The origins of Ius commune: glosses and glossaries from the tenth and eleventh centuries

Abstract

The paper contains an analysis of tenth and eleventh-century glosses and glossaries of Italian texts which precede, in terms of legal methodology, the establishment of Ius commune. This is followed by a comparison with examples developed during the same period in Hispanic territories. Glosses of legal texts from the era discussed in this article provide valuable evidence of contemporary knowledge of legislative and doctrinal interpretation of seminal legal authorities in the past. Glossaries consist of collections of glosses organized for ease of handling in a continuous series, usually alphabetically. Typically, they provide brief definitions and analytical summaries of the content of each entry, an approach that reflects the teaching methods of the late Roman Empire and the High Middle Period.