BALBI, BERNARDO (Bernardus Papienis). — Italian decretalist, d. 18 Sept. 1216. He studied law at Bologna and at that time also resided in Rome; later he held the office of prepositus of the cathedral of Pavia and was professor of canon law at Bologna; then bishop of Faenza (1191), and finally of Pavia (1198).
He first wrote glosses on Gratian’s Decretum, which he distinguished with his own sigla: B. Ber. and Ber. Pa.
He is also the author of the Breviarium extravagantium, which was later called the Compilatio prima when the Breviarium became the first (private but of great authority) of the Quinque compilationes antiquae. The expression Breviarium extravagantium was meant to indicate that the decretals collected therein were outside («extra vagantes») of Gratian’s Decretum. The Breviarium mainly includes the decretals issued from 1187 to 1191 up to the pontificate of Pope Clement III, and was compiled by B. while he was prepositus of the cathedral of Pavia. In reality, however, B. also intended to include in his work the Capitula that had been omitted by Gratian; for these and for the decretals subsequent to the Decretum, B. sought to create a systematic collection by arranging the various Capitula under special titles and grouping them into five books with the following distribution of material, which later became standard in the compilations of decretals: Judex, iudicium, clerus, conubia (or sponsalia), crimen.
Before 1198, B. composed an apparatus of glosses on his Breviarium. This work originated in the school, as he held lectures on his text and collected in the glosses of the apparatus the explanations he gave as a master. Moreover, B. compiled a Summa Decretalium and other particular works of systematic exposition such as the Summa de matrimonio and the Summa de electione, published by Laspeyres in an appendix to his edition of B.’s Summa Decretalium. In the Summa Decretalium, B. also made use of the Casus to the canonical texts written by Richard Anglicus.
While bishop of Pavia, he wrote the life of his predecessor St. Lanfranc (Acta SS. Iunii, IV, Paris 1867, pp. 620-30) and a commentary on Ecclesiasticus and the Song of Songs.