Was Gregory the Great a « Roman lawyer » ?

Nearly a century ago, E.K. Rand called pope Gregory the Great (590–604) one of the « founders » of the Middle Ages. Rand was neither the first nor the last to emphasise his importance, or to attempt to understand him. It is not therefore surprising that amongst the many studies of Gregory and his circumstances, there are manifold variations on the same question : what did Gregory know ?Even a superficial overview of the scholarship suggests that he knew many things. He had an obvious familia...