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IMC 2013: Sessions

Session 125: Canon Law, I: Letters and Law in the 12th Century

Monday 1 July 2013, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:Iuris Canonici Medii Aevi Consociatio (ICMAC) / Church, Law & Society in the Middle Ages
Organiser:Danica Summerlin, Stephan Kuttner Institute of Medieval Canon Law, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Moderator/Chair:Bruce C. Brasington, Department of History & Geography, West Texas A&M University, Canyon
Paper 125-aThe Interaction of 'Old' and 'New' Laws in the Later 12th Century
(Language: English)
Danica Summerlin, Stephan Kuttner Institute of Medieval Canon Law, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Index terms: Canon Law, Ecclesiastical History, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 125-b'Our letters have not usually made law (legem facere) on such matters' (Alexander III, 1169): A New Look at the Formation of the Canon Law of Marriage in the 12th Century
(Language: English)
Anne J. Duggan, Department of History, King's College London
Index terms: Canon Law, Ecclesiastical History, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Sexuality
Abstract

While the development of the 'new' law of the decretals in the 12th and 13th centuries would eventually provide the Church with its authoritative legal codes, during the later 12th century the emergence of those codes was far from certain. This session will investigate the fluidity of legal ideas during the later 12th century, demonstrating how the the interaction of local ideas with papal letters created an innovative legal culture. The copious marriage letters of a variety of popes and bishops continue to provide a key entrance point into understanding that culture.