BARTHOLOMEW OF BRESCIA

Canonist; b. second half of the 12th century; d. 1258. He studied Roman law and Canon Law in Bologna under Hugolinus de Presbyteris and Tancred, and taught Canon Law there from c. 1234. That he did not have a creative mind is best demonstrated by his works, which are all more or less a revision of the works of other authors. He is important as a transmitter of traditional material and as a learned popularizer.

His Casus Decretorum was a revision of the work of the same name by Benencasa Aretinus; Bartholomew composed this work while still a student. It was printed in 1505 with the Glossa ordinaria of the Decretum of Gratian. Historiae super libro Decretorum was an early revision of a collection of the description of biblical events most frequently encountered in the glossaries on the Decretum. The author of the original is unknown. From 1505 the Historiae were printed also with the Glossa ordinaria Brocarda, the revision of a work of the same name by Damasus Ungarus undertaken shortly after 1234, which has been printed frequently. Ordo iudiciarius, a revision of a work of the same name by Tancred, was finished after Tancred's death (1236). Quaestiones veneriales and dominicales, written between 1234 and 1241, are now considered to be a revision of sources already in extensive circulation and present in other collections. Repertorium Decreti, a Summarium of the Decretum, is attributed by many to Bartholomew, but it is not known for certain to be his work.

The Glossa ordinaria Decreti, Bartholomew's chief work, entitles him to a place in the history of Canon Law literature; it is a revision of the work of joannes teu tonicus and was published between 1240 and 1245. In the prologue, Bartholomew writes, "Quoniam novis supervenientibus causis novis est remediis succurrendum…, " stating the reason for and essence of the revision: a recasting of the citations from the Compilationes antiquae to harmonize them with the Decretals of gregory ix, an insertion of omitted citations and of later decretals, and expansions and corrections of the doctrines of Joannes. This version of the glossa ordinaria was appended to most manuscripts of the Decretum. When printed editions began to be published, they were often printed along with the text of the Decretum in the form of a marginal gloss.

Bibliography: j. f. von schulte, Die Geschichte der Quellen und der Literatur des kanonischen Rechts (Stuttgart 1875–1810) 2:83–88. s. kuttner, Repertorium der Kanonistik (Rome 1937). s. kuttner, "Bernardus Compostellanus Antiquus," Traditio 1(1943) 292. a. van hove, Commentarium Lovaniense in Codicem iuris Canonici. (2d. ed. 1945) v. 1, see index. g. fransen, "Tribunaux ecclésiastiques et langue vulgaire d'après les 'Quaestiones' des canonistes," Ephemerides theologicae Lovanienses 40 (1964) 409–412. g. le bras, Dictionnaire de droit canonique, 7 v. (Paris 1935–65) 2:216–217. j. wenner, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (Paris 1912—) 6:984–985. a. m. stickler, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, 10 v. (Freiburg 1957–65) 2:11.

[a. m. stickler]