Bibliography
Roy
Flechner s. xx–xxi
Works authored
Flechner, Roy, The Hibernensis, volume 1: a study and edition, Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Canon Law, Washington, D. C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2019.
abstract:
The Hibernensis is the longest and most comprehensive canon-law text to have circulated in Carolingian Europe. Compiled in Ireland in the late seventh or early eighth century, it exerted a strong and long-lasting influence on the development of European canon law. The present edition offers—for the first time—a complete text of the Hibernensis combining the two main branches of its manuscript transmission. This is accompanied by an English translation and a commentary that is both historical and philological. The Hibernensis is an invaluable source for those interested in church history, the history of canon law, social-economic history, as well as intellectual history, and the history of the book.
Widely recognized as the single most important source for the history of the church in early medieval Ireland, the Hibernensis is also our best index for knowing what books were available in Ireland at the time of its compilation: it consists of excerpted material from the Bible, Church Fathers and doctors, hagiography, church histories, chronicles, wisdom texts, and insular normative material unattested elsewhere. This in addition to the staple sources of canonical collections, comprising the acta of church councils and papal letters. Altogether there are forty-two cited authors and 135 cited texts. But unlike previous canonical collections, the contents of the Hibernensis are not simply derivative: they have been modified and systematically organised, offering an important insight into the manner in which contemporary clerical scholars attempted to define, interpret, and codify law for the use of a growing Christian society.
Widely recognized as the single most important source for the history of the church in early medieval Ireland, the Hibernensis is also our best index for knowing what books were available in Ireland at the time of its compilation: it consists of excerpted material from the Bible, Church Fathers and doctors, hagiography, church histories, chronicles, wisdom texts, and insular normative material unattested elsewhere. This in addition to the staple sources of canonical collections, comprising the acta of church councils and papal letters. Altogether there are forty-two cited authors and 135 cited texts. But unlike previous canonical collections, the contents of the Hibernensis are not simply derivative: they have been modified and systematically organised, offering an important insight into the manner in which contemporary clerical scholars attempted to define, interpret, and codify law for the use of a growing Christian society.
abstract:
The Hibernensis is the longest and most comprehensive canon-law text to have circulated in Carolingian Europe. Compiled in Ireland in the late seventh or early eighth century, it exerted a strong and long-lasting influence on the development of European canon law. The present edition offers—for the first time—a complete text of the Hibernensis combining the two main branches of its manuscript transmission. This is accompanied by an English translation and a commentary that is both historical and philological. The Hibernensis is an invaluable source for those interested in church history, the history of canon law, social-economic history, as well as intellectual history, and the history of the book.
Widely recognized as the single most important source for the history of the church in early medieval Ireland, the Hibernensis is also our best index for knowing what books were available in Ireland at the time of its compilation: it consists of excerpted material from the Bible, Church Fathers and doctors, hagiography, church histories, chronicles, wisdom texts, and insular normative material unattested elsewhere. This in addition to the staple sources of canonical collections, comprising the acta of church councils and papal letters. Altogether there are forty-two cited authors and 135 cited texts. But unlike previous canonical collections, the contents of the Hibernensis are not simply derivative: they have been modified and systematically organised, offering an important insight into the manner in which contemporary clerical scholars attempted to define, interpret, and codify law for the use of a growing Christian society.
Widely recognized as the single most important source for the history of the church in early medieval Ireland, the Hibernensis is also our best index for knowing what books were available in Ireland at the time of its compilation: it consists of excerpted material from the Bible, Church Fathers and doctors, hagiography, church histories, chronicles, wisdom texts, and insular normative material unattested elsewhere. This in addition to the staple sources of canonical collections, comprising the acta of church councils and papal letters. Altogether there are forty-two cited authors and 135 cited texts. But unlike previous canonical collections, the contents of the Hibernensis are not simply derivative: they have been modified and systematically organised, offering an important insight into the manner in which contemporary clerical scholars attempted to define, interpret, and codify law for the use of a growing Christian society.
Theses
Works edited
Contributions to journals
Flechner, Roy, “The chronicle of Pseudo-Origen: simulating a world chronicle in seventh-century Ireland”, Peritia 31 (2020): 89–106.
abstract:
Fourteen excerpts from a text modelled on a world chronicle survive as quotations in the late seventh- or early eighth-century Collectio Hibernensis. This chronicle-like text associated with the name Origen - arguably an Irish sage with a patristic pseudonym - might also have been a source for the Historia Brittonum. Is this the earliest ‘chronicle’ from Ireland or a figment of seventhcentury imaginative Insular scholarship?
abstract:
Fourteen excerpts from a text modelled on a world chronicle survive as quotations in the late seventh- or early eighth-century Collectio Hibernensis. This chronicle-like text associated with the name Origen - arguably an Irish sage with a patristic pseudonym - might also have been a source for the Historia Brittonum. Is this the earliest ‘chronicle’ from Ireland or a figment of seventhcentury imaginative Insular scholarship?
Flechner, Roy, “The problem of originality in early medieval canon law: legislating by means of contradictions in the Collectio Hibernensis”, Viator 43:2 (2012): 29–48.
abstract:
The sources for late antique and early medieval canon law collections consisted primarily of synodal acta and papal decretals. Although these collections fell short of addressing the growing legal requirements of expanding Christian communities, new sources could not be introduced without first securing their authority. The earliest collection to offer both new sources and new methods of legislation, was the late seventh- or early eighth-century Irish Hibernensis. It concludes with a book consisting entirely of novel sources, which highlights ostensible contradictions between canons. This book is the earliest recorded example of sic et non in the Latin West. The present article analyzes this book with the aim of establishing how the Hibernensis addressed the problem of innovation versus authority. My analysis evokes modern legal theory and explores the efficacy and limitations of drawing on theory as a means of shedding light on early medieval canon law material.
abstract:
The sources for late antique and early medieval canon law collections consisted primarily of synodal acta and papal decretals. Although these collections fell short of addressing the growing legal requirements of expanding Christian communities, new sources could not be introduced without first securing their authority. The earliest collection to offer both new sources and new methods of legislation, was the late seventh- or early eighth-century Irish Hibernensis. It concludes with a book consisting entirely of novel sources, which highlights ostensible contradictions between canons. This book is the earliest recorded example of sic et non in the Latin West. The present article analyzes this book with the aim of establishing how the Hibernensis addressed the problem of innovation versus authority. My analysis evokes modern legal theory and explores the efficacy and limitations of drawing on theory as a means of shedding light on early medieval canon law material.
Flechner, Roy, “Aspects of the Breton transmission of the Hibernensis”, Pecia 12 (2008): 27–44.
abstract:
Brittany played a major role in the early transmission of the Collectio canonum hibernensis. In total, seven copies of the Hibernensis (and a fragment) were written in Brittany or copied from Breton exemplars, and all complete copies of the Hibernensis but two have Breton connexions. The present paper examines how the Hibernensis figured in ninth-century Breton politics, and introduces new evidence pertaining to individual Breton copies of the Hibernensis and their relationship.
La Bretagne a, au départ, joué un rôle crucial dans la diffusion de la Collectio canonum hibernensis. Au total, sept manuscrits de l’Hibernensis (et un fragment) ont été rédigés en Bretagne, ou alors copiés à partir d’exemplaires bretons. Seules deux copies complètes de l’Hibernensis n’ont aucune filiation avec la Bretagne. Cet article se propose d’examiner comment l’Hibernensis a pu figurer dans la politique bretonne du neuvième siècle. Ce faisant, il fournit de nouveaux éléments concernant l’étude des manuscrits bretons de l’Hibernensis et de leurs relations réciproques.
La Bretagne a, au départ, joué un rôle crucial dans la diffusion de la Collectio canonum hibernensis. Au total, sept manuscrits de l’Hibernensis (et un fragment) ont été rédigés en Bretagne, ou alors copiés à partir d’exemplaires bretons. Seules deux copies complètes de l’Hibernensis n’ont aucune filiation avec la Bretagne. Cet article se propose d’examiner comment l’Hibernensis a pu figurer dans la politique bretonne du neuvième siècle. Ce faisant, il fournit de nouveaux éléments concernant l’étude des manuscrits bretons de l’Hibernensis et de leurs relations réciproques.
abstract:
Brittany played a major role in the early transmission of the Collectio canonum hibernensis. In total, seven copies of the Hibernensis (and a fragment) were written in Brittany or copied from Breton exemplars, and all complete copies of the Hibernensis but two have Breton connexions. The present paper examines how the Hibernensis figured in ninth-century Breton politics, and introduces new evidence pertaining to individual Breton copies of the Hibernensis and their relationship.
La Bretagne a, au départ, joué un rôle crucial dans la diffusion de la Collectio canonum hibernensis. Au total, sept manuscrits de l’Hibernensis (et un fragment) ont été rédigés en Bretagne, ou alors copiés à partir d’exemplaires bretons. Seules deux copies complètes de l’Hibernensis n’ont aucune filiation avec la Bretagne. Cet article se propose d’examiner comment l’Hibernensis a pu figurer dans la politique bretonne du neuvième siècle. Ce faisant, il fournit de nouveaux éléments concernant l’étude des manuscrits bretons de l’Hibernensis et de leurs relations réciproques.
La Bretagne a, au départ, joué un rôle crucial dans la diffusion de la Collectio canonum hibernensis. Au total, sept manuscrits de l’Hibernensis (et un fragment) ont été rédigés en Bretagne, ou alors copiés à partir d’exemplaires bretons. Seules deux copies complètes de l’Hibernensis n’ont aucune filiation avec la Bretagne. Cet article se propose d’examiner comment l’Hibernensis a pu figurer dans la politique bretonne du neuvième siècle. Ce faisant, il fournit de nouveaux éléments concernant l’étude des manuscrits bretons de l’Hibernensis et de leurs relations réciproques.
Flechner, Roy, “Dagán, Columbanus, and the Gregorian mission”, Peritia 19 (2005): 65–90.
abstract:
An attempt to sketch the biography of Dagán, the Irish bishop who met the Gregorian missionaries in Kent, and to establish whether the Irish church concerned itself with the mission. Several categories of sources are considered: contemporary epistles (by Gregory, Columbanus, Lawrence), annals, canon law (Hibernensis, Synodus Patricii) liturgical material (Stowe Missal, martyrologies), hagiography (saints’ Lives and genealogies), saga (Bórama), and Bede’s HE.
abstract:
An attempt to sketch the biography of Dagán, the Irish bishop who met the Gregorian missionaries in Kent, and to establish whether the Irish church concerned itself with the mission. Several categories of sources are considered: contemporary epistles (by Gregory, Columbanus, Lawrence), annals, canon law (Hibernensis, Synodus Patricii) liturgical material (Stowe Missal, martyrologies), hagiography (saints’ Lives and genealogies), saga (Bórama), and Bede’s HE.
Contributions to edited collections or authored works
Flechner, Roy, and Sven Meeder, “Controversies and ethnic tensions”, in: Sven Meeder, and Roy Flechner (eds), The Irish in early medieval Europe: identity, culture and religion, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. 195–213.
Sections: Introduction; Columbanus as controversial figure; An Irish heretic; Ethnic tensions at St-Gall monastery; A theological controversy.
Sections: Introduction; Columbanus as controversial figure; An Irish heretic; Ethnic tensions at St-Gall monastery; A theological controversy.
