Anselm of Lucca, Collectio canonum (A version)

Title	Anselm of Lucca, Collectio canonum (A version)
Key	AA
Wikidata Item no.	Q115268101
Size	Large (1000 to 2000 canons)
Terminus post quem	1074
Terminus ante quem	1080
Century	saec. XI
Place of origin	Lucca
European region of origin	Northern Italy
General region of origin	Southern Europe and Mediterranean
Specific region of origin	Lucca
Main author	Fowler-Magerl, Linda
No. of manuscripts	some (2–9)

The collection compiled by bishop Anselm II of Lucca was revised several times, once perhaps during his lifetime. The description of each revision will be examined separately here. The original version is the „A“ version. An „A Aucta“ („aucta“ meaning augmented) version was probably produced before the death of Anselm in 1086. Many of the original rubrics are rephrased. A „B“ version has many of the same rubrics as the A Aucta version. The A Aucta and B versions are apparently based on the same slightly enlarged form of the A version, now lost. The „A’“ version was compiled in the 1120’s. Anselm may have had something to do with the rubrics in the A Aucta version, but he certainly had nothing to do with the A’ version, neither with the rubrics nor with the additions. There is also a „C“ version, no medieval copy of which has survived. A 16th century copy once owned by Antonio Agustín is found in the Ms Vat. lat. 4983. Peter Landau, who has analysed the C version, thinks it was compiled shortly after 1138 in northern Italy.

None of the versions mentioned above is attributed to Anselm in a medieval manuscript. The first seven books are attributed to him, however, in an augmented form of the A version (not the so-called A Aucta version), on fol. 14v of the Ms Vat. Barb. lat. 535. The Barberini manuscript has particular value because it was copied at Lucca.

Incipit capitulatio librorum quos beatus Anselmus Lucensis episcopus de coequalibus causis singulos in hoc volumine libros composuit.

This attribution comes before a capitulatio with thirteen book titles. These are pressed into a column on the right half of the folio, the left half is empty with no sign of erasure:

De potestate et primatu apostolice sedis; De libertate appellationis; De ordine accusandi, testificandi et iudicandi; De privilegiorum auctoritate; De ordinationibus aecclesiarum et de omni iure ac statu illarum; [140] De electione et ordinatione ac de omni potestate sive statu episcoporum; De vita et ordinatione clericorum; De lapsis; De sacramentis; De coniugiis; De penitentia; De excommunicatione; De vindicta et persecutione iusta.

At the bottom of the folio in a solemn dictus: Incipit autentica et compendiosa collectio regularum et sententiarum sanctorum patrum et auctorabilium conciliorum facta tempore septimi Gregorii sanctissimi pape a beato Anselmo Lucensi episcopo eius diligenti imitatore et discipulo, cuius iussione et precepto desiderante consumavit hoc opus.

Since the copy of the collection in this manuscript contains only seven books, it is tempting to imagine a seven book collection as the original version and the text in the Ms Barb. 535 as an augmented form of that original version. The list of book titles, however, belongs to a later form. This is evident not only because it contains thirteen titles, but also because the text of the titles corresponds to later versions. The title of the first book in the A version is De primatu sancte Romane ecclesie and the title of the 7th book is De communi vita clericorum … These are significant differences, as will be seen.

The A version is contained in the Mss Vat. lat. 1363, Paris, BnF, lat. 12519 and Cambridge, Parker Library, 269. A copy of the collection in the Ms Florence, BML Ashburnham 53, which is somewhere between the A and the A’ versions, will be described below. The edition of the collection by Friedrich Thaner presents the text of the canons in the A version, but the rubrics are a pastiche of information from more than one version, often from the A’ version. Although the rubrics of each of the versions can be found in the footnotes, mistakes have been repeatedly made in the literature. It is almost always assumed that Anselm entitled the first book De potestate et primatu apostolice sedis. Essays on the primacy of the pope regularly refer to this title. Anselm, however, had nothing to do with the title in this form. He took his title for the first book directly from the Diversorum patrum sententie (the Collection in 74 Titles): De primatu Romane ecclesie.

The title of the 7th book in version A, according to the Ms Vat. lat. 1363, is De communi vita clericorum et qui se continere non possunt, evidence of the plan to pressure the canons of Lucca into accepting the regular life. The title in the Ms Paris is different, but expresses the same intention: De conversatione clericorum ut in uno conclavi sint. In the version A Aucta the book title no longer refers to the life in common: De vita et ordinatione clericorum. This is also the title in [141] the B version and in the copy in the Vat. Barb. 535. The A’ version retains the title De communi vita clericorum. It will be recalled that one reason why Anselm was forced to leave Lucca in 1080 was the opposition of the canons of Lucca to his reform attempts. Gregory VII, in his support of Anselm, had threatened the canons with excommunication and the loss of their office and prebends. The reaction of the canons was to expel Anselm.

The present analysis of version A is based on the Ms Vat. lat. 1363 (AA). Variant readings in the rubrics of all the revisions are given as a part of the analysis of the version A. When the rubrics of the version A’, the closest to those of A, do vary, these variants are indicated in parentheses without further identification of source. Variant readings in the rubrics in the revisions B and A Aucta are also indicated in parentheses as part of the analysis of A, but they are identified by the use of their keys (AE and AD respectively).

According to the note on fol. 14v of the Ms Vat. Barb. 535, Gregory VII ordered Anselm to compile a collection of regule and sententie from the Fathers and from the authoritative councils. The compilation of version A could not have been completed before 1083. The latest formal source is a collection of privileges compiled at the earliest in that year. Anselm may have begun to gather material much earlier, however. Indicative of a long period of preparation is the fact that he consulted more than one version of the pseudoisidorian decretals. Similarly, he pendled for conciliar decrees between the Dionysio-Hadriana and the Hispana.

Anselm began his collection with the first title of the Diversorum patrum sententie (74T) and extracted all in all 250 canons from that collection. He supplemented this with material available to him in Tuscany and Rome. He used a collection of material also used by the compiler of the Tuscan Liber canonum diversorum sanctorum patrum (Collection of S. Maria Novella). Unlike the compiler of that collection, however, he made little use of the Liber decretorum of Burchard. He had little interest in church discipline, which was one of the primary concerns of Burchard, and he had little interest in older sources. For the 11th book on penance he used Burchard, however, together with the late 8th/early 9th century Frankish Capitula iudiciorum and the penitential of Theodorus. He used a collection of patristic material also used by the compiler of the Collectio II librorum/ VIII partium. Detlev Jasper suspects that the synodal acts of March 13, 495 came to Anselm by way of that collection. For genuine papal [142] decretals Anselm had access to a Roman source also used by Deusdedit and a collection similar to the chronologically ordered Britannica. Anselm includes in his collection excerpts from decretals of popes Pelagius I, Gelasius, Nicholas I, Iohannes VIII and Nicholas II. Anselm also used the Liber pontificalis, De ordinibus Romani and Anastasius’ Historia ecclesiastica as well as assorted Gesta and Vitae. Anselm and Deusdedit made common use of the material found in the Breviary of Atto of San Marco.

Gérard Fransen recognized significant differences between the books at the beginning of the collection and those at the end. In fact, the books at the beginning are less systematic than those at the end, and the books at the end (the 8th book, De lapsis, and the 13th, De iusta vindicta) are limited in scope. These differences may mean that the final books were produced under different circumstances. This may mean a change of place or the necessity for haste. It may be significant that the copy of the collection in the Luccan manuscript Vat. Barb. 535 breaks off after the most controversial book in the collection, that on the common life of canons.

There is no prologue. Each book is preceded by a capitulatio. There is a number assigned to each canon of the collection in the capitulationes, but in a few cases the space following the number is left empty. In these cases, the rubric is missing in the text as well. This is unusual. In other collections the lack of a specific rubric would be compensated by De eadem re. In the 12th century version A’, which is the version most respectful of the original rubrics, the empty spaces are left empty, too. In the versions A Aucta and B, produced in the late 11th century, rubrics were provided where they were missing. The copy in the Ms Cambridge is different from the other copies of the version A. According to Martin Brett, the text may represent a slightly earlier form than that in the other copies of the A version. Canons 2.82 and 7.173-4 are missing. The Cambridge manuscript has an elaborate table of contents which was composed in the 12th century. Not all of it is still legible:

Primus liber continet de ordine et primatu Romane sedis et de eiusdem pontifice omnibus eiusdem pontifice prelato ac de … oria potestate eidem subicienda. Et de confirmatione catholice fidei. De ordinatione et episcoporum electione. Et de symoniaca damnatione. Secundus liber continet de gravioribus iudiciis ad Romanam sedem referendis, et de eadem sede ab … in iudicio oppressis appellanda, de iniuste damnatis, de comprovincialibus conciliis, de episcopis accusatis [143] nonnisi per Romanum pontificem damnandis. Salva nos Christus. Salva … Tertius liber continet de his qui infames notantur ad accusationem non recipiendis, de numero et qualitate accusatorum et testium, quod apud seculares iudices clerici non accusentur, de expoliatis ante iudicium revestiendis, de accusandi testificandique licentia, de Dioscori damnatione, de honore Romanis defensoribus augendo, de episcopis ad Symachi pape accusati causam congregatis. Quartus liber continet de privilegiis ecclesiarum et monasteriorum inviolandis, de agentibus contra sacros canones, de imperatoribus ut episcopis obediant, de clericorum et monachorum et sacrorum locorum libertate, de sententia fidei catholice et ecclesiastice discipline, de prediis ecclesiarum non alienandis, de patrimoniis Romane sedis non subtrahendis, de concessis Romano pontifici a Constantino et a ceteris, de terris ecclesiarum alienatis, de rebus ecclesiarum non dividendis, de censura canonum non violanda, de prima sede a nullo iudicanda, de episcopis eligendis, de iure et Romane ecclesie possessione ab imperatore restituendis. Quintus liber continet de dignitate et institutionibus ecclesiarum et de earum decimis… et … rebus singulis. Sextus liber continet de Romani pontificis et aliorum electione et vita et ordinatione, de illicitis ordinationibus, de pallii donatione et cartis et pastellis absque pretio faciendis, de dalmaticis, de episcoporum mutationibus, et quod duo episcopatus uniuntur primis flaminibus et primatibus vel patriarchis, de archiflaminibus et archiepiscopis provincia, de episcopis ad comitatum non ituris sine licentia Romani pontificis, de formatis epistolis, de alienis clericis, de nullo vocando universali, de quibusdam institutionibus episcopis utilibus, de civitate proprium episcopum interimente, de pastore et mercennario et fure, de natis ex adulterio promovendis, de bigamis et concubinariis non ministrandis, de pastoris sententia, de habitis amittendis presumendo non concessa, de sacramentis synodalibus et scismaticorum, de liminibus apostolorum visitandis, de canonibus non ignorandis, de pecunia lucri gratia non expetenda, de secularibus causis non occupandis, de ornatu vestium non expetendo, de scismaticis opprimendis, de mulieribus cum clericis non cohabitandis, de continentia ministrorum altaris, de apocrifis libris et canonicis et catholicis scripturis. Septimus liber continet de vita et moribus clericorum et de non promovendis, de qualitate ordinandorum et ordinationibus eorum, de abbatis electione, de ingredientibus monasterium, de monasteriorum causis nonnisi ab episcopo disponendis. Octavus liber continet de lapsibus clericorum et de incontinentium damnatione. Nonus liber continet de oblationibus sacramentorum altaris et de missarum [144] officiis celebrandis, de baptismo et qualitate baptizandorum, de crismate renovando et proprietate sacramentorum. Decimus liber continet de institutione coniugiorum et lege desponsatarum, de coniungiis separandis et post quem consanguinitatis gradum copulandis, de anathemate illicitorum coniungiorum et aliorum commissorum, de violentia castitatis, de uxore adultera, de virgine nescienter cum alieno viro nubente, de mulierum raptoribus. Undecimus liber continet de qualitate penitentie et poenitentum et de quantitate diversorum criminum. Duodecimus liber continet de diversitate excommunicatorum et modo excommunicationis, de scismaticis et hereticis. Tertius decimus liber continet de quibusdam sententiis Augustini et aliorum doctorum. An appendix follows the end of the 13th book in the A version of the collection in the Mss Vat. lat. 1363 and Paris, BnF, lat. 12519 and in the form of the A’ version in the Ms Florence, BML Ashburnham 53. It includes, among other texts, decretals of Alexander II and Gregory VII. It is not impossible that Anselm himself was responsible for the appendix. In the present analysis the appendix is based on the form in the Ms Paris, BnF, lat. 12519 (AAApp). The letter of pope Alexander II to the clergy and the people of the church of Lucca (Ex multis temporibus) is found in the appendix to version A and as canon 6.191 in the A’ version of the collection. Letters of Paschal II to Guido of Vienne (JL 6456 and 6467) are added to the end of the appendix in the Ms Vat. lat. 1363.

Literature

For the unfinished edition (breaking off at canon 11.15) see Friedrich Thaner, Anselmi episcopi Lucensis Collectio canonum una cum Collectione minore, Fasc. I–II, Regensburg 1906/1915 (online). Edith Pasztor , Lotta per le investiture e „ius belli“: la posizione di Anselmo di Lucca, in: Sant’Anselmo, Mantova e la lotta per le investiture. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Mantova, 23–25 maggio 1986, ed. by Paolo Golinelli, Bologna 1987, made a transcription of the copy of book 13 in the Ms Vat. lat. 1363, pp. 405–421. Kathleen G. Cushing, Papacy and Law in the Gregorian Revolution. The Canonistic Work of Anselm of Lucca, Oxford 1998, pp. 179–200, published an incipit-explicit analysis of books 12 and 13 based on the A version using the same manuscript as Pasztor. – For the differentiation of the versions of the collection see Landau, Erweiterte Fassungen, pp. 323–338. – For objections to the attribution of the whole collection to Anselm see Gérard Fransen, Anselme de Lucques canoniste?, in: Sant’Anselmo vescovo di Lucca (1073–1086) nel quadro delle trasformazioni sociali e della riforma ecclesiastica. Atti del Convegno internazionale di studio, Lucca 25–28 settembre 1986, ed. by Cinzio Violante, Rome 1992, pp. 143–155. – For the excerpts from papal [145] decrees through Stephan V see Jasper, The Beginning of the Decretal Tradition, passim. For possible usage of the Collectio II librorum/VIII partium see p. 85. For texts common to both collections see Fowler-magerl, The Restoration, pp. 179-203. – On Anselm and the common life of canons regular see Amleto Spicciani, L’episcopato lucchese di Anselmo II da Baggio, in: Sant’Anselmo vescovo di Lucca (1073–1086) nel quadro delle trasformazioni sociali e della riforma ecclesiastica. Atti del Convegno internazionale di studio, Lucca 25–28 settembre 1986, ed. by Cinzio Violante, Rome 1992, pp. 67–112. – The texts in the appendix in the Ms Vat. lat. 1363 are also listed in the description of the Vatican manuscript in : Stephan Kuttner – Reinhard Elze, A Catalogue of Canon and Roman Law Manuscripts in the Vatican Library I: Codices Vaticani latini 541-2299 (Studi e testi 322, 1986), p. 136. – Finally, I wish to express my thanks to Uta-Renate Blumenthal for her help with the Ms Vat. Barb. 535 and to Martin Brett for help with the badly damaged Cambridge manuscript. For his opinion of the Cambridge manuscript see Brett, The Canons of the First Lateran Council in English Manuscripts, in: Proceedings of the 6th ICMCL, p. 21 n. 27. See now Kathleen G. Cushing, Anselm of Lucca and Burchard of Worms: Re-thinking the sources of Anselm 11 De penitentia, in: Ritual, Text and Law: Studies in Medieval Canon Law and Liturgy presented to Roger E. Reynolds, ed. by Kathleen G. Cushing and Richard F. Gyug, Ashgate 2004, pp. 225–240. – Kéry, Collections p. 218–226.

Manuscripts

For manuscripts, see Category:Manuscript of AA (number of entries: 3).

Links

• https://www.geschichtsquellen.de/werk/487 (further literature)

Categories

• key is AA
• belongs to: Anselm (all versions) group
• large (1000 to 2000 canons) collection
• from Lucca
• saec. XI * Collection
• analysis based on MS