Investigates papal government in the later-twelfth century, focusing on the decrees issued at papal councils, and their reception.

Danica Summerlin is Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Sheffield where her research focuses on the role of canon law in government and society in the central Middle Ages. She is one of three leaders of an international project revamping the Clavis Canonum, a key database for the study of medieval canonical collections available online via the Monumenta Germaniae Historica. She is the co-editor of The Use of Canon Law in Ecclesiastical Administration, 1000-1234 (2018) with Melodie H. Eichbauer.

Introduction; 1. Historical survey; 2. Disputes, decretals, and the 1179 conciliar canons; 3. The 1179 canons and the schools; 4. The dissemination of the 1179 canons; 5. Use of the canons, ca. 1179-ca. 1191; Conclusions; Appendix 1. Manuscript listing of the 1179 canons.