The Collectio canonum Casinensis duodecimi seculi (Codex terscriptus). A Derivative of the South-Italian Collection in Five Books. An Implicit edition with Introductory Study (review)

Editing a collection of medieval canon law is no easy task. Thus, specialists in the field of early-medieval canon law will surely welcome Roger Reynolds' study of the Collectio canonum casinensis, a late twelfth-century compilation preserved at Monte Cassino. Reynolds argues forcefully for the necessity of analyzing even such derivative compilations as the Casinensis, whose sources included the Decreta of Burchard of Worms and Ivo of Chartres, the Collection in 74 Titles, and the Collection in Five Books. The Casinensis also sheds light on Monte Cassino's engagement with ecclesiastical reform of the eleventh and twelfth century. His codicological and paleographical examination of the manuscript also enlarges our understanding of scribal practice in the region.

Reynolds provides an "implicit edition," listing the incipit/explicit of each canon accompanied by an apparatus of its formal source. He provides a text that, while not a full critical edition, does place the collection in context and enable further study. The volume concludes with various tables such as attribution of canons, a list of the incipits, and a subject index. This reviewer would have welcomed additional examination of the Casinensis' dependence on Ivo's Decretum—a rarity in twelfth-century Italian canon law—as well as the numerous anonymous canons. It is a rare thing to say in a review, but this work is too short. Yet this observation does not detract in the slightest from Reynolds' achievement. It is to be hoped that other specialists in the field will follow his lead.