Byzantine Religious Law in Medieval Italy

Description

Southern Italy was conquered by the Norman Hauteville dynasty in the late eleventh century after over five hundred years of continuous Byzantine rule. At a stroke, the region's Greek Christian inhabitants were cut off from their Orthodox compatriots in Byzantium and became subject to the spiritual and legal jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic popes. Nonetheless, they continued to follow the religious laws of the Byzantine church; out of thirty-six surviving manuscripts of Byzantine canon law produced between the tenth and fourteenth centuries, the majority date to the centuries after the Norman conquest. Byzantine Religious Law in Medieval Italy is a historical study of these manuscripts, exploring how and why the Greek Christians of medieval southern Italy persisted in using them so long after the end of Byzantine rule. The first part of the book provides an overview of the source material and the history of Italo-Greek Christianity. The second part examines the development of Italo-Greek canon law manuscripts from the last century of Byzantine rule to the late twelfth century, arguing that the Normans' opposition to papal authority created a laissez faire atmosphere in which Greek Christians could continue to follow Byzantine religious law unchallenged. Finally, the third part analyses the papacy's successful efforts to assert its jurisdiction over southern Italy in the later Middle Ages. While this brought about the end of Byzantine canon law as an effective legal system in the region, the Italo-Greeks still drew on their legal heritage to explain and justify their distinctive religious rites to their Latin neighbours. Cover Series Page Byzantine Religious Law in Medieval Italy Copyright Dedication Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures List of Tables Abbreviations Note on Translation and Transliteration Chronology Maps Introduction Byzantine Canon Law and Legal Pluralism Law, Religion, and Culture Sources and Methodology Overview of Chapters Part I: Sources and Context 1: Introducing the Byzantine Nomocanon Origins and Development Content and Structure Materiality and Aesthetics Conclusion 2: Greek Christianity in Medieval Italy Byzantine Italy in Transformation (c. 700–1000) The Norman Conquest (c. 1000–1098) The Norman Kingdom and the ‘Italo-Greek Renaissance’ (1098–1194) Greeks, Guelphs, and Ghibellines: Southern Italy between Empire and Papacy (1189–1266) Union and Disunion: Italo-Greek Christianity after the Angevin Conquest (1266–1372) Conclusion 3: Patterns of Source Survival Bessarion and the Formation of the ‘Order of St Basil’ (15th–16th Centuries) The Renaissance Book Market in Southern Italy (16th–17th Centuries) The Consolidation of the Basilian Manuscripts (17th–18th Centuries) Miscellaneous Manuscript Acquisitions (17th–19th Centuries) Conclusion Part II: Byzantine Canon Law in The Norman Kingdom 4: The Byzantine Background Greek Canonical Collections in Byzantine Italy Canon Law in the Katepanikion: Evidence from the Carbone Nomocanon and a Calabrian Apostolic Collection The Norman Conquest and Anti-Latin Polemic Conclusion 5: Monastic Nomocanons I: The Monastic Archipelago The Royal Archimandritates of Rossano and Messina Lesser Archimandritates and Autodespotic Monasteries Ecclesiastical Authority and Jurisdiction: The Monks’ Perspective Conclusion 6: Monastic Nomocanons II: Style, Content, and Influences Traditional Monastic Nomocanons of the Southwest Deluxe Monastic Nomocanons: The Rossanese Group A Komnenian Conduit: The Casulan Manuscripts Conclusion 7: The Secular Church and the Laity The Italo-Greek Episcopate after the Norman Conquest Canon Law in a Civil Law Collection: The Epitome Marciana Aristocratic Authority in Rossano: The ‘Nomocanon of Doxapatres’ Conclusion Part III: From Legal to Cultural Authority 8: The Papacy Takes Charge The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) and Greek Christianity The Papacy and the ‘Order of St Basil’: The Grottaferrata Nomocanon The Archimandrite and the Archbishop: Italo-Greek Resistance to Papal Authority in Messina Conclusion 9: The Salentine Group Salentine Priests as Copyists and Readers of Nomocanons Salentine Style: Codicological and Palaeographical Characteristics Textual Content and Relationship ‘Against the Latins’: Critical Concerns of the Salentine Greek Clergy Conclusion 10: ‘They Do It Like This in Romania’ Canon Law as Cultural Authority: Nektarios of Otranto’s Three Chapters Facing Latin Criticism Correcting Greek Mistakes Conclusion Conclusion Appendix 1: Manuscript Descriptions 1. Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS plut. 5.22 2. Grottaferrata, Badia greca, MS gr. 50 (Z γ VII) 3. Grottaferrata, Badia greca, MS gr. 76 (Z γ III) 4. Grottaferrata, Badia greca, MS gr. 322 (B δ I) 5. London, British Library, MS Add. 28822 6. Messina, Biblioteca Universitaria Regionale, MS S. Salv. 59 7. Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS B 107 sup. (gr. 128) 8. Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS E 94 sup. (gr. 303) 9. Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS F 48 sup. (gr. 341) 10. Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS G 57 sup. (gr. 40 11. Moscow, Gosudarstvennij Istoričeskij Musej, MS Sin. gr. 397 (Vlad. 316) 12. Moscow, Gosudarstvennij Istoričeskij Musej, MS Sin. gr. 432 (Vlad. 317) 13. Naples, Biblioteca nazionale ‘Vittorio Emanuele III’, MS II C 7 14. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Barocci 86 15. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS gr. 1370 16. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS gr. 1371 17. Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, MS C 11.1 18. Syracuse, Biblioteca Alagoniana, MS gr. 3 19. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Barb. gr. 323 (III.42/192) 20. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Barb. gr. 324 (III.43/70) 21. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Barb. gr. 476 (IV.58/350) 22. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Ottob. gr. 186 23. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 1168 24. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 1287 25. The Messinese Collection (via Vat. gr. 1426) 26. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 1506 27. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 1980 (Basil. 19) 28. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 1981 (Basil. 20) 29. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 2019 (Basil. 99) 30. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 2060 (Basil. 99) 31. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 2075 (Basil. 114) 32. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 2115 (Basil. 154), fols. 78–96 33. Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS gr. 169 (coll. 475) 34. Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS gr. 171 (coll. 741) 35. Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS gr. 172 (coll. 574) 36. Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, MS gr. III.2 (coll. 1131) Appendix 2: Statistical Overview Appendix 3: Uncertain and Disputed Manuscripts Nomocanons of Possible Southern Italian Provenance Naples, Biblioteca nazionale ‘Vittorio Emanuele III’, MS II C 4 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS gr. 1324 Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana, MS plut. 9.8 Moscow, Gosudarstvennij Istoričeskij Musej, MS Sin. gr. 398 (Vlad. 315) Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS gr. 309, fols. 250–257 Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, MS F 47 Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 847 Mount Athos, Μονή Βατοπεδίου, MS 555 Nomocanons of Non-Southern Italian Provenance Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS suppl. gr. 482 Sofia, National Centre for Slavo-Byzantine Studies ‘Ivan Dujčev, MSS gr. 397+371 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud gr. 39 Mount Athos, Μονή Μεγίστης Λαύρας, MS B 93 Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. gr. 1167 Bibliography Manuscript Catalogues and Inventories Edited Texts and Documents Academic Studies and Secondary Literature Index of Manuscripts General Index