Please consider downloading the latest version of Internet Explorer
to experience this site as intended.
Skip to content

In Review: Medieval Manuscript

Acquisition Honors History Professor A French manuscript written between 1330 and 1340 is the first of a campus collection named in recognition of professor emeritus Richard Kaeuper. By Sandra Knispel
photo of illustrated medieval French legal treatise acquired by the University of Rochester(Photograph: J. Adam Fenster)

The first acquisition in the Kaeuper collection is a French manuscript written between 1330 and 1340. A handbook of sorts for medieval lawyers, the work features definitions of judicial concepts and offers guidance on legal procedures and other areas of French law.

A 700-year-old French legal manuscript is the first acquisition in a campus collection that honors longtime Rochester history professor Richard Kaeuper.

Written as a guide for lawyers, the medieval manuscript consists of three dozen parchment folios of legal terms and definitions written between 1330 and 1340 by two brothers in Paris.

For historians, the codex—one of only two known copies still in existence—represents a vital early source for the history of the Parlement de Paris, which functioned as France’s supreme court from the 13th century until 1789.

That makes it a fitting first piece in a collection named for Kaeuper, the Franklin W. and Gladys I. Clark Professor Emeritus of History and a noted expert on chivalry, medieval European law, public order, administration, and finance.

Funding for the collection was driven by Kaeuper’s former students, with lead support from Paul Kreuzer ’72 and bolstered by David Burkhardt ’88.

The fund will be used to acquire future items and to maintain a collection of medieval manuscripts.