ANGILRAMNO. – Benedictine abbot of Sens; bishop of Metz from 768. His pastoral office did not prevent Charlemagne from keeping him at his side, appointing him court chaplain. Later, the same sovereign conferred on him the abbey of Chiemsee in Bavaria by an act in which he bestowed on him the title of archbishop (788). He died during one of Charlemagne’s campaigns against the Avars, on 23 or 26 October 791.
His name is associated with a collection of juridical texts known precisely by the title Capitula Angilramni. Mario Scaduto
According to some manuscripts, the collection was brought to Rome and presented to Pope Hadrian I by A. himself; according to others—and these are the majority—it was, instead, the Pontiff who handed the collection over to A. while he was in Rome. The latter version is undoubtedly the one to be accepted: in the intention of its authors, the norms contained in the collection were to serve a reforming purpose for which the authority of the Roman Pontiff was required, and that of the bishop of Metz could not suffice. Moreover, certain ancient canonists, such as Hincmar of Reims and even Gratian (c. 6, C. VI, qu. 1; c. 11, C. XXV, qu. 1), designate the collection by the title Capitula Hadriani.
Of this collection, however, neither Pope Hadrian nor A. was the author, but rather one or more unknown individuals. Its place of origin is France (perhaps Le Mans), and its date approximately the middle of the ninth century. There is solid foundation for the opinion that attributes this work to the pseudo-Isidorian compilers. One of their principal aims was the defense of the dignity of bishops and the clergy against false accusations, especially those brought by laymen; and the most effective means of achieving this was to reserve clerics’ cases to ecclesiastical tribunals and establish a regular procedure. This is precisely the purpose of the Capitula Angilramni, which constitute a small collection of procedural law. The collection consists of 71 chapters—according to some manuscripts, 72—of unequal length. Its sources are chiefly: the Codex Theodosianus (not directly, but through the Epitome Parigina and the Epitome di Egidio); the Breviary of Alaric; the Dionysio-Hadriana and Hispana collections; and the Constitutum Sylvestri. The collection is arranged according to the order of its sources. The order and sources are identical to those of pseudo-Isidore, with which the Capitula Angilramni are generally joined in the manuscripts.
Critical edition: Decretales pseudoisidorianae et Capitula Angilramni, ed. P. Hinschius, Lipsia 1863, pp. 757–69.