Most remarkable legal aspects from post-classical roman law until Irnerius

Law of Citations

426

This law gave authority to Ulpianus, Gaius, Paulus, Papinianus and Modestinus. Quotations used by the jurists were also given authority.

Theodosian Code

438

The Theodosian Code was a compilation of laws of the Roman Empire, preceded by the Codex Gregorianus and the Codex Hermogenianus, that contained all imperial statutes since Emperor Constantine.

Fall of the Western Roman Empire

476

Process of decline in the Western Roman Empire in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, which ultimately led to its fall and disappearence.

Gelasius I becomes Pope

492

In Gelasius' letter to the Emperor Anastasius I, Gelasius tried to define the limits of the imperial potestas and the ecclesiastical auctoritas, which led to a break in the political theory concerning the position of the Emperors.

Lex Romana Visigothorum

506

It was a compilation of “vulgar law” (Roman law adapted to fit the social and economic conditions of the late Roman Empire).

Justinian becomes Emperor

527

Justinian becomes Emperor of the Eastern Empire. He will have great influence on the legal system.

Justinian's first Codex

529

Justinian's first Codex contained most of the Imperial Constitutions back to the time of Emperor Hadrian.

Justinian's Institutes and Digest

533

Justinian's Institutes was a textbook for new Law students, while the Digest compilated the writings of the jurists up until the date in which they were compiled.

Justinian's Novels

534

It listed the decrees that Justinian promulgated until his death in 565.

Liber Papiensis

1000

The Liber Papiensis is a collection of legal texts compiled in the first half of the 11th century that includes all the edicts issued by the Lombard kings between 643 and 755 in chronological order, the laws issued by the Carolingians between 774 and 887, and the edicts of the Ottonian and Salian Emperors.

Exceptiones Petri

1000

The Exceptiones Petri is a treatise on Roman law that was written at the end of the 11th century by a jurist named Peter. It is made up of extracts from the Justinian Code.

Irnerius' life

Period: 1050 to 1125

Irnerius was an Italian jurist and founder of the School of Glossators that taught the Justinian Code after it was recovered in 1070.
He recomposed and restored the Code, collecting and recopying the parchments and bounding them together. He split the books up in five volumes: Digestum vetus, Infortiatum, Digestum novum, Codex and Volume parvum.

Church splits into the Eastern and the Western churches

1054

Rediscovery of Justinian's Compilation

1070

After Pope Gregory VII's Gregorian Reform, several legal studies were undertaken. These studies might have led to its accidental rediscovery.

Gregory VII publishes Dictatus Papae

1075

Dictatus Papae's twenty seven propositions outlined the prerogatives of the Pope and of the hierarchy subordinate to him.

Investiture Controversy

Period: 1076 to 1122

The Investiture Controversy was a conflict that took place in medieval Europe during the late 11th century and early 12th. It was a conflict between the church and the state over the ability to choose and install bishops.

Creation of the University of Bolonia

1088

The university is historically notable for its teaching of canon and civil law. It was set up in large part with the aim of studying the Digest which, as prevoisuly mentioned, had been rediscovered in Italy in 1070. The university was very important in the development of medieval Roman law.

Fall of the Eastern Empire

1453

The Byzantine Empire finally fell in 1453, after an Ottoman army stormed Constantinople during the reign of Constantine XI