Suchergebnisse

Abstract
This essay considers medieval leprosy in ecclesiastical legislation through the lens of legal pluralism, that is the range of normative orders that are independent from the "state" as a monolithic entity. It focuses on the period between the mid-eleventh and the turn of the fourteenth century marked by efforts at church reform, by the proliferation of leprosaria, and by canonical interest in matrimonial law. It argues that the environment in which various legal authorities worked influenced how they engaged with leprosy. The policies they enacted resulted from a negotiation of their circumstances and needs, which were not necessarily the same. The result was a rich and overlapping legal tradition that, over time, coalesced into a comprehensive legislative policy that both protected the rights of the afflicted as well as the safety of the healthy. The first section of this essay sets forth research on leprosy and the arguments to be pursued. The second section argues that the "old law" in canonical collections used leprosy as an allegory for sin and as a metaphor for simony in pursuit of personal reform and renewal. The third section focuses on the proliferation of leprosaria and argues that the challenge of arranging for pastoral care fell on the shoulders of councils and prelates making policy at the regional or local level. The fourth section argues that the papacy and jurists worked parallel to other legislative bodies. Yet it would be the requests to which the papacy responded and the importance of juridical commentary as a source clarifying the legal ambiguities in these responses that would provide the inroad for the papacy, acting similar to the proverbial "state", to normalize ecclesiastical life and Christian society.

Abstract
This essay questions the designation of Causa 23-Causa 26 of Gratian's Decretum as the Causae hereticorum, a "tract" on heresy. It first explores the historiographical discrepancy between the designation and the varied analysis of scholars. Then it moves to a reassessment of the three textual features, which - if taken out of context - could lead to the conclusion that heresy was the principal element of the cases: the hypotheticals, the introductory summary to the causae known as "In secunda parte", and finally the placing of the cross-reference to "in prima causa" on equal footing with the reference to a tractatus. Rather than the Causae hereticorum, the essay argues that it might prove more fruitful to consider Causae 23-26, along with the preceding case (Causa 22) on the oath and perjury, as a thematic unit addressing obedience and the execution of one's office. Using the topics of heresy and magic as a means to an end, a springboard to address larger issues, the early textual tradition of the first recension illustrates that Gratian applied the juridical aspects of oath-taking, laid out in Causa 22, to assess how bonds structured the different interpersonal relationships analyzed in Causae 23-26. Thinking about Causae 22-26 as cases concerned with relationships and the associated duties offers an opportunity to think more about how the law conceived of and transmitted ideas about right order: an order that would extend from the pope down to the laity.

Introduction -- Law in the early Christian church -- Canon Law in the early Middle Ages -- Canon Law amid eleventh-century reform efforts -- Gratian and the decretists -- Decretals and the decretalists -- Canon Law in intellectual spaces -- Courts and procedure -- Canon Law in the lives of people -- The impact of Canon Law on Western societies -- Conclusion.