Quæcumque mancipia sub specie conjugii ad ecclesiæ septa confugerint, ut
per hoc credant posse fieri conjugium, minime eis licentia tribuatur,
nec talis conjunctio a clericis defensetur: quia probatum est, ut sine
legitimâ traditione conjuncti, pro religionis ordine, statuto tempore ab
Ecclesiæ communione suspendantur, ne in sacris locis turpi concubitu
misceantur. De quâ re decernimus, ut parentibus aut propriis dominis,
prout ratio poscit personarum, acceptâ fide excusati sub separationis
promissione reddantur: postmodum tamen parentibus atque dominis
libertate concessâ, si eos voluerint propriâ voluntate conjungere.
_Let not those slaves who, under pretext of marriage, take refuge within
the precincts of the church, imagining that by this they would make a
marriage, be allowed to do so, nor let such union be countenanced by the
clergy: for it has been regulated that they who form an union, without
lawful delivery, should be, for the good order of religion, separated
for a fixed period from the communion of the church, so that this vile
connection may be prevented in holy places. Wherefore we decree, that
such persons, being declared free from the bond of any plighted faith
and made to promise a separation, should be restored to their parents or
owners, as the case may require; to be, however, subsequently, if the
parents or owners should grant leave, married with their own free
consent._
As we have seen in some parts of the East at an earlier period, now in
this portion of the West, the slaves were made incapable of entering
into the marriage-contract without the owner’s consent.
In this same council, canon xxx., provision is made for affording to the
Christians, who are held as slaves by the Jews, not only sanctuary of
the church, but in the house of any Christian, until a fair price shall
be stipulated for and paid to the Jewish owner, if the Christian be
unwilling to return to his service. _This is a clear recognition of the
right of property in slaves._
Canon xxxi. of this council provides, that “_if any Jew shall bring a
slave to be a proselyte to his religion, or make a Jew of a Christian
slave, or take as his companion a Christian female slave, or induce a
slave born of Christian parents to become a Jew under the influence of a
promise of emancipation, he shall lose the title to every such slave.
And further, that if any Christian slave shall become a Jew for the sake
of being manumitted with condition, and shall continue to be a Jew, the
liberty shall be lost and the condition shall not avail him._”
Canon xxxii. provides, that the “_descendants of a slave, wherever they
may be, even after a long lapse of time, though there should be neglect,
if found upon the land or possession upon which their parents were
placed, shall be held to the original conditions established by the
deceased proprietor for the deceased parents, and the priest of the
place shall aid in enforcing the fulfilment, and any persons who shall
through avarice interpose obstacles, shall be placed under church
censures_.”
The doctrine and discipline of the church of the Franks were like that
of other churches in the several regions of Christendom at this period.
A fifth council was held at Orleans, in the year 549, the thirty-eighth
of King Childebert. The sixth canon of this council relates to the
improper ordination of slaves, and also exhibits distinctly the freedmen
_under condition_, classing them in the same category with slaves.
Canon vi. Ut servum, qui libertatem a dominis propriis non acceperit,
aut etiam jam libertum, nullus episcoporum absque ejus tantum voluntate,
cujus aut servus est, aut eum absolvisse dignoscitur, clericum audeat
ordinare. Quod si quisquam fecerit, si qui ordinatus est a domino
revocetur, et ille qui est collator ordinis, si sciens fecisse probatur,
sex mensibus missas tantum facere non præsumat. Si vero sæcularium
servus esse convincitur, ei qui ordinatus est benedictione servatâ,
honestum ordini domino suo impendat obsequium. Quod si sæcularis dominus
amplius eum voluerit inclinare, ut sacro ordini inferre videatur
injuriam, duos servos sicut antiqui canones habent, episcopus qui eum
ordinavit domino sæculari restituat; et episcopus eum quem ordinavit ad
ecclesiam suam revocandi habeat potestatem.
_That no bishop shall dare to ordain as a clergyman, the slave who shall
not have received licence from his proper owners, or a person already
freed, without the permission of either the person whose servant he is,
or of the person who is known to have freed him. And if any one shall do
so, let him who is ordained be recalled by his master, and let him who
conferred the order, if it be proved that he did so knowing the state of
the person, not presume to celebrate mass for six months only. But if it
be proved that he is the servant of lay persons, let the person ordained
be kept in his rank and do service for his owner in a way becoming his
order; but if his lay owner debases him under that grade, so as to do
any dishonour to his holy order; let the bishop who ordained him give,
as the ancient canons enact, two slaves to his master, and be empowered
to take him whom he ordained to his church._
The canon regards manumission, and the protection of those properly
liberated from slavery, against the injustice of persons who disregarded
the legal absolution from service.
Canon xii. Et quia plurimorum suggestione comperimus, eos qui in
ecclesiis juxta patrioticam consuetudinem a servitio fuerint absoluti,
pro libito quorumcumque iterum ad servitium revocari, impium esse
tractavimus, ut quod in ecclesia Dei consideratione a vinculo servitutis
absolvitur, irritum habeatur. Ideo pietatis causâ, communi consilio
placuit observandum, ut quæcumque mancipia ab ingenuis dominis servitute
laxantur, in eâ libertate maneant, quam tunc a dominis perceperunt.
Hujusmodi quoque libertas si a quocumque pulsata fuerit, cum justitiâ ab
ecclesiis defendatur, præter eas culpas pro quibus leges collatas servis
revocare jusserunt libertates.
_And since we have discovered by information from several, that they
who, according to the custom of the country, were absolved from slavery
in the churches, were again, at the will of some persons, reduced to
slavery; we have regarded it to be an impiety; that what has by a
judicial decree been absolved from servitude in the church of God,
should be set at nought. Wherefore, through motives of piety, it is
decreed by common counsel to be henceforth observed, that whatever
slaves are freed from servitude by free masters are to remain in that
freedom which they then received from the masters; and should this
liberty of theirs be assailed by any person, it shall be defended within
the limits of justice by the churches, saving where there are crimes for
which the laws have enacted that the liberty granted to servants shall
be recalled._
It is quite evident, from Exodus xii. 44, that the Israelites, who were
themselves slaves in Egypt, also themselves possessed slaves. Also from
Nehemiah vii. 67, that the Jews who were slaves in Babylon, yet, upon
their liberation, were found to own 7337 slaves; and from the foregoing
it appears that the persons then called _liberti_ or freedmen, or the
_conditionati_ or persons under condition, and probably, in some
instances, _coloni_ or colonists, had slaves, but were not permitted to
liberate them, at least without the consent of their own masters, for
the canon speaks of only the servants of the _ingenui_, or those who
enjoyed perfect freedom. We see, also, what is evident from many other
sources, that persons who had obtained their freedom were for some
crimes reduced to servitude, and we shall see, in future times, even
freemen are enslaved for various offences.
Again, in the canon xxii. of this council, we find provision which
exhibits the caution which was used in regulating the right of sanctuary
for slaves. This right was, in Christianity, a concession of the civil
power, humanely interposing, in times of imperfect security and violent
passion, the protecting arm of the church, to arrest the violence of one
party, so as to secure merciful justice for the other, and to make the
compositions of peace and equity be substituted for the vengeance or the
exactions of power. It was, so far from being an encouragement to crime,
one of the best helps towards civilizing the barbarian.
Canon xxii. De servis vero, qui pro qualibet culpâ ad ecclesiæ septa
confugerint, id statuimus observandum, ut, sicut in antiquis
constitutionibus tenetur scriptum, pro concessâ culpâ datis a domino
sacramentis, quisquis ille fuerit, egrediatur de veniâ jam securus.
Enimvero si immemor fidei dominus transcendisse convincitur quod
juravit, ut is qui veniam acceperat, probetur postmodum pro eâ cum
qualicumque supplicio cruciatus, dominus ille, qui immemor fuit datæ
fidei, sit ab omnium communione suspensus. Iterum si servus de
promissione veniæ datis sacramentis a domino jam securus exire noluerit,
ne sub tali contumaciâ requirens locum fugæ domino fortasse disperiat,
egredi nolentem a domino eum liceat occupari, ut nullam, quasi pro
retentatione servi, quibuslibet modis molestiam aut calumniam patiatur
ecclesia: fidem tamen dominus, quam pro concessâ veniâ dedit, nullâ
temeritate transcendat. Quod si aut gentilis dominus fuerit, aut
alterius sectæ, qui a conventu ecclesiæ probatur extraneus, is qui
servum repetit personas requirat bonæ fidei Christianas, ut ipsi in
personâ domini servo præbeant sacramenta: quia ipsi possunt servare quod
sacrum est, qui pro transgressione ecclesiasticam metuunt disciplinam.
_We enact this to be observed respecting slaves, who may for any fault
fly to the precincts of the church, that, as is found written in ancient
constitutions, when the master shall pledge his oath to grant pardon to
the culprit, whosoever he may be, he shall go out secure of pardon. But,
if the master, unmindful of his oath, shall be convicted of having gone
beyond what he had sworn, so that it shall be proved that the servant
who had received pardon was afterwards tortured with any punishment for
that fault, let that master who was forgetful of his oath be separated
from the communion of all. Again, should the servant secured from
punishment by the master’s oath, be unwilling to go forth, it shall be
lawful for the master, that he should not lose the service of a slave
seeking sanctuary by such contumacy, to seize upon such a one unwilling
to go out, so that the church should not suffer either trouble or
calumny by any means on account of retaining such servant: but let not
the master in any way rashly violate the oath that he swore for granting
pardon. But, if the master be a gentile, or of any other sect proved
without the church, let the person who claims the slave procure
Christian persons of good account who shall swear for the servant’s
security in the master’s name: because they who dread ecclesiastical
discipline for transgression can keep that which is sacred._
------------------