Dictatus papae

The list of 27 propositions entitled Dictatus papae is preserved in the Vatican Archives in the so-called Registrum Vaticanum 2, and in the 12th century copy of that register in the Ms Troyes, BM 952 on fol. 49–50. Its entry number is 2. 55a, and it is found between two letters written on March 3, 1075, one to the faithful of Lodi and one to Manasses of Reims. It is also found in the Collectio Tarraconensis (6. 42), and excerpts are appended to the Collectio VII librorum of the Ms 159 Turin, BNU D. IV. 33. It will not be analysed separately here. The radical nature of the propositions and the extremely limited circulation require explanation. The propositions were probably intended as guidelines for papal legates as well as for the canonists at Rome from whom Gregory VII hoped to receive a canon law collection suited to his purposes. Hugo of Die apparently revealed the propositions at the council of Poitiers in 1078, and they were received into the Collectio Tarraconensis. In Rome and Tuscany they influenced canonists. The influence on Deusdedit is apparent. Single propositions with claims similar to those in the Dictatus papae are found in a group of related collections. For example: the late 11th century collection in the Mss Vat. lat. 3832/Assisi, BCom 227 (1.73) and the collection in the Ms Berlin SPKB Savigny 3 (10.149) have the rubric: Quod papa possit reges deponere et excommunicare et per scriptum.

The Proprie auctoritates apostolice sedis (PA) consists of 37 propostions. It is the closest known parallel to the Dictatus papae. It was first discovered on fol. 165v of the Ms Avranches, BM 146 and was assumed to be French. Hubert Mordek found two more copies, in the Mss Pistoia, Archivio Capitolare del Duomo C. 135 (PB; see [1]) and Venice, BN Marciana lat. IV. 48. Mordek sees this as an indication that it originated in Italy. A fourth copy has been found by Myron Wojtowytsch in the early 12th century Collectio Casinensis in the Ms Montecassino, Archivio e Biblioteca dell’Abbazia 216. This may represent the earliest surviving exemplar. In any case, as Horst Fuhrmann points out, the „Holprigkeit“ of the texts is an indication that it could not have been composed at the papal court.

Literature

The Dictatus papae was edited by Erich Caspar in MGH Epp. sel. 2.201 ff. Its influence on Deusdedit has long been recognized. See Blumenthal, Fälschungen bei Kanonisten, p. 253 and n. 45 and 46. – Hubert Mordek, Proprie auctoritates apostolice sedis. Ein zweiter Dictatus papae?, DA 28 (1972) edited the Proprie Auctoritates apostolice sedis on pp. 126–132. See Friedrich Kempf, Ein zweiter Dictatus papae ? Ein Beitrag zu Depositionsanspruch Gregors VII, AHP 13 (1975), pp. 119–139. See also Mordek, Dictatus papae e Proprie auctoritates apostolice sedis. Intorno all’idea del primato pontificio di Gregorio VII, Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia 28 (1974), pp. 1–22. See also Horst Fuhrmann, Papst Gregor VII. und das Kirchenrecht zum Problem des Dictatus papae, Studi Gregoriani 13 (1989), pp. 123–147. – For the copy in the Ms Montecassino 216 see Myron Wojtowytsch, Proprie auctoritates apostolice sedis. Bemerkungen zu einer bisher unbeachteten Überlieferung, DA 40 (1984), pp. 612–621. 160