Melfi's Constitutions

The Melfi Constitutions ( Latin: Constitutiones Regni Siciliae , also: Liber Augustalis ) are a collection of laws for the Kingdom of Sicily issued by Frederick II in 1231 .

The constitutions fulfilled several functions. In addition to the obvious purpose of stating Sicily's law, which had not been codified precisely and comprehensively, Friedrich used the body of law primarily as an instrument of struggle in the dispute with the Pope. In addition, the emperor placed himself in the tradition of the Roman emperors, especially Justinians , and legitimized his claim to power.

The trigger for the work on the constitutions of Melfi were rumors that the Catalan Dominican Raimund von Penyafort was building a similar collection on behalf of the Pope. Frederick II wanted to get ahead of him in order to gain legal sovereignty over Sicily and to distinguish himself as a legislator like other rulers of his time. The time pressure in the preparation of the constitutions meant that 1232 and 1233 each had to be changed. Petrus de Vinea was probably instrumental in this .

The general motif of the law is the alignment of law and administration with the king and his officials as well as securing the royal income. Where they did not conflict with the royal claim to power, the rights of the nobility were strengthened and legal processes accelerated.

The most important individual regulations were the prohibition of violent self-help and the restriction of the judiciary of the estates . The law gave the royal judiciary the sole right to prosecute, even in cases that bordered on ecclesiastical law, such as adultery, blasphemy or gambling. In the so-called " Edict of Salerno ", based on teaching and research at the medical school of Salerno , the content of which was incorporated into the Nicolai antidotarium , which was only made possible by the medical legislation, the legal demarcation of the medical profession from the pharmacy. The individual regulations were taken from Byzantine, canonical, Lombard, Norman and Roman law.

Unless otherwise specified in the constitutions, the rights of the various ethnic groups continued to apply. The legislation of Rogers II ( Assize by Ariano ), the kings Wilhelm I and Wilhelm II as well as the Assize of Capua proclaimed by Frederick himself was adopted . The constitutions were valid in the Kingdom of Naples until 1809, in Sicily until 1819.

For Knut Görich , the Melfi constitutions are a "programmatic commitment to written law as opposed to unwritten legal habits". Görich attributes this mainly to southern Italian influence.

literature

Wolfgang Stürner (Ed.): The Constitutions of Frederick II for the Kingdom of Sicily. MGH Const. 2 Suppl. Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996. ISBN 3-7752-5470-6
Hermann Conrad , Thea von der Lieck-Buyken u. Wolfgang Wagner (Ed.): The Constitutions of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen for his Kingdom of Sicily. Studies and sources on the world of Emperor Friedrich II. Vol. 2. Böhlau, Cologne / Vienna 1973 (Latin and German). ISBN 978-3-412-02277-8
Hermann Dilcher : The Sicilian legislation of Emperor Friedrich II. Sources of the constitutions of Melfi and their novellas. Studies and sources on the world of Emperor Friedrich II. Vol. 3. Böhlau, Cologne / Vienna 1975.
Thea von der Lieck-Buyken: The constitutions of Friedrich II. Von Hohenstaufen for his kingdom of Sicily. Supplementary volume. 1st part: the Greek text. Studies and sources on the world of Emperor Frederick II. Vol. 5.1. Böhlau, Cologne / Vienna 1978, 1986. ISBN 3-412-01285-8
Anna Laura Trombetti Budriesi: Il "Liber Augustalis" by Federico II di Svevia nella storiografia. Antologia di scritti. Patròn, Bologna 1987.

Remarks

↑ Dietlinde Goltz. Medieval pharmacy and medicine. Depicted on the history and content of the Antidotarium Nicolai. With a reprint of the print version from 1471. Wiss. Verl. Ges., Stuttgart 1976, pp. 79-82.
↑ Christina Becela-Deller: Ruta graveolens L. A medicinal plant in terms of art and cultural history. (Mathematical and natural scientific dissertation Würzburg 1994) Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1998 (= Würzburg medical-historical research. Volume 65). ISBN 3-8260-1667-X , pp. 119 f. and 123 f.
↑ Knut Görich: Norms in Conflict. Emperor Friedrich II. And the 'trial' against Duke Friedrich the Warriors of Austria. In: Knut Görich, Jan Keupp, Theo Broekmann (eds.): Dominion spaces, rule practice and communication at the time of Emperor Frederick II. Munich 2008, p. 363–388, here: p. 363.

[1] Dietlinde Goltz. Medieval pharmacy and medicine. Depicted on the history and content of the Antidotarium Nicolai. With a reprint of the print version from 1471. Wiss. Verl. Ges., Stuttgart 1976, pp. 79-82.

[2] Christina Becela-Deller: Ruta graveolens L. A medicinal plant in terms of art and cultural history. (Mathematical and natural scientific dissertation Würzburg 1994) Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1998 (= Würzburg medical-historical research. Volume 65). ISBN 3-8260-1667-X , pp. 119 f. and 123 f.

[3] Knut Görich: Norms in Conflict. Emperor Friedrich II. And the 'trial' against Duke Friedrich the Warriors of Austria. In: Knut Görich, Jan Keupp, Theo Broekmann (eds.): Dominion spaces, rule practice and communication at the time of Emperor Frederick II. Munich 2008, p. 363–388, here: p. 363.