Canon Law System (12th Century)

Timeline

1. c. 1140–1150Bologna · ItalyGratian gathered scattered decretals and systematized them using a method of 'reconciling contradictions', founding the canon law scholarly tradition; this interacted with the contemporary revival of Roman law and spurred the rise of university legal education.
2. 1190–1199Network of Western European church courts · Western EuropeBuilding on the Decretum, papal decretals were glossed and compiled; in the 1190s church courts widely cited this system to adjudicate annulments, disputes over ecclesiastical property, and clerical discipline, competing with royal courts over jurisdiction.
3. 1234Rome · ItalyThe papacy officially compiled scattered decretals as one of the five decretal collections, which together with Gratian's Decretum and its supplements formed the core of 13th-century canon law codification; the glossators thereafter continued to expand its scope of application.