CONCLUSION

Summary

Baldus' fame and influence long outlived him: indeed, his works occupied a central position in European thought until at least the early seventeenth century. The large number of early printed editions of his writings still in existence bear physical witness to this. The reason for his lasting importance is to be found in the longevity of the medieval juristic tradition. Far from being superseded by humanist jurisprudence in the sixteenth century, scholastic legal science continued to flourish as the education for the practice of law. Thus humanist critics of the medieval approach nevertheless tended to accept its practical application. Andrea Alciato, for instance, held both Bartolus and Baldus in high regard: indeed, references to Baldus and discussions of his arguments are integral to Alciato's treatment of legal problems, notably in his De verborum significatione. Furthermore, Francois Hotman, notable for his adoption of the humanist mos gallicus and notorious for his later criticism of it and indeed all Roman law studies in his Antitribonian, nevertheless in his practical application of law in his consilia made frequent use of Baldus, thus drawing on his conservative juristic formation at Orléans. Within the surviving medieval tradition the dominant position of Bartolus and Baldus became increasingly consolidated. Thus in the sixteenth century, quite apart from Italian jurisprudence which continued almost universally to revere the medieval civilians and canonists, the works of those French jurists, who remained heavily influenced by the scholastic tradition, are full of references to Baldus: one need only consult the works of Claude de Seyssel, Nicholas Bohier, Charles Du Moulin, Bartholomé Chasseneuz and Andre Tiraqueau.