Collectio IX librorum in Vat. lat. 1349

The Collectio IX librorum in the Ms Vat. lat. 1349 (FY) was compiled sometime during the 10th century. Paul Fournier argued that the collection was compiled after 912 because the compiler used works of Auxilius which appeared before that date. He argued further that the collection could not have been compiled much later than 925/930 because a number of the canons deal with invalid ordinations, from which he concluded that the collection must have been compiled 80 when the controversy over the validity of the ordinations made by pope Formosus was still fresh in the mind of the compiler. The collection makes no references to such specific, datable controversies, however.

It survives only in one copy, however, and that was copied in a Beneventan hand in the late 11th century. The compiler made extensive use of almost all of the collections found in the Ms Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana Tome XVIII: the Hibernensis beta, the Concordia canonum of Cresconius, the Collectio LXXII capitulorum, the Collectio XLIV capitulorum (De episcoporum transmigratione), the Epitome Iuliani and excerpts from letters of popes Gregory I and Zacharias as well as decrees from the Roman synod of 826. The Ms Vallicelliana Tome XVIII is an 11th century copy of an earlier manuscript and the compiler of the Collectio IX librorum used a copy of the Hibernensis beta closer to that in the Ms Oxford, Hatton 42 (see above p. 46), than to that in the Ms Vallicelliana. The early 11th century Collectio V librorum (see below p. 82), on the other hand, used a copy of the Hibernensis beta closer to that in the Ms Vallicelliana. Aside from the contents of the Vallicelliana manuscript, the compiler of the Collectio IX librorum used the Dacheriana and various penitentials: the Liber Iudiciorum Theodori, Excarpus Cummeani and Penitentiale Halitgari as well as penitential texts from works of Isidore of Seville. There is also a wealth of forged penitential material.

The origin of the Collectio IX librorum in the Byzantine dominated south of Italy is universally accepted. It differs from the Hibernensis in that it includes canons of particular interest to southern Italy while leaving out excerpts from the Gesta Francorum, Frankish capitularies and Lombard edicts. Canon 9.29, De bigamo et trigamo, seems to be a reaction to the efforts of pope Sergius III (904–911) to undermine the opposition of the patriarch of Constantinople to the remarriage of the emperor Leo VI. Canon 1.83, De ordinatione patriarcharum, lists the patriarch of Constantinople directly after the pope. Naples or Benevento have been suggested as the place of origin. The collection begins with a list of the titles of the nine books:

1.) De ordine clericorum vel ordinationibus; 2.) De conciliis celebrandis vel synodis; 3.) De ministeriis ecclesiasticis; 4.) De monachis vel monachabus; 5.) De gratia baptizandorum vel de christianitate; 6.) De gratissima canonum collatione; 7.) De homicidiis et sceleribus et vindictis eorum, de coniugationibus licitis vel illicitis, de adulteriis et fornicationibus, de furto, de ieiuniis et orationibus; 8.) De utilitate 81 penitentie; 9.) De iudiciis penitentie que scripturarum testimoniis et sanctorum dictis roborata sunt, ut si quippiam discordare videatur, illud eis eligendum est quod maioris auctoritatis usu decernitur.

Following the titles is a listing of the clerical orders, a south-Italian redaction of the Hibernian Ordinal of Christ and De distantia graduum taken from the Hibernensis. Many of the texts taken from the Hibernensis beta are inscribed Gratissima canonum collatio, and the canons of the sixth book, which is also so entitled, are almost all from the Hibernensis. As in that collection many of these chapters are multiple texts. The Collectio IX librorum is somewhat longer than the Hibernensis beta, containing over 2600 texts in comparison to the circa 2100 canons of the earlier collection. Preceeding the texts of each of the books 1–5 and 7–9 is a capitulation with rubrics applying to the canons. Each of these books is divided into titles, but the canons are numbered from the beginning of each book to the end without reference to the titles. The 6th book is different. It is preceded by a capitulation consisting only of title-rubrics. The titles are taken from the end of the Hibernensis and are of such mixed character that it was apparently impossible to find a more specific book-title than Gratissima canonum collatio. The canons of each of the titles in the 6th book are numbered separately. The titles 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9 through 25 in book 6 begin with Incipit … Imprimis …. They are called by Reynolds „divisional rubrics“. Such divisional rubrics are also found in titles 41, 134, 154, 176 and 196 of book 7 and such divisional rubrics would later be used by the compiler of the Collectio V librorum.

The major influence of the Collectio IX librorum on later collections was indirect, by way of the Collectio V librorum, but the penitential forgeries did influence Bonizo of Sutri in the late 11th century. Canon 2. 82 (Nemo oratorium) with the inscription ex legibus Iustiniani may have been used in the material collection in the Ms Vat. lat. 3830.

Literature:

The preface and capitulation are edited by Angelo Mai, Spicilegium Romanum 6 (Rome 1841), pp. 396–472 (= Migne PL 138.397–442). Some of the penitential canons have been published by Hermann Joseph Schmitz, Die Bussbücher und die Bussdisciplin der Kirche 2, Düsseldorf 1898 (reprinted Graz 1958), pp. 210– 217. For the Ms see A Catalogue of Canon and Roman Law manuscripts in the Vatican Library, ed. by Stephan Kuttner and Reinhard Elze (Studi e Testi 322, Vatican City 1986), pp. 109–110. For the sources see Koal, Zur Überlieferungsgeschichte 82 der Fünf-Bücher-Sammlung, pp. 27–28. For the use of the Hibernensis beta in the Collectio IX librorum and for the use of the Collectio IX librorum in the Collectio V librorum see Reynolds, The Transmission of the Hibernensis in Italy, pp. 38–50. An example of the use of a copy of the Hibernensis closer to that in the Ms Hatton 42: the canon attributed to John the Baptist in the Collectio IX librorum 6. 1. 9e ends ab ira future as it does in the Ms Hatton 42. In the Ms Vallicelliana Tome XVIII it ends a ventura ira and in the Collectio V librorum: ab ira ventura. For the use by the compiler of the Collectio IX librorum of the collection Capitula ex lege Iustiniana in the Ms Vallicelliana Tome XVIII see Federico Patetta, Contributi alla storia del diritto romano nel medio evo I, in: Bulletino dell’Istituto di diritto romano 3 (1891), pp. 14–17; reprinted in his studies: Studi sulle fonti giuridiche medievali (Turin 1967), pp. 14–17. For the relationship between Auxilius and the Vallicelliana manuscript see Stephan Lindemans, Auxilius et le manuscrit Vallicellan Tome XVIII, RHE 57 (1962), pp. 470– 484. For the use of Auxilius by Petrus Damiani and Humbert of Silva Candida see Joseph Ryan, Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida and Auxilius: The „Anonymous Adversary“ of Liber I Adversus Simoniacos, Mediaeval Studies 13 (1951), pp. 218–222. For the numerous penitential forgeries, see Landau, Gefälsches Recht, pp. 16–19. – Kéry, Canonical Collections, pp. 196–197.