BOOK: Christof ROLKER, Ed. New Discourses in Medieval Canon Law Research - Challenging the Master Narrative [Medieval Law and Its Practice] (Leiden-New York: Brill, 2019). ISBN 978-90-04-39438-4, €127.00

(Source: Brill)

Brill has published a new book on medieval canon law.

ABOUT THE BOOK

New Discourses in Medieval Canon Law Research offers a new narrative for medieval canon law history which avoids the pitfall of teleological explanations by taking seriously the multiplicity of legal development in the Middle Ages and the divergent interests of the actors involved. The contributors address the still dominant ‘master narrative’, mainly developed by Paul Fournier and enshrined in his magisterial Histoire de collections canoniques. They present new research on pre-Gratian canon collection, Gratian’s Decretum, decretal collections, but also hagiography, theology, and narrative sources challenging the standard account; a separate chapter is devoted to Fournier’s model and its genesis. New Discourses thus brings together specialized research and broader questions of who to write the history of church law in the Middle Ages.

Contributors are Greta Austin, Katheleen G. Cushing, Stephan Dusil, Tatsushi Genka, John S. Ott, Christof Rolker, Danica Summerlin, Andreas Thier and John C. Wei.

ABOUT THE EDITOR

Christof Rolker, Ph.D. (Cambridge, 2006), is professor for Historische Grundwissenschaften at the University of Bamberg. His numerous publications on medieval canon law include Canon Law and the Letters of Ivo of Chartres (Cambridge University Press, 2010).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Abbreviations

Notes on Contributors

Introduction

Christof Rolker and Andreas Thier

1 Fournier’s Model and Its Merits

 Christof Rolker

2 Law and Reform: The Transmission of Burchard of Worms’ Liber decretorum

 Kathleen G. Cushing

3 New Narratives for the Gregorian Reform

 Greta Austin

4 Clerical Networks and Canon Law: The Beauvais Election Controversy of 1100–04

 John S. Ott

5 The Role of Hagiography in the Development of Canon Law in the Reform Era

 Tatsushi Genka

6 Of Scholasticism and Canon Law: Narratives Old and New

 John C. Wei

7 The Decretum of Gratian: A Janus-Faced Collection

 Stephan Dusil

8 Using the ‘Old Law’ in Twelfth-Century Decretal Collections

 Danica Summerlin

9 Canon Law before Gratian: A Bibliographical Appendix

 Christof Rolker

General Index

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