Pseudoisidore A1

The A1 recension of the False Decretals is the most prominent of the six versions of this collection ever since Hinschius published his 1863 edition which is still being used today. He labelled the group of manuscripts ‘A1’ as he assumed that they were closed to the original form of the forgeries, and the main text of his edition is largely that of the A1 recension, or what Hinschius thought was A1 (Paris, BnF, lat. 9629, his Leithandschrift, is in fact an A/B manuscript).

Contents

The A1 version of the False Decretals is the complete version and contains the following texts (Fuhrmann, Einfluß und Verbreitung vol. 1, pp. 181-191):

• Preface
• Part 1: Decretals from Clement I to Melchiades
  • Correspondence between Aurelius of Carthage and Damasus I
  • A conciliar ordo (from Hispana Gallica)
  • table of contents
  • 50 Canones Apostolorum
  • Ps.-Jerome to Damasus
  • 60 Decretals from Clement/Anaclete to Melchiades
• Part 2: Councils from Nicaea to Toledo XIII (largely from Collectio Hispana Gallica Augustodunensis)
  • De primitiva ecclesia
  • Constitutum Constantini
  • Quo tempore actuum sit Nicenum concilium (from Hispana Gallica)
  • Epistola vel praefatio Niceni concilii
  • Alia praefatio eiusdem sacrosanctae concilii metrice composita
  • Canons of 54 councils from the Greek councils up to and including Toledo XIII of 683; in between one finds:
    • a subcollection of Gallican and Spanish councils
    • The Capitula of Martin of Braga
    • A reworked version of the letter of Aurelius, Mizonius, and other African bishops (from Quesnelliana)
• Part 3: Decretals (and conciliar canons) from Silvester I to Gregory II
  • Introduction (Hactenus digestis ...) (from Hispana Gallica)
  • Table of contents (from Collectio Hispana Gallica Augustodunensis)
  • Decretals and synodal decrees from 33 popes, taken from the Collectio Hispana and added to with genuine, manipulated, and forged letters. The genuine material in this section includes the following non-Hispana materials:
    • Damasus JK 235, JK 232 (from Cassiodore)
    • Innocent JK 321-324 (from Quesnelliana)
    • 16 letters of Leo I (JK 496, JK 514, JK 423, JK 425, JK 447, JK 500, JK 398, JK 429, JK 424, JK 490, JK 531, JK 539, JK 540, JK 509, all but the first from Quesnelliana)
    • Leo, JK 410 from HGA
    • Gelasius JK 622, JK 632, JK 664, JK 665 (from Quesnelliana)
    • Roman synods of 499, 502, and 501 under Pope Symmachus (and later attributed to him)
    • Vigilius JK 907 (expanded by forgery)
    • Gregory I JK 1673 (interpolated version of Collectio Pauli), the Libellus responsionum = JK 1843, and JK 1817)
    • Roman synod of 595

The False Decretals in the Database

The present analysis (IS) includes only the forged decretals from Clement to Damasus. These decretals have the original rubrics of the forgers. The Clavis database entries are based on the edition of Paul Hinschius, Decretales Pseudo-Isidorianae (1863); online.

Editions and Literature

See the main article Pseudoisidore, False Decretals