← Explore on the interactive map

Bartolus of Sassoferrato

Type Figure Region Italy Time c. 1313–1357 Also known as Bartolus

Bartolus of Sassoferrato (c. 1313–1357) was the foremost Roman-law commentator of the late Middle Ages, a master of the post-glossators (commentators…

Timeline

  1. c. 1313–1334Perugia · UmbriaBorn near Sassoferrato in the Marches, he first studied civil law at Perugia under Cino da Pistoia, then moved to Bologna under Oldrado, Jacobus de Belvisio, and others, obtaining his doctorate in civil law in 1334 at about the age of twenty-one.
  2. 1334–1343Pisa · TuscanyAfter his doctorate he served successively in Todi, Cagli, and Pisa as captain of the people or legal assistant in the podestà's court, accumulating practical experience; from 1339 he taught civil law at Pisa, combining the glossing tradition with urban jurisprudence.
  3. 1343–1355Perugia · UmbriaIn 1343 he was appointed to the civil law chair at Perugia, raising the school's reputation to rival Bologna. In 1348 he received honorary citizenship of Perugia. His glosses on the Digest and the Code, as well as his treatises on city sovereignty and conflict of laws, were widely transcribed in the 1350s; Baldus and his brothers studied under him during this period.
  4. 1355–1357Perugia · UmbriaIn 1355 Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV appointed him as adviser (consiliarius). He continued to lecture and write in Perugia, dying there on July 13, 1357, and was buried in the church of San Francesco, his tombstone bearing only the words "Bartolus' bones."

Sources