[174] The court-jester was allowed unusual freedom of speech. See Prefatory Letter above, p. 62. [175] The laws governing marriage were entirely the laws of the Church. The canon law prohibited marriage of blood-relatives as far as the seventh degree of consanguinity. In 1204 the prohibition was restricted to the first our degrees; lawful marriage within these degrees was possible only by dispensation, which was not all too difficult to secure, especially by those who were willing to pay for it (see above, p. 96). The relation of god-parents to god-children was also held to establish a "spiritual consanguinity" which might serve as a bar to lawful marriage. See Benrath, p. 103, note 74, and in the Babylonian Captivity, below, p. 265. [176] This Luther actually did. When he burned the papal bull of excommunication (Dec. 10, 1520) a copy of the canon law was also given to the flames. [177] i. e., The marriage of the clergy. [178] On this sort of reserved cases see Discussion of Confession, Vol. I, pp. 96 ff. [179] "Irregularity" is the condition of any member of a monastic order who has violated the prescriptions of the order and been deprived, in consequence, of the benefits enjoyed by those who live under the _regula_, viz., the rule of the order. [180] The three kinds of masses are really but one thing, viz., masses for the dead, celebrated on certain fixed days in each year, in consideration of the enjoyment of certain incomes, received either out of bequeathed endowments or from the heirs of the supposed beneficiaries. [181] i. e., Even when the mass is decently said. [182] See above, p. 72, note 1. [183] See above, p. 104. [184] _Das geistliche Unrecht_. [185] The _Treatise concerning the Ban_, above, pp. 33 ff. [186] i. e., To those who teach and enforce the canon law. [187] Luther means the saint's-days and minor religious holidays. See also the _Discourse on Good Works_, Vol. I, pp. 240 f. [188] Or "congregation." [189] i. e., City-council. [190] _Kirchweihen_, i. e., the anniversary celebration of the consecration of a church. These days had become feast days for the parish, and were observed in anything but a spiritual fashion. [191] i. e., Occasions for drunkenness, gain and gambling. [192] See above, pp. 96 f. [193] See above, p. 98, note 2. [194] Letters entitling their holder to the benefits of the masses founded by the sodalities or confraternities. See Benrath, p. 103. [195] See above, p. 98, and Vol. I, p. 22. [196] The pun is untranslatable,--_Netz, Gesetz solt ich sagen_. [197] What the pope sold was release from the "snares" and "nets," viz., dispensation. [198] i. e., Even into the law of the church. [199] _Die wilden Kapellen und Feldkirchen_, i. e., churches which are built in the country, where there are no congregations.