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

Leaf from Gratian's Decretum: Table of Consanguinity (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. Consanguinity diagrams were used to show the degree of kinship between an individual and his or her "blood" relations. These tables followed an established tradition dating back to around 600 CE. Until church law was relaxed in 1215, a marriage could only be contracted by persons separated by seven degrees of relationship. After 1215 the degree of separation was reduced to four. Tables of Consanguinity were therefore used by church officials to regulate marriage.

Object facts

• Title: Leaf from Gratian's Decretum: Table of Consanguinity
• Date: c. 1270–1300
• Culture: Italy, probably Naples, 13th century
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: ink, 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: 1929.435.2

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Winter, Patrick M. de. “Bolognese Miniatures at the Cleveland Museum.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 8 (October 1983): 314–351.

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.