Decretum (Concordia discordantium canonum)
A collection of church law that sets conflicting canons, papal letters and passages from the Fathers side by side and reconciles them. Its own title is ‘A Harmony of Discordant Canons’. It stands first in the medieval body of canon law, the Corpus iuris canonici.
The work is headed Concordia discordantium canonum, and its plan follows from the title: on each question the compiler assembles the authorities, notes where they disagree, and adds comments of his own (printed under the name GRATIANUS) to bring them into agreement. It opens with a treatise on the kinds of law.
Nothing is said here about the compiler beyond what the book shows. The date of about 1140 is the one commonly given, for instance in Norman Tanner’s introduction to the canons of the First Lateran Council. The text is cited here for its title and its opening.
Cited in
- about 1150 to 1215, estimated date