The "Codex Remensis" of the State Library at Berlin (Ms. Phill. 1743): The role of the Gallic episcopate in the transmission of late antique legal knowledge and the construction of Merovingian politics

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Achim Bonte, since 10/2021; Professor Dr. Stefan Esders
• Subject Area: Medieval History ; Principles of Law and Jurisprudence ; Roman Catholic Theology
• Term: from 2017 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 376982064

During the transition from antiquity to the middle ages, the Gallic bishops, many of whom were of senatorial descent, continued to run the ancient Christian church in the regional context of the bishoprics and ecclesiastical provinces of Gaul. However, as episcopate, they also operated on a wider scale as they got involved in politics through their efforts preserving the inherited legal tradition while also furthering its development by episcopal consensus as established through synods. Their actions were determined in cooperation with the Merovingian kings, but also in subordination to the bishop of Rome, who acted as a conduit between the Roman imperial church and the imperial court in Constantinople. Perhaps the best illustration of this process is given by the Codex Remensis, an 8th-century manuscript today kept in the Staatsbibliothek at Berlin (Phill. 1743). This project aims at the first systematic investigation into this famous manuscript, which has long been inaccessible. The Codex Remensis uniquely preserves a collection of ecclesiastical law texts as developed through conciliar legislation and papal decrees, a dossier of texts related to the hugely influential theological Three-Chapters controversy instigated by the Roman emperor Justinian, and legislative texts relating to a political reform issued by the Frankish king Chlothar II in 614 following a period of civil wars. In addition, the codex preserves marginal notes from the 9th century illustrating its use by the important Carolingian bishop and legal expert Hincmar of Rheims.In the course of the project, the Codex, which has been restored and digitized only recently, will be analyzed paleographically, while illegible passages within the texts will be reconstructed with the help of new scientific tools. The texts contained in the manuscript will be transcribed and analyzed with regard to contents and sources in order to interpret them as unique evidence for the legal knowledge of Gallic bishops, and as a testimony to a pioneering cooperation between bishops and kings in legislative matters. The magnifying glass provided by the Codex Remensis, scrutinized in an interdisciplinary approach and made accessible through new technologies and digitization, will allow us to show how the Gallic episcopate, by use of its legal expertise, was engaged with the political and legal transformations between antiquity and the middle ages in important and groundbreaking ways. Moreover, the project also intends to initiate more intense research into the early medieval legal manuscripts kept by the Staatsbibliothek at Berlin.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Canada, France, Israel, Switzerland, USA
• Co-Investigators: Dr. Michael Glatthaar; Professor Dr. Oliver Hahn; Professorin Dr. Martina Hartmann
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Philippe Depreux; Professor Dr. Bruno Dumézil; Professor Yitzhak Hen, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Alexander Callander Murray; Professor Dr. Lawrence Nees; Professor Dr. Helmut Reimitz; Dr. Cornelia Scherer; Professor Dr. Sebastian Scholz; Professor Dr. Karl Ubl; Professor Dr. Eckhard Wirbelauer
• Ehemalige Antragstellerin: Barbara Schneider-Kempf, until 10/2021