CANON LAW
. The medieval church was governed by universal canon law and local laws and customs.
The former was taught at the universities, especially in Bologna and Paris. It was divided
into ius antiquum, the conciliar canons, papal decretals (many of them spurious), and
patristic texts included in Gratian’s Decretum, a private (i.e., not ecclesiastically
sanctioned) collection from the 12th century, and ius novum, recent canons and decretals.
Collecting of decretals began as a private endeavor, but the papacy took an interest early
in the 13th century. Ultimately, there were three official collections, promulgated to the
universities, the Liber extra or Gregorian decretals of Gregory IX (1234), the Liber
sextus decretalium of Boniface VIII (1298), and the Constitutiones clementinae, left
unpromulgated on the death of Clement V in 1314 and reissued by John XXII in 1317.
(Other papal decrees, or extravagantes, were collected unofficially.) The greatest number
of the texts in these collections concerned the discipline and business of the clergy.
Teaching from these texts and commenting on them made the canonists important figures
in medieval political and ecclesiological theory. Canonistic science was brought into
pastoral care through the summae confessorum, handbooks, many of which were
composed by friars to guide priests in hearing confessions and assigning penance. The
Roman curia supplemented universal canon law with collections of its own regulations
and decisions of its tribunals, especially the Rota. Local canon law continued to exist in a
subordinate role; and numerous synods and provincial councils issued regulations,
applying the universal canon law or dealing with regional problems.
Thomas M.Izbicki
[See also: BONIFACE VIII; CLEMENT V; GRATIAN; GREGORY IX; LAW AND
JUSTICE]
Corpus iuris canonici, ed. Emil Friedberg. 2 vols. Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1879; Graz: Akademische
Druck und Verlagsanstalt, 1955.
Brundage, James. Law, Sex and Society in Medieval Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1987.
Kuttner, Stephan. Harmony from Dissonance: An Interpretation of Medieval Canon Law. Latrobe:
Archabbey, 1955.
Ullmann, Walter. Law and Politics in the Middle Ages: An Introduction to the Sources of Medieval
Political Ideas. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975.
CANONICAL HOURS (DIVINE OFFICE)
. The form of service, comprising psalms, hymns, readings, and prayers, designated for
the sanctification of specific hours of the day. The two chief types, monastic and secular
(for secular clergy), arose to accommodate the particular needs of these communities;
their differences reside primarily in the number and arrangement of the items.
As early Christianity existed under constant threat of persecution, most assemblies
occurred in the evening, and out of these vigils the most important Hours developed. The
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 310