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A Quaestio de usuris Falsely Attributed to Bartolus of Sassoferrato
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
Extract
Bartolus of Sassoferrato (1314-57) was the greatestjurist of the fourteenth century. The critical methods which he developed to analyze legal cases and to interpret legal texts became standard procedure among later jurists and was known as Bartolismo. His commentaries range from glosses to the Corpus iuris civilis to minor works, which treated such diverse subjects as the legal foundations of falconry, the question of Franciscan poverty, and the political rule of cities. All these works carried his fame and influence beyond the borders of Italy into France, the Low Countries, Germany, and even Poland. In 1959 the University of Perugia, where Bartolus taught, celebrated the six-hundredth anniversary of his death with a series of lectures dedicated to his life, thought, and influence.
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References
1 Bartolo da, Sassoferrato. Studi e documentiper il VI centenario,2 vols. (Milan, 1962).Google Scholar See also on Bartolus’ life and work, Woolf, C. N. S., Bartolus of Sassoferrato. His position in the History of Medieval Political Thought(Cambridge, 1913);Google Scholar vandeKamp, J. L. J., Bartolus de Sassoferrato 1313-1357. Leven- Werken-Invloed -Beteekenis(Amsterdam, 1936);Google Scholar see E. Meijers, ’review of van de Kamp's book in Études d'histoire du droit,III (Leiden, 1959), 283– 290;Google Scholar Jemolo, A. C., ‘Il “Liber Minoritarum” di Bartolo e la Povertà Minoritica nei giuristi del XII e XIV secolo,’ in Studi sassaresi,II (1922), 1–54;Google Scholar Francesco, Calasso, ‘Bartolo da Sassoferrato,’ in Dizionario biografico degli Italiani,VI (1964), 640–669.Google Scholar
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3 F. Calasso, ‘Bartolo,’ p. 644.
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7 V has also been described as a fifteenth-century manuscript by B. Nogara. His comments, however, remain unpublished. See Catalogo dei manoscritti, Vaticani Latini 2193- 2309 in Vat. lat. 13474. The description of V is found on p. 109.
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10 On Bartolus’ doctrine concerning usury, see Salvioli, G., ‘La dottrina dell'usura secondo i canonisti e i civilisti italiani dei secoli XIII e XIV,’ in Studi giuridici in onore di Carlo Fadda(Naples, 1906), II, 259–278;Google Scholar McLaughlin, T. P., ‘The teaching of the canonists on Usury,’ Medieval Studies,I (1939), 93.Google Scholar
11 I am completing a dissertation at Columbia University on the ecclesiastical controversy over the morality of the public debt of Venice, Genoa, and Florence in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. For a brief discussion of the debate, see de Roover, R., ‘Il trattato di fra Santi Rucellai sul cambio, il monte comune e il monte delle doti,’ Archivio storico italiano,cxi (1953), 3–41;Google Scholar Kirshner, J., ‘A Document on the Meeting of the Chapter General in Florence (1365),’ Archivum Franciscanum Historicum,62 (1969), 392-99.Google Scholar On the development of the public debt of Venice, see Luzzatto, G., I prestiti della Repubblica di Venezia in Documenti finanziari della Republica di Venezia(Padua, 1929);Google Scholar see the same author's important article, ‘Il debito pubblico nel sistema finanziario veneziano dei secoli XIII-XV,’ in Nuova rivista storica,CII (1929), 623-637; F. Lane, ‘The Funded Debt of the Venetian Republic, 1262-1482,’ Venice and History: The Collected Papers of Frederic C. Lane(Baltimore, 1966), pp. 87-98.
12 H. Sieveking, Studio sullefinanze genovesi nel Medio Evo ed in partkolare sulla Casa di Giorgioin, S. Atti della Società Ligure di Storia patria,XXXV, parts I and II (1906);Google Scholar Heers, J., Gênes au XVe siècle(Paris, 1961), pp. 97–176.Google Scholar
13 Barbadoro, B., Le finanze della repubblica Fiorentina. Imposte dirette e debito pubblico fino all'istituzione del Monte(Florence, 1929), pp. 515–673.Google Scholar
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15 Astesanus, , Summa de casibus conscientiae(Rome, 1728), III, 11, 5.Google Scholar
16 See Lorenzo, Ridolfi, De usuris,in Tractatus universi iuris,VII (Venice, 1584),Google Scholar fol. 39. Lorenzo's work was completed in 1404. The Franciscan summist, Angelo da Chivasso (d. 1495), also mentioned Peter d'Ancarano's opinions on the public debt. See Angelo da, Chivasso, Summa(Nuremburg, 1488), 1, 78.Google Scholar
17 The incipit of this manuscript reads: ‘An lucra que percipiuntur ex monte Venetorum vel Florentinorum sit usura.’ fol. 278v. This work, however, only treated the Monteof Venice.
18 The incipit of the Madrid text reads: ‘Disputatio D. Petri de Amcherano in quaestione an percipere annum redditum ex imprestitis sit usura'; fol. 232B. For a description of this text, see Inventario General de Manuscritos de la Biblioteca National,VI (2100-2374), Madrid, 1962, 49. Since writing this article, I have located three additional manuscripts of the Quaestio:(1) Biblioteca Nazionale of Turin; see Mazzatinti, G. and Sorbelli, A., Inventari dei Manoscritti delle Biblioteche d'ltalia,XXVIII (Forli, 1922-24), p. 66, no. 633 (E-II-5);Google Scholar (2) Biblioteca Comunale dell'Archiginnasio of Bologna: see ibid.,LXXIX (Forli, 1954), no. 1393; (3) Biblioteca Varicana, Ottoboni Lat.,800, fols. 278-288v. According to a note made by the scribe, this last copy was written in October 1446, in Rome, fol. 288v. An edition of the Quaestiowas published in Venice in 1499/1500 (T. Guarnaschelli and Valenziani, E., Indice Generate degli Incunaboli delle Biblioteche d'ltalia,I (Rome, 1943), 59).Google Scholar These recent discoveries confirm and in no way alter the conclusions which I have reached about the authorship of the Quaestio.
19 The explicit of the Florentine text is found on fol. 288: ‘Disputata per excellentissimum utriusque iuris doctorem dominum Petrum de Ancharano … Bononiensis anno domini 1398… .’ For the explicit of the Madrid text, see MS. 2139, fol. 238vb.
20 Peter, d'Ancarano, Super quinto decretalium Facundissima commentaria(Bologna, 1580),Google Scholar De usuris, In civitate,fol. 106.
21 John of, Anagni, In quintutn decretalium lectura dilucida(Lyons, 1533),Google Scholar De usuris, In civitate,fol. I77v. John of Anagni's citation is taken from the opening passage of the Quaestio. See the Florentine text, fol. 278 v :Antiquis et modernis (et modernis om.V)temporibus viri catolici et conscientie timorate a sacre theologie magistris necnon a sacrorum canonum ac legum professoribus sepe querunt, et inter se disputant an recipere annuum debitum (redditum V)ex imprestitis que sunt Veneciis sit usura.