CHARLEMAGNE’S CAPITULARIES: THE SOURCE OF THE LAWS OF CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE

[Carolingian Statute] Charlemagne, Emperor-Charles II, King of France (edited by Saint Ansegisus and Benedict Levita). Karoli Magni et Lvdovici pii Christianiss. regvm et impp. Francorvm capitvla sive leges ecclesiasticæ et civiles ab ansegiso abbate & benedicto leuita collectæ libris septem, qui nunc primum integri eduntur ex vetustiss. exemplarib. adiectis etiam aliis eorundem regum & Karoli Calvi capitulis: glossarium siue interpretatio obscuriorum aliquot vocabulorum quæ in iisdem capitulis leguntur. arisiis : Apvd Clavdivm Chappelet via Iacobæa, sub signo vnicornis, 1588.

8vo, contemporary limp vellum with calligraphic title at spine, ff. [12], 424, [15].

Rare first Chappelet edition of Carolingian Statute of the civil and canon law statutes of Charlemagne and of Louis the Debonair transcribed from a manuscript in the Pithou library.

The work was completed by 827, gained the approval of the church in France Germany and Italy and served for a long period as official record of canon and civil law of the Empire.

A capitulary (medieval Latin capitularium) was a series of legislative or administrative acts emanating from the Frankish court of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, especially that of the first emperor, Charlemagne. They were so called because they were formally divided into sections called capitula («chapters»).
As soon as the capitulary was composed, it was sent to the various functionaries of the Frankish empire, archbishops, bishops and counts, a copy being kept by the chancellor in the archives of the palace. The last emperor to compose capitularies was Lambert in 898.

St. Ansegisus (c. 770 – c. 834), equally valued by Charlemagne and his son Louis, had reformed several monasteries before being put in charge of Luxeuil in 817. He later became abbot of Fontenelle (called also St. Vandrille) near Rouen, where he greatly enriched the library. Under his stewardship Fontenelle became an important centre of learning; Ansegisus was sent by Louis on embassies abroad. He collected the laws and decrees of the two Carolingian kings, dividing them into chapters called capitularies; the first and second of the four books of his compilation relate to church affairs and the third and fourth to state affairs.

The capitularies of St. Ansegisus are followed by Benedict Levita’s collections of the the capitularies of Charles the Bald, and by the Glossarium Siue Interpretatio obscuriorum aliquot vocabulorum, que in Capitularibus leguntur, an alphabetically organised glossary of obscure terms to be found in the preceding texts.

According to Kirsch (Catholic Encyclopedia, sub Levita) Benedict Levita «is the name given to himself by the author of a forged collection of capitularies which appeared in the ninth century. The collection belongs to the group of pseudo-Isidorian forgeries […]. The work of Abbot Ansegisus was taken as model for the collection […]. About one-fourth of it consists of genuine capitularies […]. The chief aim of the forger was to enable the Church to maintain its independence in face of the assaults of secular power. The author stands for the contemporary movement in favor of ecclesiastical reform and in opposition to the rule of the Church by the laity».

Provenance: Unidentified near contemporary signature Peri .. Maine? at title-page.

References: OCLC locates only two copies in USA of this edition, at Yale University and at Catholic University of America (Washington, DC).

A very fine and unsophisticated copy.