Title VI: On Jews, Saracens, and Their Servants

Latin source headnote: If a slave bought by a Jew for the purpose of commerce has become or desires to become a Christian, he is redeemed for twelve solidi.

From the Council of Mâcon.

With God as author, we decree in the present council that henceforth no Christian slave is to serve a Jew; but, twelve solidi having been given for any good slave, let any Christian have permission to redeem that slave, whether to freedom or to servitude. And if he desires to become a Christian and is not permitted, let the same be done, because it is impious to detain in the bonds of servitude to a blasphemer of Christ one whom Christ the Lord redeemed.

Latin source headnote: A Jew cannot have a Christian as a slave, but he can have him as an adscriptitious tenant.

Gregory, to the Bishop of Luni.

It has [reached us by the report of many that Christian slaves are detained in servitude by Jews dwelling in the city of Luni. This matter appeared to us the more severe, the more active was the forbearance on the part of your fraternity. For it was fitting for you, in consideration of your office and with regard for the Christian religion, to leave no occasion whereby simple souls would serve Jewish superstition, not so much through persuasions as, in a certain manner, by right of power. Wherefore we exhort your fraternity, according to the course of most pious laws,] that no Jew be permitted to retain a Christian slave in his dominion; but, if any are found among them, let liberty be preserved for them [by the aid of protection under the sanction of the laws]. Those, however, who are on their estates, although [even] they are free by the severity of the laws, nevertheless, because they have long adhered to the cultivation of their lands, owing by the condition of the place, are to remain to cultivate the fields, furnishing the customary payments to the aforesaid men. Let them also perform all the things which the laws command concerning coloni or persons bound by origin, and no [further] burden beyond this is to be imposed upon them. But if any of the Jews shall wish to transfer any one of these either to another place or retain him for another service, let him impute it to himself, who by his own rashness has condemned for himself the right over the tenant, and by the severity of the law the right of dominion. [Therefore, in all these things we will that you apply yourself diligently, etc.]

Latin source headnote: Jews can retain old synagogues; they cannot erect new ones.

The same, to the Bishop of Genoa.

Jews from the city [coming here to you complained to us that Peter, who by the will of God was led from their superstition to the worship of the Christian faith, having joined to himself certain undisciplined men, on the day following his baptism—that is, on the Lord's Day in the very festivity of Easter—had occupied their synagogue situated at Cagliari without your consent and with grave scandal, and had placed there an image of the Mother of God and of our Lord, the venerable cross, and the white cloak with which he had been clothed when rising from the font. Concerning this matter there also came to us writings attesting these same things from our sons Eupaterius, glorious master of the soldiers, the magnificent and pious governor in the Lord, and other nobles of your city. They also added that this had been foreseen by you and that the aforesaid Peter had been forbidden to dare it. Learning this, we wholly praised you, because, as truly befitted a good priest, you willed that nothing be done from which there would be just reproof. But because] by the fact that you in no way involved yourselves [in] those things which were wickedly done, you demonstrated that what was done displeased you, [considering in this matter the intention and, more especially, the judgment of your will, we exhort you with these addresses that, the image and cross having been removed from there with the veneration which is fitting, you ought to restore what was violently taken away, because] just as a legal definition does not permit Jews to erect new synagogues, so [also] it permits them to have old ones without disturbance. [Therefore, lest the aforesaid Peter or others, etc.]

Latin source headnote: On Good Friday Jews are not permitted to keep doors or windows open.

Alexander III.

Since concerning those matters about which you wrote to us in your letters regarding the Jews we have no certain canon, by notification of the present letters we intimate to your fraternity that, your clergy having been convoked together, you are generally to forbid, by both our authority and your own, that Jews have their doors or windows open on the day of the Parasceve, but are to keep them closed the whole day. You are also to permit no Christian slaves to live with them, but generally proclaim to all that no Christian dare remain in their service, lest perhaps through association with them they be converted to the unbelief of Judaism. [But concerning the lands, etc. (cf. c. 16, On Tithes, III. 30.)]

Latin source headnote: Christians who serve in the house of Jews, Saracens, or pagans ought to be excommunicated. And secular princes who presume to despoil baptized Jews of their goods ought to be excommunicated.

The same, from the Lateran Council.

Neither under the pretext of nursing their children, nor for service, nor for any other cause, are Jews or Saracens to be permitted to have Christian slaves in their houses. Those who shall have presumed to dwell with them are to be excommunicated. (And below: cf. c. 21, On Witnesses, II. 20.) If, moreover, any, by the inspiration of God, shall have been converted to the Christian faith, they are in no way to be excluded from their possessions, since those converted to the faith ought to be of a better condition than they were held before they received the faith. But if it shall have been done otherwise, we enjoin upon the princes or authorities of those places, under penalty of excommunication, that they cause the portion of their inheritance and of their goods to be exhibited to them in full.

Latin source headnote: Christians carrying prohibited merchandise to the Saracens, or sailing in their ships, are to be excommunicated and deprived of their goods, and are made slaves of those who capture them.

The same, in the same council.

Savage cupidity has so occupied the minds of certain persons that those who glory in the Christian name carry to the Saracens arms, iron, and lashings for galleys, and become equal or even superior to them in malice when they furnish them arms and necessities for attacking Christians. There are also those who, for their cupidity, exercise command and the care of navigation in the galleys and piratical ships of the Saracens. We therefore decree that such persons, cut off from ecclesiastical communion and subjected for their iniquity to excommunication, are also to be punished by deprivation of their goods through Catholic princes [of the world] and consuls of cities, and are to become slaves of those who capture them if they are captured. We also command that frequent and solemn excommunication be pronounced against them throughout the churches of maritime cities. The excommunication also, etc. (cf. c. 3, On Ravishers, V. 17.)

Latin source headnote: Jews can restore old synagogues to their former state; they cannot erect them anew.

The same.

He consulted. (And below: [cf. c. 29, On Appeals, II. 28.]) You ought not to permit Jews also to construct new synagogues where they did not have them. But if old ones have fallen down or threaten ruin, it can be tolerated with equanimity that they rebuild them, but not that they raise them higher or make them larger or more costly than they are known to have been before; for they certainly ought to regard this as a great thing, that they are tolerated in their old synagogues and their observances.

Latin source headnote: Christians ought not to be in the domestic service of Jews.

The same.

Moreover, by the authority of the present letters we command and enjoin that you wholly forbid all Christians who are in your jurisdiction and, if necessary, compel them by ecclesiastical severity, not to expose themselves continually for any recompense to the service of Jews. Take care also to prohibit this to their midwives and nurses, lest they presume to nurse the infants of Jews in the houses of those same persons, because the customs of the Jews and ours agree in nothing, and they would easily incline the minds of the simple to their superstition and unbelief through continual association and constant familiarity, at the instigation of the enemy of the human race. [Moreover, etc.; cf. c. 7, On Usury, V. 19.]

Latin source headnote: Jews are not to be baptized unwillingly, nor compelled to this, nor punished without judgment, nor despoiled of their goods, nor molested during their festivals; neither are their cemeteries to be violated or their bodies exhumed.

Clement III.

Just as Jews ought not without permission to presume in their synagogues beyond what is permitted in the law, so they ought to sustain no prejudice in those things which have been granted to them. We therefore, although they prefer to remain in their hardness rather than know the words of the Prophets and the mysteries of their scriptures, and to have knowledge of the Christian faith and salvation, nevertheless, because they seek our defense and aid, following from the gentleness of Christian piety the footsteps of our predecessors of happy memory, the Roman Pontiffs Calixtus, Eugenius, [and Alexander,] admit their petitions and grant them the shield of our protection. We therefore establish that no Christian compel unwilling or refusing Jews to come to baptism [through violence]. But if anyone shall have fled to Christians for the sake of the faith, after his will has been disclosed, let him be made a Christian without calumny; for he is not believed to have the faith of Christ who is compelled to come to Christian baptism not voluntarily but unwillingly. Also, no Christian shall presume, without a judgment of the earthly authority, either to kill or wound any one of them, or to take away from them their monies, or to change the good customs which until now they have had [in the region in which they live]. Especially, during the celebration of their festivals, let no one in any way disturb them with cudgels or stones. Nor is anyone to demand coerced services from them, except those which they themselves were accustomed to perform in past time. In addition, opposing the depravity and avarice of evil men, we decree that no one dare mutilate or invade a cemetery of the Jews or dig up buried bodies under the pretext of money. But if anyone, the tenor of this decree having been learned, shall [rashly], which God forbid, have presumed to act contrary to it, let him suffer the peril of his honor and office or be struck with a sentence of excommunication, unless he shall have corrected his presumption by worthy satisfaction.

Latin source headnote: It sets forth two concessions for those who preach to pagans.

The same.

How praiseworthy it is. (And below:) Assenting to your petitions, brother bishop, we grant by apostolic authority to you and your companions, when you go out to preach the faith of Christ to pagans, that it is lawful for you, with moderation and thanksgiving, the character of the seasons being observed according to the canonical sanctions, to use those foods which are set before you by the unbelievers themselves. Moreover, we grant that whatever religious or clerics, suitable for announcing evangelical truth to the nations, having sought and obtained the license of their prelates, shall have wished to adhere to you, may by apostolic authority have the free faculty of carrying this out without any contradiction.

Latin source headnote: It is lawful to go to Alexandria to redeem captives when the travelers swear that they will carry no aid or assistance beyond the matter of redemption. One carrying or sending prohibited merchandise even after a truce is excommunicated, and truces do not come under the designation of peace.

The same.

Your fraternity signified to us in what manner some of your citizens may be able to proceed to Alexandria to recover their fellow citizens who are held captive there. We judge that this can lawfully be done, provided that they carry nothing there with them in their merchandise or in another manner from which, excepting the matter of redemption, any advantage or assistance can come to the Saracens; and this they will first confirm before you by oath. Those also who, after a truce was made in the lands beyond the sea, went with commerce to Alexandria do not escape the bond of excommunication if they carried prohibited merchandise for the sake of gain, just as neither do those who, not going in their own persons, dispatched merchandise to them through messengers. Finally, as for those who swore that they would not go again into the land of the Saracens with merchandise unless there were peace between the Christians and them, and who came there after a truce was made, that condition concerning the existence of peace or a truce does not absolve them from the bond of excommunication.

Latin source headnote: Those who have any commerce with Saracens during time of war, or furnish them assistance, are excommunicated.

The same.

What was formerly commanded. (And below:) Indeed, although this was strictly prohibited in the Lateran Council, nevertheless, by the counsel of our brothers, we subject to excommunication all those who henceforth shall have commerce with the Saracens or, by themselves or through others, by ships or by any other device whatsoever, shall have considered that any assistance in things or counsel is to be furnished to them for as long as war between us and them shall have endured. We therefore command and strictly enjoin your discretion that neither through yourselves, nor through your ships, nor in any other manner or by any device whatsoever are you to transmit to them merchandise, counsels, or other assistance, lest, if perhaps any, hardened in their malice, shall have presumed to act otherwise, they not only fall by the law itself into that excommunication, but they also incur the wrath of the living God.

Latin source headnote: Jews ought not to have Christian nurses or servants; commerce with Christians is forbidden to those acting contrary to this.

Innocent III, to the Archbishop of Sens and the Bishop of Paris.

Although Christian piety receives Jews, whom their own fault subjected to perpetual servitude when they crucified the Lord whom their prophets foretold would come in the flesh for the redemption of Israel, and sustains their cohabitation—whom even the Saracens, because of their unbelief, although they persecute the Catholic faith and do not believe in the one crucified by them, are unable to sustain, but rather expelled from their territories, vehemently crying out against us because they are sustained by us who truly confess our Redeemer condemned by them to the gibbet of the cross—nevertheless they ought not to be ungrateful to us so as to render insult to Christians for grace and contempt in return for familiarity; for, though mercifully admitted, as it were, into our familiarity, they render us that recompense which, according to a common proverb, a mouse in a purse, a snake in the bosom, and fire in the lap are accustomed to furnish to their hosts. We have learned, moreover, that Jews make Christian women nurses of their sons and—what it is not only shameful to say but even impious to think—when it happens on the day of the Lord's Resurrection that those women receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ, for three days before they nurse them the Jews cause their milk to be poured into the privy. They commit, in addition, other detestable and unheard-of things against the Catholic faith, on account of which it is to be feared by the faithful that they incur divine indignation when they permit them unworthily to perpetrate things which bring confusion upon our faith. We therefore asked our dearest son in Christ, Philip, illustrious King of the French, and also commanded the noble man M., Duke of Burgundy, and the Countess of Troyes, that they so restrain the excesses of the Jews that they do not presume to raise the neck, subjected to the yoke of perpetual servitude, against reverence for the Christian faith. We therefore strictly prohibit that henceforth they have Christian nurses or servants, lest the sons of the free woman serve the sons of the bondwoman; but, as servants rejected by the Lord, in whose death they wickedly conspired, let them at least through the effect of their deed recognize themselves as servants of those whom the death of Christ made free, while it made them servants. Since they have now begun to gnaw in the manner of a mouse and to sting like a snake, it is to be feared that the fire harbored in the lap may consume what it has corroded. Wherefore, by apostolic writings we command your fraternity that you take care so diligently to admonish and effectively induce the aforesaid king and others to this on our behalf that the unbelieving Jews henceforth in no way grow insolent, but under servile fear always display the shame of their fault and revere the honor of the Christian faith. But if the Jews shall not dismiss their Christian nurses and servants, supported by our authority, strictly forbid all Christians under penalty of excommunication to dare to exercise any commerce with them. [Given on the Ides of July, 1205.]

Latin source headnote: A Jew who strikes a cleric is punished temporally; and, if he cannot in fact be punished, commerce with Christians is forbidden to him until he has made satisfaction to the person who suffered the injury.

The same.

You asked to be instructed by the Apostolic See how you ought to proceed against a Jew who laid violent hands upon a certain cleric. To this we briefly respond to your fraternity that, if the said Jew is subject to your jurisdiction, you are to punish him by a monetary or other temporal penalty, according to what is fitting, causing suitable satisfaction to be rendered to the injured person; otherwise, admonish and induce his lord to cause competent satisfaction to be made by him to the person suffering injury and to the church. But if his lord neglects to fulfill this, by ecclesiastical censure forbid all Christians to presume to exercise commerce with the Jew himself before he makes satisfaction. What follows, etc. Thirdly, you asked, etc. [cf. c. 21, On Regulars, III. 31. Given at the Lateran on the seventh day before the Ides of June, in the fifteenth year of our pontificate, 1212.]

Latin source headnote: Jews and Saracens of both sexes ought in the lands of Christians to use dress by which they are distinguished from Christians, and on the day of the Lord's Passion they ought not to go forth in public or break out in insult to the Creator.

The same, in the general council.

In certain provinces diversity of dress distinguishes Jews or Saracens from Christians; but in some such confusion has grown up that they are distinguished by no difference. Whence it happens at times that, through error, Christians mingle with the women of Jews or Saracens, and Jews or Saracens with the women of Christians. Therefore, lest the excess of so damned a mingling be able to have a refuge of further excuse through the veil of an error of this kind, we establish that such persons of both sexes are to be publicly distinguished from other peoples by the character of their dress in every province of Christians and at every time, [since this very thing is also read to have been enjoined upon them through Moses.] But on the days of lamentation and of the Lord's Passion they are by no means to go forth in public, because, as we have learned, certain of them are not ashamed to go about more ornately on such days and do not fear to mock Christians who, exhibiting the memory of the most sacred Passion, display signs of lamentation. We most strictly forbid this: that they presume in any way to break out in insult to the Creator. And since we ought not to dissemble the reproach of him who blotted out our reproaches, we command that presumers of this kind be restrained by secular princes with the application of condign censure, lest they presume in any way to blaspheme the one crucified for us.

Latin source headnote: One placing a Jew or pagan over public offices is corrected through a provincial council; and commerce with Christians is denied to the person placed over the office until he has relinquished the office and, according to the bishop's provision, restores to the use of poor Christians the things acquired from it.

The same, in the same council.

Since it is exceedingly absurd that a blasphemer of Christ exercise the force of power over Christians, we renew in this general council what the Council of Toledo providently established concerning this, on account of the audacity of transgressors, prohibiting Jews from being preferred to public offices, because under such a pretext they are exceedingly hostile to Christians. But if anyone shall have committed such an office to them, after prior admonition let him be restrained with fitting severity through the provincial council, which we command to be celebrated each year. To an official of this kind, however, association with Christians in commerce and other matters is to be denied until, according to the provision of the diocesan bishop, whatever he acquired from Christians by occasion of the office thus received is converted to the use of poor Christians, and he relinquishes with shame the office which he irreverently assumed. We extend this same provision to pagans.

Latin source headnote: The general council repeats the Lateran Council above, in the same title, at Ita, and adds the penalty of satisfaction to be rendered at the time of absolution.

The same, in the same council.

For the liberation of the Holy Land. (And below:) Moreover, we excommunicate and anathematize those false and impious Christians who carry arms, iron, and lashings for galleys to the Saracens against Christ himself and the Christian people; also those who sell them galleys or ships, and those who exercise the care of navigation in the piratical ships of the Saracens or furnish them any counsel or aid in engines or any other things to the detriment of the Holy Land. We decree that they are to be punished by deprivation of their goods and to be slaves of those who capture them, commanding that a sentence of this kind be publicly renewed throughout all maritime cities on Sundays and feast days. And the bosom of the church is not to be opened to such persons unless they shall have transmitted in aid of the Holy Land all that they received from so damned a commerce and as much again from their own goods, so that by an equal judgment they may be punished in that wherein they offended. But if perhaps they shall not be able to pay, let the guilt of such persons be otherwise so chastised that through their punishment others are forbidden the audacity of presuming similar things.

Latin source headnote: Jews or pagans are not to be placed over public offices; and, if royal rights are sold to them, a Christian not suspected of wrongdoing is to be placed over their collection.

Gregory IX, to the Bishops of Astorga and Lugo.

From the special affection of charity which we bear toward the illustrious King of Portugal. (And below:) We command that you carefully induce the king himself not to place Jews over Christians in public offices, as is contained in the general council; and, if perhaps he shall have sold his revenues to Jews or pagans, let him then appoint a Christian not suspected of inflicting burdens upon clerics and churches, through whom the Jews or Saracens may collect the royal rights without injury to Christians.

Latin source headnote: It summarizes itself.

The same.

No Jew is permitted to buy a baptized person or one wishing to be baptized, or to retain him in his service. But if he shall have bought for the purpose of commerce one not yet converted to the faith, and the latter afterward becomes or desires to become a Christian, twelve solidi having been given for him, let him immediately be withdrawn from that Jew's service. But if within three months he shall not have exposed him for sale, or shall have bought him to serve himself, neither may he himself sell him nor may another dare to buy him; rather, no price having been given, let him be led to the rewards of liberty.