The construction of auctoritas in Gratian's Decretum: the role of tradition and the auctor in a 12th century legal text
This paper discusses the construction of authority in the 12th century using a specific case, that of Gratian’s Decretum, a legal manual compiled around 1140 in Western Europe. Through a methodology of intertextual analysis, this article combines theoretical work from major authors and primary sourc...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Universidade de São Paulo
2022-01-01
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Series: | Revista de História |
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Online Access: | https://www.revistas.usp.br/revhistoria/article/view/181491 |
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author | Carolina Gual Silva |
author_facet | Carolina Gual Silva |
author_sort | Carolina Gual Silva |
collection | DOAJ |
description | This paper discusses the construction of authority in the 12th century using a specific case, that of Gratian’s Decretum, a legal manual compiled around 1140 in Western Europe. Through a methodology of intertextual analysis, this article combines theoretical work from major authors and primary sources to advance an explanation on how authority can be understood during the central Middle Ages in legal texts and how it comes from an articulation between tradition and originality. Furthermore, we highlight how the intersections between innovation and tradition in the Decretum make it possible for us to consider Gratian as an auctor. From this analysis, we extrapolate a broader conclusion about how legal texts in the 12th and 13th centuries used and then recreated a notion of authority that came to include the idea of the author who, in his turn, became an authority himself. |
first_indexed | 2024-04-11T03:47:47Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-9d571e1124464a6fbb13895dd74ba3ac |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 0034-8309 2316-9141 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-11T03:47:47Z |
publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
publisher | Universidade de São Paulo |
record_format | Article |
series | Revista de História |
spelling | doaj.art-9d571e1124464a6fbb13895dd74ba3ac2023-01-02T02:34:06ZengUniversidade de São PauloRevista de História0034-83092316-91412022-01-01181The construction of auctoritas in Gratian's Decretum: the role of tradition and the auctor in a 12th century legal textCarolina Gual Silva0Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de JaneiroThis paper discusses the construction of authority in the 12th century using a specific case, that of Gratian’s Decretum, a legal manual compiled around 1140 in Western Europe. Through a methodology of intertextual analysis, this article combines theoretical work from major authors and primary sources to advance an explanation on how authority can be understood during the central Middle Ages in legal texts and how it comes from an articulation between tradition and originality. Furthermore, we highlight how the intersections between innovation and tradition in the Decretum make it possible for us to consider Gratian as an auctor. From this analysis, we extrapolate a broader conclusion about how legal texts in the 12th and 13th centuries used and then recreated a notion of authority that came to include the idea of the author who, in his turn, became an authority himself.https://www.revistas.usp.br/revhistoria/article/view/181491authoritymedieval canon lawGratianauthorshiplegal texts |
spellingShingle | Carolina Gual Silva The construction of auctoritas in Gratian's Decretum: the role of tradition and the auctor in a 12th century legal text Revista de História authority medieval canon law Gratian authorship legal texts |
title | The construction of auctoritas in Gratian's Decretum: the role of tradition and the auctor in a 12th century legal text |
title_full | The construction of auctoritas in Gratian's Decretum: the role of tradition and the auctor in a 12th century legal text |
title_fullStr | The construction of auctoritas in Gratian's Decretum: the role of tradition and the auctor in a 12th century legal text |
title_full_unstemmed | The construction of auctoritas in Gratian's Decretum: the role of tradition and the auctor in a 12th century legal text |
title_short | The construction of auctoritas in Gratian's Decretum: the role of tradition and the auctor in a 12th century legal text |
title_sort | construction of auctoritas in gratian s decretum the role of tradition and the auctor in a 12th century legal text |
topic | authority medieval canon law Gratian authorship legal texts |
url | https://www.revistas.usp.br/revhistoria/article/view/181491 |
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