The Hibernensis, Book 1: A Study and Edition (Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Canon Law)

The __Hibernensis__ is the longest and most comprehensive canon-law text to have circulated in Carolingian Europe. Compiled in Ireland in the late seventh or early eighth century, it exerted a strong and long-lasting influence on the development of European canon law. The present edition offers―for the first time―a complete text of the __Hibernensis__ combining the two main branches of its manuscript transmission. This is accompanied by an English translation and a commentary that is both historical and philological. The __Hibernensid__ is an invaluable source for those interested in church history, the history of canon law, social-economic history, as well as intellectual history, and the history of the book. Widely recognized as the single most important source for the history of the church in early medieval Ireland, the __Hibernensis__ is also our best index for knowing what books were available in Ireland at the time of its compilation: it consists of excerpted material from the Bible, Church Fathers and doctors, hagiography, church histories, chronicles, wisdom texts, and insular normative material unattested elsewhere. This in addition to the staple sources of canonical collections, comprising the decisions of church councils and papal letters. Altogether there are forty-two cited authors and 135 cited texts. But unlike previous canonical collections, the contents of the __Hibernensis__ are not simply derivative: they have been modified and systematically organised, offering an important insight into the manner in which contemporary clerical scholars attempted to define, interpret, and codify law for the use of a growing Christian society. The Hibernensis is the longest and most comprehensive canon-law text to have circulated in Carolingian Europe. Compiled in Ireland in the late seventh or early eighth century, it exerted a strong and long-lasting influence on the development of European canon law. The present edition offers—for the first time—a complete text of the Hibernensis combining the two main branches of its manuscript transmission. This is accompanied by an English translation and a commentary that is both historical and philological. The Hibernensis is an invaluable source for those interested in church history, the history of canon law, social-economic history, as well as intellectual history, and the history of the book. Widely recognized as the single most important source for the history of the church in early medieval Ireland, the Hibernensis is also our best index for knowing what books were available in Ireland at the time of its compilation: it consists of excerpted material from the Bible, Church Fathers and doctors, hagiography, church histories, chronicles, wisdom texts, and insular normative material unattested elsewhere. This in addition to the staple sources of canonical collections, comprising the acta of church councils and papal letters. Altogether there are forty-two cited authors and 135 cited texts. But unlike previous canonical collections, the contents of the Hibernensis are not simply derivative: they have been modified and systematically organised, offering an important insight into the manner in which contemporary clerical scholars attempted to define, interpret, and codify law for the use of a growing Christian society. Contents Preface Abbreviations Sigla Introduction 1 A background to the Hibernensis 1.1 Authorship 1.2 Date of composition 1.3 Structure 1.4 Sources: general discussion 1.5 Sources: the Bible 1.6 Sources: Irish synods 1.7 The late antique and early medieval canonical background 1.8 The Hibernensis and Irish vernacular law 1.9 Remarks on Latinity 2 Recensions and textual varieties 2.1 Distinguishing between the recensions: a formal approach 2.2 Different recensions, different sources 2.3 The recensions and their Irish sources 2.4 Vestiges of a pre-recensional text 2.5 An early secondary witness to the undivided text 2.6 Postulating an undivided text 3 Editing the Hibernensis 3.1 The present edition 3.2 The main copy 3.3 Principles of the present edition The main text Book, chapter, and other numbers Cited sources Grammar, orthography, and translation Variant readings and emendations 4 Manuscripts studied for the present edition A Orléans, Bibliothèque municipale, 221 (193) B Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, lat. 3182 D Monte Cassino, Archivio e Biblioteca dell’Abbazia, 297 H Oxford, Bodleian Library, Hatton 42 O London, British Library, Cotton Otho E. XIII P Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, lat. 12021 S St. Gall, Stiftsbibliothek 243 V Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, T. XVIII Q Würzburg, Universitätsbibliothek, Mp. th. q. 31 Tables 1: Texts attributed to Sinodus Hibernensis and Hibernenses 2: Sinodus Romana and Romani in Hib.A and Hib.B 3: Texts attributed to Patrick 4: Irish sources not mentioned in previous tables 5: Q and the present edition – a synoptic table Editorial conventions Text of the Hibernensis