Gratian (canonist)
The name under which the twelfth-century collection of church law, the Concordia discordantium canonum or Decretum, has come down. The book sets conflicting canons side by side and reconciles them.
This entry rests on the book alone. Its title is Concordia discordantium canonum, “a harmony of discordant canons” (Gratian, Decretum title), and the passages in which the compiler speaks in his own voice are headed with the name Gratian. The first of them says that the human race is ruled by two things, natural law and custom, and defines natural law by the rule of the Gospel: do to others what you would have done to you (Gratian, Decretum D. 1, opening) (Matthew 7:12).
In the timeline
- about 1150 to 1215, estimated dateThe Schools Become Universities
The schools of twelfth-century Paris grow into a self-governing body of masters and students, and an emperor’s law protects travelling scholars. Abelard, Gratian and Peter Lombard supply a method and books; kings and popes grant privileges.
Primary sources
Scripture
Decretum (Concordia discordantium canonum)
- Gratian, Decretum titlegeschichte.digitale-sammlungen.de
- Gratian, Decretum D. 1, openinggeschichte.digitale-sammlungen.de