Born at Villafranca de Benadis in 1175; died at Barcelona, in 1275. He became professor of canon law in 1195, and founded institutes at Barcelona and Tunis for the study of Oriental languages. His reputation for juridical science prompted the pope to employ Raymond of Penafort's talents in re-arranging and codifying the canons of the Church. He had to rewrite and condense decrees that had been multiplying for centuries, and which were contained in some twelve or fourteen collections already existing. [NCE] In this 1508 edition, note that block indentations for initial hand-lettering have been occupied by ornamental typography, signaling an end to the transitional period of hybrid print/manuscript production. This book was printed by Heinrich Quentell, who had previously printed the Cologne Bible in 1478. The only other copies of this book known to exist in the United States are at Harvard University and the Library of Congress.