Epitome Iuliani

Epitome Iuliani

1. Introduction

The Epitome Iuliani is a collection of Justinian law that was widely used in the western Early Middle Ages. More precisely, the Epitome is an introductory lecture on Byzantine law that was held by Iulianus in Constantinople during the reign of Justinian. 124 novellae by the Byzantine Emperor are discussed in an abbreviated version.

The early medieval collections Constitutiones de rebus ecclesiasticis, Capitula ex lege Iustiniana and the summa capitulorum De ordine ecclesiastico consist solely of excerpts from the Epitome Iuliani. The codices containing these are also listed here. Additionaly, the Regulae ecclesiasticae, the Collectio in V libris and the Collectio in IX libris, which also include other Roman law texts besides the Epitome Iuliani are to be mentioned as well.


2. Edition

  • Gustav Hänel (Ed.), Iuliani Epitome Latina Novellarum Iustiniani, Leipzig 1873.
  • Gerhard Schmitz / Matthias Weber (Eds.), Die “Summa de ordine ecclesiastico”: Eine römisch-rechtliche Quelle Benedicts, 2004 (online)

3. Reading recommendations (2000 onwards)

  • Wolfgang Kaiser, Die Epitome Iuliani. Beiträge zum römischen Recht im frühen Mittelalter und zum byzantinischen Rechtsunterricht (Studien zur Europäischen Rechtsgeschichte. Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts für europäische Rechtsgeschichte Frankfurt am Main 175), Frankfurt 2004.
  • Wolfgang Kaiser, Wandlungen im Verständnis der Epitome Iuliani von der Spätantike bis zur Gegenwart, in: Martin Avenarius (Ed.), Hermeneutik der Quellentexte des Römischen Rechts, Baden-Baden 2008, 300-353.
  • Wolfgang Kaiser, Fragmente der Epitome Iuliani, I. Hs Paris BN Baluze 270 ff. 68-69, II. Hs Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibl. Fragm. Aug. 145, in: Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte: Romanistische Abteilung 126 (2009), 440-460.
  • Antonia Fiori, Roman Law Sources and Canonical Collections in the Early Middle Ages, in: Bulletin of Medieval Canon Law N.S. 34 (2017), 1-31.

4. Further resources


5. Manuscripts [38]


[VIAF entry]