Decretum Gratiani - Gratian's Sources

Gratian's Sources

Gratian's sources were Roman law, the Bible, the writings of (or attributed to) the Church Fathers, papal decretals, the acts of church councils and synods. In most cases, Gratian did not obtain this material from a direct reading of the sources, but rather through intermediate collections. Thanks to the research of modern scholars - in particular, Charles Munier, Titus Lenherr, and Peter Landau - we now know that Gratian made use of a relatively small number of collections in the composition of most of the Decretum, these being:

• Anselm (II) of Lucca’s canonical collection, originally compiled around 1083 and existing in four main recensions: A, B, Bb, and C. Peter Landau suggests that Gratian probably employed a manuscript containing an expanded form of recension A which he calls recension A’;
• the Collectio tripartita attributed to Ivo of Chartres, usually thought to date to 1095;
• the Panormia of Ivo of Chartres, also usually dated to 1095, although several scholars have argued for a later date and some even question Ivo's authorship;
• Gregory of St. Grisogono's Polycarpus, completed some time after 1111;
• the Collection in Three Books, composed some time between 1111 and 1139, though dated by some to around 1123;
• the Glossa ordinaria to the Bible.

Other sources are known to have been used in the composition of particular sections of the Decretum:

• Isidore of Seville's Etymologies for DD. 1-9 (the so-called Treatise on Laws);
• Alger of Liège's Liber de misericordia et iustitia for C. 1;
• the Sententiae magistri A. for the De penitentia and some other sections.