These provisions (notes 4 and 5) are similar to those of the synods of Verberie and Compiègne relating to error conditionis and loss of freedom. See p. 42, above; and Esmein, op. cit., I, 325; II, 68.
[123] "Legitimum conjugium non licet frangi sine consensu amborum."—Poenit. Theod., II, xii, 7: Haddan and Stubbs, op. cit., III, 199. Cf. Poenit. Mers., c. 123, Poenit. XXXV Cap., c. 9, § 1: Wasserschleben, Bussordnungen, 403, 511. Sometimes in such case remarriage is forbidden: Judicium Clementis, § 15: Wasserschleben, op. cit., 435. Cf. Esmein op. cit., II, 61; Geffcken, op. cit., 64; Glasson, op. cit., I, 130, who favors the view of the text; but Freisen, op. cit., 779, 780, thinks that § 7 of Poenit. Theod. is supplemented by § 12, which forbids separation on account of infirmity or even to enter religion cum consensu ambrorum. This view may be favored by Excerptiones Ecgberti, c. 120, 121: Thorpe, op. cit., II, 114, 115.
[124] For an illustration see the Poenit. pseudo-Theod., c. iv (19), § 24, in Wasserschleben, op. cit., 582. The best account of the three classes of penitentials is that of Geffcken, op. cit., 62-65, which is here followed. See also Esmein, op. cit., II, 60; Bennecke, Ehebruch, 54 ff.
[125] During the empire a written form, the libellus repudii, or letter of divorce, came into use; but the delivery of the libellus was not essential to the divorce: Geffcken, op. cit., 27: ap. Schlesinger, in Zeitschrift für Rechtsgeschichte, V (1866), 203 ff.
[126] Geffcken, op. cit., 26, 27; Esmein, op. cit., II, 89.
[127] The libellus was copied from the Roman model. For an example, see above p. 35, note.
[128] Geffcken, op. cit., 47, referring to the formulae salicae Merkelianae, where the intention of the parties must be personally announced "an Gerichtsstätte vor dem Grafen und der Gerichtsgemeinde." His view, he declares, is intermediate between that of Loening, Geschichte des deut. Kirchenrechts, II, 627 n. 1, who regards the count and judicial community as mere witnesses of the transaction (Solennitätszeugen); and that of Sohm, Trauung und Verlobung, 7, who sees here a judicial sentence.
[129] Geffcken, op. cit., 48, 49.
[130] The church sought through excommunication and her system of penance to enforce her rules regarding divorce. Her relation to the state in this regard is thus forcibly described by Geffcken, op. cit., 51: "Da jedoch eine aufrichtige Busse in unserem Falle sinngemäss nur möglich ist, wenn die ungerechtfertigte Scheidung rückgängig gemacht wird, so operiert die Kirche hier mit einer lex plus quam perfecta, d. h. einem Gesetz, das die Zuwiderhandlung bestraft und gleichzeitig für nichtig erklärt, während dem weltlichen Richter nur eine lex minus quam perfecta zu Gebote steht, er also nur die Übertretung bestrafen, nicht aber den durch sie herbeigeführten Zustand redressieren kann. In dieser Sachlage ist die Erklärung der ganzen Geschichte des christlichen Ehescheidungsrechtes bis zum endgültigen Siege der kirchlichen Doktrin enthalten."
[131] C. 25, Council of Agde reads: "Saeculares, qui coniugale consortium nulla graviori culpa dimittunt vel etiam dimiserunt et nullas causas discidii probabiliter proponentes propterea sua matrimonia dimittunt, ut aut illicita aut aliena praesumant, si antequam apud episcopos comprovinciales discidii causas dixerint et priusquam iudicio damnentur, uxores suas abiecerint, a communione ecclesiae et sancto populi coetu pro eo, quod fidem et coniugia maculant, excludentur." Cf. Geffcken, op. cit., 50; Freisen, op. cit., 781.