Leaf from Gratian's Decretum: Table of Affinity (c. 1270–1300): Art, History and Details

Leaf from Gratian's Decretum: Table of Affinity (c. 1270–1300) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

These leaves were excised from a copy of the handbook of canon law known simply as the Decretum written by Gratian, an Italian Camaldolese monk, in Bologna around 1130-40. The Decretum was widely copied and consulted throughout the Middle Ages. These tables were used to determine relationships created by marriage. During the Middle Ages such relationships of "affinity" could be impediments to subsequent marriages if one partner were to die. In the direct line, for example, a man may not marry his mother-in-law or his daughter-in-law, while in the collateral line a man may not marry his uncle's wife or his wife's first cousin or niece. Like Tables of Consanguinity, Tables of Affinity were used by church officials to approve or deny marriages.

Object facts

• Title: Leaf from Gratian's Decretum: Table of Affinity
• Date: c. 1270–1300
• Culture: Italy, probably Naples, 13th century
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: tempera and gold on parchment
• Dimensions: Sheet: 28.9 x 21.2 cm (11 3/8 x 8 3/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1929.435.1

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.