A Source Book of Mediæval History: Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the German Invasions to the Renaissance
History
A Source Book of Mediæval History: Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the German Invasions to the Renaissance
Middle Ages -- Sources
=2.= We do not include in this measure the churches which have
been, or which shall be, fortified as chateaux, or those in which
plunderers and thieves are accustomed to store their ill-gotten
booty, or which give them a place of refuge. Nevertheless we desire
that such churches be under this protection until complaint of them
shall be made to the bishop, or to the chapter. If the bishop or
chapter[335] act upon such information and lay hold of the
malefactors, and if the latter refuse to give themselves up to the
justice of the bishop or chapter, the malefactors and all their
possessions shall not be immune, even within the church. A man who
breaks into a church, or into the space within thirty paces around
it, must pay a fine for sacrilege, and double this amount to the
person wronged.
[Sidenote: Attacks upon the clergy prohibited]
=3.= Furthermore, it is forbidden that any one attack the clergy,
who do not bear arms, or the monks and religious persons, or do
them any wrong; likewise it is forbidden to despoil or pillage the
communities of canons, monks, and religious persons, the
ecclesiastical lands which are under the protection of the Church,
or the clergy, who do not bear arms; and if any one shall do such
a thing, let him pay a double composition.[336]
[Sidenote: Protection extended to the peasantry]
=5.= Let no one burn or destroy the dwellings of the peasants and
the clergy, the dove-cotes and the granaries. Let no man dare to
kill, to beat, or to wound a peasant or serf, or the wife of
either, or to seize them and carry them off, except for
misdemeanors which they may have committed; but it is not forbidden
to lay hold of them in order to bring them to justice, and it is
allowable to do this even before they shall have been summoned to
appear. Let not the raiment of the peasants be stolen; let not
their ploughs, or their hoes, or their olive-fields be burned.
=6.= ... Let any one who has broken the peace, and has not paid his
fines within a fortnight, make amends to him whom he has injured by
paying a double amount, which shall go to the bishop and to the
count who shall have had charge of the case.
[Sidenote: The Truce of God confirmed]
[Sidenote: Penalties for violations of the Truce]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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