Sacri canones editandi: Studies on Medieval Canon Law in Memory of Jiří Kejř ed. by Pavel Otmar Krafl (review)

Jiří Kejř (1921–2015) was an outstanding scholar and an individual of sterling character and humanity. His long life was marked by numerous achievements and he is known principally for his work on the history of the Hussite movement and for his acumen as a specialist in medieval canon law. The present volume is a posthumous tribute devoted to the latter subject. The editor is an authority on the history of ecclesiastical law and administration in the Middle Ages. His study of the synods and statutes of the medieval Moravian diocese of Olomouc (Prague Institute of History, 2014) is a model of textual scholarship. The present volume consists of a foreword by the archbishop of Prague, an introduction by Pavel Krafl outlining Kejř's life and works, followed by ten chapters; one in German, the rest in English. The contributors come from Germany, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, the Canary Islands, United States, and Argentina. Despite significant contributions to medieval canon law, Kejř is not well-known beyond Czech-language scholarship. This is regrettable, and some of the details of this major figure can be accessed in this volume. Kejř's work avoided overt confessional bias; he was neither motivated by political commitments nor did he become enmeshed in the Marxist interpretation of history which dominated Czech historiography between 1948 and 1989. As the title reveals, the volume focuses on editions of canon law, a preoccupation which interested Kejř.