The Medieval Church · 1216–1220
The Primitive Constitutions
Dominic de Guzmán and the early Order of Preachers · c. 1170–1221
What it is
A constitution built for a preaching order: elected superiors, a general chapter of delegates, dispensation from any observance that would hinder study, and no landed endowment.
Why it lasted
The first religious rule to make study a duty and to build in a representative legislature — a governance model later copied well beyond the church.
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below. The Library catalogues it; it does not host the text.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
Read next