Law and the end of empire 2: AD 800-1150
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: History
Abstract
Thanks to its revival in the law school of Bologna in the 1100s, the concepts and principles of Roman law remain an important component of the common European heritage: they underlie the civil codes of all European countries apart from England, Wales, and Ireland. Following on from the first phase of Law and the End of Empire, which examined the period from c. AD 500 to 800, the main objective of the research project is to write the history of Roman law from Charlemagne to the juristic revival of the twelfth century, serving scholars of legal history, institutional and social history, and ecclesiastical (canon) law.
The project aims (1) to offer a new and better analysis of a crucial period in the early history of European legal culture; (2) to provide a stimulus to further research, not only through the provision of an up-to-date analytical account in print, but also (i) an on-line database documenting the source material and the complexity of its transmission, (ii) a web-portal and guide to the various electronic resources already available, and (iii) on-line textual material of our own creation, such as editions and/or translations where they are not already easily accessible (see www.ucl.ac.uk/history2/volterra for the current portal and interrogable databases); (3) to engage a wider audience in thinking about shared aspects of the European past: the first phase of the project has been very successful in bringing together research in different national and intellectual traditions.
Getting the early history of Roman law in Europe right is important in the present intellectual and political context: just as Hart, drawing on the English common law, produced in The Concept of Law a framework for understanding the nature of Roman law, so Birks in English Private Law used the categories of Roman law to organise English material. The enhancement of such intellectual interchange is clearly central to the contemporary development of European law.
The project aims (1) to offer a new and better analysis of a crucial period in the early history of European legal culture; (2) to provide a stimulus to further research, not only through the provision of an up-to-date analytical account in print, but also (i) an on-line database documenting the source material and the complexity of its transmission, (ii) a web-portal and guide to the various electronic resources already available, and (iii) on-line textual material of our own creation, such as editions and/or translations where they are not already easily accessible (see www.ucl.ac.uk/history2/volterra for the current portal and interrogable databases); (3) to engage a wider audience in thinking about shared aspects of the European past: the first phase of the project has been very successful in bringing together research in different national and intellectual traditions.
Getting the early history of Roman law in Europe right is important in the present intellectual and political context: just as Hart, drawing on the English common law, produced in The Concept of Law a framework for understanding the nature of Roman law, so Birks in English Private Law used the categories of Roman law to organise English material. The enhancement of such intellectual interchange is clearly central to the contemporary development of European law.
Planned Impact
We envisage the societal and economic impact of our research project principally being felt in the enhancement of creative output, specifically through the enhancement of the knowledge economy and provision of support for the creative and cultural industries. For, as well as the immediate academic beneficiaries, the beneficiaries of the outputs of the project will include (i) professionals working in public engagement activities in museums and galleries and (ii) the educated general public more widely.
Academics and curators will benefit from straightforward access to new scholarly resources that they may re-use freely for their own purposes. Members of the interested general public will benefit from a general enrichment of the information environment and so directly promoting a deepening of their understanding of our cultural heritage, specifically in terms of the role of Roman law in European culture.
A combination of strategies will be employed in order to engage users and beneficiaries and increase the likelihood of impact. Within the academic sphere, we will work through the appropriate channels to reach the various types of audience and beneficiary (see above).
Museum and gallery professionals as well as the wider public will only benefit from our research if aware of it. Accordingly we recognise the need to maximise impact through publicity. Our audience outside the academic community may be engaged through the exploitation of Web 2.0 social networking initiatives (e.g. Facebook). Awareness will be raised by the consistent employment of the strong Projet Volterra brand image to be developed and disseminated on our publicity materials.
We will collaborate with UCL's and the AHRC's Media Relations teams, as and when the opportunity presents, to attract the attention of the wider interested general public through press releases and Podcasts, as successfully achieved with the Codex Gregorianus story, which was picked up by local, national, and international media.
Both academic and general audiences will be targeted by a public lecture, given by a high profile invited speaker, to mark the culmination of the project in its fifth year.
Academics and curators will benefit from straightforward access to new scholarly resources that they may re-use freely for their own purposes. Members of the interested general public will benefit from a general enrichment of the information environment and so directly promoting a deepening of their understanding of our cultural heritage, specifically in terms of the role of Roman law in European culture.
A combination of strategies will be employed in order to engage users and beneficiaries and increase the likelihood of impact. Within the academic sphere, we will work through the appropriate channels to reach the various types of audience and beneficiary (see above).
Museum and gallery professionals as well as the wider public will only benefit from our research if aware of it. Accordingly we recognise the need to maximise impact through publicity. Our audience outside the academic community may be engaged through the exploitation of Web 2.0 social networking initiatives (e.g. Facebook). Awareness will be raised by the consistent employment of the strong Projet Volterra brand image to be developed and disseminated on our publicity materials.
We will collaborate with UCL's and the AHRC's Media Relations teams, as and when the opportunity presents, to attract the attention of the wider interested general public through press releases and Podcasts, as successfully achieved with the Codex Gregorianus story, which was picked up by local, national, and international media.
Both academic and general audiences will be targeted by a public lecture, given by a high profile invited speaker, to mark the culmination of the project in its fifth year.
Publications
Corcoran S
(2013)
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History
Corcoran S
(2013)
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History
Corcoran S
(2013)
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History
Corcoran S
(2013)
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History
Corcoran S
(2013)
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History
Corcoran S
(2013)
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History
Corcoran S
(2013)
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History
Corcoran S
(2013)
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History
Description | The project has examined the transmission and utilisation of Roman legal texts in the early middle ages, and in its latter phases has been principally engaged in investigating the transmission of an understanding of Roman legal thinking in the post Roman west. This current grant permitted study of manucript collection that demonstrate continuous access to and utilisation of the Roman legal materials from the period of the Carolingians (8th-9th centuries AD) to the rise of the north Italian law schools (12th century). |
Exploitation Route | We hope to develop the investigation to take in cross-fertilisation with the parallel legal tradition in the eastern mediterrean ('Byzantine' Roman law). |
Sectors | Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
URL | http://www.ucl.ac.uk/volterra |
Description | Data has been used to test TEI-encoding by external groups; data has been used to improve Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England online database |
First Year Of Impact | 2011 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | Academy Research Projects programme |
Amount | £38,552 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AR110038 |
Organisation | The British Academy |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2012 |
End | 03/2020 |
Description | Academy Research Projects programme |
Amount | £23,240 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AQ1819/190005 |
Organisation | The British Academy |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2019 |
End | 03/2024 |
Description | AntCoCo: Understanding Late Antique Top-Down Communication: a Study of Imperial Constitutions |
Organisation | University of Bamberg |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Volterra Project team member (Simon Corcoran) is a Corresponding Fellow of the AntCoCo team. |
Collaborator Contribution | Organisation of international workshops in Bamberg; hosting of Projet Volterra Team member (Simon Corcoran) in Bamberg for 6 months. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Justinian Code translation |
Organisation | Cambridge University Press |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Michael Crawford, Simon Corcoran, Benet Salway have contributed sections to the translation from Latin and Greek into English |
Collaborator Contribution | Burce Frier (Michigan law School is the overall editor of the translation project); CUP is publishing the translation |
Impact | The Code of Justinian (CUP 2016 in press) |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | Justinian Code translation |
Organisation | University of Michigan |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Michael Crawford, Simon Corcoran, Benet Salway have contributed sections to the translation from Latin and Greek into English |
Collaborator Contribution | Burce Frier (Michigan law School is the overall editor of the translation project); CUP is publishing the translation |
Impact | The Code of Justinian (CUP 2016 in press) |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | The Role of Digital Technologies in Social Research in the UK |
Organisation | Communities and Culture Network+ |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Completed questionnaire and was observed creating new database materials and interviewed about use of digital technology |
Collaborator Contribution | Offered Feedback on our processes in the use of digital technologies |
Impact | The results will be presented in the ECREA 5th European Communication Conference, Lisbon, 12-15 November 2014 |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | Acta Conciliorum Oecumenicorum panel at Leeds International Medieval Congress (online July 2021) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The panel showcased the work of the Projet Volterra and ACO project members in order to bring their outcomes to the attention of scholars in the field of Medieval studies. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Codification through the Ages lectures (Istituto Italo-Cinese ZUEL) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Projet Volterra team members (Benet Salway & Simon Corcoran) delivered lectures (via Zoom) to the Wuhan-based Istituto-Italo Cinese of Zhongang University of Economics and Law in November 2020 on the opics of the Theodosian Code (Salway) and Justinian Code (Corcoran). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |