Pinakes | Πίνακες

Résumé :

This article aims to enhance the scholarly understanding of the origins of twelfth-century Byzantine canon law scholarship by introducing an extensive, but largely neglected, body of ‘erotapocritic’ literature composed in the period ca. 1080-1170. This literature originated in the correspondence of monks and clergy who asked canonical questions of the church’s experts; many of their questions and answers were later re-packaged and transmitted as erotapokriseis in legal manuscripts. After introducing the historical context, the article presents key details about the authors, texts, and manuscripts. It then analyses the texts’ contents and function, arguing that they formed part of a wider Komnenian effort to promote uniformity of education and knowledge in the Byzantine church. They would go on to become a core element of the systematic canon law literature of late Byzantium.