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Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Medieval and Early Modern Jurists

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Report No. c033

Roffredus Beneventanus

c.1170–c.1244

 

Alternative Names

Roffredus Beneuentanus; Roffredo Beneventano; Roffredo da Benevento; Roffredo Epifani da Benevento; Rofredus Beneventanus; Roffredus de Epiphanio; Roffredus Epiphanii; Roffredus Epiphanides

 

Biography/Description

A civilian jurist who studied under an array of glossators: Johannes Bassianus, Otto Papiensis, Cyprianus, Azo, Hugolinus, and Karolus de Tocco. Taught law at Bologna and Arezzo (1215), where he probably implemented a Bologna-style school, then at the newly established University at Naples (from 1224), but his primary activity was in courts, not the classroom. Active in Pistoia in 1219, in the service of Frederick II a year later with the title (perhaps more honorary than actual) iuris civilis professor et imperialis et regalis curie magister et iudex, and in Benevento, his hometown, from 1222. His career in the 1220s shows an unusual amount of dual service to pope and emperor. When Benevento came again under papal influence (1229), he went to Rome, worked at the papal curia, and also did some teaching. The outcome of his work in the curia was a highly successful treatise on the procedural practices of the curia (1235/36), in which he tried to outline the canonical rules for his fellow civilians. The treatise lacks depth but systematically covered the basics; it was important for working canon law into the ius commune. Roffredus died in Rome soon after 1243. His work bears the siglum ‘Rof.’ or ‘Rof. Beneventanus’.

 

Entry by: AL viii.2016

 

Text(s)

 
No. 01

Libelli de iure canonico, 1235/36. Written for civilians with little or no training in canon law, but also a useful introduction to procedure for canonists. Incomplete (we have seven of twelve books named by R. himself). According to Ferretti, the first five of seven books were completed around 1236.

 
No. 02

De libellis et ordine iudiciorum, 1220s–1230s. A popular compendium of civil procedure that touched upon many substantive issues of law. Though lengthy, incomplete based on the plan discussed in the prologue. Begun at Arezzo but written over a long period of time. According to Cortese, combined two long-standing models of the ordo iudiciorum (that of the minor schools and that of Johannes Bassianus and Placentinus at Mantua) with a new genre de libellis initiated by Bernardus Dorna.

 
No. 03

Quaestiones de facto emergentes, c.1220. Written in Arezzo early in R.’s career. Often printed with another set of questions, the Quaestiones sabbatinae, which probably are not R.’s. Total of 54, several of which are extensive.

 
No. 04

Cum tractatus de pugna sit utilis. On dueling, which was still allowed under certain circumstances under Lombard law.

 
No. 05

Glossae ad Corpus iuris ciuilis. Not nearly as extensive as the glosses of others of his time, but there is some manuscript evidence for a limited number of glosses on the Codex and Digest.

 
No. 06

De positionibus. Falsely attributed to Odofredus in 16th c. edition and reprint.

 
No. 07

Tractatus de bonorum possessionibus, post 1215. Written in Arezzo; treats same topic as the sixth part of the De libellis et ordine iudiciorum.

 
No. 08

De actionibus. Named by R. but not yet found extant. Most likely a precursor to his main procedural works.

 

Text(s) – Manuscripts

No. 01

Libelli de iure canonico, 1235/36.

 
Manuscript

Praha, Národní Muz. M XVII B 9

 

Text(s) – Early Printed Editions

No. 01

Libelli de iure canonico, 1235/36.

 
Early Printed Editions

 

Text(s) – Modern Editions

No. 01

Libelli de iure canonico.

 
Modern Editions

Libelli de iure canonico (Corpus glossatorum iuris civilis 6; Torino 1968). (Reprint of ed. Avignon 1500.)

 
No. 02

De libellis et ordine iudiciorum.

 
Modern Editions

De libellis et ordine iudiciorum (Corpus glossatorum iuris civilis 6; Torino 1968). (Reprint of ed. Avignon, 1500.)

 
No. 03

Quaestiones de facto emergentes.

 
Modern Editions

Quaestiones de facto emergentes, ed. G. Caselli (Corpus glossatorum iuris civilis 6; Torino 1968). (Reprint of ed. Avignon, 1500.)

 
No. 04

Cum tractatus de pugna sit utilis.

 
Modern Editions

Ed. F. Patetta in Cum tractatus de pugna sit utilisBibliotheca iuridica medii aevi (Bologna 1892) 2.75–83.

 
No. 05

Glossae ad Corpus iuris ciuilis.

 
Modern Editions

Ed. G. Dolezalek in ‘Reportatio ad Cod. 2.1’, Repertorium manuscriptorum veterum Codicis Iustiniani (Ius Commune, Sonderheft 23; Frankfurt a.M. 1985) 2.845–50.

 
 

Ed. F. von Savigny in Geschichte5.635. A single gloss on the Cod.

 
No. 06

De positionibus.

 
Modern Editions

De positionibus (Corpus glossatorum iuris civilis 5.5; Torino 1970). (Incorrectly attributed to Odofredus.)

 

Literature

E. Cortese, ‘Roffredo Epifani da Benevento’, in DGI (2013) 2.1712–1715.

G. Pedicini, Roffredo Beneventano e il suo tempo (Benevento 2009).

K. Pennington, ‘The Decretists: The Italian School’, in The History of Medieval Canon Law in the Classical Period, 1140–1234: From Gratian to the Decretals of Pope Gregory IX, W. Hartmann and K. Pennington, ed. (History of Medieval Canon Law 6; Washington DC 2008) 167–68, 170.

K. Pennington, ‘The Decretalists 1190–1234’, in The History of Medieval Canon Law in the Classical Period, 1140–1234: From Gratian to the Decretals of Pope Gregory IX, W. Hartmann and K. Pennington, ed. (History of Medieval Canon Law 6; Washington DC 2008) 236, 242.

J. Vásquez García-Peñuela, ‘Rofredo de Benvento’, in Juristas universales (2004) 1.397–400.

H. Lange, Glossatoren (1997) 314–23.

E. Conte, Servi medievali: Dinamiche del diritto comune (Roma 1996) 121–34.

N. Kamp, ‘Roffredus de Epiphanio’, in LMA (1995) 7.936.

I. Baumgärtner, ‘Was muss ein Legist vom Kirchenrecht wissen? Roffredus Beneventanus und seine “Libelli de iure canonico”’, in Proceedings Cambridge (MIC C–8; Città del Vaticano 1988) 223–45.

P. Erdö, ‘Cause su diritti dei primate nella pratica di Roffredo da Benevento’, ZRG Kan. Abt., 103 (1986) 362–67.

M. Bellomo, ‘Intorno a Roffredo Beneventano: professore a Roma?’, in Scuole diritto e società nel mezzogiorno medievale d’Italia, M. Bellomo, ed. (Studi e ricerche dei ‘Quaderni catanesi’ 8; Catania 1985) 1.137–81. Reprinted in: idem, Medioevo edito e inedito (Roma 1997–2002) 3.5–54.

E. Meijers, ‘L’università di Napoli nel secolo XIII’, in Meijers, Études d’histoire du droit, R. Feenstra, ed. (Leiden 1959) 3.149–66.

H. Kantorowicz, ‘The Quaestiones Disputatae of the Glossators’, TRG, 16 (1939) 1–67. Reprinted in: idem, Rechtshistorische Schriften von Dr. Hermann Kantorowicz weiland Professor der Rechte in Freiburg/Br., Kiel und Cambridge (Karlsruhe 1970) 137–39; 147–48.

H. Kantorowicz, ‘De pugna: la letteratura longobardistica sul duello giudizario’, in Studi di storia e diritto in onore di Enrico Besta per il XK anno del suo insegnamento (Milano 1939) 2.1–25. Reprinted in: idem, Rechtshistorische Schriften von Dr. Hermann Kantorowicz weiland Professor der Rechte in Freiburg/Br., Kiel und Cambridge (Karlsruhe 1970) 255–57; 262–64.

E. Seckel and E. Genzmer, ‘Die Casus Bambergenses’, ZRG Rom. Abt., 55 (1935) 317.

E. Besta, ‘Il primo secolo della scuola giuridica napoletana’, Nuovi studi medievali, 3 (1926/27) 7–28.

G. Ferretti, ‘Roffredo Epifanio da Beneventano’, Studi medievali, 3 (1908–11) 230–87.

E. Seckel, ‘Über neuere Editionen juristischer Schriften aus dem Mittelalter I’, ZRG Rom. Abt., 21 (1900) 212–14, 223–26.

F. von Savigny, Geschichte 5.184–217.