Bartolo of Sassoferrato
BARTOLO OF SASSOFERRATO
One of the most important jurists of the later Middle Ages; b. Sassoferrato, 1313; d. Perugia, 1357. He studied law under Cinus at Perugia and under James of Belvisio at Bologna, where he received his doctorate of law in 1334. After further private study, he became professor of law at Pisa in 1339, and later at Perugia, where he remained until his death. He is most famous for developing a method of applying Roman law to contemporary problems by use of the scholastic method. A group of jurists who followed his method were known as "Bartolists." He wrote many important works, the most famous being a commentary on the Code of Justinian.
Bibliography: b. kurtscheid, "Bartoli de Saxoferrato, vita, opera, momentum, influxus," Apollinaris 11 (1938) 110–117. a. van hove, Commentarium Lovaniense in Codicem iuris canonici 1 (Mechlin 1945) 1:520–523. c. n. woolf, Bartolus of Sassoferrato: His Position in the History of Medieval Political Thought (Cambridge, Eng. 1913).
[j. m. buckley]