This book explores the legal and theological thought of Master Vacarius (c.1115/20 - c.1200), the renowned twelfth-century jurist. It focuses on this Italian master's four works, composed in the second half of the twelfth century, which deal with the resolution of conflict in law and theology. Vacarius is a paradox for scholars. They have found it difficult to reconcile his role as a legal teacher, notably through his textbook the 'Liber pauperum' ('Book of the Poor'), which established a school of Roman law at Oxford, with his 'extra-legal' works on marriage, Christology and heretical theology. This study accounts for this paradox by exploring these three extra-legal treatises, composed in the 1160s and 1170s, in light of Vacarius' legal textbook. The author argues that Vacarius applies the legal method of the 'ius commune' (European common law) to theological and sacramental debates. In this way, Vacarius represents a trend in medieval intellectual history, particular to the twelfth-century renaissance, which has been little appreciated to date - the hermeneutic of the 'lawyer-theologian'.
Author(s): Jason Taliadoros
Series: Disputatio, 10
Publisher: Brepols
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 334
City: Turnhout
Acknowledgements vii
List of Abbreviations ix
Introduction: 1
Biography: A Twelfth-century Life 2
Legal and Supra-legal Works 9
Scholasticism 13
Lawyer-theologian 19
Chapter Outline 21
Chapter 1: Teaching Law 25
Law and Society in the Twelfth Century 25
The 'Liber pauperum' 31
Law Teaching at Oxford 35
Canon Law, Roman Law, and the 'Ius Commune' 43
Conclusion 52
Chapter 2: The Law of Marriage 55
Part I: Background 55
Part II: Terms and Language in the 'Summa de matrimonio' 69
Part III: 'Traditio' in the 'Summa de matrimonio' 88
Part IV: Dissolution 108
Part V: Marriage Law in Practice 117
Final Conclusions 129
Chapter 3: Christology 131
Part I: Christological Debates in the Twelfth Century 131
Part II: The 'Tractatus de assumpto homine' 153
Part III: The 'Liber contra' 192
Final Conclusions 211
Chapter 4: Heresy, Theology, and Sacramental Matters 215
Part I: Background 215
Part II: Sacramental Matters: Holy Orders 228
Part III: Sacramental Matters: Baptism 249
Part IV: Sacramental Matters: Eucharist 258
Part V: Sacramental Matters: Penance and Confession 275
Part VI: Other Theological Matters 277
Final Conclusions 288
Conclusion 291
Bibliography 295
