Irnerius
Irnerius (c. 1050 – after 1125), sometimes referred to as lucerna juris
He taught the newly recovered Roman lawcode of
Life
He was born in Bologna about 1050.
At the urging of Countess
Some jurisprudence had been taught at Bologna, before Irnerius founded his school, by Pepo and a few others, and a tradition of jurisprudence had developed at Pavia since the mid-ninth century.[2] He introduced the custom of explaining the Roman law by means of glosses, which originally were meagre interlinear elucidations of the text. But since the glosses were often too extensive to be inserted between the lines of the text, he began to write them on the margin of the page, thus being the first to introduce the marginal glosses which afterwards came into general use.
After the death of
Teaching
Irnerius taught along lines firmly established in the teaching of Scripture, by reading aloud a section of the civil law, which the students would copy, and add to the text his commentary and explanatory glosses. Thus he was the first of the glossators,[1] whose explications of the law became an essential part of the legal curriculum.
The text of Justinian's
Works
According to ancient opinion (which, however, has been much controverted), Irnerius was the author of the epitome of the Novellae of Justinian, called the Authentica, arranged according to the titles of the Code. His Formularium tabellionum (a directory for notaries) and Quaestiones (a book of judicial decisions) are no longer extant.[1]
The Summa Codicis, attributed to Irnerius by Herman Fitting in his 1894 edition [3] is now widely considered a later work of between 1130 and 1159, but remains the earliest known summa on Justinian's Code [4]
Another important work, Quaestiones de juris subtilitatibus,[5] was generally ascribed to Irnerius until Hermann Kantorowicz published a manuscript from the British Museum.[6]
Other juridical works and glosses that are ascribed to Irnerius are extant only in fragments, or their authorship is uncertain.
Reputation
Irnerius was largely forgotten until his name was revived by German historians of the later 19th century and came to prominence with the celebrations marking the
Anders Winroth has questioned much of the received account of Irnerius' life as well as his importance to the history of Roman law in the Middle Ages.[8]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Irnerius". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 796. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ The emergent role of Pavia put forward by Charles M. Radding, The Origins of Medieval Jurisprudence: Pavia and Bologna, 850–1150(Yale University Press, 1988) was considered to be overstated by most reviewers.
- ^ Fitting, Summa Codicis des Irnerius, mit einer Einleitung (Berlin, 1894)
- ^ Lange, Rómisches Recht im Mittelalter I (Munich, 1997), pp. 403-405.
- ^ Fitting, "Quaestiones de juris subtilitatibus des Irnerius, mit einer Einleitung" in Festschrift zum 200jährigern Jubiläum der Universitat Halle-Wittenberg, 1894.
- ^ Kantorowicz with W.W. Buckland, Studies in the Glossators of the Roman Law: Newly Discovered Writings of the Twelfth Century (New York, 1939) reassigned Quaestiones de juris subtilitatibus to Placentinus.
- ^ F. W. Maitland, reviewing Enrico Besta, ed. L'Opera del' Irnerio, vols I and II (Turin, 1896) in The English Historical Review 13 No. 49 (January 1898:143f).
- ^ Anders Winroth, The Making of Gratian's Decretum (Cambridge, 2000)
References
- Friedrich Carl von Savigny, Geschichte des Römischen Rechts im Mittelalter (2nd. ed., Heidelberg, 1834–1851) iii. 83
- Alberto Del Vecchio, Notizie di Irnerio e della sua scuola (Pisa, 1869)
- Julius von Ficker, Forsch. z. Reichs- u. Rechtsgesch. Italiens, vol. iii. (Innsbruck, 1870)
- Hermann Fitting, Die Anfange der Rechtsschule in Bologna (Berlin, 1888).
- Anders Winroth, The Making of Gratian's Decretum (Cambridge, 2000)
- Gabor Hamza: Entstehung und Entwicklung der modernen Privatrechtsentwicklungen und die römischrechtliche Tradition (Budapest, 2009)
- Gabor Hamza: Origine e sviluppo degli ordinamenti giusprivatistici moderni in base alla tradizione del diritto romano (Santiago de Compostela, 2013)
Sources
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Ott, Michael (1910). "Irnerius". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Nouveau Larousse illustré (in French) undated, early 20th century
External links
- Cortese, Ennio (2004). "IRNERIO". ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
- Archaeogate: Gianfranco Purpura, "La Littera Florentina", 2001 (in Italian)
- Works of Irnerius at ParalipomenaIuris