Pope Urban II's Council of Piacenza

by Somerville, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780199258598
• ISBN10: 0199258597
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-12-17
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Council of Piacenza is among the most important moments of the Reform that was sweeping through the Western Church at the end of the eleventh century. It is often regarded as a launching pad for the First Crusade, though the matter is obscure and serves only to hide the assembly's true significance as a turning point in the papal schism between Popes Gregory VII/Urban II and the so-called anti-pope Clement III. The canons promulgated at Piacenza became landmarks not only for the eleventh- and twelfth-century Reform, but more broadly for the Church of the High Middle Ages and even beyond. Robert Somerville situates Piacenza in historical context, discusses the sources, the attendance, and the need for a new edition of the legislation. The official canons are lost, but several dozen twelfth-century manuscripts were consulted for a new edition of these provisions. The account finishes with a commentary on Piacenza's legislation and a discussion of the subsequent legislation of Urban II's synods. Somerville completes the picture of what can be known about the papal synods of one of the most influential Roman pontiffs of the Middle Ages.

Author Biography

Robert Somerville situates Piacenza in historical context, and discusses the sources, the attendance, and the need for a new edition of the legislation. The official canons are lost, but several dozen twelfth-century manuscripts preserve versions of those texts and where consulted for a new edition of these provisions. The account continues with a commentary on Piacenza's legislation and concludes with a discussion of Urban II's conciliar activity after the year 1095, thus filling out the picture of what can be known of the synods of one of the most influential Roman pontiffs of the Middle Ages.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
List of Abbreviations	p. viii
Pope Urban II's Council of Piacenza: Introduction	p. 1
Background	p. 1
Civitas Placentina/Concilium Placentinum	p. 5
Dates - Location of Sessions - Liturgical Order	p. 6
Attendance	p. 8
Conciliar Cases	p. 11
Piacenza and the First Crusade	p. 15
Enactment, Circulation, and Survival of the Canons of Piacenza	p. 17
Enactment and Circulation	p. 17
Introduction	p. 17
Gesta Romanae aecclesiae contra Hildebrandum	p. 18
Bernold of Constance	p. 24
Summary	p. 28
Survival	p. 29
Introduction	p. 29
Polycarpus Supplement (¿): preamble + fifteen canons + concluding notice on tenth preface for the mass	p. 30
Lists of Canons in Medieval Manuscripts beyond ¿	p. 32
JL 5694 (IP 5.248-49, no. 14) - c. 8, and c. 9 partim	p. 43
Canon Law Collections	p. 44
Narrative Sources	p. 50
Conclusion	p. 51
English Translation of Bernold of Constance's Description of the Council of Piacenza	p. 54
Vagrant Canons	p. 58
The Historiography of the Canons of Piacenza	p. 60
The Transmission of the Canons of Piacenza (with an Edition)	p. 71
Introduction	p. 71
The Polycarpus Supplement (¿), JL 5694 [IP 5.248-49, no. 14], and the Gesta Romanae aecclesiae	p. 72
Transmission beyond ¿ and the Gesta	p. 75
Canon Law Collections	p. 81
Annalista Saxo and Gerhoch of Reichersberg	p. 84
Edition and Translation	p. 85
Edition	p. 89
Translation	p. 99
Commentary on the Canons	p. 102
Introduction	p. 102
Commentary	p. 103
Legislation from the Councils of Urban II between Piacenza and Rome (April 1099)	p. 116
Introduction	p. 116
Council of Tours, March 1096	p. 118
Council of Nimes, July 1096	p. 121
Lateran Council, 1097	p. 123
Council of Bari, October 1098	p. 125
Council at St. Peter's, Rome, April 1099	p. 127
Postscript	p. 134
Bibliography	p. 137
Indices	p. 143
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