Gratian, Italian legal scholar

Gratian, fl. 1140, Italian legal scholar, founder of the science of canon law canon law, in the Roman Catholic Church, the body of law based on the legislation of the councils (both ecumenical and local) and the popes, as well as the bishops (for diocesan matters).
..... Click the link for more information. . Almost nothing is known of his life beyond the fact that he was a monk, almost certainly Camaldolite, and that he taught at the convent of saints Felix and Nabor (San Felice) in Bologna. He was apparently very learned in scholasticism and Roman law. His great work, commonly known as the Decretum, appeared c.1140. It is a synthesis of church law, divided into three parts: the first deals with sources and principles of canon law and with ecclesiastical persons; the second, with ecclesiastical jurisdiction and property and to some extent with marriage and penance; the third, with sacraments and liturgy. Gratian, by his method, makes the compilation a systematic treatise; his commentaries, the dicta Gratiani, make up a large part of the work. The Decretum was used by the later popes and became the kernel of the Corpus juris canonici.

Bibliography

See study by S. Chodorow (1972).

Gratian, Roman emperor of the West

Gratian (grā`shən), 359–83, Roman emperor of the West (375–83). At the death of his father, Valentinian I Valentinian I (văl'əntĭn`ēən), 321–75, Roman emperor of the West (364–75).
..... Click the link for more information. , he accepted the army's election of his brother, Valentinian II Valentinian II, 371?–392, Roman emperor of the West (375–92), son of Valentinian I. Upon the death of his father, he was proclaimed emperor with his brother Gratian as coregent. After the death (378) of Valens , Gratian made Theodosius I ruler in the East.
..... Click the link for more information. , as his colleague. Gratian took Britain, Gaul, and Spain as his own share of the empire and acted as guardian for Valentinian in Italy, Illyricum, and Africa. After the death of Valens (378), he made Theodosius I Theodosius I or Theodosius the Great, 346?–395, Roman emperor of the East (379–95) and emperor of the West (394–95), son of Theodosius , the general of Valentinian I.
..... Click the link for more information. emperor of the East. Gratian fought successfully against the barbarians. He appointed St. Ambrose Ambrose, Saint (ăm`brōz), 340?–397, bishop of Milan, Doctor of the Church, b. Trier, of Christian parents.
..... Click the link for more information. as an adviser and vigorously attacked paganism, ordering the removal of the altar of Victory from the senate house and the confiscation of the revenues of the vestal virgins and refusing the title pontifex maximus. Toward the end of his reign he neglected public affairs for hunting. In 383 he was assassinated by the followers of Maximus.

Gratian

Latin in full Flavius Gratianus Augustus

(born 359, Sirmium, Pannonia—died Aug. 25, 383, Lugdunum, Lugdunensis) Roman emperor (r. 367–83). He originally shared the office with his father, Valentinian I (r. 364–75), and his uncle, Valens (r. 364–78). He later shared authority with his 4-year-old half brother, who was supported by the army. Following his uncle's death at the disastrous Battle of Adrianople, he became ruler of the Eastern Empire and summoned Theodosius I to share power with him. Influenced by St. Ambrose, Gratian omitted the words pontifex maximus (“supreme priest”) from his title. He was murdered opposing the usurper Magnus Maximus.