ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how Burchard edited various types of material sources he encountered in his formal sources: excerpts from the Bible; papal writings; extracts from theologians; conciliar decrees; penitentials; episcopal capitularies; and secular law. It examines which inscriptions from the Libri duo he chose to include and which he excluded. The chapter discusses the inscriptions he invented as substitutes, since these inscriptions also provide clues as to what sources Burchard believed to be binding. Burchard apparently preferred inscriptions to papal texts. Burchard's interest in attributing canons to popes can be seen by comparing the percentage of papal inscriptions in the Decretum to the percentage found in the Libri duo. Burchard apparently did not consider lists of laws composed by individual bishops for their dioceses (or "episcopal capitularies") to be binding on the entire Church at all times and in all places.
