Title — Decretals of Gregory IX
Title XX: On Fiefs
Chapter I
Latin source headnote: If a lord receives a fief from a vassal in pledge, abstaining from his service, he is not bound to compute the fruits toward the principal. This it says according to the common understanding, and it is a singular case not read elsewhere.
Innocent III, to the Bishop of Marsico.
By the intimation of the present letters, we declare to you that the pledge which you are known to have received from M. concerning a fief of your church, with the consent of his brother Wifred acceding, can be freely retained by you without the fruits being computed toward the principal, namely, in such a way that, for as long as you receive those fruits without their being computed toward the principal, that same M. is meanwhile immune from the service in which he is bound to you and your church for the fief itself. [Given at Rome at Saint Peter's, on the Kalends of March, in the ninth year of our pontificate. 1206.]
DE FEUDIS.
Si dominus a vasallo recipit feudum in pignus, abstinendo ab eius servitio, non tenetur computare fructus in sortem. H. d. secundum intellectum communem, et est casus singularis, qui alibi non legitur.
Innocentius III. Mariensi Episcopo.
Insinuatione tibi praesentium declaramus, quod gageria, quam de feudo ecclesiae tuae ab M. dignosceris recepisse, Wiffredi fratris eius accedente consensu, a te potest libere detineri, fructibus non computatis in sortem, ita videlicet, ut, quam diu fructus illos perceperis in sortem minime computandos, idem M. a servitio, in quo tibi et ecclesiae tuae pro feudo ipso tenetur, interim sit immunis. [*Dat. Rom. ap. S. Petr. Kal. Mart. Pont. nostr. Ao. IX. * 1206.]
Chapter II
Latin source headnote: It sets forth three cases in which, notwithstanding an oath not to enfeoff, a bishop can grant to a new vassal an ancient fief reverted to the church. This it says, and it is a notable case interpreting the oath concerning alienation.
Innocent III, to the Archbishop of Milan.
It was disclosed to our apostolate on your behalf that you have often doubted whether, when it happens that your vassal dies and his fief reverts to you, it is lawful for you to give his fief to another, although you are bound by oath not to enfeoff anew without consulting the Roman Pontiff. Furthermore, if it should happen that your vassal alienates a fief, whether you can invest his son or kinsman, a partner in that fief, with it. Another of your doubts also contained whether, when you find an alienated fief that you cannot easily recover by yourself, you can grant that fief to a layman who may both recover it and acknowledge it as a fief through the church. (And below:) Therefore, in the first case, freely grant the fief of the deceased if you see it to be expedient; in the second, invest the son or kinsman of the alienator; and in the third, you will lawfully be able to grant the alienated fief to him through whom the church itself can recover it. [Given at Ferentino, on the tenth day before the Kalends of November, in the eleventh year of our pontificate. 1208.]
Ponit tres casus, in quibus, non obstante iuramento de non infeudando, potest episcopus antiquum feudum ad ecclesiam reversum novo vasallo concedere H. d. et est casus notabilis, interpretans iuramentum de alienando.
Innocentius III. Mediolanensi Archiepiscopo.
Ex parte tua nostro est apostolatui reseratum, quod saepius dubitasti, utrum, quum contingit vasallum tuum decedere, et ad te feudum ipsius redire, feudum eius alii liceat tibi dare, quamvis iuramento tenearis adstrictus non infeudare de novo Romano Pontifice inconsulto. Ad haec, si vasallum tuum feudum alienare contingat, an ipsius filium vel consanguineum eiusdem feudi consortem de ipso valeas investire. Alia quoque tua dubitatio continebat, ut, quum feudum alienatum repereris, quod per te facile recuperare non potes, utrum possis alicui laico in feudum illud concedere, qui et illud recuperet, et in feudum per ecclesiam recognoscat. (Et infra:) In primo ergo casu feudum decedentis libere, si videris expedire, concedas, atque in secundo filium vel consanguineum alienantis investiens, in tertio feudum alienatum poteris ei licenter concedere, per quem ipsa ecclesia valeat rehabere. [*Dat. Ferentini X. Kal. Nov. Pont. nostr. Ao. XI. * 1208.]