Collectio Quesnelliana

Selected Canon Law Collections, ca. 500–1234


Title Collectio Quesnelliana
Key ?
Alternative title Codex canonum et constitutorum Sedis apostolicae (Quesnel)
Alternative title Collectio Quesneliana (Schwartz)
Alternative title Quesnel’sche Sammlung (Maassen)
Wikidata Item no. Q16827374
Terminus post quem 494
Century saec. Vex/VIin
General region of origin Gaul or Italy
Author Christof Rolker
Author Matthias Simperl
No. of manuscripts many (10 to 99)


The Quesnelliana (after Pasquier Quesnel, the first editor) is one of the earliest canonical collections from Western Europe, probably dating from around the year 500. The collection contains mainly dogmatic texts, including many letters of Leo the Great. The extensive collection had some influence in the early Middle Ages, especially in Gaul.

Sources, content and structure

The collection is divided into 98 chapters (capitula), each of which contains several canons; the capitulatio lists all 98 titles. The first five chapters are from ecumenical as well as African councils (cap. 1 contains the Creed of Nicaea, the list of bishops, the preface and the 27 canons of this council). The middle part of the Quesnelliana (cap. 6-57) consists of conciliar canons, decretals, imperial constitutions and edicts, episcopal letters, and excerpts from the Church Fathers on dogmatic questions (Christology, Council of Chalcedon, Acacian Schism, Pelagianism). Chapters 58-98 are letters of Leo the Great on questions of dogma and discipline, including the so-called Tomus (JK 423).

The individual chapters are dedicated to a theme or taken from one formal source, but are themselves arranged neither thematically nor chronologically. Predominantly, the Quesnelliana contains materials intended to strengthen Leo I's position in the conflicts surrounding the Acacian Schism.

The Quesnelliana uses Latin translations of the Greek councils, which are older than both those of Dionysius Exiguus and the Prisca translation.

Date and place of origin

There was considerable controversy on the place of origin from the 16th to the 19th century. Quesnel claimed without convincing reasons that the collection was to be understood as a law book of the Roman Church and therefore originated in Rome. The Ballerini brothers and later Maassen assumed, on the basis of the origin of the manuscripts, that the Quesnelliana was from Gaul. Duchesne (followed by Turner) adopted Arles as the home of the collection. Following C. H. Turner, Van der Speeten has pointed to parallels with the Dionysiana and argued that the former collection was indeed a source of the latter, in which case an Italian (Roman) home for the Quesnelliana would be likely.

The exact dating is also uncertain. The most recent piece is the Generale decretum (JK 636) of Gelasius I from 494. It is generally assumed that the Quesnelliana was written during this pope's lifetime (so before 496). However, a later date cannot be ruled out.

A Three-Chapter-Version of the Quesnelliana?

Three manuscripts belonging to the Quesnelliana tradition - Paris, BnF, lat. 1454, lat. 1458, and lat. 3842A - transmit an appendix that contains a collection of canonical texts dating from the fifth century onwards. Although the current form of this appendix does not predate the eighth century, it is possible that an earlier, shorter version originated in the context of the Italian Three Chapters schism. The the appendix opens with a somewhat enigmatic text concerning the differing lifestyles of monks and laypeople, which has neither been edited nor studied to date (an edition is currently being prepared at the University of Augsburg). It is followed by two spurious writings (Damnatio Vigilii and a forged letter of Leo the Great to Theodoret of Cyrus). These can be readily associated with Northern Italian opponents of the Roman Church’s acceptance of the condemnation of the Three Chapters. The potential reception and use of the Collectio Quesnelliana in Northern Italy during the Lombard period merits further scholarly investigation.

Reception

For manuscripts, see Category:Manuscript of Collectio Quesnelliana (number of entries: 11).

The surviving manuscripts all come from Gaul and were produced in the eighth and ninth centuries. The collection was also used in the Frankish Empire, namely at the Council of Verneuil in 755. Kéry pp. 27-28 lists the following manuscripts:

In addition, Petoletti reported a fragment (four leaves) of a ninth-century copy (Milano, Archivio Capitolare, Perg. sec. XI no 126c). The surviving remnants of an earlier Quesnelliana manuscript are now preserved in Paris, BnF, lat. 1458 (saec. IX1/2), see Stüber. See also Paris, BnF, lat. 1455 for a collection drawing on the Quesnelliana, and BAV, lat. 4982 for a 16th century copy of excerpts.

Editions

Literature

Maassen, Geschichte pp. 486–500; Rudolf Schieffer, Zur Beurteilung des norditalienischen Dreikapitel-Schismas. Eine überlieferungsgeschichtliche Studie, in: Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 87 (1976), pp. 167-201; Joseph van der Speeten: Le dossier de Nicée dans la Quesnelliana, in: Sacris erudiri, 28 (1985) pp. 383–450; Kéry, Collections pp. 27–29; Jasper, Beginning pp. 41-64; Elliot, Canon Law; Marco Petoletti, Un frammento del sec. IX della "Collectio Quesnelliana" nell'Archivio Capitolare della Basilica di S. Ambrogio a Milano. In: Aevum vol. 82 (2008) pp. 293-312; Till Stüber, Die ‚Scintillae de canonibus uel ordinationibus episcoporum‘. Eine kleine Kanonessammlung aus der Merowingerzeit, in: Frühmittelalterliche Studien 56 (2022), pp. 15-47, especially pp. 17-21; Aäron Vanspauwen, Review of: Matthew J. J. Hoskin: The Manuscripts of Leo the Great’s Letters, in: Plekos 24 (2023), pp. 587–599.

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