IVO OF CHARTRES, St. — French canonist, b. at Beauvais in 1040, d. at Chartres on 23 Dec. 1115.
He studied philosophy and theology at Paris, was canon at Nesle in Picardy and in 1090 was appointed by Urban II bishop of Chartres, whence the appellation Carnotensis by which he is remembered. His feast is kept on 23 Dec.
Three important collections of canon law are attributed to him, which, together with the works of Burchard of Worms, represent the chief sources from which Gratian subsequently drew for his Decretum. These collections consist of the so-called Collectio tripertita, the Decretum and the Pannormia or Panormia.
While the above-mentioned works of Ivo may be considered, as regards the material aspect of the compilation of texts, as preparatory to Gratian’s Decretum, the method followed, common to that of his contemporary Bernold of Constance, may be regarded as a forerunner of that which Gratian set as the chief aim of his own work: namely, the overcoming of the contradictions in the texts.
Another characteristic, later adopted by Gratian and already found in Ivo, is that of bringing together both leges and canones. The Collectio tripertita is a derivative rather than an original work, since, according to the thesis of Fournier (q.V. BIBLICA.), its first two parts would constitute a chronological collection of texts drawn from the Decretum of Burchard of Worms and from other Italian collections. On the other hand, it is not even certain whether Ivo was the actual author or merely the promoter of this first block of the Tripertita. The third part of the aforesaid collection, however, would appear to be a summary of Ivo’s Decretum. This would increase the suspicion that the entire collection was not his direct work. As for the Decretum, Fournier holds that it is a disorganized compilation made between 1090 and 1095, drawn from the Decretum of Burchard, from the first two parts of the Collectio tripertita, from a collection similar to the Collectio Britannica and from the Digest. Fournier doubts that the Decretum is Ivo’s direct work.
The Pannormia, finally, according to Fournier, would be more properly Ivo’s work, though even here the help of others would not be excluded. It would be a systematic collection made about 1095, after the Decretum and with material from it, but with additions foreign to II.
Contrary to the thesis expounded, Bliemetzrieder attributes the Decretum to Ivo, since the prologue of Ivo refers to that work and not, as Fournier thinks, to the Pannormia. The same author, however, doubts that the Pannormia can be by Ivo. The Decretum, the Pannormia and the Collectio tripertita were published in PL 161, 47-1423.