Paenitentiale Theodori


The Paenitentiale Theodori is an early medieval penitential handbook based on the judgements of Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury. It exists in multiple versions, the fullest and historically most important of which is the U or Discipulus Umbrensium version, composed in Northumbria within approximately a decade or two after Theodore's death. Other early though far less popular versions are those known today as the Capitula Dacheriana, the Canones Gregorii, the Canones Basilienses, and the Canones Cottoniani, all of which were compiled before the Paenitentiale Umbrense probably in either Ireland and/or England during or shortly after Theodore's lifetime.

Background

It is generally accepted by scholars today that Theodore himself is not responsible for any of the penitential works ascribed to him. Rather, a certain associate of Theodore's named Eoda is generally regarded as the point of dissemination of certain judgements proffered by Theodore in an unofficial context and in response to questions put to him by students at his Canterbury school regarding proper ecclesiastical organization and discipline.

Authorship and structure

''Capitula Dacheriana''

Scholars have for some time accepted that the Capitula Dacheriana represents the earliest attempt to assemble together Theodorian penitential judgments. The case for the Capitula Dacheriana as an Irish production has been argued most effectively by Thomas Charles-Edwards, who noticed, first, that the Capitula Dacheriana lacks any obvious structural framework. For Charles-Edwards, this feature is symptomatic of the non-Roman character of the Capitula Dacheriana, and thus suggests its creation outside of Theodore's immediate circle, and perhaps even outside of the Rome-oriented Anglo-Saxon church. Whether or not this is true, there are other, strong signs that the Capitula Dacheriana was produced in ecclesiastical circles that had rather less connection to Theodore's Canterbury than with Irish and Celtic centres. Specifically, the Capitula Dacheriana has both textual and literary connections with eighth-century Irish and/or Breton canonical activities.
The Capitula Dacheriana is witnessed today by two tenth-century manuscripts produced in Brittany. Ludwig Bieler has shown that the copyists of both manuscripts derived their text of the Capitula Dacheriana from the same eighth-century collection of Irish materials that was still resident in Brittany in the tenth century — a collection that also included the Collectio canonum Hibernensis. The A-recension of the Collectio canonum Hibernensis, believed to have been compiled before 725, is the earliest work known to have drawn on the Paenitentiale Theodori tradition, relying on none other than the Capitula Dacheriana version. From this it appears that the Capitula Dacheriana was assembled perhaps as early as a decade after Theodore's death, and certainly no later than the first quarter of the eighth century. It was very possibly compiled in Ireland, and was used shortly after its creation as a source for the Collectio canonum Hibernensis, which would itself go on to influence powerfully the developing canon law and penitential traditions in Francia.

''Canones Gregorii''

''Canones Basilienses''

''Canones Cottoniani''

''Paenitentiale Umbrense''

The Paenitentiale Umbrense is a selection of canons from the earlier Capitula Dacheriana, Canones Gregorii, Canones Cottoniani and Canones Basilienses, along with additional Theodorian judgments that were obtained by a mysterious figure named Eoda Christianus. As we learn in the preface to the Paenitentiale Umbrense, these latter judgments were proffered by the Archbishop in answer to questions raised by rulings found in a certain "Irish document", a work that is commonly believed to be the Paenitentiale Cummeani. All of this material has been arranged by the author of the Paenitentiale Umbrense according to topic, with occasional commentary and additional rulings added in by the author of the Paenitentiale Umbrense himself. The Paenitentiale Umbrense is thus far more organized than its predecessors, and — owing to its contents derived from Eoda and the libellus Scottorum — also includes more content that is strictly "penitential" in nature.
The identity of the author is controversial. In the prologue to the Paenitentiale Umbrense the author identifies himself as a discipulus Umbrensium, "a student of the umbrians". Whether this identifies the authors nationaility, or merely his academic affiliation, is unclear, and several interpretations of its meaning have been advanced. Felix Liebermann believed that the discipulus was an Irish disciple of Theodore, while Paul Finsterwalder argued that the discipulus was a man, Irish-born though trained in Anglo-Saxon schools, who worked on the Continent, probably within the context of Willibrord's Continental mission. A year after they were published Finsterwalder's conclusions were roundly rejected by Wilhelm Levison, who argued that the Paenitentiale Umbrense was the work of an Anglo-Saxon working in England. Scholars since have generally sided with Levison in viewing the Paenitentiale Umbrense as the product of Anglo-Saxon England, and more specifically of a student working in Northumbria.
The Paenitentiale Umbrense survives in two forms: a Full Form and a Half Form. The Full Form is clearly the more original work, the Half Form being simply the last fourteen topics or chapters or the Full Form. The Full Form itself survives in slightly different versions. In the earliest of these the work is divided into twenty-nine chapters. These are:
A later version of the Full Form has these twenty-nine chapters divided into two books, with chapters 1–15 comprising the first book and chapters 16–29 comprising the second. Up until recently, scholars had assumed that the two-book version of the Full Form was the original version of the Paenitentiale Umbrense. Accordingly all previous editors have printed the two-book version, and all previous scholarship has been predicated on the assumption that the author of the Paenitentiale Umbrense created a work divided into two books. Several scholars even claim to have detected a generic division between the two books, noting that many of the subjects covered in the first book are those typically associated with the penitential genre, while many of the subjects in the second book are those typically dealt with in canon law collections. It has been supposed that this is because the author of the Paenitentiale Umbrense wished to divide the chapters of his source material into those of a penitential nature and those of a canonical nature. However, it now seems more likely that the more noticeably penitential nature of the first fifteen chapters is due not to the author's specific desire to front-load his work with exclusively penitential material, but rather to his decision to incorporate into pre-existing collections of Theodorian canons the newly acquired canons obtained from Eoda. As described above, the material that the discipulus had managed to obtain from Eoda was based largely on Theodore's responses to rulings found in the Paenitentiale Cummeani. All such material from the Paenitentiale Cummeani is indeed found in chapters 2–14 of the Paenitentiale Umbrense. The highly "penitential" nature of chapters 2–14 is therefore merely an accident of the discipulus’s decision to treat first those subjects touched on by his Eoda/Paenitentiale Cummeani material, namely the traditionally "penitential" subjects of fornication, theft, manslaughter and marriage. Beyond this there was apparently no attempt on the part of the discipulus to treat "penitential" subjects in the first fifteen chapters and "canonical" ones in the last fourteen. Indeed, the last fifteen chapters treats several subjects aligned strongly with the "penitential" genre, for example food avoidance, marital relations and mental illness, while Book I contains chapters dealing with subjects more commonly associated with canon law collections, namely baptism, heresy, and ordination. Neither do the sources used by the author of the Paenitentiale Umbrense give any indication of a generic division between its first and second halves, for a great many canonical sources are drawn upon in the first half.
It now seems that in its original form the Paenitentiale Umbrense was a twenty-nine chapter work and that the two-book version was a later development. The earliest manuscripts — which also happen to transmit the oldest textual variants — witness to a work divided into twenty-nine chapters, while it is only two later manuscripts — which also contain patently more recent textual variants — in which the Paenitentiale Umbrense appears as a work divided into two books. It is also now clear that the passage from the prologue commonly used to defend to idea that the work was originally divided into two works has been misinterpreted. The prologue runs as follows, with the relevant portion in bold:
A student in Northumbria, humbly, to all catholics in England, particularly to the doctors of souls: salutary redemption in Christ the lord. First of all, I have, dear , held it a worthy enough thing to lay bare to your Love’s blessedness whence I have gathered the poultices of this medicine which follows, lest through copyists’ decrepitude or carelessness that law should be left hideously confused which God once, in a figurative way, handed down through his first legislator and ultimately to the Fathers in order that they might make it known to their sons, so that the following generation might learn , namely penance, which the lord Jesus, after being baptized, proclaimed to us, having no medicine, as above all the substance of his teaching, saying, 'Do you all penance', etc.; who for the increase of your felicity deigned to guide — from the blessed seat of him to whom it is said 'Whichever things you set free upon the land will be set free also in the heavens' — him by whom this most helpful salve for wounds would be concocted . 'For I', the apostle says, 'have received from the lord'; and I say, dear : with the lord's favour I have received from you even that which I have given to you. Accordingly, the greater part of these Eoda the priest, of blessed memory, known to some as 'Christianus', is said to have received under instruction from the venerable master Theodore. And these are buttressed by what divine grace likewise delivered to our unworthy hands, things which the aforementioned man came to learn from a widely known Irish booklet, concerning which the elder is said to have given this opinion: an ecclesiastic was the author of that book. Many others also, not only men but also women, enkindled by him with an inextinguishable passion for these , in order to slake their thirst hurried with burning desire to crowd round a person of undoubtedly singular knowledge in our age. Whence there has been found among diverse persons that diverse and confused digest of those rules, composed together with established causes of the second book . On account of which, brothers, through him who was crucified and who by the shedding of his blood confirmed what mighty things he had preached while living, I beg your Love's most obliging kindness that, if I have herein perpetrated any misdeed of rashness or negligence, in consideration of the utility of this you defend me before him with the merit of your intercessory prayer. I call upon as witness him, the maker of all things, that in so far as I know myself these things have done for the sake of the kingdom about which he preached. And, as I truly fear, if I do something beyond my talents, yet may the good intentions of so necessary a work seek from him pardon for my crimes, with you as advocates — for all of whom equally and without jealousy I labor, insofar as I am able. And from all of those things I have been able to select the more useful and compile them together, placing titles before each. For I trust that these things will draw the attention of those of good soul , concerning whom it is said ‘Peace upon the land to people of good will'.

The context makes it obvious that the libri secundi highlighted in bold above refers to nothing other than the Scottorum libellus mentioned several times previously. There is thus no need to suppose, and no evidence to support, that the discipulus composed his work in two books.
The two-book version most likely arose under the influence of the canon law collection known as the Collectio canonum vetus Gallica. As mentioned above, the Paenitentiale Umbrense survives in a Full Form, and in a Half Form. So far as can be determined, the Half Form first arose in Corbie between 725 and 750, when the Vetus Gallica collection was undergoing revision and expansion. Those responsible for revising the Vetus Gallica had not long before acquired a copy of the Paenitentiale Umbrense, which they decided to include in their revised collection. For whatever reason, the Corbie revisers were interested only in the final fourteen canons of the Paenitentiale Umbrense, and it was these canons alone that they included in the appendix to the Corbie redaction of the Vetus Gallica. Thus began the tradition of the Half Form version of the Paenitentiale Umbrense. The Corbie redaction of the Vetus Gallica was very successful and very soon after its creation it was enjoying wide circulation in France, Germany, Bavaria and northern Italy. As a result, far more copies of the Half Form version of the Paenitentiale Umbrense were read and copied — either as part of the Vetus Gallica appendix or as part of derivative canon law collections — than ever were of the stand-alone or Full Form version. The two-book version of the Full Form probably only developed after the Half Form had achieved popularity, that is in the second half of the eighth century or first half of the ninth. Since by then most who knew the Paenitentiale Umbrense knew it only in its Half Form version, someone who happened upon the Full Form would likely come to believe that that had found a fuller version of the Paenitentiale Umbrense. And of course they would be right. However, so used would they be to viewing the last fourteen chapters as a discrete unit that they would insist on dividing the newly discovered Full Form into two books, with the first fifteen chapters comprising a welcome new addition to the Theodorian corpus, and the last fourteen chapters comprising the already familiar Half Form. They would perhaps also have been helped along in their decision to introduce such division by the mention of a libri secuundi in the newly discovered prologue. Future copies of the now-divided Full Form would preserve the two-book format. Centuries later, similar assumptions would be made by nineteenth- and twentieth-century editors, who come to accept as original the two-book format over the twenty-nine chapter format. In 1851 Hermann Wasserschleben would be convinced by the large number of manuscripts containing the Half Form of the Paenitentiale Umbrense, as well as by a single seventeenth century apograph of MS Cb4 exhibiting the two-book format, that the work must have originally been composed with two distinct parts; he was therefore persuaded to ignore the evidence of his two earliest manuscripts and print the Paenitentiale Umbrense with a two-book format. Subsequent editors would base their editions both on the two-book text as established by Wasserschleben and on those manuscripts that were closest or that seemed most ancient to them: these were MS V5 and MS Cb4, both of which happen to present the Paenitentiale Umbrense in two books. The textual tradition of the Paenitentiale Umbrense has not been studied closely since the work of Finsterwalder, and so the evidence for their assumptions about priority of the two-book format have gone unexamined.
Some copies of the Full Form contain a prologue, while others lack the prologue but contain an epilogue instead. No extant copy contains both the prologue and epilogue, a fact that led Finsterwalder to conclude that the epilogue was not original, but was only a later addition intended to replace the prologue. Wilhelm Levison countered this argument by demonstrating that the prologue and epilogue share remarkably similar style, and therefore must have been composed by the same individual. He also pointed out that the prologue is clearly an original part of the Paenitentiale Umbrense because c. 7.5 of the text refers to it directly; and there is also an oblique yet obvious reference to the prologue in the first sentence of the epilogue. The presence of the prologue and epilogue in some witnesses and not in others can be explained without resorting to hypotheses about different authorship or about the priority of one and the posteriority of the other. Of the six witnesses to the Full Form, all have the prologue except W9 and V6. V6 is fragmentary and preserves no part of the Paenitentiale Umbrense except the epilogue from eruditis illa onwards, while W9 probably once contained the prologue on a folio between fols 1v and 2r and this folio has since been cut away. W9 and V6 are also the only two witnesses to contain the epilogue; yet, in each of the other four witnesses the absence of the epilogue can be explained. Both Wz2 and V5 are fragmentary at their ends, and so may have once contained the epilogue ; while both Cb4 and W7 have simply replaced the prologue with copies of the Libellus responsionum so as to make the latter seem like part of the former. It has recently been argued by Michael Glatthaar that because the epilogue refers disparagingly to certain heretical beliefs associated with two of Boniface's most hated opponents — Adalbert and Clemens — it is most likely a later addition by Boniface or someone in his circle. While the very strong arguments put forward by Levison for the originality of the epilogue render Glatthaar's view of the entire epilogue as a Bonifatian document rather unconvincing, there is no reason that Glatthaar's argument could not apply specifically to those parts of the epilogue that discuss the heretical beliefs of Adalbert and Clemens; such discussions are confined entirely to the second half of the epilogue, which in fact reads more like an epistolary dedication than an epilogue, and so may very well be a Bonifatian addition.
The Fulda recension...

Manuscripts and transmission

There are numerous extant manuscripts that contain the Paenitentiale Theodori or parts thereof. The following tables divide the extant witnesses into Umbrense versions, non-Umbrense versions, and excerpts. Umbrense versions are further divided into Full Form and Half Form. The sigla given below are based on those established by the Körntgen–Kottje Editionsprojekt for the Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina, vol. 156, a project whose goal is to produce scholarly editions for all major early medieval penitentials; sigla in parentheses are those used by Paul W. Finsterwalder in his 1929 edition.

''Umbrense'' versions

SiglumManuscriptContents
V6 Paenitentiale Umbrense ; excerpts from Augustine, Jerome, Pope Gregory I and Basil.
W7 Paenitentiale Umbrense with preface, prologue and capitulatio but without epilogue ; Libellus responsionum; Paenitentiale Cummeani
W9 Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Lat. 2223 ; Paenitentiale Bedae; Paenitentiale Cummeani ; ; Incipiunt capitula scarpsi de iudicio penitentiae beati Gregorii papae ; Libellus responsionum; expositio consanguinitatis ; Fulgentius of Ruspe, Epistula VIII ; Fulgentius of Ruspe, De fide ad Petrum ; expositiones fidei; Paenitentiale Ecgberhti
Wz2 Paenitentiale Umbrense

SiglumManuscriptContents
Cb4 Old English exhortations; Paenitentiale Umbrense in two-book form ; Libellus responsionum; poem by Archbishop Theodore; note on alms; Paenitentiale Cantabrigiense ; miscellaneous notes
M17 Excarpsus Cummeani; Paenitentiale Ecgberhti; unidentified penitential 9 and ; Liber proemium veteris ac novi testamenti; De ortu et obitu patrum; Micrologus de ecclesiasticis observationibus; Admonitio synodalis
V5 lections, prayers, a Gregorian sacramentary, canonical excerpts, a calendar, a necrology, and tracts on miscellaneous subjects, including weights and measures, confession, and astronomy; Paenitentiale Ecgberhti; Excarpsus Cummeani ; episcopal capitularies of Theodulf, Gerbald and Waltcaud; Sonderrezension der Vorstufe des Paenitentiale additivum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti; Paenitentiale Cummeani; Paenitentiale Umbrense in two-book form

SiglumManuscriptContents
B5 Berlin, , Hamilton 132, fols 1–251 Collectio canonum Dionysio-Hadriana ; Collectio canonum Sancti Amandi; Libellus responsionum; Pope Gregory II, Epistula ad Bonifatium ; Paenitentiale Umbrense cc. 16–29 with c. 13 appended; canons of the council of Rome in 721; the canons of the council of Rome in 595 ; Alcuin, Epistula contra hereticos
Br7 Collectio canonum vetus Gallica; Pope Leo I, Epistula CLXVII ; Synodus II Patricii; Libellus responsionum; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.219 ; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.214 ; Quattuor synodus principales; Paenitentiale Umbrense cc. 16–29 with c. 13 appended; Paenitentiale Remense ; Caesarius, Ecce manifestissime; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.219; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.214 ; the canons of the council of Rome in 595 ; the canons of the council of Rome in 721; Ordo librorum qui in ecclesia Romana ponuntur; Computus; De ratione Paschatis; De officiis in noctibus a cena Domini usque in Pascha; De servitio domni episcopi et archidiachoni; antiphonary; Ordo ad infirmum caticuminum faciendum; sacramentary
K1 Collectio canonum vetus Gallica; Pope Leo I, Epistula CLXVII ; Synodus II Patricii; Libellus responsionum; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.219; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.214 ; the canons of the council of Rome in 595 ; Caesarius, Ecce manifestissime; the Isidorian Epistula ad Massonam; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.219 ; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.214 ; Quattuor synodus principales; Paenitentiale Umbrense cc. 16–29, with c. 13 appended; Excarpsus Cummeani
P5 De canonibus apostolorum seu de sex synodis principalibus ratio libelli primi breviter adnotata; Adnotatio libelli eiusdem synodis aliis XXIIII; Adnotatio eiusdem libelli de decretalibus apostolorum numero XXIIII; Isidore, Etymologiae ; Scimus sciut quidam asserunt statutos esse canones ab apostolis L... leguntur sub capitulis CCCXXVII; Nominatim scire cupio sex synodi principales... Georgii Constantinopolitani condemnata heresi anathematizando scripserunt capitula VIIII ; list of Gallic councils; canons concerning Novatianists/Cathars; glossary of words from ancient canons; Osius of Cordova, De observatione disciplinae dominicae; Canones apostolorum; the canons of the council of Nicaea ; the canons of the council of Laodicaea ; the canons of the council of Antioch ; Isidore, Etymologiae ; Constitutum Sylvestri; Collectio canonum Quesnelliana; Differentia inter sacrificium et holocaustum; Pseudo-Silverius, Multis te transgressionibus; Pope Leo I, Epistula CXX; Paenitentiale Umbrense cc. 16–29, with c. 13 appended; a text attributed to Gregorius ; Troianus, Epistula ad Eumerium; Caesarius, Ecce manifestissime; Gennadius of Massilia, Liber ecclesiasticorum dogmatum; Scintilla de canonibus vel ordinationibus episcoporum; a collection of Merovingian conciliar canons similar to the Collectio canonum Bellovacensis; Polemius Silvius, Laterculus preceded by Notitia Galliarum; the Isidorian Epistula ad Massonam
P6 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Lat. 1455 excerpts from the Collectio canonum Herovalliana, Cresconius's Concordia canonum and Benedictus Levita's Collectio capitularium; Collectio canonum Colbertina; Decretum Gelasianum ; Constitutum Constantini; Collectio canonum Sancti Amandi ; Libellus responsionum; Pope Gregory II, Epistula ad Bonifatium ; Paenitentiale Umbrense cc. 16–29, with c. 13 appended; the canons of the council of Rome in 721; the canons of the council of Rome in 595 ; Gelasian Sacramentary cc. 35–6; the canons from the councils of Toledo in 646, Braga in 675 and Seville in 590.
P7 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Lat. 1458, fols 64–87 Paenitentiale Umbrense cc. 16–29; a collection of Merovingian conciliar canons similar to the Collectio canonum Bellovacensis; † Collectio canonum Quesnelliana
P10 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Lat. 1603 portion of the St-Amand sacramentary; Admonitio generalis of 789 ; Collectio canonum vetus Gallica; Pope Leo I, Epistula CLXVII ; Synodus II Patricii; Libellus responsionum; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.219 ; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.214 ; Quattuor synodus principales; Paenitentiale Umbrense cc. 16–29, with c. 13 appended; Missa pro deuoto ; Paenitentiale Remense; De modis peñ qualitate ; Caesarius, Ecce manifestissime; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.219; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.214 ; the Isidorian Epistula ad Massonam; Incipiunt sententias defloratibus diuersis ; the canons of the council of Rome in 595 ; the canons of the council of Rome in 721; Pirmin, Scarapsus; portion of the St-Amand sacramentary
P25 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Lat. 3842A as Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Lat. 1454, but without the Epistula ad Massonam
P26 Collectio canonum Dionysio-Hadriana; Collectio canonum Sancti Amandi; Libellus responsionum; Pope Gregory II, Epistula ad Bonifatium ; Paenitentiale Umbrense cc. 16–29, with c. 13 appended; the canons of the council of Rome in 721; the canons of the council of Rome in 595
P39 Notitia Galliarum; prefatory material from the Decretales pseudo-Isidorianae ; series of excerpts on church organization; Pseudo-Isidorian introduction to a Sonderrezension of the Collectio canonum Dionysio-Hadriana; three canons and a glossary ; Collectio canonum Dionysio-Hadriana; Decretum Gelasianum; Paenitentiale Umbrense cc. 16–29, with c. 13 appended; Martin of Braga, Capitula; Capitula Angilramni; Collectio Danieliana cc. 131–33 ; excerpts from Pseudo-Isidore and the Collectio canonum Hispana Gallica Augustodunensis ; Hincmar of Reims's Ehetraktat ; Collectio Paris lat. 12445 and Berlin Phill. 1741 ; Leges novellae ; Pope Gelasius I, Epistula ad episcopos Sicilienses ; Augustine, Tractatus in evangelium Iohannis ; Collectio canonum Dacheriana ; Augustine, De adulteriniis coniugiis ;Letter of Leo of Bourges, Victorius of Le Mans, and Esutachius of Tours ; Hincmar of Reims, Rotula; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 12.10; Pope Hilarus, Epistula ad Leontium, Veranum et Victurum ; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.202 ; Pope Hilarus, Epistula ad episcopos quinque provinciarum ; Pope Leo I, Epistula ad Theodorum ; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 5.8; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 8.14; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 6.11 ; Leges novellae ; Pope Gelasius I, Epistula ad episcopos Dardaniae ; Pope Felix III, Epistula ad episcopos orientales ; the canons of the council of Rome in 595 ; Collectio canonum Sancti Amandi ; Hincmar of Reims's Ehetraktat ; canons from the council of Rome in 826 ; Leges novellae ; Pope Gelasius I, Epistula ad Anastasium augustum ; Ambrose, Expositio de psalmo 118 ; Pope Celestine I, Epistula ad Nestorium ; canons from the council of Rome in 853 ; Epitome Iuliani cc. 104 and 119.6 ; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 7.36
St2 Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, HB. VI. 109 Collectio canonum vetus Gallica; Pope Leo I, Epistula CLXVII ; Synodus II Patricii; Libellus responsionum; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.219 ; Pope Gregory I, Epistula 9.214 ; Quattuor synodus principales; Paenitentiale Umbrense cc. 16–29 with c. 13 appended; Fructuosus, Regula c. 16 ; Latin and Old High German glosses on words from conciliar canons
St3 Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, HB. VI. 112, fols 1–124 canons from the Capitulare Wormatiense of 829 cc. 1–4 ; Apostles’ creed; Collectio canonum vetus Gallica ; the canons of the council of Nicaea ; Hrabanus Maurus, Poenitentiale ad Heribaldum c. 10 ; a small selection of canons possibly deriving from Regino of Prüm's ; mixed form of the Paenitentiale Remense and the Excarpsus Cummeani; the Isidorian Epistula ad Massonam; the canons of the council of Rome in 595 ; Synodus II Patricii; Libellus responsionum; the canons of the council of Rome in 721; Collectio canonum vetus Gallica cc. 64.24–30; Poenitentiale ad Heribaldum c. 20 ; Pope Leo I, Epistula CLXVII ; Paenitentiale Umbrense cc. 16–29 with c. 13 appended; a small selection of canons; Ansegis, Collectio capitularium; Lex Alamannorum cc. 6.1-4 and 8.1–2; canons from the Capitulare Wormatiense of 829 cc. 1–4 and 6
Sg1 Paenitentiale Sangallense tripartitum ; Ordo Romanus VII ; Paenitentiale Umbrense cc. 16–29, with c. 13 appended; Paenitentiale Sangallense simplex; Paenitentiale Vinniani; Pseudo-Augustine, Sermo ad fratres in eremo
Vs1Vesoul, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 79 a penitential combining the Half Form of the Paenitentiale Umbrense and Excarpsus Cummeani; Paenitentiale additivum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti;Libellus responsionum c. 9; Institutio canonum ; Decretum Compendiense from 757 ; Decretum Vermeriense from 756 ; tractate on baptism; commentary by Venantius Fortunatus on the creed; commentaries on the mass and the Pater noster; commentary on the creed; Theodulf, Capitulare I; canonical and patristic excerpts

Non-''Umbrense'' versions

Excerpts

Note that reports of the presence of Paenitentiale Umbrense and/or Canones Gregorii excerpts in the tenth-century Collectio 77 capitulorum as found in Heiligenkreuz, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 217 and are in error. What such reports are actually referring to is the penitential known as the .
SiglumManuscriptContents
K5 a "truncated" and interpolated A version of the Collectio canonum Hibernensis; a systematically arranged penitential known as the Collectio 2 librorum
Kw1Kynžvart, , 75, fols 1–78 Quotienscumque instruction; Decretum Burchardi ; Paenitentiale Pseudo-Romanum ; Hrabanus Maurus, Poenitentiale ad Heribaldum ; Canones Gregorii though here ascribed to Theodore ; ; an unidentified penitential canon law collection ; Regino of Prüm,
L1 London, British Library, Add. 8873 Collectio canonum Britannica xxxxxxxxxxxxx
L2London, British Library, Add. 16413 two unique fragments of the council of Rome in 769; Pseudo-Damasus, Epistula ad Hieronymum de hora sacrificii ; Admonitio generalis of 789 ; Pseudo-Clement I, Epistula ad Iacobum ; canons of the council of Rome in 721 ; several conciliar canons and excerpts from decretals and patristic texts concerning clerical offices; ordo missae; prologue to a sacramentary; chapters from Augustine; Edictio Bonifatii ; De consolatione Origenis defunctorum; De his qui vexantur et seipso interficitunt ; expositiones fidei; expositio symboli; commentary on clerical grades; expositio baptismatis; liturgica; Sermo de paenitentia; Quotienscumque instruction; Paenitentiale Remenese ; Paenitentiale Cummeani ; a penitential in 38 chapters ; Libellus responsionum ; Pope Celestine I, Epistula ad universos episcopos per Apuliam et Calabriam constitutos ; Epitome Hispana ; Canones Gregorii though here ascribed to Theodore ; Collectio canonum vetus Gallica ; sermons; Pope Gregory I, Epistula ad Secundinum ; statutes from a south Italian council
Me1 Merseburg, Dombibliothek, MS 103 xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mc3Monte Cassino, Archivio e Biblioteca dell’Abbazia, Cod. 554 xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Canones Gregorii ; xxxxxxxx
M2 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 3852, fols 54–end xxxxxxxxxxxxx
M6 fols 33v–35r contain a series of canons ascribed to Theodore and based on the Canones Gregorii
– Canones Gregorii cc. 1–4, as the last in a short series of canons added to fols 1r–2v by an early eleventh-century hand
– xxxxxx; Paenitential Umbrense cc. 5.3 and 14.4 ; xxxxxxxxxxxxx
– the second volume of the pontifical of Bishop Egilbert of Freising
O2*Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 311, as in the table above
–Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Lat. 13658 Collectio of Paris lat. 13658
P46Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, nouv. acq. lat. 281, fols 92–4, 99–101, 110, 119 John Cassian, Collationes 5.2 and 5.16; Paenitentiale Columbani B ; Quotienscumque instruction; Paenitentiale Oxoniense II ; ; Canones Gregorii ; tractate on penance
P22* as in the table above
P38Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Lat. 12444 Collectio Sangermanensis XXI titulorum ; a long and incomplete series of excerpts from the Collectio canonum Hibernensis, possibly meant as a continuation of the Collectio Sangermanensis
Sg1* as in the table above
St6+Da1+Do1Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Cod. Fragm. 100 A, w, x, y and z + Darmstadt, Hessische Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek, MS 895 fragm. + Donaueschingen, Hofbibliothek, MS 925 Fragm. Epitome Hispana ; Paenitentiale Oxoniense II ; Paenitentiale Ecgberhti ; a series of penitential excerpts ; Paenitentiale Bedae
St1 Collectio 74 titulorum ; Decretum Gelasianum; De ecclesiis ; Bernold of Constance, Collectio de excommunicatione ; De illicitis coniunctionibus ; Brevis denotatio VI principalium sinodorum ; De auctoritate IIIIor principalium conciliorum ; canons from the councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon; Sciendum quod plures orientalium conciliorum ediciones... per beatum Adrianum papam occidentalibus ęcclesiis directa probatur; Brevis denotatio canonum subter annexorum... ; Collectio 98 capitulorum ; canon 27 of the council of Mainz in 847; excerpts from the Collectio 98 capitulorum; Augustinus contra Novatum; Paenitentiale Umbrense cc. 14.20, 2.16, 2.17, 2.3, 2.1, 8.1, xxxxx
V23+Mb2Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 5751, fols 1–54 + Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, G. 58 sup., fols 41–64 Collectio canonum Dacheriana ; Pseudo-Chrysostom, Sermo de penitentia ; Octo sunt vitia principalia ; Paenitentiale Oxoniense ; an unidentified penitential text ; Paenitentiale Cummeani ; Halitgar's Paenitentiale ; Pope Gregory I, Epistula ad Secundinum ; the Isidorian Epistula ad Massonam; canons of the council of Agde ; Paenitentiale Pseudo-Romanum ; a short collection of Gallic canons; Epitome Hispana ; Canones Gregorii though here ascribed to Theodore ; ; Pseudo-Clemens I, Epistula ad Iacobum; a penitential ordo with two prayers; Paenitentiale Merseburgense a ; the canons of the Admonitio generalis of 789 ; Isidore, De ecclesiasticis officiis, cc. 42–3; Paenitentiale Cummeani ; ‘Inquisitio sancti Hieronomi’ ; Paenitentiale Ambrosianum; Vorstufe des Paenitentiale additivum Pseudo-Bedae–Ecgberhti; Excarpsus Cummeani ; Gennadius of Massilia, Liber ecclesiasticorum dogmatum; Tertullian, De oratione cc. 9–end; the canons from the council of Ephesus ; the canons from the council of Gangra
W11Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Lat. 2231 xxxxxxxxxxxxx

The following table summarizes the manuscript distribution of the several versions of the Paenitentiale Theodori :

Summary of manuscript distribution

Finsterwalder further divided the witnesses of the Paenitentiale Umbrense into two classes...
Of the earliest manuscript witnesses, namely those dating to the end of the eighth or beginning of the ninth centuries, none originate in England, the supposed place of origin of the Paenitentiale Theodori; this is not unusual, however, since many early Insular texts survive today exclusively in Continental witnesses. The majority of extant manuscripts of the Paenitentiale Theodori originate in either Burgundy, northeastern France, and the region of the Rhine and Main rivers. This is significant, as it is these areas in which the Anglo-Saxon mission, specifically that part directed by Boniface, operated in during the first half of the eighth century. The manuscript evidence may thus reflect an early transmission within the scribal centres in the area of this mission, and so may indicate Anglo-Saxon involvement in the Paententiale Theodori's early dissemination throughout and/or its introduction to the Continent.

Reception

As discussed above, the Capitula Dacheriana was perhaps the earliest of the several versions. Based on the close connection between the Capitula Dacheriana and the Collectio Hibernensis, Charles-Edwards has argued that the Capitula Dacheriana were produced, perhaps in conjunction with the Hibernensis, in Ireland, whence the text was imported along with the Hibernensis to Brittany and subsequently Francia. Charles-Edwards's narrative is both plausible and persuasive, and should probably be accepted as a broad outline, even if some of its details are based more speculative.
The most likely candidate for the introduction of the Paenitentiale Umbrense to the Continent is Boniface, an Anglo-Saxon missionary and a competent canonist who work tirelessly to reform the Frankish, German and Bavarian churches in the first half of the eighth century. Boniface knew the Paenitentiale Umbrense, for quotations of it pepper several canonical works that are attributed to him. Boniface also knew, and worked closely with, the papal document known as the Libellus responsionum. It is no surprise, then, that the earliest manuscript witnesses of the Paenitentiale Umbrense transmit this text in close proximity with the Libellus responsionum. It was also probably Boniface who was responsible for introducing the Paenitentiale Umbrense to the Corbie redaction of the Collectio canonum vetus Gallica, in whose creation he seems to have played some part.
The Canones Gregorii is quoted twice in c. 19 of Pirmin's Scarapsus, and on this basis Eckhard Hauswald, the most recent editor of the Scarapsus, was able to date this text to between 725 and 750 The Paenitentiale Umbrense was also used as a source for two early eighth-century Continental penitentials, namely the Excarpsus Cummeani and the . And several chapters from the Half Form were added to the text of the Corbie redaction of the Collectio canonum vetus Gallica, produced in the second quarter of the eighth century — this in addition to the inclusion of nearly the entire latter half of the Paenitentiale Umbrense in the Vetus Gallica appendix. Altogether, these four works demonstrate that the Paenitentiale Umbrense was available for use on the Continent well before the year 750. The Collectio Sangermanensis, dating to the second half of the eighth century and probably also produced at Corbie, also draws on the Paenitentiale Umbrense...
Towards the end of the eighth century, Paul the deacon, in his Historia Langobardorum c. 5.30, testified to Theodore's reputation as a promulgator of penitential canons.
It is perhaps significant that four of the five Collectio canonum vetus Gallica witnesses that contain an appended copy of the Half Form of the Paenitentiale Umbrense — Br7, K1, P10, St2 — are those from Mordek's 'North French' class. Moreover, Br7, K1, P10, St2 are the only copies of the Collectio canonum vetus Gallica to contain a series of chapters drawn from the monastic rules of Columban, Macarius, Basil and Benedict. These are the only chapters in the entire Collectio canonum vetus Gallica tradition to draw on monastic sources. The fifth Collectio canonum vetus Gallica witness that contains a copy of the Half Form of the Paenitentiale Umbrense — St3 — is from Mordek's 'South German' class, a class that represents a tradition about as old as the 'North French' one. However, whereas the manuscripts of the 'North French' tradition preserve more or less intact the series of mainly penitential texts appended to the Collectio canonum vetus Gallica, most of the manuscripts of the 'South German' class have modified greatly the arrangement and constituent texts of this appended series. The 'South German' manuscript St3 is exceptional, however. As Mordek has shown, it is not only the most faithful witness to the 'South German' Vetus Gallica tradition, it is also the witness with an appendix most resembling that of the 'North French' tradition. It is, for example, the only manuscript from outside the 'North French' group to contain in its appendix the Synodus II Patricii, the Isidorian Epistula ad Massonam, the canons of the council of Rome in 595, and the Paenitentiale Umbrense. What might therefore have seemed like an anomaly in the tradition of the Paenitentiale Umbrense + Collectio canonum vetus Gallica combination — namely that an apparently distinctive feature of the 'North French' tradition is also shared by a single 'South German' manuscript — in fact is only evidence that the Paenitentiale Umbrense was part of the original series of texts appended to the Corbie redaction of the Collectio canonum vetus Gallica in the mid-eighth century.
According to Mordek, fols 80–195 of P6 are likely a copy — modified with the help of a Collectio Hispana of either the Gallican or Pseudo-Isidorian form — of fols 128–266 of P26.
Although P39 is above classified as a Collectio canonum Sancti Amandi witness, and although it exhibits the same Paenitentiale Umbrense omissions that are characteristic of all Sancti Amandi witnesses, there are nevertheless reasons not to associate the P39 copy of the Paenitentiale Umbrense with the Sancti Amandi tradition. First, it has long been recognized that the contents of P39 are very similar to those of Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Phill. 1741, copied in the same place and time as P39. However, the section of P39 that contains the Paenitentiale Umbrense is not duplicated in Phill. 1741. What is more, this section of P39, which is self-contained on two gatherings, may very well have once been separate from the rest of the manuscript, for it begins with a change of scribal hand, and the text on the last page ends imperfectly. Fols 151–166 of P39 may therefore have originated as a stand-alone dossier of materials, and only been joined with the rest of the codex at a later time.

Editions

The Canones Basilienses has been edited once:
The Canones Cottoniani has been edited once:
The Capitula Dacheriana has been edited three times and reprinted three times:
The Canones Gregorii has been edited five times and reprinted once:
The Full Form of the Paenitentiale Umbrense has been edited eight times and reprinted once:
The Half Form of the Paenitentiale Umbrense has been edited twice and reprinted twice: