Collectio canonum in Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, 713
Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, 713 (Somerville calls it 713B) on fol. 117r–192v (written in a single hand saec. XII2/2) contains canon law material which today is seen as the combination of two originally distinct collections, dubbed Arsenal I and II. The most recent text in Arsenal 713B is a canon from the Council of Benevento (1108). The manuscript came to the Arsenal from the library of Saint-Victor, which contains a number of Chartrain manuscripts. The present analysis has as its key LP.
The first Arsenal collection
The similarities between Arsenal 713B and Ivo's Decretum were long known, but often explained by the Arsenal material depending somehow on Ivo's collection. Yet as Brett and Somerville established, the parallels cannot be explained by Arsenal 713 drawing on Ivo's Decretum. Rather, it contains a later copy of material that was used at a late stage of compiling the Decretum. This preparatory collection contained canons taken from the Collectio Tripartita and the Collectio Britannica, but not Burchard; the non-Burchardian material was already arranged in the way it would be in Ivo's Decretum. The Arsenal manuscript contains series of canons that reappear in books 1, 4–5, 7–14 and 16 of the earliest form of the Ivonian Decretum. These canons are occasionally more complete, and inscriptions fuller, than any extant Decretum copy; it contains a few texts which were part of an early Decretum but that were dropped before any of the extant manuscripts was produced. This preparatory collection, compiled in the mid-1090s at Chartres, today is known as the first Arsenal collection, or Arsenal I for short. It is only known from this manuscript, where it is scattered across fols. 117r–122r, 125r–128r, 129r–130r, 135v–137r, 139r–144v, 146r–149r, 152v–153, 154r–157v, 158v–171v, 172v–173v, and 175r–192v. Brett has used it for his edition of Ivo's Decretum (siglum A).
The second Arsenal collection
Indeed, not all canons on fol. 117r–192v were part of the collection made in preparation of Ivo's Decretum. As Brett established, some canons found in Arsenal 713B were used directly for the Panormia (57 canons in all eight books) and the Collectio Caesaraugustana (80 canons). These materials, found today between fol. 129 and 154 (but not on all folios) was gathered at an unknown place (presumably in northern France) before the Panormia was produced in the early twelfth century. Collectively, they are known as the second Arsenal collection or Arsenal II. Like Arsenal I, this collection is only known from the Arsenal manuscript where it is found on fols. 129r, 131r–135v, 136v–138v, 139v–140r, and 149r–152r.
The combination in Arsenal 713B
Both Arsenal I and II were copied together in the second quarter of the twelfth century somewhere in northern France. It is likely that both collections only existed in the form of unbound materials. This would explain why series of canons from both collections were mixed up when Arsenal 713B were written, although the mis-en-page still gives some hints were one collection ends and where the other begins. According to Rolker, Canon law p. 342:
- Some, but not all breaks between the two collections are marked by blank folios and/or the beginning of a new quire, adding to the impression that Arsenal I and Arsenal II both existed in the form of sheets and quires before they were copied into what today is Arsenal 713B.
Links
Literature
Landau, Das Dekret, p. 33; Brett, Sources, pp. 149–167; Somerville, Papal Excerpts; idem, Pope Urban II, passim; Kéry, Collections p. 252; Fowler-Magerl, pp. 192-193; Austin, Two Arsenal Collections; Rolker, Canon law pp. 341-343.
