Decretum aureum divi Gratiani cujus titulus talis est. Incipit concordantia discordantium canonum.

New edition prepared by Pierre Baquelier (this edition had already appeared in 1517 and 1519). Two folding plates of genealogical trees illustrating the laws of consanguinity. Large title vignette depicting Gratian teaching the clergy. Printer’s device under the colophon fo.ccccxxii. Printed in Gothic type in two columns (52 lines). Edition for which the privilege was shared with Jean Petit. Title page printed in red and black. Copy fully rubricated in red, with titles also in red. Decorated woodcut initials. The appendices include a biography of Gratian; the Decretum abbreviatum in oratione soluta by Johannes Andreae, as well as the text of the plates: Declaratio arboris consanguinitatis, printed on the verso of the plates and on six leaves.
Colophon: "excussum in officina Johannis Prenel. Anno salutis humane millesimo quinqentesimo vigesimo sexto. Mensis Maij."
Mid-19th-century half-shagreen binding with corners. Spine with raised bands in compartments. Gilt title and date. A brown waterstain in the right margin of the last ten leaves, affecting only a few millimetres; a brown spot in the upper margin of the final twenty leaves. Browning also along the right margin of the title page, extending only a few millimetres; a few leaves show a brown spot in the upper margin. Generally quite fresh, though some leaves are browned, notably in the tables; some leaves also trimmed in the lower margin. A tear across half the page on leaf focccxcix. Numerous pagination errors.

The Golden Decree of Gratian, or The Concord of Discordant Canons (concordantia discordantium canonum), composed of a florilegium of legal texts, is one of the most important canonical works of the Middle Ages; it brings together more than 3,800 texts: the so-called apostolic canons, patristic writings, papal decretals, conciliar decrees, Roman and Frankish laws, etc. Its composition is dated to around 1140. The epithet "golden" appears unique to this edition, for it is found in no other, and the work was not otherwise known by that title, but simply as Gratian’s Decretum. The title Concordantia seems to have been chosen by Gratian himself, referring to the method and the legal project: the canons are grouped thematically, to which the author adds a commentary intended to reconcile differences, the Dictum; he sometimes adopts the opposite method, formulating questions on the same theme, the answers being provided in the form of citations. By weaving his own commentary into the legal texts, grouping the canons thematically with an introductory text, and relativizing their authority, Gratian introduced major innovations into juridical literature. The internal coherence of the work contributed to its almost immediate adoption by numerous law schools.
The work is composed of three distinct parts: the Distinctiones, which address divine, natural, and customary law; the Causae, which cover the major sections of canon law, namely the appointment and recusal of bishops, revenues, heresy, excommunication; and finally the last, and by far the briefest, part, the De consecratione, dealing with the consecration of churches, the mass, baptism, and so forth.
Gratian’s work remained the foundation of canon law until 1917, the year of the promulgation of the Code of Canon Law.