Was Rome still a Centre of Legal Culture between the 6th and 8th Centuries?
What happened to the tremendous legacy of juridical knowledge left behind in Italy in the 6th century? Into what labyrinth did it plunge only to re-emerge after the silent age of the early Middle Ages into the light of day, and effectively come to shape the renewal of the jurisprudence at the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Rechtsgeschichte - Legal History |
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| Online Access: | http://data.rg.mpg.de/rechtsgeschichte/rg23_083loschiavo.pdf |
| Summary: | What happened to the tremendous legacy of
juridical knowledge left behind in Italy in the
6th century? Into what labyrinth did it plunge only
to re-emerge after the silent age of the early Middle
Ages into the light of day, and effectively come to
shape the renewal of the jurisprudence at the
beginning of the 12th century? One-and-a-half centuries
after the fanciful writings of Hermann Fitting,
legal historians are still looking for the
answers to these questions. Considering the new
information we have (especially coming from the
paleographical research), this paper re-examines
the existence as well as the activities of the school
of Rome both during the Justinian Age and in the
two centuries thereafter. The aim of this essay is to
verify whether Rome, during the very early Middle
Ages, continued to represent a centre of juridical
culture. According to the hypothesis developed in
this contribution, Rome – at that time – not only
played a very important role with regard to the
material conservation of the Justinian’s libri legales,
but also in the initial establishment of the new
(i. e., Justinian) imperial law in the West and
creation of its image as a significant juridical
centre. The absence of such a centre as well as its
wide-spread image would truly make the Bolognese
renovatio appear ›miraculous‹ and very difficult
to explain.
After Justinian, the 7th and 8th centuries can
truly be characterised as ›silent‹ in the history of
Roman law in the West. However, by studying the
medieval manuscript tradition, in particular, that
of the Institutiones and the Novellae, we can gather
together a series of elements helping us to clarify
the situation. Also quite useful is an examination
of the manuscript tradition of the Collatio legum
Mosaicarum et Romanarum. Through the spread and
use of these Late Antique works, we can see how –
in conjunction with the actions of the papacy –
Rome, toward the end of the 8th century, returned
to being a centre of world politics and – given that
law follows politics – of the legal culture. |
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| ISSN: | 1619-4993 2195-9617 |