Gratianus - Decretum Gratiani - 1572

DESCRIPTION: I present at auction a PRECIOUS 454-YEAR-OLD EXAMPLE, which includes, in good condition, the "Decretum Gratiani" (Decretum Gratiani), an essential work of canon law written between 1140 and 1142 by the Italian monk Gratian.

Our book contains the three parts in which the text is organized: the Distinctions, the Causae, and De consecratione.

While the first and third parts have a more expository and theoretical character, the second part, the "Causae", are practical legal cases on a wide range of topics: adultery, simony, heresy, excommunication, etc. The text of this part is structured in questions (Quaestiones) and answers. This gives the work a strong didactic character, resembling each "causae" to an example dictated by a professor to his students. Let us look at an example, Causa 32, Quaestio 1-8. First, there is an exposition of the situation and then eight questions are posed, to which answers are given immediately afterwards. I transcribe the exposition and the questions (for lack of space I do not include the answers, which you will find in the book):

(Decretus Gratiani, Causa 32, Quaestio 1-8).
"A man who did not have a wife coupled with a prostitute, who was sterile, the granddaughter of a free citizen, and daughter of a slave; whom her father would have given to another, the grandfather made her couple with this man with the sole objective that he might satisfy his incontinence. From then on, the man, moved by grief, began to try to conceive children with his own maid. Later, when he had been condemned for adultery and punished, he asked a man to take his wife by force, so that he could divorce her. When this was done, he married an unfaithful woman, but on the condition that she would convert to the Christian faith. First: is it lawful to take a prostitute as a wife? Second: should a woman who is taken as a wife for the sake or end of continence be called 'wife'? Third: which will her will follow? that of the free grandfather or that of the servile father? Fourth: is she allowed to conceive children with a maid while her wife is alive? Fifth: if she suffers violence, is that proof of having lost her virtue? Sixth: can an adulterous man divorce his adulterous wife? Seventh: can a man marry another while the divorced wife is alive? Eighth: can a Christian man marry an unfaithful woman under the aforementioned condition?"

PRECIOUS COMPLETE EDITION OF THE DECREE OF GRATIAN. DO NOT LET IT SLIP AWAY.

YEAR OF PUBLICATION: Venice, 1572. 454 years old.

LANGUAGE: Latin (Original version)

SIZE AND PAGINATION: Dimensions: In-4, 25 x 17.5 cm. Pagination: Title page in two colors + [104 pp] + 1352 pp + [26 pp]. Weight: 3 kg. COMPLETE WORK.

CONDITION: Period binding in full marbled leather in good preserved condition, with some wear, as shown in the photos. Spine with four raised bands decorated with red morocco label and the name of the work in gilt letters.

The interior is in good preserved condition, as shown in the photos, and is printed entirely in two colors (red and black). Notable: small restoration of the title page without affecting the text or the engraving; about 45 pages with some lines or marginal notes censored (see photos). A specimen with the aesthetic distribution of the text and illustrated with HUNDREDS OF BEAUTIFUL INITIAL LETTERS carved in wood, one engraving on the title page and 3 more inside (4 ENGRAVINGS IN TOTAL).

ILLUSTRATIONS: Their meaning is as follows:

1. Portrait of Pope Pius V in prayer. Representation of Pope Pius V (pontiff between 1566 and 1572) kneeling in reverent prayer before an altar with a crucifix and an image of Christ on the Cross.

2. Scene of the Promulgation of the Corpus Iuris Canonici: Solemn representation of the Pope on his throne, surrounded by the Roman Curia (cardinals with skullcaps, bishops with miters and theologians). A notary writes at his desk on the right, while a kneeling figure hands over or receives the book of laws. On the side borders there are medallions with the Evangelists (Mattheus, Marcus, Lucas, Joannes) and Church Doctors such as St. Ambrose or St. Gregory (GREGORIUS, Ambrosius).

3. Tree of Consanguinity (Arbor Consanguinitatis): Splendid engraving of the Tree of Consanguinity, crowned by a king or elderly figure who holds the branches and vines of the filial lines. Arranges in a cluster the degrees of kinship in a direct line (ancestors such as Pater/Mater, Avus/Avia, Proavus and descendants such as Filius/Filia, Nepos/Neptis) and collateral (Frater, Soror, Patruus, Avunculus). It was used in ecclesiastical courts to settle succession, inheritance, and impediments to marriage.

4. Tree of Affinity (Arbor Affinitatis): A graphic scheme in the shape of a tree or network to calculate degrees of kinship by affinity (the bond arising from the marriage between one spouse and the relatives of the other spouse). It shows circles or meditations with Latin kinship terms (Frater, Soror, Primus gradus, Secundus gradus, etc.). It serves to determine marriage impediments according to Canon Law of the Catholic Church.

PRECIOUS COMPLETE EDITION OF THE DECREE OF GRATIAN. DO NOT LET IT SLIP AWAY.

MUSEUM PIECE AND PRIVATE LIBRARY OF A HIGH-LEVEL NOCIALITY! A CLASSIC ESSENTIAL OF CANON LAW. DO NOT LET IT SLIP AWAY

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