Antonio Agustín y Albanell
Encyclopedia
Renaissance humanism
Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as Renaissance humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval...
historian, jurist
Jurist
A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
and Roman Catholic archbishop of Tarragona
Archdiocese of Tarragona
The Archdiocese of Tarragona is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory located in north-eastern Spain, in the province of Tarragona, part of the autonomous community of Catalonia...
who pioneered the historical research of the sources of canon law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
.
Born in Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
, Agustín studied law and classical literature in Alcalá
Alcalá de Henares
Alcalá de Henares , meaning Citadel on the river Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain...
, Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
, Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
and Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, notably as a pupil of Andrea Alciati. His first main work, Emendationum et opinionum libri IV, proposed the now widely accepted thesis that the Littera Florentina
Littera Florentina
The parchment codex called Littera Florentina is the closest survivor to an official version of the Pandects, the digest of Roman law promulgated by Justinian I in 530–533....
manuscript was the source for all other copies of the Pandects
Pandects
The Digest, also known as the Pandects , is a name given to a compendium or digest of Roman law compiled by order of the emperor Justinian I in the 6th century .The Digest was one part of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the body of civil law issued under Justinian I...
. This undermined the authority, fundamental to medieval Roman law, of the Latin Vulgate text of the Pandects.
With his nomination as auditor of the Sacra Rota Romana
Sacra Rota Romana
The Tribunal Apostolicum Rotae Romanae — also called the Sacred Roman Rota, and anciently the Apostolic Court of Audience — is the highest appellate tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church, with respect to both Latin-rite members and the eastern-rite members and is, with respect to judicial trials...
in 1544, Agustín started his ecclesiastial career, which saw him become a papal nuncio in 1554/55, then Bishop of Alife in 1556 and Bishop of Lleida
Bishop of Lleida
A list of bishops of Lleida.*Itxió 203*Sant Filó 227*Joan 230*Pere 258*Màrius Seli 259*Sant Lleir 268-311*Diperdió 313*Amili 380*Prudenci 400*Atanasi 413*Saguici 413*Jacobo 419*Seberí 460*Fortunat 517*Pere 519*Andreu 540*Februari 546...
in 1561. After participating in the Council of Trient in 1561-63, he was named Archbishop of Tarragona in 1576.
Agustín is now principally remembered as the first canon law historian; Peter Landau numbers him among the authors that enable us to consider the 16th century the founding age of the science of history. Agustín's principal historical works are:
- Antiquae Collectionis Decretalium (1576)
- De Emendatione Gratiani dialogorum libri duo (1587), a textual criticism of the Gratian Decree
- Epitome iuris pontificii veteris (1587/1611), a compendium of canon law prior to Innocent III
- De quibusdam veteris canonum ecclesiasticorum collectoribus iudicium ac censura (1611, posthumously published), a history of the pre-Gratian sources of ecclesiastical law