"Dr. Sven Meeder has done a tremendous service for scholars of legal history, particularly for the legal history of the early Middle Ages. His edition of the northern French, eighth-century Collectio CCCC capitulorum (?Collection in 400 Chapters?) makes accessible a text that sheds light on episcopal concerns regarding the religious, especially secular clergy, and laity alike. We have a glimpse into the use of sources such as Roman law, Irish texts such as the Second synod of St. Patrick, and canonical collections not frequently highlighted?such as the Collectio Sanblasiana . Most important, Dr. Meeder has provided scholars a text that goes beyond the contents of the collection, providing clear and helpful apparatuses and indices. His work carries on the excellent tradition of the Monumenta iuris canonici series.

"?Melodie Eichbauer, Florida Gulf Coast University "Canonical collections of the early medieval period are often windows onto vibrant intellectual environments that might otherwise go unnoticed. The Collectio 400 Capitulorum is one such collection, and an important one at that. Its compilers drew on a wealth of sources, from the Bible, to Roman law, to Frankish penitentials, to Irish and Anglo-Saxon canonical texts. The manner in which they combined the material they excerpted displays originality in thinking about different approaches to moral, normative, and procedural problems that vexed Frankish ecclesiastics of that era. This rigorously executed edition, accompanied by a carefully researched and readable introduction, unravels the intricacies of this hitherto little-understood text, underscoring its systematic structure, originality, and influence. It is essential reading for anyone interested in early medieval canonical collections and the manner in which they shed light on the thought and practices of legal scholars in Carolingian Europe."?Roy Flechner, editor of The Hibernensis "The attention paid to specific early medieval collections of canon law by modern scholars has often depended more on chance and academic tradition than on academic value. Sven Meeder not only presents an understudied collection in the proper light, but makes it accessible for further research.

This exemplary study and edition should also encourage research on similar collections which up to now have neither been adequately studied nor edited."?Ludger Körntgen, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.