Benedictus Levita, Collectio capitularium

This collection is a forgery and its composition has been dated circa 847–852. It has been assumed that it was completed in the diocese of Reims. These books are numbered five through seven. Each has its own capitulatio. Four series of additions are found at the end of book seven. The capitula of Benedictus Levita are said to have been issued by Frankish rulers and to have been 52 found in the archives of Mainz by the archbishop Otgar of Mainz (826–847). The capitula of the first (fifth) book are said to have been authorized in synods at which saint Boniface represented pope Zacharias and at which Carloman, prince of the Franks, was present. The capitula are said to be intended for the bishops, dukes and counts in Gaul. The capitulary deals with a far broader range of subjects than the False Decretals. The basis of the present analysis (BL and BLAdd1–4) is the edition published by Etienne Baluze in 1677. A new edition is being prepared by Gerhard Schmitz. The collection of Ansegis was used by Regino of Prüm, that of Benedictus Levita by Isaac of Langres.

Editions and Literature

A first edition of the Collectio capitularium of Benedictus Levita was published by Etienne Baluze, Capitularia regum Francorum 1, Paris 1677, pp. 801–910. A further edition was made by G. H. Pertz, MGH LL 2. 2, Hanover 1837, pp. 17– 158. Both editions are presently available on internet in anticipation of a new critical edition in book and electronic form by Gerhard Schmitz. Cf. www. benedictus.mgh.de. For the Abbreviatio see G. SCHMITZ, Zur Überlieferung der sog. „Abbreviatio Ansegisi et Benedicti Levitae“, DA 40 (1984) S. 176–199. There is a separate edition of Additio I by Joseph Semmler, Collectio capitularis Benedicti Levitae monastica (Corpus Consuetudinum Monasticarum, ed. by Kassius Hallinger 1, 1963), pp. 537–554. For a translation of the preface to Benedictus Levita into English see Somerville and Brasington, Prefaces, pp. 78–82. See Emil Seckel, Studien zu Benedictus Levita VIII, NA 40 (1916), pp. 55ff., also Schmitz Die allmähliche Verfertigung der Gedanken beim Fälschen. Unausgegorenes und Widersprüchiches bei Benedictus Levita, in the same publication, in: Fortschritt durch Fälschungen? Ursprung, Gestalt und Wirkungen der pseudoisidorischen [55] Fälschungen, ed. by Wilfried Hartmann und Gerhard Schmitz (MGH Studien und Texte 31, Hanover 2002), pp. 29–31. Idem, Echtes und Falsches. Karl der Große, Ludwig der Fromme und Benedictus Levita, in: Scientia veritatis: Festschrift für Hubert Mordek zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. by Oliver Münsch and Thomas Zotz, Ostfildern 2004, pp. 153–172. See Peter Landau, Gratians unmittelbare Quellen für seine Pseudoisidortexte, pp. 169–171 in the same publication. – Kéry, Collections p. 117–122.