LAWRENCE OF SPAIN

A native of the Iberian Peninsula; b. place and date unknown; d. Dec. 15, 1248. From 1210 to 1215 he taught at the University of Bologna, where he wrote his works. He studied Roman law under Azo. Although an expert in both laws, it is not certain that he taught more than Canon Law. Among his disciples were tancred of Bologna and probably bartholomew of brescia. He is called Magister Laurentius and Laurentius Magister Scholarum in documents of the cathedral of Orense (Spain) of 1214, 1215, and 1218, where he was bishop from 1218 or 1219 to 1248. His activities both within and outside the Diocese of Orense are attested by local documents and by various bulls from Honorius III, Gregory IX, and Innocent IV that are addressed to Lawrence himself or mention him.

The following works, all still in manuscript, are known: (1) Apparatus to Gratian's Decretum (in a very poor manuscript tradition, since Lawrence's glosses are mixed up with those of other authors and much material not belonging to him carries his siglum). The Glossa Palatina (1210–15) is probably his work. Particular mention must be made of the Laurentiustype, that is, a large series of manuscripts of the Decretum from the 14th century, in which a great part of the contents of the Glossa Ordinaria is attributed to Lawrence. (2) Apparatus to the treatise De poenitentia of the Decretum, which was to become almost wholly a part of the Glossa Ordinaria. (3 and 4) Glosses on Compilationes I and II (before 1210).(5) Apparatus to Compilatio III (this must not be identified with the Seruus appellatur, as Gillmann alleged against Post, but with the Hoc non aduerto, as Nörr has shown). Although it is not certain that he commented on Compilatio V, it is quite possible that he wrote a gloss on the decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), since a number of glosses with Lawrence's siglum appear in the apparatus of joannes teutonicus. He is considered one of the most important figures in the classical period of medieval Canon Law (see decretists; quinque compilationes antiquae).

Bibliography: a. garcÍa, Laurentis Hispanus (Rome 1956), with bibliog. a. m. stickler, "Kanonistik," Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 5:1289–1302; "Laurentius Hispanus," ibid. 6:832. k. w. nÖrr, "Der Apparat des Laurentius zur Compilatio III," Bulletin of the Institute of Research and Study in Medieval Canon Law (Traditio 17 1961) 542–543. r. weigand, Die bedingte Eheschliessung im kanonischen Recht (Munich 1963), passim. j. grÜndel, Die Lehre von den Umstaänden der menschlichen Handlung im Mittelalter (Münster 1963). g. post, "The So-called Laurentius-Apparatus to the Decretals of Innocent III in Compilatio III," The Jurist 2 (1942) 5–31.

[a. garcÍa]