with regard to canon law. The other
document, of more limited scope, is a group of _Capitula_ given under
the name of Angilram, bishop of Metz. It is nowadays admitted by all
that these three collections come from the same source. For a study of
the historical questions connected with the famous False Decretals, see
the article DECRETALS (FALSE); here we have only to consider them with
reference to the place they occupy in the formation of ecclesiastical
law. In spite of some hesitation, with regard rather to the official
character than to the historical authenticity of the letters attributed
to the popes of the earlier centuries, the False Decretals were accepted
with confidence, together with the authentic texts which served as a
passport for them. All later collections availed themselves
indiscriminately of the contents of this vast collection, whether
authentic or forged, without the least suspicion. The False Decretals
did not greatly modify nor corrupt the Canon Law, but they contributed
much to accelerate its progress towards unity. For they were the last of
the chronological collections, i.e. those which give the texts in the
order in which they appeared. From this time on, canonists began to
exercise their individual judgment in arranging their collections
according to some systematic order, grouping their materials under
divisions more or less happy, according to the object they had in view.
This was the beginning of a codification of a common canon law, in which
the sources drawn upon lose, as it were, their local character. This is
made even more noticeable by the fact that, in a good number of the
works extant, the author is not content merely to set forth and classify
the texts; but he proceeds to discuss the point, drawing conclusions and
sometimes outlining some controversy on the subject, just as Gratian was
to do more fully later on.

Regino.

Burchard.

Anselm Deusdedit.

Ivo of Chartres.

During this period, which extended from the end of the 9th century to
the middle of the 12th, we can enumerate about forty systematic
collections, of varying value and circulation, which all played a
greater or lesser part in preparing the juridical renaissance of the
12th century, and most of which were utilized by Gratian. We need
mention only the chief of them--the _Collectio Anselmo dedicata_, by an
unknown author of the end of the 9th century; the _Libri duo de
synodalibus causis et disciplini