Papal Letters in the Middle Ages (History of Medieval Canon Law)
Publisher: Catholic University of America Press; Catholic Univ of Amer Pr
Published: June 2001
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 225
ISBN-13: 9780813209197
Subjects: Christian liturgy, prayerbooks & hymnals; Ecclesiology & Church government; World history: c 500 to C 1500; Letters, Papal; Christianity - History - Catholic; Religion - Catholicism; To 1500; History: World; Sources; Medieval; Christian Church - Canon & Ecclesiastical Law; Christianity - Canon & Ecclesiastical Law; Canon law; History
First sentence: Cuthbert Hamilton Turner described the reign of Pope Damasus (366-384) as 'the period of the first definite self-expression of the papacy'.
Description: The present volume of the history of medieval canon law contains two essays on late antique and early medieval papal letters: Detlev Jasper describes the history of the transmission and spread of papal decretals from the beginning of the fourth century to the end of the ninth century in the Latin West; Horst Fuhrmann tells the story of the Pseudo-Isidorian forgeries, a collection of conciliar decrees and papal letters that were arranged chronologically. The most influential and important texts in this collection were forged papal decretals that were attributed to popes who reigned during the first four centuries of the Christian era.