Allegory as a tool f or the debate between theologians and jurists: from classical canon law to the reformation. Some notes

Abstract

In the 12th and 13th centuries, Stefano Tornacense and the Cardinal Hostiensis focused on the relationship between theology, civil law, and canon law, illustrating some debate’s related issues by resorting to the device of allegory. At the end of the 16th century, one of the allegories employed by Henry of Susa (theologia = scientia equina ; ius civile = scientia asinina ; ius canonicum = scientia mulina) was critically used by a Puritan theologian, named John Rainolds, in the debate with Alberico Gentili, regius professor of civil law in Oxford. The two authoritative professors aimed at determining what were the competencies of the theologian and the jurist, also discussing the text of the great canonist.