More details may explicate these nouns.
After receiving a doctorate in canon law at Bologna, Italy, Durand taught briefly there and later at Modena, Italy. Some time after 1260 he was appointed auditor (a judge commissioned to hear cases of appeal brought to the Holy See). At the second Council of Lyon (1274), he helped draft the statutes proclaimed in council by Pope Gregory X. In 1278, when Bologna and the Romagna were incorporated into the Papal States, Durand was one of the first group of commissioners sent there; subsequently he held various posts in the ecclesiastical and temporal administrations of the new province, becoming its governor general in 1283. He was consecrated (1286) bishop of Mende, in southern France, but did not take possession of his see until 1291.
Durand’s fame as a writer rests chiefly on his Speculum iudiciale (first published 1271–76, revised and reissued c. 1289–91), an encyclopaedic treatise of canon law (and, to some extent, civil law) from the viewpoint of court procedure. The book remains valuable for its information on the judicial practice of the medieval church courts, especially of the Roman curia.
OUR interest in Durand is because of his nephew, who had the same name. We don't have dates for his nephew, which is not surprising since most people didn't even have last names at this period. So it is nice that we have a death date for Durand's uncle, also named Durand. Because we want to share a piece of medieval illustration in our almanac.
It is not clear to me whether Durand was the illustrator, or more likely, it was part of a manuscript made for him.
What we do know is that it was not painted by an artist. That is because there WERE no artists at this era. There were just people trying to communicate in pictures, something of the beauty, and the lessons, of their deity. Otherwise we would certainly know the dates of the man responsible for this fabulous picture.
No comments:
Post a Comment