Papal Jurisprudence c. 400
Sources of the Canon Law Tradition

Accessible translations, with editions of papal documents from Late Antiquity, addressing key themes such as marriage, celibacy, ritual and heresy.

David L. d'Avray (Edited and translated by)

9781108472937, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 December 2019

310 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.2 cm, 0.6 kg

'­… d'Avray's book provides important insights for scholars and students of the medieval Church. It shows the importance of the fifth century as a formative period, when papal jurisprudence took shape as the result of the exchange of letters between popes and bishops.' Barbara Bombi, English Historical Review

In the late fourth century, in the absence of formal church councils, bishops from all over the Western Empire wrote to the Pope asking for advice on issues including celibacy, marriage law, penance and heresy, with papal responses to these questions often being incorportated into private collections of canon law. Most papal documents were therefore responses to questions from bishops, and not initiated from Rome. Bringing together these key texts, this volume of accessible translations and critical transcriptions of papal letters is arranged thematically to offer a new understanding of attitudes towards these fundamental issues within canon law. Papal Jurisprudence, c.400 reveals what bishops were asking, and why the replies mattered. It is offered as a companion to the forthcoming volume Papal Jurisprudence: Social Origins and Medieval Reception of Canon Law, 385–1234.

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Manuscript sigla
1. Introduction
2. State of research: Caspar and after
3. Texts and manuscripts
4. Rituals and liturgy
5. Status hierarchy
6. Hierarchy of authority
7. Celibacy
8. 'Bigamy'
9. Marriage
10. Monks and the secular clergy
11. Heretics: Novatians, Bonosians, and Photinians
12. Heretics: in the shadow of St Augustine
13. Penance
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Ecclesiastical [canon law LAFX], Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church [HRCC7], Church history [HRCC2]