Canon Law and the Letters of Ivo of Chartres

by Christof Rolker

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521766821
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/28/2010
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series , #76
Pages:	386
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Christof Rolker is research fellow of the Kulturwissenschaftliches Kolleg Konstanz.

Table of Contents

List of abbreviations vii

Note on the citation of manuscripts xiii

1 IVO of Chartres - 'Life and Letters'? 1

'Scripsit ad diversos amicos utiles valde epistolas': a contemporary view 1

Ivo as abbot and bishop 5

The changing identity of Ivo 24

The 'Ivonian' collections reconsidered 47

2 Canon law before IVO 50

Canon law in northern France to the early eleventh century 50

The impact of Burchard of Worms 60

The Collection in seventy-four titles and its derivatives 81

Summary: the demand for legal texts 85

3 Collections known to or compiled by IVO 89

Ivo's education 89

The Collectio Britannica 92

Tripartita A and its sources 100

Ivo's magnum opus: the Decretum 107

The Prologus and its sources 121

The Panormia and its sources 123

4 The Canon Law in IVO's Correspondence 127

The letter collection and its formal sources 127

Tripartita A 135

The Decretum - main source of the letters 137

Tripartita B 145

The Panormia 148

Other sources 152

Conclusions 160

5 Hierarchies of Authority: Ivo's Views On Divine Law and the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy 163

Introduction 163

Ivo's method of 'mercy and justice' 165

Sacramental canon law 180

Ecclesiastical hierarchy 193

Conclusions 208

6 The Laws Of Marriage: 'Quod Et Natura Disposuit, Et Lex Tam Ecclesiastica Quam Mundana Firmavit' 211

Ivo's view on marriage 211

King Philip's marriage affair 230

Summary 243

7 IVO'S Decretum and the Panormia: Character, Reception, Authorship 248

Ivo's Decretum and the Panormia compared 248

The reception of the Decretum in the twelfth century 256

The Panormia: authorship, date and place of origin 265

8 IVO'S Pastoral Canon Law and his Place in Legal History 290

Appendix: A concordance table for the quotations in Ivo's letters 303

Bibliography 339

Index to single letters of Ivo of Chartres 373

Manuscript index 376

General index 380

Editorial Reviews

'Christof Rolker provides for the first time a truly comprehensive examination of the letters' [of Ivo of Chartres] transmission. This, however, is only one of this outstanding work's achievements. For Rolker also re-assesses the state of canon law and theology in northern France at the beginning of the twelfth century and Ivo's role in the creation of a distinct canonistic jurisprudence … I recommend this volume to any student of medieval life around 1100.' Bruce Brasington, The Medieval Review

'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

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