Collectio Quesnelliana

Title	Collectio Quesnelliana
Key	?
Century	saec. V
Main author	Fowler-Magerl, Linda

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 those of Dionysius Exiguus and the Prisca translation.

Date and place of origin

There was considerable controvery 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 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. Van der Speeten has pointed to parallels with the Dionysiana and argued that the latter collection was indeed a source of the Quesnelliana, in which case an Italian (Roman) home for the collection 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. If the Quesnelliana relies on the Dionysiana, as Van der Speeten held, a later date would indeed be more likely.

Reception

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.

Literature

Elliot, Canon Law; Jasper, Beginning, 41-64; Kéry, Collections p. 27–29; Maassen, Geschichte 1.490–500; Joseph van der Speeten: Le dossier de Nicée dans la Quesnelliana, in: Sacris erudiri, 28, 1985, pp. 383–450.

Categories

• Not in database
• probably compiled still in Gelasius' lifetime, saec. V
• place of origin unclear
• size?
• Collection