La legislazione beneventana. Lo spirito e la lettera

Il Duchy of Beneventum (568-774), then Principality (774-1077), constituted an original legal laboratory for five centuries; its territory covered a large part of southern Italy. This geographical position favored a considerable political autonomy: part of the Kingdom but osmotic with the Byzantine world, Beneventan legal system was characterized by its own rules: some important foedera pacis and, after the fall of Pavia, leges too. When Charles became emperor, the problem of the relationship with Holy Roman Empire arose. The research highlights the most important elements in Beneventan law, placing the provisions in the cultural context of the period. The spirit of law and the concept of potestas are obtained comparing them with Early Middle Ages’ theological and political thought. The survey shows how the patristic ideas of ratio and lex naturalis penetrated in Germanic law. Another fundamental problems is the legislative procedure. But Beneventan context also shows the typical medieval pluralism, with the coexistence of Lombard law, Canon law and popularized Roman law.