Lex Visigothorum: Translation and Interdisciplinary Commentary on the Late Antique and Early Medieval Legal Texts

Textbook for Philology, Ancient and Medieval History, and Law Students

Participants

• Dr. habil. Petya Yaneva
• Dr. Bianca Schröder
• Dr. Oleg Aurov
• Dr. Alexander Marey
• Constantin Tasits
• Ivan Kopylov

Description of the intersession activity

The project belongs to the section “Teaching practices and techniques - syllabi design,” but it has some special characteristics. First of all, it is oriented to the interdisciplinary method of teaching. It combines methods of some traditional disciplines – Classical Philology, Linguistics, Ancient and Medieval History and Culture, Roman Law, and Law History. As a rule, these disciplines are not connected in traditional Curricula. But a new period of the development of the Humanities needs a new kind of specialist. This specialist has to be able to perceive every Classical text as a part of a global cultural context. This context includes factors of different kinds, which determine causes of text formation, its specific type, form of existence, and goals of its practical usage.

The second innovative aspect of the course is that Latin juridical texts are the subjects of interpretation. It is not a rule, because traditional courses in Classical Philology and Ancient History are oriented to the translation and interpretation of narrative Latin texts and inscriptions (in Central and Eastern Europe at least). General opinion is that legal texts can be interesting only for the law student. But law students usually don’t have sufficiently good level of Latin. So, as a rule they use only translated legal texts (or, more often, their fragments). They are not able to perceive a text as a complicated cultural event, and to connect it with the realities of an epoch. Our goal is to overpass the chasm, which exists between traditional conceptions of Classical, Medieval, and Law History studies. We try to form a kind of a specialist, who can in the same manner use methods of different disciplines.

The course is to be offered to the student of the Master degree and post-graduate students in Classics, Ancient, and Medieval History, Law History, Roman Law. A student who has passed a course will be able to read, translate and make interdisciplinary commentary on the legal texts. It means that he should be able:

• to see a historical context, which determined the text formation;
• to explain the goals of the author (authors);
• to determine the models (laws of the roman periods; Christian texts, antique Classical prose and poetry), which were used by the legislator;
• to classify these models;
• to explain how and why they were used (style, rhetorical forms, legal norms and procedures, etc.);
• to determine the influence of the text on the development of the genre tradition (legal and literary at the same time). As a principal source for the interpretation the text of the “Lex Visigothorum” is taken (The Visigothic Code, second part of the seventh century, Spain). It is a codification of the Latin edicts of the Spanish kings (fifth – seventh centuries), which were collected by the famous Spanish scholar of the period, theologian and jurist Braulio of Zaragoza (about 585 – after 651), who was a disciple of great St. Isidore of Seville. The reasons of the choice of the text are:
• It is an outstanding monument of the Late Roman Law in its medieval form;
• Some of its parts (first of all I mean the 1st book) had not only juridical, but also a philosophical value because they are dedicated to the description of the ideals of Law, Power, Society. So, they could be interesting and useful not only for lawyers, but also for historians and philosophers;
• The content of the Code is genetically connected with a Roman juridical science (Papinianus, Ulpianus and some others). But at the same time we can find the origins of another nature, namely Antique philosophical and rhetorical traditions (Cicero, then Quintillian, etc.). Then, we must take into consideration the part of the Christian interpreters of Classic tradition (St. Jerome, St. Augustin, St. Isidore of Seville, etc.). So, analyzing the fragments of “Lex Visigothorum”, we could reconstruct the wide intellectual context of the monument, and, at the same time, we can follow a complicated red of intertextual influences.
• Also it is important to emphasize, that the text of Visigothic Code is very interesting from the point of view of philologists and linguists. First of them will find in the text the traces of the Late Antique rhetorical tradition, and for the second one could be interesting the ways of the evolution and deformation of classical verbal forms (not “studium”, but “istudium”, not “scelus”, but “iscelus”, etc.) and non specific use of cases and some other grammar categories.

The structure of the Textbook

The Textbook is going to consist of 5 sections. Every section is going to be divided into five principal elements:

• Selected part of the Visigothic Code;
• Short historical, juridical, philological or theological commentary, which is to give to the student all the necessary information about the fragment selected;
• Fragments of other texts, connected with the principal one, it means the fragments of Classical texts (Cicero “De re publica”, “De officiis”; Quintilian “Institutio oratoria” etc.), Roman lawyers’ works (Papinianus, Ulpianus and some others), Late Antique and Early Medieval Christian authors (St. Jerome, St. Augustinus, St. Isidore of Seville, Ildefonse of Toledo, Braulio of Zaragoza and some others), etc.
• Didactic tasks and exercises. Principal subjects are to be grammatical, juridical, historical, philological, theological aspects of the selected texts. The goal is to construct an interdisciplinary commentary on the fragment.
• Basic bibliography.

The final goal of the project

The Textbook is going to become a methodical base for the elective course formation. This course will be able to be included into the Curricula of Departments of Antique and Medieval History, Law History, Classics and some others.

Stages of work

1. All members of the intersession group will take part in the process of selection of the Visigothic Code fragments, which will become a base of every part. They will take into consideration:

• Juridical content of the fragment;
• Its historical value;
• Its philological value (grammatical and rhetorical aspects).

2. Reconstruction of the context of every selected fragment of the principal text.

3. Elaboration of commentaries and didactic tasks and exercises. The process will be divided into the following directions:

• Juridical commentary and tasks (Dr. Alexander Marey)
• Historical commentary and tasks (Dr. Oleg Aurov).
• Theological and philosophical commentary and tasks (Ivan Kopylov)
• Philological and linguistic commentaries and tasks (Dr. Bianca Schröder, Constantin Tasits).
• Coordination of the work – Dr. habil. Petya Yaneva.

4. Formation of the final list of basic bibliography. In this period the work will be divided in the following way:

• The basic literature list in law history and theory of law will be elaborated by Dr. Alexander Marey and Dr. Oleg Aurov;
• The basic literature list in Antique and Early Medieval history will be elaborated by Dr. Oleg Aurov, Constantin Tasits and Ivan Kopylov;
• The basic literature list in Antique philosophy and theology will be elaborated by Ivan Kopylov and Constantin Tasits;
• The basic literature list in philology and linguistics will be elaborated by Dr. habil. Petya Yaneva, Dr. Bianca Schröder, Constantin Tasits; Dr. habil. Petya Yaneva will coordinate all the work on this stage.

5. Final redaction of the Textbook.

6. Elaboration of the CD-version of the text (Dr. Alexander Marey).

Timetable

1. A process of selection of the Visigothic Code fragments.
by 15. April 2006

2. Reconstruction of the context of every selected fragment of the principal text.
March 2006 – August, 2006.

3. First online presentation of the concept and frame of the project. Includes a thematic discussion which can take place on the project’s forum, involving members of other intersession groups.
May 2006

4. Design of a model syllabus of an elective university course. Presentation of a draft outline of the textbook (list of the fragments of the Visigothic Code; list of the “optional” primary sources, the main part of the bibliography).
September 2006, IInd summer session