I. Petrus Damiani und die Autorität des kanonischen Rechts (ca. 1050–ca. 1150)

Abstract

Summary The question if it is possible to speak of “Geltungsformen des Rechts” for the period between ca. 1050 and ca. 1150, will usually be answered with ‘no’, since it was not clear what was generally enforced. The intensive research of the last decades has shown that there was little canonistic activity coordinated from Rome. Instead, both compilers and users of canon law collections pursued their own interests and needs arising from pastoral care. That resulted in various forms of reception and transmission of the normative texts. What was constant throughout the period was the fact that the authority as such of canon law was taken for granted, even if individual texts were at times ignored. This consensus found its expression in the idea that the Holy Spirit was the ultimate author of the sacred canons. The present paper deals with the role of this idea by analyzing four letters of Petrus Damiani and their influence on later thinkers up to ca. 1150.