Yet another way was open to people of good position or repute by which they could extricate themselves from the ordinary course of law[259] (but not against the suit of the king, and there were also other limitations), and that was by means of formal COMPURGATION. We have seen that in Teutonic communities the oath of a slave had no legal value, while the oath of a thane was worth those of six labourers. Thus kings and bishops might sometimes rebut accusations by means of their word alone.[260] The Visigoths allowed an accused person (of credit) to reply in this manner,[261] but the practice was condemned by the Church as inciting to perjury.[262] The usual course[263] was for the accused to obtain eleven or twelve compurgators[264]—relations, neighbours, or fellow-craftsmen who would swear with him to the justice of his cause.[265] Perjury was indeed often suspected in these compurgations, and if a man of bad character got his co-witnesses[266] (and if he could not he was generally sent to the ordeal) he was frequently banished in spite of their testimony.[267] In the beginning of the thirteenth century Pope Innocent III. modified the oath,[268] and afterwards witnesses swore only to character, to their belief in the accused’s credibility. Compurgation appealed especially to the clergy,[269] and was even called the _Purgatio Canonica_.[270] Cut off by their calling from all lay connections, they could rely the more upon their own brethren. It was by solemnly swearing with twelve priests as compurgators that Pope Leo III. elected to clear himself from certain accusations, in the presence of Charlemagne (in A.D. 800);[271] and in 803 that emperor ordered priests to defend themselves by taking an oath with three, five, or seven compurgators. The practice began to decline towards the close of the twelfth century,[272] but still lingered on into the sixteenth century in England, and in isolated cases to later times. The Wager of Law was not formally repealed till 1833.[273] THE RULE OF THE CHURCH The Christians had always been an exclusive body of people, at first from fear, and afterwards from fanaticism. They excommunicated all offending members, thus not only cutting them off from fellowship, but also depriving them of those rites which in their creed were necessary for salvation. This custom of excluding from communion was from the first a formidable spiritual weapon among believers; what it became when the Christians could also wield the sword of temporal power we shall see in the course of time. In the early days they were a world within the world—vehement in convictions, stimulated by persecutions, and extremely well organised.