The ''Collectio canonum Wigorniensis'' (also known as the ''Excerptiones Ecgberhti'' or as "Wulfstan's canon law collection") is a
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
canon law collection originating in southern
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
around the year 1005. It exists in multiple recensions, the earliest of which — "Recension A" — consists of just over 100 canons drawn from a variety of sources, most predominantly the ninth-century Frankish collection of penitential and canon law known as the ''
Collectio canonum quadripartita''. The author of Recension A is currently unknown. Other recensions also exist, slightly later in date than the first. These later recensions are extensions and augmentations of Recension A, and are known collectively as "Recension B". These later recensions all bear the unmistakable mark of having been created by
Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester and archbishop of York, possibly sometime around the year 1008, though some of them may have been compiled as late as 1023, the year of Wulfstan's death. The collection treats a range of ecclesiastical and lay subjects, such as clerical discipline, church administration, lay and clerical penance, public and private penance, as well as a variety of spiritual, doctrinal and catechistic matters. Several "canons" in the collection verge on the character of sermons or expository texts rather than church
canons in the traditional sense; but nearly every element in the collection is prescriptive in nature, and concerns the proper ordering of society in a Christian polity.
External links
* Cross and Hamer's edition
''Wulfstan's canon law collection'' (Google Books, preview)* Thorpe's edition in vol. 2 of hi
''Ancient laws and institutes'' (Google Books)* Johnson's English translation in hi
''A collection of all the ecclesiastical laws'' (Google Books)* Spelman's ''editio princeps'' in hi
''Concilia, decreta, leges, constitutiones'' (Google Books)* Discussion on th
A comprehensive edition of the canonical material in Cambridge, Corpus 265A comprehensive edition of the canonical material in the Oxford manuscriptA comprehensive edition of the canonical material in the London manuscriptA comprehensive edition of the canonical material in Cambridge, Corpus 190
Notes
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Bibliography
*P. Wormald, ''The making of English law: King Alfred to the twelfth century. Vol. I: legislation and its limits'' (Oxford, 1999; repr. 2000).
*''Wulfstan’s canon law collection'', eds J.E. Cross and A. Hamer, Anglo-Saxon texts 1 (Cambridge, 1999).
*''A Wulfstan manuscript, containing institutes, laws and homilies (British Museum Cotton Nero A.I)'', ed. H.R. Loyn, Early English manuscripts in facsimile 17 (Copenhagen, 1971).
Canon law codifications
11th-century Latin books