310 graveyards
of LAW. Canon law still lacked a systematic organization
or method of study. Over centuries, popes had made legal
decisions, councils had issued decrees, and the officials
of the church throughout Europe had produced many
collections of miscellaneous decisions and opinions.
Much of this material contradicted itself and was too
widely scattered to be readily found, read, or studied.
For a century before Gratian, scholars had attempted
to collect all this material and put it in order, but no one
had been successful. Sometime in the 1140s, after years of
study, Gratian completed his work in this field. It quickly
became the most important textbook on ecclesiastical law
for all of western Europe. Gratian called his work Concor-
dia discordantium canonumor “Harmony or Reconciliation
of Conflicting Canons.” In almost 3,800 chapters, he col-
lected decrees from the COUNCILSand the popes, extracts
from Roman laws, statements from the fathers of the
church, and theological opinions. This became the mate-
rial that regulated the life of the church for centuries.
Making it easy to use and navigate, he arranged the mate-
rial systematically, according to subject matter. He applied
the new techniques of LOGICand dialectic to resolve con-
flicting decrees and opinions. Gratian showed that the
conflicts among all these tests were frequently caused by
different uses of the same terms. He skillfully showed a
way of interpreting this material and making practical
sense for different situations.
Although it was never officially adopted by the
church, “Gratian’s Decrees,” or the Decretum,became the
foundational legal guide for popes, bishops, and ecclesi-
astical courts until it was finally replaced by a new code
of canon law in 1917. Made a cardinal by ALEXANDERIII,
he died in 1179.
Further reading: Gratian, The Treatise on Laws
(Decretum DD. 1–20) with the Ordinary Gloss, trans.
Augustine Thompson and James Grodley (Washington,
D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1993); Stan-
ley Chodorow, Christian Political Theory and Church Poli-
tics in the Mid-Twelfth Century: The Ecclesiology of
Gratian’s Decretum (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1972); Stephan Kuttner, Gratian and the Schools of
Law, 1140–1234 (London: Variorum, 1983); Anthony
Melnikas, The Corpus of the Miniatures in the Manuscripts
of Decretum Gratiani,3 vols. (Rome: Libreria Ateneo Sale-
siano, 1975); Anders Winroth, The Making of Gratian’s
Decretum (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2000).
graveyards SeeBURIAL RULES AND PRACTICES; CEMETER-
IES AND GRAVEYARDS; DEATH AND THE DEAD.
Great Church SeeHAGIASOPHIA.
Great or Old Moravia SeeBOHEMIA-MORAVIA.
Great SchismSee SCHISM,GREAT (1054); SCHISM,
GREAT(1378–1417).Greece and the Greeks In the late Roman Empire,
Greece was divided in several provinces, the diocese of
MACEDONIA, and the prefecture of ILLYRICUM. Its cultural
influence remained important. It was one of the last
refuges of classical PAGANISM. In 529, JUSTINIANclosed
the Academy of ATHENS. In the Middle Ages, Greece was
part of the BYZANTINEEMPIRE.Greecehere means roughly
the modern country.SLAVIZATION AND RECONQUEST
SLAVinvasions affected the region from the mid-sixth
century. By the 580s, it was submerged by them, except
for some towns, such as THESSALONIKI. Entire cities
changed their location. The BYZANTINEreconquest began
from the north. By the end of the seventh century, the
creation of the Byzantine administrative and military
themes of Macedonia and Hellas indicated that the east-
ern part of northern and central Greece was once again
ruled from CONSTANTINOPLE. The reconquest of the Pelo-
ponnese was accomplished by 805 and Patras regained its
metropolitan status. An effective policy of conversion and
Hellenization appeared to have followed. There were sys-
tematic transfers of population, with Slavs deported to
ANATOLIAand Greek speakers moved back into Greece.MEDIEVAL GREECE
Excluding Bulgar raids or the sack of Thessaloniki by
Leo of Tripoli in 904, central and northern Greece were
sheltered from Arabic invasions until the end of the 11th
century. The building of churches and monasteries
boomed. Mount ATHOSbecame the center of Byzantine
MONASTICISM.
Around 1100, then again in 1185, central and
northern Greece underwent Norman attacks from
Southern Italy. The Fourth CRUSADEled to the takeover
of the greater part of Greece by the Latins or Frankish
KNIGHTS, and the Venetians. Byzantine sovereignty was
eventually restored starting from Epiros and then from
1261 extended completely through northern Greece
under the emperor Michael VIII (r. 1259–82). The region
of the Duchy of ATHENSand especially the Peloponnese
(the Frankish MOREA) suffered Latin occupation until
the 15th century.
Starting from MISTRA, near Sparta, the Byzantine
Greeks progressively conquered the Peloponnese. Mistra
then became the seat of a brilliant court, held by one of
the branches of the PALAIOLOGOSdynasty. Several of its
princes occupied the throne at Constantinople. Though
northern Greece was occupied from the late 14th cen-
tury by the TURKS, the Morea resisted several years
longer and fell into their hands only in 1460, four years
after Athens.