C

Canon Law, both as the actual decrees of legislators (popes, bishops, synods) and as jurisprudence (collections of decrees, systems, and commentaries on law), saw itself throughout the Middle Ages as in continuity from the texts of Divine Law (i.e., the Christian Old Testament, read as “the Law and the prophets” [cf. Matthew 7:20]) and Christ as the new lawgiver. It drew out this Law into its details, and applied it to new situations. This connected dual focus, an ideal “then” and a specific “now,” make it a source of unique value (and complexity) to the historian. In it we observe the concerns of a society (e.g., power structures, landholding, status), how they managed problems, how they viewed social and legal ideas (e.g., their conception of Christianity), and their image of an ideal society.