Guillaume Durand

Guillaume Durand was a French prelate who was a renowned canonist and medieval liturgist. He studied law at Bologna and taught canon law at Modena. He was appointed as a papal judge and legate by Pope Clement IV and later by Pope Gregory X. He accompanied Gregory to the Second Council of Lyons in 1274, where he helped draft the constitutions of the council. He was also involved in the pacification of Romagna and the March of Ancona as a papal governor. He was elected as the bishop of Mende in 1286, but remained in Italy until 1291. He refused the archbishopric of Ravenna offered by Pope Boniface VIII in 1295. He died in Rome in 1296 and was buried in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Durand's most important work is the Speculum iudiciale, a comprehensive treatise on civil, criminal, and canonical procedure, which was widely used in courts and schools. He also wrote the Rationale divinorum officiorum, a liturgical commentary that influenced the development of Gothic art and architecture. He also composed a commentary on the constitutions of the Second Council of Lyons, and several other minor works on canon law and theology. He was known as Doctor Speculator for his speculative and practical approach to law. He was also called Durandus, Duranti or Durantis, from the Italian form of his patronymic Durandi filius. His nephew, also named Guillaume Durand, was also a canonist and a bishop of Mende.