Sanatio in Radice Before the Council of Trent

The first part of this work is an investigation into the history of marriage convalidations in general prior to the 14th century. Since a sanatio in radice is a form of convalidation, it is in the dispensing activity of popes, councils and bishops that we will find whatever evidence there is concerning the genesis and early evolution of the sanatio. The first chapter ends with a demonstration of the inaccuracy of the commonly accepted opinion today regarding the first example of a sanatio in radice. Next we will describe the elaboration of the theory of the sanatio as it appears in the writings of the classical canonists. We will show that this method of convalidating marriages answered a definitive need, namely the defence of the Holy See against charges of undue interference in temporal affairs in the legitimation ad temporalia of bastard children living outside the papal dominions. In the third chapter we will trace the reception this new theory met with in the writings of the post-classical canonists, until it became the common opinion of the authors. We will then turn to examine whatever evidence we have as to how often the popes actually granted sanationes in radice during the two centuries before the Council of Trent. Finally we will analyse the various elements that go to make up this extraordinary form of marriage convalidation as it was conceived by its author and by subsequent canonist.