Collectio Dionysiana II

Dionysius Exiguus soon after he had compiled the first version of the Dionysiana felt the need to improve on his first translation. He apparently also had access to additional sources.

In the copy of this second version of the Dionysiana in the Ms Oxford, Bodleian Library e Mus. 103 (9th century, northeastern France) and in separate copies of the prologue in the Mss Paris, BN lat. 1451 and 3846 and Cologne, Erzbischöfliche Diözesan- und Dombibliothek 212 the introductory letter is directed to a bishop Stephan of Salona on the Dalmatian coast. In the Bodleian copy the letter is followed by a capitulation with rubrics for all of the canons in the collection. The Greek canons from the councils of Nicaea through Constantinople are numbered without interruption from 1 to 165. Dionysius says that the collection he was using as his source also numbered them so. The canons of Chalcedon are numbered separately and so are the canons of Sardica. Following Sardica is a group of canons from three brief African collections: the Brevarium Hipponense of 397, the Codex Apiarii Causae of 419 and the Registri Ecclesiae Carthaginensis Excerpta. Dionysius entitled this group of canons Synodus apud Carthaginem Africanorum quae constituit canones CXXXVIII and numbered the individual canons accordingly from 1 to 138. The compilers of the Hispana would take these texts from the Dionysiana. The conciliar canons of the version of the Dionysiana in the Bodleian manuscript are reproduced in Migne PL 67.137–230. The numbering of the Greek councils in this version is found in the location column of the database with the key DY. The „African canons“ are listed separately with the same key. Copies similar to that in the Bodleian manuscript are found in the Mss Paris, BN lat. 1536 (10th century) and 3848 (13th century) and in the Ms St. Petersburg, Publičnaja Biblioteka im. M. E. Saltykova-Ščedrina, F.v.II.3 (7th century, Burgundy). 31

Decretal letters of popes Siricius, Innocent I, Zosimus, Bonifacius I, Celestinus I, Leo I, Gelasius I and Anastasius II were later added to the second version of the Dionysiana. The introductory letter to the decretals is adressed to a priest named Julian in the monastery of Saint Anastasius. The letters were not taken from the papal archives. The present analysis of these decretals (DX) is based on the edition in Migne PL 67.230–316. The decretals of each pope are divided into paragraphs and these are numbered separately for each pope, not separately for each letter.

Categories (manual)

• based on Migne

Categories (semi-automatic)

• key is DX
• key is DY
• belongs to: Dionysiana group
• small (100 to 500 canons) collection
• from Rome
• from Central Italy
• terminus post quem 496
• terminus ante quem 523
• saec. VI
• sort key "Dionysiana II"