Byzantine Legal Sources Research Centre

800 Surviving Manuscripts Speak of Law and Justice

Justinian I, mosaic from San Vitale in Ravenna.
The Corpus Iuris Civilis originates from the Eastern Roman Emperor (c. 482–565 AD).

The Middle Ages were shaped by the division - still influential today - between a Latin West and a Greek East. This separation also extended to the realm of law. The Corpus Iuris Civilis of Justinian, which had been almost forgotten in the West for centuries, was repeatedly translated into Greek in legal education in the East as early as the 6th century. It remained ever-present as the foundation of the rich and diverse legal literature of the Byzantine Empire and was supplemented by new legislation (Novellae).

The core of canon law consists of the canons of synods and the Church Fathers. In particular, ecclesiastical law also radiated into other “Orthodox” regions of the “Christian East.” The research project holds an almost complete collection of microfilms of the approximately 900 surviving manuscripts. About 30 volumes have been published in the series Forschungen zur byzantinischen Rechtsgeschichte (Research on Byzantine Legal History), including the first two printed volumes of a repertory of Byzantine legal manuscripts. A third volume has been made available as an open access electronic publication.

Research Team:

Prof Dr Wolfram Brandes / Dr Timo Christian / Dr habil. Kirill Maksimovič / Dr Ekaterini Mitsiou / Dr Lorena Atzeri (external)

 

About the Project

Nomisma of the Emperors Leo III and Constantine V, who in the year 741 promulgated the law book known as the Ecloga.

Byzantium, the Eastern Roman Empire, which for over a millennium (since the founding of Constantinople by Constantine the Great) was a significant, and for a long time even the most important, power within the European-Mediterranean cultural sphere, is increasingly gaining prominence in modern medieval historiography. While the Corpus Iuris Civilis, the monumental codification created under Justinian in the 6th century, attracts considerable interest in the West as the transmitter of classical Roman law into the Middle Ages and modern times, it is often overlooked that the Corpus Iuris Civilis continued uninterrupted in the East in its Greek form and remained the basis of law not only within the spatial and temporal boundaries of the Byzantine Empire. In its Byzantine transformations, it was received during the Middle Ages in the Balkans, by the East Slavs, and by the peoples of the Christian Orient. Even in modern times, it remained in force in the Romanian principalities and in the newly established Kingdom of Greece. Byzantine legal sources thus allow us to study the continuous development of a highly sophisticated, strongly literary-based legal culture under changing political, social, and economic conditions.

With the eastward expansion of political Europe, knowledge of Byzantine legal culture and its continuation in the Slavic-speaking countries has gained particular relevance and practical significance. The opportunities and obstacles to renewed rapprochement and unification of the legal systems of Western, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe can only be properly assessed with an awareness of the roots and traditions of both legal spheres. Developments in modern Russia, too, cannot be understood without knowledge of the Byzantine roots of its concepts of state and rulership. Moreover, Byzantium was confronted with Islam for approximately 900 years. The many and diverse mutual relations between the two cultures remain significantly under-researched. The research centre has made a key contribution to this task by identifying and preserving the relevant texts.

A prerequisite for all research into the development of Byzantine law is the identification and safeguarding of its textual foundations. To enable such work, a comprehensive and internationally unique archive of microfilmed documents was created, which is accessible to scholars worldwide and has already enabled numerous other projects. This archive serves as the basis for documenting the transmission of Byzantine law through critical editions of texts that were hitherto unedited or only inadequately edited, for the creation of reference tools (repertoria), and for carrying out linguistically and content-based studies of Byzantine law. In addition to secular sources, canon law sources must also be given due consideration, as Byzantine legal practice drew upon both.

Publications

A. Publication Series "Forschungen zur Byzantinischen Rechtsgeschichte" (for individual chapters, see the German page): 

  • Fontes Minores I, edited by Dieter Simon, 1976, pp. 196.
  • Dietrich V. Simon, Konstantinisches Kaiserrecht. Studien anhand der Reskriptenpraxis und des Schenkungsrechts. 1977, XII, pp. 128.
  • Fontes Minores II, edited by Dieter Simon, 1976, XIV, pp. 128. 
  • Fontes Minores III, edited by Dieter Simon, 1979, XVIII, pp. 373.
  • Fausto Goria, Tradizione romana e innovazioni bizantine nel diritto privato dell’Ecloga privata aucta. 1980, X, pp. 155.
  • Spyros Troianos, Ὁ «Ποινάλιος» τοῦ Ἐκλαδίου. Συμβολὴ εἰς τὴν ἱστορίαν τῆς ἐξελίξεως τοῦ ποινικοῦ δικαίου ἀπὸ τοῦ Corpus Iuris Civlis μέχρι τῶν Βασιλικῶν. 1980, X, pp. 135.
  • Fontes Minores IV, edited by Dieter Simon, 1981, XII, pp. 376.
  • Fontes Minores V, hg. von Dieter Simon, 1982. XVI, pp. 300.
  • Wulf Eckart Voss, Recht und Rhetorik in den Kaisergesetzen der Spätantike. Eine Untersuchung zum nachklassischen Kauf- und Übereignungsrecht. 1982, XXX, pp. 272.
  • Ecloga. Das Gesetzbuch Leons III. und Konstantinos V., edited by Ludwig Burgmann. 1983, XVIII, pp. 282.
  • Fontes Minores VI, edited by Dieter Simon. 1984, XIV, pp. 410.
  • Die arabische Ecloga. Das vierte Buch der Kanones der Könige aus der Sammlung des Makarios, edited by Stefan Leder. 1985, X, pp. 142.
  • Andreas Schminck, Studien zu mittelbyzantinischen Rechtsbüchern. 1986, XXXV, pp. 152.
  • Fontes Minores VII, edited by Dieter Simon. 1986, XIV, pp. 354.
  • Ecloga Basilicorum, edited by Ludwig Burgmann. 1988, XXXIV, pp. 622.
  • Das Novellensyntagma des Athanasios von Emesa [mit deutscher Übersetzung], edited by Dieter Simon und Spyros Troianos. 1989, XXIV, pp. 512.
  • Lexica Iuridica Byzantina ediderunt Ludwig Burgmann, Marie Theres Fögen, Roos Meijering, Bernard H. Stolte (= Fontes Minores VIII). 1990, X, pp. 461.
  • Bibliographie zur Rezeption des byzantinischen Rechts im alten Rußland sowie zur Geschichte des armenischen und georgischen Rechts, unter Mitwirkung von Azat Bozojan, Igor Čičurov, Sulchan Goginava, Kirill Maksimovič und Jaroslav Ščapov zusammengestellt von Ludwig Burgmann und Hubert Kaufhold. 1992, X, pp. 276.
  • Fontes Minores IX, edited by Ludwig Burgmann. 1993. XII, pp. 367.
  • Repertorium der Handschriften des byzantinischen Rechts, Teil I: Die Handschriften des weltlichen Rechts (Nr. 1-327), by Ludwig Burgmann, Marie Theres Fögen, Andreas Schminck and Dieter Simon. 1995. XXX, pp. 466.
  • Die armenischen Übersetzungen byzantinischer Rechtsbücher. Erster Teil: Allgemeines; Zweiter Teil: Die „Kurze Sammlung“ („Sententiae Syraciae“), edited, translated and annotated by Hubert Kaufhold. 1997. XVI, pp. 223.
  • Fontes Minores X, edited by Ludwig Burgmann. 1998. XII, pp. 559.
  • Die slavische Ecloga, edited by Jaroslav Nikolaevič Ščapov † and Ludwig Burgmann. 2011. pp. 325.
  • Manea-Erna Shirinian, Gohar Muradyan, Aram Topchyan, The Armenian Version of the Greek Ecclesiastical Canons. 2010. XII, pp. 254.
  • Wolfram Brandes, Finanzverwaltung in Krisenzeiten. Untersuchungen zur byzantinischen Administration im 6. - 9. Jahrhundert. 2002. XIV, pp. 775.
  • Fontes Minores XI, edited by Ludwig Burgmann. 2005. XIII, pp. 483.
  • Das byzantinische Syntagma in 14 Titeln ohne Kommentare in altbulgarischer Übersetzung: Slavisch-griechisches und rückläufiges (slavisches) Wortregister, compiled by Kirill A. Maksimivič, edited by Ludwig Burgmann, 2 Hbde., 2010. XXX, pp. 584.
  • Repertorium der Handschriften des byzantinischen Rechts, Teil II: Die Handschriften des kirchlichen Rechts I (Nr. 328-427), by Andreas Schminck and Dorotei Getov. 2011. XXVI, pp. 297.
  • Victor Alexandrov, The Syntagma of Matthew Blastares. The Destiny of a Byzantine Legal Code among the Orthodox Slavs and Romanians, 14-17 centuries. 2012. pp. 247.
  • Eine unbekannte Konzilssynopse aus dem Ende des 9. Jahrhunderts. Edited, translated, and annotated by Lars M. Hoffmann and Wolfram Brandes. 2013. pp. 362.
  • Johannes Pahlitzsch, Der arabische Procheiros Nomos. Untersuchung und Edition der Übersetzung eines byzantinischen Rechtstextes. Frankfurt am Main 2014, VIII, pp. 174 + 176.
  • Fontes Minores XII, edited by Wolfram Brandes, Lars M. Hoffmann, and Kirill Maksimovič. Frankfurt am Main 2014, pp. 346 + XII.
  • Ludwig Burgmann, Ausgewählte Aufsätze zur byzantinischen Rechtsgeschichte. Frankfurt am Main 2015.
     

B. Electronic Publications:

  • Repertorium der Handschriften des byzantinischen Rechts. Teil III. Die Handschriften des kirchlichen Rechts II (Nr. 428-527), by Andreas Schminck and Dorotei Getov. 2014.  [PDF]
  • G. Markwald, Gesamtregister der Handschriften zu den Fontes Minores I-XI. 2014. [PDF]
     

C. Individual Publication (for individual chapters, see the German page):

  • Cupido legum, edited by Ludwig Burgmann, Marie Theres Fögen, Andreas Schminck. Frankfurt am Main 1985, pp. 244.
     

D. Online Publikations in "res doctae":

Link