Historian tracks the medieval origins of our modern-day legal system
The right to defend oneself in front of a judge is but one of many legal principles that originate from medieval canon law.
Gratian’s Dilemma: The Man, the Prostitute, the Maid and the Infidel
The 12th-century scholar Gratian offers us a fictitious case of a man who wants to marry a prostitute. It only gets crazier from there!
Bernard Ayglier and William of Pagula: Two Approaches To Monastic Law
The paper examines the role of canon law in two monastic works, the Speculum monachorum (SM) (1272×74) of Bernard Ayglier (d.1282), abbot of Montecassino, and the Speculum religiosorum (SR) (c.1322) of William of Pagula, a canonist and secular priest (d.1332)
Gratian, ‘Father of Canon Law’, was a bishop, historian finds
New research has uncovered that Gratian, a famous 12th-century lawyer who compiled the canon law text known as Decretum Gratiani, became the Bishop of Chiusi and died on August 10th in 1144 or 1145, according to paper delivered today at the 14th International Congress of Medieval Canon Law.
Plenary Session: Learning the Law in the Carolingian Empire
How did Carolingians learn canon law? This paper examines lay knowledge of canon law during the Carolingian period.
Making and Using the Law in the North, c. 900-1350
It is clear that medieval Nordic law was transmitted orally long before it was written down. The Icelandic Free State law-book known as the Grágás, for example, specifically addresses its audience, reminding them that “tomorrow we go to the law mountain” Various other stylistic traits indicate previous oral transmission.