Digeser
11. Ambrosiaster David Hunter
12. Augustine Brian Gronewoller
13. Leo I Susan Wessel
14. Gelasius I Bronwen Neil
15. Dionysius Exiguus David Heith-Stade
16. The rule of Benedict Hugh Feiss
17. Gregory the Great Carole Straw
18. Isidore of Seville Luca Loschiavo
19. Pseudo-Isidorus Mercator Clara Harder
20. Jonas of Orléans Francesco Veronese
21. Hincmar of Reims Charles West
22. Regino of Prüm Greta Austin
23. Burchard of Worms Greta Austin
24. New horizons in church law Robert Somerville.

Subject Areas: Jurisprudence & philosophy of law [LAB], Church history [HRCC2]