Marriage Advice for a Pope: John XXII and the Power to Dissolve (Medieval Law and Its Practice) (Latin Edition)

The Medieval Church taught that marriage was indissoluble and that consent was the key. Why then could a marriage be dissolved by one spouse joining a religious order after an exchange of consent but before consummation" This question vexed Thirteenth-century academics and, in the fourteenth century, Pope John XXII asked a group of leading theologians and lawyers to study the issue. Position-papers were produced to explain the exception to the rule of indissolubility for chaste monks and nuns, and to explore whether the pope had the power to extend it to celibate priests and deacons. These texts, edited here, were used by John XXII to draft his bull Antique Concertationi (1322). This study reconstructs the story behind the constitution, providing a unique insight into the decision-making process at the Roman curia in Avignon under a controversial pope. CONTENTS......Page 8 Preface......Page 12 Abbreviations......Page 16 PART ONE INTRODUCTION......Page 18 1. The runaway spouse joins a religious order: an inexplicable exception......Page 21 2. The holdout husband takes up a holy order: an unresolved argument......Page 36 Fourteenth-century developments......Page 49 3. A triptych of consultation: marriage, poverty, magic......Page 56 4. Introducing the experts......Page 66 A. The questions......Page 73 B. An English eccentric......Page 79 C. The convener......Page 80 D. Second thoughts......Page 81 Giovanni di Napoli OP......Page 82 Durand de Saint-Pourçain OP......Page 83 Bertrand de la Tour OM......Page 85 A. Pope over counsel or counsel over pope?......Page 86 B. A revealing footnote......Page 89 A. Jesselin de Cassagnes......Page 91 B. John of Baconthorpe OCarm......Page 93 7. Manuscript description......Page 94 8. Ratio editionis......Page 97 PART TWO EDITION......Page 100 I. Dicta fratris Vitalis de Furno......Page 102 II. Dicta fratris Bertrandi de Turre......Page 122 III. Dicta eiusdem domini Cardinalis......Page 137 IV. Dicta domini Gaucelmi Iohannis......Page 151 V. Dicta domini Bertrandi de Monte Faventino......Page 170 VI. Dicta domini Petri Textoris......Page 181 VII. Dicta domini Arnardi Roiardi......Page 188 VIII. Idem Episcopus......Page 198 IX. Dicta domini Durandi......Page 203 X. Idem Episcopus......Page 207 XI. Dicta fratris Gregorii......Page 209 XII. Dicta fratris Hervei......Page 214 XIII. Dicta fratris Iohannis de Alesto......Page 224 XIV. Dicta fratris Iohannis de Neapoli......Page 230 XV. Dicta fratris Iohannis de Reding......Page 241 XVI. Dicta magistri Iohannis Panhote......Page 245 XVII. Dicta fratris Roberti de Anglia......Page 254 XVIII. Dicta......Page 259 XIX. Frater Iohannes de Neapoli......Page 262 Bibliography......Page 288 Index Biblicus......Page 296 Index of Medieval Authors and Texts......Page 297 Index of Modern Authors......Page 304 This book reconstructs the scholastic arguments about marital indissolubility and papal power that lay behind John XXII's 1322 constitution Antique Concertationi. It illustrates the dynamic relationship between canon law and theology, and the tensions between papal authority and academic expertise, that animated a controversial pontificate Reconstructs the scholastic arguments about marital indissolubility and papal power that lay behind John XXII's 1322 constitution Antique Concertationi. This book illustrates the relationship between canon law and theology, and the tensions between papal authority and academic expertise, that animated a controversial pontificate