And we hereby decree if the offender should be of noble rank, or of inferior station, that he shall forfeit his dignity and freedom, be reduced to slavery, and become the absolute property of whomever the king may select. For it is but just that he who neglects to defend the nobility of his race and maintain the integrity of his country, from whence he derives the dignity of his family, should receive this sentence; since he is both degenerate and useless, who openly refuses to defend the honor and possessions he derived from his ancestors. And, concerning the property of such transgressors, laity, and clergy, alike, who are inferior in rank, we decree as follows: that whoever, hereafter, commits such offences, shall render satisfaction for all damages done to our country, or to its people; and that, as a just punishment, those shall lose their dignity and honor, who, induced by malice or timidity, did not repel the attacking enemy, nor boldly showed themselves in the ranks of the national defenders. Where any scandal arises within the limits of Spain, Gaul, Galicia, or in any other province of our kingdom, and said scandal affects, in any way, any of our subjects, or our government, or that of any of our successors, as soon as said scandal shall become public in the neighborhood, and anyone shall be especially notified of the same by any priest, clerk, general, governor, _tiuphadus_, deputy, or any other person, as elsewhere specified; and he does not straightway come to the defence of his king, his people, and his country, against whom said scandal has been circulated, and should not use all his efforts for the suppression of the same; if the party who is implicated in this infamous offence should be a bishop or any member of a clerical order, or a palatine or a noble of whatever rank, or a person of inferior station, he shall not only be sent into exile, but whatever property he is deprived of by judicial sentence, shall be given to the king.[48]