ANGILRAMNUS. - 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 granted 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 linked to a collection of juridical texts that is known precisely under the title Capitula Angilramni.
Mario Scaduto
According to some manuscripts, the collection was brought to Rome and presented to Pope Adrian I by A. himself; according to others - and they are the majority - it was, instead, the Pontiff who handed the collection to A. while he was in Rome. The version to be accepted is undoubtedly the latter: the norms contained in the collection were meant, in the intention of its authors, to serve a purpose of reform for which the authority of the Pontiff of Rome was required, and that of the bishop of Metz could not suffice. Moreover, some ancient canonists, such as Hincmar of Reims and also Gratian (c. 6, C. VI, qu. 1; c. 11, C. XXV, qu. 1) designate the collection with the title Capitula Hadriani.
Of this collection, however, neither Pope Adrian nor A. were the authors, but one or more unknown persons. The place of origin is France (perhaps Le Mans), and the period around the middle of the 9th century. The opinion that attributes this work to the pseudo-Isidorian compilers has a solid foundation. One of their chief aims was the defense of the dignity of bishops and clergy from false accusations, especially by laymen; and the most effective means of achieving it was to reserve the causes of clerics to ecclesiastical tribunals and to 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 principally: the Theodosian Code (not directly, but through the Paris Epitome and the Epitome of Aegidius); the Breviary of Alaric; the Dionysio-Hadriana and Hispana collections; the Constitutum Sylvestri. The collection is arranged according to the order of the sources. The order and the 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, Leipzig 1863, pp. 757-69.
Bibliography3 works
Dino Staffa