Table of contents from BL Royal 10 E IV, f. 3
Summary
Table of contents, for the Decretals, with five decorated initial 'D's, with decorated borders, including mermaids and mermen. Image taken from f. 3 of Decretals of Gregory IX with glossa ordinaria (the 'Smithfield Decretals'). Written in Latin.
The Decretals of Gregory IX (Latin, Decretales Gregorii IX), also collectively called the Liber extra, are an important source of medieval Canon Law. In 1230, Pope Gregory IX ordered his chaplain and confessor, St. Raymond of Penyafort, a Dominican, to form a new canonical collection destined to replace all former collections. Raymond of Penyafort, O.P., (ca. 1175 – 6 January 1275) was a Spanish Dominican friar in the 13th century. He is honored as a saint in the Catholic Church and is the patron saint of lawyers, especially canon lawyers.
