In the history ofcanon law, thedecretalists of the thirteenth century formed a school of interpretation that emphasised thedecretals, those letters issued by thePopes ruling on matters of church discipline (epistolae decretales), in preference to theDecretum Gratiani (1141), which their rivals, thedecretists, favoured.[1] The decretalists were early compilers of the papal decretals, and their work, such as that ofSimon of Bisignano (c. 1177), was used by the dominant decretist school.[2]
The decretalist practice can be divided into three periods. The first (c. 1160–1200) is characterised by the collection of decretals; the second (c. 1200–1234) by the organisation of the collections and the first signs of decretal exegesis; and the final (1234–1348) by extensive exegesis and analysis.[2] Important early decretalists includeBernard of Pavia, who wrote theSumma Decretalium, theSumma de Matrimonio and theBrevarium Extravagantium, andHenry of Susa, whoseSumma Copiosa melded canon law withRoman law and was influential into modern times.[1]
