The Robbins Collection welcomed Francesco D’Urso as a Research Fellow from September to November of 2023. D’Urso comes to the Robbins Collection from Italy, where he is a researcher at University of Ferrara and a lecturer teaching the History of Medieval and Modern Law. His work at the Robbins Collection centers on corporations and their rights (ius universitatis) in Medieval legal thought.
Since completing his PhD in Legal History twenty years ago, D’Urso has continued to study canon and religious law, especially regarding medieval corporations and legal thought. His research with Robbins Collection archive materials builds upon Otto Gierke’s previous work on medieval jurisprudence and pluralism, especially as it relates to self-governing groups and corporations that exist alongside the state. D’Urso notes that while Gierke’s work has become foundational to the field, much of it needs revision, especially his theories surrounding canon law.
In particular, D’Urso’s research is centered on understanding pluralism and self-governing entities from the point of view of the medieval experience. He utilized manuscripts n. 5 (Decretales with glosses), 36, 75 (Henricus de Merseburg), 150 (Niccolò de Tudeschi), 312 (Digestum vetus with glosses) from the Robbins Collection and is stil working to contexualize their contents within his research. D’Urso emphasized the usefulness of the Robbins Collection’s materials in conducting his archival work, as he perceived the accessibility of the materials at the Collection as unparalleled. “The Robbins Collection is particularly useful because you can find […] anything about legal history, it’s there and the staff is incredibly supportive and available,” D’Urso said. While the Collection’s archive provided access to rare legal texts, he also found the Collection’s access to online resources exceptionally helpful. He has since integrated the archival materials he found in the Collection during his fellowship into the next phase of his research.
D’Urso believes that his fellowship with the Robbins Collection has afforded him the time and resources to finish his book by the end of 2024. “I hope this year to finish my work and I’m planning on writing [a] book. And so this experience was essential to concentrate on my book and to find the materials,” D’Urso said. Hosting fellows with meaningful research aspirations, like Francesco D’Urso, supports the Robbins Collection’s mission of encouraging research in civil and religious law.