Folia Theologica 15. (2004)
Szabolcs Anzelm Szuromi: Rules concerning bishops in the Decretales Pseudo-Isidorianae, especially the regulation on the death of bishops
146 SZ. A. SZUROMI law collections tried to enlarge their works, mainly with new papal letters. A good example is the Collectio Dionysio-Hadriana, which was compiled in 7743 and gave a really good help toward the unified ecclesiastical concept of the Carolingian Reform.4 The church-politic of the Carolingian Age has weakened the independence of the Church in the West, and this marked how close the confrontation was between the secular and ecclesiastical authority.5 The anointed ruler considered as his own sacred obligation to do everything for the earthly realization of the Kingdom of Christ, even the promotion of spreading the Christian Faith and supporting the Church. These goals certainly founded the claim of the ruler to define the ecclesiastical activity in his territory. Conflicts arose especially concerning the personal independence of bishops, the freedom of the ecclesiastical legislation and the competence of the ecclesiastical tribunals. Similar conflicts developed among the hierarchical levels of the Church, for example between the metropolitan and the bishop. The new canon law collections tried to remedy this symptom when they used the interpolated texts or false attributions. These modified sources or simply forged texts intended to enforce the Church's own standpoint.6 The Decretales Pseudo-Isidorianae is a prominent and most effective canonical collection of this epoch. This collection contains a lot of new - mainly false - canons basically concerning bishops if we compare it with the previous canon law collections.7 3 SZUROMI, Sz.A., A püspökökre vonatkozó egyházfegyelmi szabályok a Dionysio-Hadriana gyűjteményben, in Kánonjog 2 (2000) 87-95. 4 MORDEK, H., Kirchenrecht und Reform im Frankenreich. Die "Collectio Vetus Gallica", die älteste systematische Kanonessamlung des fränkischen Gallien. Studien und Edition (Beiträge zur Geschichte und Quellen des Mittelalters 1), Berlin-New York 1975. 241-249. 5 Cf. VANDERPUTTEN, S., Faith and Politics in Early Medieval Society: Charlemagne and the frustrating failure of an ecclesiological project, in Revue d’Histoire Ecclésiastique 96 (2001) 311-332. 6 ERDŐ, P., Die Quellen des Kirchenrechts. Ein geschichtliche Einführung (Adnotationes in lus Canonicum 23), Frankfurt am Main 2002. 74-77. 7 Cf. YARZA, F., El obispo en la organizáción ecclesiastica de las Decretales pseudo-isidorianas, Pamplona 1985.
