GILES OF FOSCARARI

Canonist; b. probably Bologna; d. Bologna, 1289. His family was prominent in Bolognese society. From 1252 to 1269 he is frequently mentioned in official documents as magister and doctor decretorum. He was the first layman to teach Canon Law at the University of Bologna. In 1267 he spent a short time in the service of Charles I of Naples. Because of the great esteem in which he was held, it was directed at his death that those assisting at his funeral or at the funeral of any canonist thereafter could be vested in scarlet, an honor usually reserved for the funerals of knights and professors of civil law. His works include De ordine iudiciario, written about 1260, which is valuable for understanding judicial practice during this period (William Durantis copied much of it in his Speculum ); Lectura in Decretales; and many quaestiones and consilia, which remain scattered in various manuscripts.

Bibliography: m. sarti and m. fattorini, De claris Archigymnasii Bononiensis a saeculo XI usque ad saeculum XIV, 2 v. (2d ed. Bologna 1888–96; repr. Turin 1962). 1:447–452. f. k. v. savigny, Geschichte des römischen Rechts im Mittelalter, 7 v. (2d ed. Heidelberg 1834–51; repr. Darmstadt 1958) 5:520–526. j. f. von schulte, Die Geschichte der Quellen und der Literatur des kanonischen Rechts, 3 v. in 4 pts. (Stuttgart 1875–80; repr. Graz 1956) 2:139–143. j. deshusses, Dictionnaire de droit canonique, ed. r. naz, 7 v. (Paris 1935–65) 5:967–968.

[c. m. rosen]