Gratian, was a 12th century canon lawyer from Bologna. He is sometimes wrongly referred to as Franciscus Gratianus, or Johannes Gratianus, or Giovanni Graziano. His birth and death dates are unknown. Since the 11th century, Bologna had been the centre of the study of canon law, as well as of civil law, after the Corpus Juris Civilis was rediscovered in western Europe. Little is known about Gratian's life. For a long time he was believed to have been born at the end of the 11th century, at Chiusi in Tuscany. He was said to have become a monk at Camaldoli and then he taught at the monastery of St. Felix in Bologna and devoted his life to studying canon law. Recent research has found no foundation for this view.