L4W 61 L4W
the oflkial collection: they are the texts we have just Charlemagne at the Diet of Aachen in 802. This was mentioned, together with the canons of Sardica, and an important step towards the centralisation and uni- of Carthage (419), according to Dionysius Exi^us, fication of the ecclesiasticallaw, especially as the Latin and numerous canonical letters of the great bi£op6, Catholic world hardly extended bevond the limits of S8. Dionysius of Alexandria, Greffory Thaumaturgus, the empire, Africa and the south of Spain having been Basil, etc. If to these be add^ t£e canons of the two lost to the Church through the victones of Islam. OBCumenieal councils of Nicsea (787) and Constanti- (2) The canon law of the African Church was nople (JM) we have all the elements of the definitive strongly centralised at Carthage; the documents nat- couection in its final shape. A few " systematic " col- urally took the form of a collection, as it was custom- lections may be mentioned as pertaining to this pe- ary to read and insert in the Acts of each council the riod: one containing fifty titles by an unknown author decisions of the preceding coimcils. At the time of about 535; another with twenty-five titles of the ec- the invasion of the Vandals, the canonical code of the elesiastical laws of Justinian; a collection of fifty titles African Church comprised, after the canons of Nicsea, dnwn up about 550, by John the Scholastic, a priest of those of the Coimcil of Carthage under Bishop Gratus Antioch. Tlie compilations known as the *'Nomocan- (about 348), under Grenethlius (390), of twenty or ons" are more important, l)ecause they bring together twenty-two plenary councils imder Aurelius (from 393 the civfl laws anci the ecclesiastical laws on the same to 427), ana the minor coimcils of Constantinople. ■objects; the two principal are the Nomocanon, Unfortimately these records have not come down to wronghr attributed to John the Scholastic, but which us in their entirety; we possess them in two forms: in dates Rom the end of the sixth century, with fifty the collection of Dionysius Exiguus, as the canons of a ^tles; and another, drawn up in the seventh century, "Concilium Africanum^'; in the Spanish collection, as and afterwards augmented by the Patriarch Photius those of eight councils (the fourth wronglv attributed, in 883. bein^ a document from Aries, dating about the be-
B. The Canonical CoUections in the West to Pseudo- gimune of the sixth century'). Through these two
Isidore, — In the West canonical collections devel- channels the African texts entered into W^tem canon
oped as in the East, but about two centuries later, law. It will suflfice to mention the two systematic"
At first appear collections of national or local laws, and collections of Fulgentius Ferrandus and Cresconius
the tendency towards centralization is partially ef- (q. v.).
fected in the ninth century. Towards the end of the (3) The Church in Gaul had no local rclisious oen- fourth century there is yet in the West no canonical tre, the territory bein^ divided into unstaole king- collection, not even a local one. those of the fifth cen- doms; it is not surprismg therefore that we meet no tury are essentiallv local, but all of them )x)rrow from centralized canon law or universally accepted collec- the Greek councils. The latter were known in the tion. There are numerous councils, however, and an West by two Latin versions, one called the *'Hispana" abimdance of texts; but if we except the temporary or " Ludorian", because it was inserted in the Spanish authority of the See of Aries, no church of Gam could canonical collection, attributed to St. Isidore of Seville, point to a permanent group of dependent sees. The the other called the "Itala" or "ancient" fPrisca), canonical collections were fairly numerous, but none because Dionysius Exiguus, in the first half of the was eenerally accepted. The most widespread was sixth century, foimd it m use at Rome, and beins dis- the <QuesnelIiana", called after its editor (the Jan- satisfied with its imperfections improved it. Ahnost senist Paschase Quesnel), rich, but badly arranged, all the Western collections, therefore, are based on the. containing many Greek, Gallic, and other councils, same texts as the Greek collection, hence the marked also pontifical decretals. With the other collections influence of that collection on Western canon law. it save way to the *'Hadriana", at the end of the
(1) At the end of the fifth century the Roman eighth century. (4) In Spain, on the contrary, at
Church was completely organized and the popes had least after the conversion of the Visigoths, the Church
promulgated many legislative texts; but no collection was strongly centralized in the See of Toledo, and in
of them had yet been made. The only extra-Roman close union with the royal power. Previous to this,
canons recognized were the canons of Nicaea and Sar- we must note the collection of St. Martin of Braga, a
adopted as ecclesiastical law. Towards the year 500 and important collection of the Visigothic Church.
DionjTsius Exiguus compiled at Rome a double collec- The latter, beeun as early as the council of 633 and in-
tion, one of the councils, the other of decretals, i. e. creased by the canons of subsequent coimcils, is
papal letters. The former, executed at the request of known as the " Hispana" or *' Isidoriana", because in
Stephen, Bishop of Salona, is a translation of the later times it was attributed (erroneously) to St. Isi-
Greek councils, mcluding Chalcedon, and begins with dore of Seville. It comprises two parts: the councils
the fifty Apostolic canons; Dionysius adds to it only and the decretals; the councils are arranged in four
theLatintextofthecanonsofSardica and of Carthage sections: the East, Africa, Gaul, Spain, and chrono-
(419), in which the more ancient African councils logical order is observed in each sec tion; the decretals,
are partially reproduced. The second is a coUection 104 in number, range from Pope St. Damasus to St.
of thirty-nine papal decretals, from Siricius (384) to Gregory (36fMK)4). Its original elements consist of
Anastasiua II (49fr-98). (See Canons, Collections the Spanish councils from Elvira (about 300) to the
OF Ancibnt.) Thus joined together these two collec- Seventeenth Council of Toledo in 694. The influence
tions became the canonical code of the Roman Church, of this collection, in the form it assumed about the
not by official approbation, but by authorized prac- middle of the ninth century, when the False Decretals
tioe. But while m the work of Dionysius the collec- were inserted into it, was veiy great. tion of conciliary canons remained unchanged, that of (5) Of Great Britain and Ireland w© need mention
the decretals was successively increased; it continued only the Irish collection of the beginning of the eighth
to incorporate letters of the different popes till alx)ut century, from which several texts passed to the conti-
the middle of the eighth century when Adrian I gave nent; it is remarkable for including among its canons
(774) the collection of Dionysius to the future Em- citations from the Scriptures and the Fathers Col-
pcror Charlemaflme as the canonical book of the Ro- lectio Hibemensis", 2nd ed., Wasserschleben, Leipzig,
man Oiureh. This collection, often called the *' Dio- 1885). (6) The collection of the False Decretals, or the
Dysio-Hadriana", was soon officially received in all Pseudo-Isidore (about 850), is the last and most com-
frankish territory, where it was cited as the "Liber plete of the "chronological" collections, and there-
Uuionum", and was adopted for the whole empire of fore the one most utilized by the authors of the sub-
