VINCENT OF SPAIN

A native of the Iberian Peninsula; b. date and place unknown; d. sometime after 1234. He arrived in Bologna as a student about 1200, and from 1210 to 1215, already a cleric, he was teaching Canon Law there and writing most of his works. There is no evidence of his teaching civil law, although his works show that he knew it well. In all likelihood Silvester was his professor of Canon Law, and perhaps also lawrence of spain and john of wales; in civil law he studied under Azo (not Accursius, as it has been alleged frequently). The terms bonus and hilaris are added to his sigla in one manuscript. Among his disciples were bernard of parma and Sinibaldo Fieschi (later Pope innocent iv). Soon after 1220 Vincent left Bologna. He was a bishop, but it is disputed whether his see was Saragossa (Spain) or Idanha (Portugal): if the former, then Vincent was a Cistercian monk of the monastery of Veruela; if the latter, he may be identified with a certain official of the King of Portugal.

The following works, all in manuscript, are known:(1) Glosses on the Decretum of gratian; (2, 3) Apparatus to Compilationes I and III, on which he worked simultaneously between 1210 and 1215; (4) Glosses on Compilatio II (there is no indication that he ever commented on Compilatio IV); (5) Apparatus to the decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, of which two recensions, both written before 1220, are extant; (6) Glosses on the trees of consanguinity and affinity; (7) Apparatus or Lectura to the Decretals of gregory ix; (8) Casus respecting Compilatio III (covering only a few iso-lated titles); (9) Casus in respect of the Decretals of Gregory IX; (10) Summula or quaestiones de exceptionibus; and (11) De discordia testium et de consonantia et qualiter debeant repelli. The attribution to Vincent of writings (10) and (11) still requires further study. Writings (3), (5), and (6) will be published in Monumenta Iuris Canonici of the Institute of Medieval Canon Law. The most extensive and important works are (2), (3), (5), and (7). He exerted great influence on his contemporaries through his teaching and writings, and today is considered one of the most important medieval canonists.

See Also: decretists; quinque compilationes antiquae.

Bibliography: g. post, "Blessed Lady Spain: Vincentius Hispanus and Spanish National Imperialism in the 13th Century," Speculum 29 (1954) 198–209. j. ochoa sanz, Vincentius Hispanus (Rome 1960), with bibliog. s. kuttner, "Notes on Manuscripts," Traditio 17 (1961) 537–541. r. weigand, Die bedingte Eheschliessung im kanonischen Recht (Münchener Theologische Studien, Kanonistische Abteilung 16; Munich 1963).

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