Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Lat. 4418

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Lat. 4418

Weltliches Recht im Frankenreich

Repository:

Paris (France)
Bibliothèque Nationale
Lat. 4418

Siglum (by Eckhardt 1962): K 24

Digital image available at BnF

History:

Origin:
10th century (Hänel, Mommsen, Zeumer, Meyer); 1st quarter of the 9th century, court school Aachen (Bischoff, Mordek, Liebs, Kaiser); late 9th century, presumably from South France (Beyerle/Buchner); 10th century (von Salis); 9th century, Narbonensis (García López); 1st quarter of the 9th century, court school of Louis the Pious (Eckhardt 1962 following Bischoff); ca. 2nd third of the 9th century, from some administrative centre in France (?) (Bischoff)

Provenance:
Formerly owned by the historian Jaques-Auguste de Thou in Paris (1553-1617), then via Colbert's library (no. 82) into the royal library (Regius 4696).

Physical description:


Quires: (III-1)5 + (IV+1)14 + 2.IV30 + III36 + 8.IV99 + 4.IV130 + (IV+1)138 + (IV+1)147 + 16.IV290. Quire numbers: (Q.) II-XXXVI
Number: 294 foll. (foll. 73bis, 129bis, 131bis, 212bis)
Size: 427 x ca. 300 mm
Text block: 340 x 220 mm
Lines: 39-40
Columns: 2 columns (except 38r-48r)

Script: Caroline minuscule, multiple hands, rubrics in capitalis and uncial script
Binding: modern cardboard binding

Glosses:

Contents:

  • 1r - 37r
    Lex Romana Visigothorum, Epitome Aegidii. Fol. 1r on top: Salica Lex (10th century?). De iurisdictione et ubi quis conveniri debet (13th/14th century); below: Scri. Becelinus (Bischoff: Scribecelinus, 11th century; Buchner: Scn (?Sctus?) Becelinus)
  • 37v
    empty
  • 38ra - 140rb
    Epitome Iuliani
  • 140v
    empty
  • 141ra - 152rb
    Lex Ribuaria
  • 153ra - 169ra
    Lex Salica. List of titles and text
  • 169va - 188ra
    Lex Burgundionum
  • 188ra - rb
    Lex Romana Burgundionum tit. 17
  • 188v
    empty
  • 189r - va
    Chronica regum Visigothorum
  • 189va - 290ra
    Lex Visigothorum
It is without doubt that - because of its huge format - this codex was not meant for ordinary judges (Bischoff), but as a representative law book (Mordek). Due to the lack of Alemanic and Bavarian law, Buchner suggested a South French origin. The assignment of this gigantic codex (Mordek) to the court library of Louis the Pious by Bernhard Bischoff biased any further research. Bischoff believed the scribe to be the same who wrote the Brussels Gospel (Ms. 18723) and a Seneca manuscript from Bamberg (Msc. Class. 46). In addition, Bischoff suggested that this codex might have ended with a copy of the South German leges. Based on this consideration, Mordek and McKitterick assigned the codex to the leges scriptorium of Louis the Pious. P. Wormald raised the possibility that Benedict of Aniane, a leading advisor to Louis, could have had an interest in the preservation of the Leges Visigothorum. For J. Busch the codex is proof of both elite exchange after the death of Charlemagne and the stronger influence of ancient role models, reflected in a more intense reception of Roman law at the court of Louis the Pious. These considerations have been questioned by Bischoff's last statement in his "Katalog der festländischen Handschriften". Here he argues in favor of the manuscript's origin at an administrative center in France in the secord third of the 9th century ("an einem Verwaltungszentrum in Frankreich, im zweiten Drittel des 9. Jahrhunderts"). Based on this new view, a connection with Charles the Bald is now possible, which also better fits the selection of texts. Further research on the codex, and especially on its glosses, is therefore necessary. In the 9th century the law book had two readers with interest in different parts of the codex. One annotated Justinian's novellae, but only particular passages concerned with monastic law. The Lex Salica was also an object of intensive examination (equation of tunginus with comes, raginburgi with iudices, grafio with comes, sagibarones with senatores). The abbreviation F.G.R.R. (fol. 195v) to invalidate all other law books in Lex Vis. II, 1, 20, p. 58: De remotis alienarum gentium legibus remains puzzling. [Karl Ubl]

References:

  • Hänel 1849 p. LXXVI
  • Delisle 1868 p. 478
  • von Salis 1892 p. 16
  • Zeumer 1902 p. XX
  • Meyer 1905 p. LXI
  • Mommsen 1905 p. CI
  • Buchner 1940 p. 80-81
  • Beyerle / Buchner 1954 p. 36
  • Eckhardt 1962 p. XIX
  • McKitterick 1980 p. 16-17, 22-23
  • McKitterick 1989 p. 47, 50, 60
  • Mordek 1995 p. 423, 1031-1032 [PDF-Download]
  • García López 1996 p. 35, 43-44
  • Bischoff 1998 p. 161
  • Kaiser 2002 p. 213 (n. 6), 221 (n. 37), 229, 235
  • Liebs 2002 p. 102 (n. 62), 111 (n. 107), 163 (n. 209), 222 (n. 489 p. 221, 490-494)
  • Kaiser 2004 p. 12-13, 30-33
  • Kaiser 2007 p. 435-438
  • Radding / Ciaralli 2007 p. 49
  • Hartmann 2008 p. 96 (n. 197), 325
  • Kaiser 2009 p. 444-445, 446 (n. 43), 453, 454 (n. 41), 455-458, 459 (n. 68, 69, 70)
  • Bischoff 2014 p. 98
  • Coma Fort 2014 p. 309-310
  • Ubl 2014 p. 43-44
  • Ganz 2015 p. 259
  • Loschiavo 2015 p. 96 (n. 96), 103
  • Faulkner 2016 p. 195-197, 209-210, 213-216, 224-226, 256, 263, 267-268
  • Ubl 2017 p. 233-235, 237, 240
  • Trump 2021 p. 84-87
  • Coumert 2023 p. 14, 139, 209, 267, 385, 387
  • Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Regiae 3,3, Paris 1744, p. 591.
  • Gustav Hänel (Hrsg.), Iuliani Epitome Latina Novellarum Iustiniani, Leipzig 1873, p. III.
  • Bernhard Bischoff, Die Hofbibliothek unter Ludwig dem Frommen, in: Jonathan J. G. Alexander / Margaret T. Gibson (Hrsg.), Medieval Learning and literature. Essays presented to Richard William Hunt, Oxford 1976, p. 3-22, hier p. 14. (MGH)
  • Manuel C. Díaz y Díaz, La Lex Visigothorum y sus manuscritos. Un esayo de reinterpretación, in: Anuario de Historia del Derecho Español 46 (1976), p. 163-224, hier p. 165-166 n. 8.
  • Jean Vezin, Un manuscrit messin de la première moitié du XIe siècle (Reims, Bibl. mun. 1429), in: Pierre Cockshaw / Monique-Cécile Garand / Pierre Jodogne (Hrsg.), Miscellanea codicologica F. Masai dicata MCMLXXIX, 1 (Les publications de Scriptorium 8), Gent 1979, p. 157-164, hier p. 163 n. 27.
  • Harald Siems, Handel und Wucher im Spiegel frühmittelalterlicher Rechtsquellen (MGH Schriften 35), Hannover 1992, p. 324.
  • Patrick Wormald, The Making of English Law. King Alfred to the Twelfth Century, Oxford / Malden 1999, p. 58 n. 146, 62 n. 168, 64 n. 175, 64 n. 178, 69 n. 207.
  • Jörg W. Busch, Vom Amtswalten zum Königsdienst. Beobachtungen zur "Staatssprache" des Frühmittelalters am Beispiel des Wortes "administratio" (MGH Studien und Texte 42), Hannover 2007, p. 39-41.

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