Note 1494 — Chapter IV · (continued 4)

The great provision of all is (Will. Malms. iv. 345), “Quod ecclesia catholica sit in fide, casta, libera ab omni servitute; ut episcopi, vel abbates, vel aliquis de clero, aliquam ecclesiasticam dignitatem de manu principum vel quorumlibet laicorum non accipiant.” This decree does not appear among the acts of Piacenza in Bernold, 1095 (Pertz, v. 462).

Among so many more stirring affairs, one decree of this council, which has a good deal of interest, might easily be forgotten. This is one which was meant to reform the abuses of the privileges of sanctuary; “Qui ad ecclesiam vel ad crucem confugerint, data membrorum impunitate, justitiæ tradantur, vel innocentes liberentur.” Are we to see here the first beginning of a feeling against mutilation, which came in bit by bit in the next century? The guilty man is to be punished, but in some other way than by loss of limb.