ABSTRACT
The Diversorum patrum sententiae, also known as the Collection in seventy-four titles (74T) is one of the most famous systematic canon law collections before Gratian. More than twenty extant manuscripts are ample testimony to its place among the most influential collections of the eleventh century. The collection takes its modern name from seventy-four titles of very different length into which the material is divided. During the last century, some scholars favoured an early date and Humbert of Silva Candida as its author, while others assumed a later compilation under Gregory VII. They all shared Fournier’s notion of 74T as a ‘Gregorian’ collection; indeed, the notion of 74T as a ‘reform collection’ was their common starting point. The thesis that 74T is a late eleventh-century monastic collection in corresponds well with the general development of monastic liberties and exemptions. For monastic communities, ‘canon law’ was first of all the sum of their privileges.
