Paris, BnF, lat. 3839

Library	Bibliothèque nationale de France
Shelfmark	lat. 3839
Century	s. XI2 (Mordek), fols. 86v-121v: s. XIex (Kéry)
General region of origin	France
Collection	Collectio XXX capitulorum (De ratione matrimonii)
Collection 2	[[Collectio Dionysio-Hadriana, Abbreviatio Ansegisi et Benedicti Levitae, and Collectio Dacheriana]]
Main author	Bruno Schalekamp

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 3839 is a late eleventh-century manuscript of 120 folios in 2 cols. (330 x 245 mm (260 x 200 mm)). Its codicological composition reads as follows: 15 quires, 15 x IV¹²⁰. (Early?) modern folio numbering in Arabic numerals are found on the recto side of each folio in a modern hand. The foliation skips numbers 54 and 57, without interruption or lacuna. Rubrication of contents is included on the top margins of every folio. Note also that Maassen previously dated fols. 1-86v of this manuscript as s. X. It was written by one hand in Caroline minuscule. The manuscript's origins are not completely clear but it must have been written in France according to Mordek. The manuscript's provenance is only known through its inclusion in the private collection of Philippe Hurault, bishop of Chartres (1592-1621), and was from 1622 onward in possession of the French Bibliothèque royale.

Contents

Paris lat. 3839 is a medium-sized codex and contains exclusively canonical material, which is dominated by the Collectio Dionysio-Hadriana. Three other canonical collection are included, the Abbreviatio Ansegisi et Benedicti Levitae, the first chapters of the Collectio XXX capitulorum (De ratione matrimonii), and a very short excerpt of the preface and beginning of the Collectio Dacheriana.

The manuscript is a very well-preserved work, with clear and structured columns, regular (Roman) numbering of canons, as well as occasional large capitals introducing new parts of texts and titles at the top of every folio side. The sparse marginalia give the impression the codex was studied by someone interested in its contents not much after its composition and creation. However, the seemingly 'untouched' parchment - next to no black spots of fingers or tears through use can be spotted - indicate this manuscript must not have circulated much and probably did not leave the confines of a private (episcopal) collection. As it was penned in one hand, its patron probably needed this compilation and combination of canonical collections for themselves.

See the digitized version: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b100733146.

folios	texts
	Front cover and paper flyleaf
1ra-86vb	Collectio Dionysio-Hadriana
86vb-121va	Abbreviatio Ansegisi et Benedicti Levitae
121vb-122ra	Collectio XXX capitulorum (De ratione matrimonii), chapters I-VIII
122ra-122vb	Collectio Dacheriana, praefatio and beginning of text. Seems to cut off in the middle of the first few paragraphs
	Paper flyleaf and back cover

Literature

Gaudemet, Les sources du droit canonique (1993), p. 26-27; Kéry, Canonical Collections (1999), p. 16, 76, 81, 89, and 123; Laffitte, ‘La Librairie de Georges d’Amboise à Gaillon’ (1999), p. 261-273; Laffitte, ‘Une acquisition de la Bibliothèque du roi’ (2008), p. 42-98; Maassen, Geschichte der Quellen (1870), p. 443; Mordek, Bibliotheca capitularium (1995), p. 524; Mordek, Kirchenrecht und Reform (1975), p. 244; Mordek, Studien zur fränkischen Herrschergesetzbung (2000), p. 99 n. 93; Rambaud-Buhot, ‘Un corpus inédit de droit canonique’ (1968), p. 271-281; Reynolds, Studies on Medieval Liturgical and Legal Manuscripts (2009), cited in sources.

An edition of the Collectio XXX capitulorum (De ratione matrimonii) is currently being prepared by Sven Meeder, Gideon de Jong, and Bruno Schalekamp.