[Sidenote: Theft of game from the royal forests] =39.= That in our forests no one shall dare to steal our game, which we have already many times forbidden to be done; and now we again strictly forbid that any one shall do so in the future; just as each one desires to preserve the fidelity promised to us, so let him take heed to himself.... =40.= Lastly, therefore, we desire all our decrees to be known in the whole kingdom through our _missi_ now sent out, either among the men of the Church, bishops, abbots, priests, deacons, canons, all monks or nuns, so that each one in his ministry or profession may keep our ban or decree, or where it may be fitting to thank the citizens for their good-will, or to furnish aid, or where there may be need still of correcting anything.... Where we believe there is anything unpunished, we shall so strive to correct it with all our zeal and will that with God's aid we may bring it to correction, both for our own eternal glory and that of all our faithful. 22. A Letter of Charlemagne to Abbot Fulrad In Charlemagne's governmental and military system the clergy, both regular and secular, had a place of large importance. From early Frankish times the bishoprics and monasteries had been acquiring large landed estates on which they enjoyed peculiar political and judicial privileges. These lands came to the church authorities partly by purchase, largely by gift, and not infrequently through concessions by small land-holders who wished to get the Church's favor and protection without actually moving off the little farms they had been accustomed to cultivate. However acquired, the lands were administered by the clergy with larger independence than was apt to be allowed the average lay owner. Still, they were as much a part of the empire as before and the powerful bishops and abbots were expected to see that certain services were forthcoming when the Emperor found himself in need of them. Among these was the duty of leading, or sending, a quota of troops under arms to the yearly assembly. In the selection below we have a letter written by Charlemagne some time between 804 and 811 to Fulrad, abbot of St. Quentin (about sixty miles northeast of Paris), respecting the fulfilment of this important obligation. The closing sentence indicates very clearly the price exacted by the Emperor in return for concessions of temporal authority to ecclesiastical magnates. Source--Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Leges_ (Boretius ed.), Vol. I., No. 75, p. 168. [Sidenote: The troops to be brought: their equipment] In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Charles, most serene, august, crowned of God, great pacific Emperor, who, by God's mercy, is King of the Franks and Lombards, to Abbot Fulrad.