Excerpta Hispana
| Title | Excerpta Hispana |
|---|---|
| Key | ? |
| Alternative title | Excerpta canonum |
| Century | saec. VII |
| Main author | Cornelia Scherer |
The Excerpta Hispana is a systematically arranged index of the Collectio Hispana from the seventh century. For each chapter, the heading and origin are indicated in the titles. The material of the Hispana is organized chronologically into ten books. This division is also adopted by other systematic versions of the Collectio Hispana that are based on the Excerpta (Tabulae Hispanae, Collectio Hispana systematica).
§ First Book: Deals with the clergy (De institutionibus clericorum).
§ Second Book: Concerns monks, nuns, and penance (De institutionibus monasteriorum et monachorum atque ordinibus poenitentium).
§ Third Book: Focuses on judicial matters, including appeals to the Roman bishop, synods, church organization, and church property (De institutionibus iudicorum et gubernaculis rerum).
§ Fourth Book: Covers catechesis and the sacraments (De institutionibus officiorum et ordine baptizandi).
§ Fifth Book: Addresses marriage law and serious crimes such as incest, rape, and murder (De diversitatibus nuptiarum et scelere flagitiorum).
§ Sixth Book: Outlines general rules for all Christians and their coexistence (De generalibus regulis clericorum caeterorumque christianorum et regime principali).
§ Seventh Book: Concerns the person of the king (De honestate et negotiis principum).
§ Eighth Book: Pertains to the right faith (De Deo et his quae sunt credenda de illo).
§ Ninth Book: Focuses on heretics (De abdicatione haereticorum et usibus corum).
§ Tenth Book: Discusses topics relevant for missionaries, including idolatry, treaties, and gifts (De idolatria et cultoribus eius ac de scriptis pacis et muneribus missis).
Within these books, individual canons are grouped together under titles on specific topics. The author of the Excerpta likely modeled its structure after the Capitula Martini, which were inserted into the Hispana chronologica and were known on the Iberian Peninsula.
The Excerpta's sources include the Collectio Hispana Isidoriana and the 5th to 10th Councils of Toledo. The exact form in which the additional Toledan councils were available is not specified, but it is plausible that they were already combined with the Hispana. The Hispana chronologica used by the author of the Excerpta shows similarities to the Juliana, particularly in the canons 48-71 of the Council of Agde, which are included in the Isidoriana as a separate collection titled "Sententia quae in veteribus exemplaribus conciliorum..." and are only later attributed to the Council of Agde in the Juliana and appear as such in the Excerpta. The inscriptions of the canons from the Capitula Martini further indicate a version of the Hispana that transitioned between the Isidoriana and Juliana. References to later councils or Leander's homily at the 3rd Council of Toledo within the Excerpta are later additions that do not provide clear information on the primary source of the Excerpta.
The sources used for the Excerpta suggest it was composed between the 10th and 11th Councils of Toledo, i.e., between 656 and 675. The absence of the Council of Mérida (666) might narrow the timeframe to 656-666. The oldest known Hispana manuscript, the now-lost Codex Ovetense, contained the Excerpta, supporting this dating. The enactment of the Liber Judiciorum in 654 under King Recceswinth, a new thematically structured royal law book, may have prompted the Excerpta's composition in a similar form for ecclesiastical law. According to Martínez Díez, both the Liber Judiciorum and the Excerpta are products of the same cultural and legal environment, pointing to Toledo as their place of origin.
Martínez Díez cautiously suggests a student of Eugenius as the Excerpta's author, based on the metrical prefaces in the first five books, which might have been inspired by Eugenius' poems, though they are on a much humbler level. This dating excludes Isidore of Seville (600-636) or Julian of Toledo (680-690) as the Excerpta's author, as Sejourné has suggested.
The Excerpta is always transmitted alongside the Collectio Hispana. Six Hispana manuscripts contain the Excerpta:
- El Escorial, Real Biblioteca del Escorial, e-I-12
- El Escorial, Real Biblioteca del Escorial, d-I-1
- El Escorial, Real Biblioteca del Escorial, d-I-2
- Madrid, BNE, 1872
- Madrid, BNE, 10041
- Toledo, Archivo y Biblioteca Capitular, 15-17
A fragment is preserved in Ourense, Biblioteca de la Catedral, 43. It is also assumed that the Excerpta preceded the Hispana in the now-lost and destroyed Spanish codices.
Edition
The Excerpta are edited in Gonzalo Martínez Díez, La colección canónica Hispana 2.43-214.
Literature
Maassen, Geschichte p. 819-820; Paul Séjourné, Le dernier père de l'église, Saint Isidore de Séville: Son rôle dans l'histoire du droit canonique, Paris 1929, esp. p. 327-332, Gonzalo Martínez Díez, La colección canónica Hispana 2.3-33; Kéry, Collections pp. 60-61.
