A manual of medieval canon law, the Decretals of Gratian was compiled by a monk who taught at Bologna in the mid-twelfth century. This page from a thirteenth-century Parisian manuscript of the Decretals shows a gloss, or commentary, written by Bartolomeo of Brescia, framing Gratian's text. The miniature painting signals the beginning of chapter 19, which discusses two clerics' request from their bishop to transfer to a monastery. The bishop's prerogative is manifest in the miniature: mitered and enthroned, he holds a crosier and a document with a seal, as he gestures toward the two kneeling clerics, who appear to petition him with raised hands.

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