"Si qua domina furore zeli accensa flagris verberaverit ancillam suam, ita ut in tertium diem animam cum cruciatu effundat; eo quod incertum sit, voluntate an casu occiderit; si voluntate, post septem annos, si casu, post quinquennii tempora, acta legitima pœnitentia, ad communionem placuit admitti. Quod si infra tempora constituta fuerit infirmata, accipiat communionem." (Canon 5.)
It must be observed, that the word 'ancillam' means a slave properly so called, and not any kind of servant. This appears, indeed, from the words flagris verberaverit, which express a chastisement reserved for slaves.
They excommunicate the master who, of his own authority, beats his slave to death.
(Concilium Epaoense, anno 517.)
"Si quis servum proprium sine conscientia judicis occiderit, excommunicatione biennii effusionem sanguinis expiabit." (Canon 34.)
This same regulation is repeated in the 15th canon of the 17th Council of Toledo, held in 694; even the words of the Council of Epaon are there copied with very slight change.
(Ibid.) The slave guilty of an atrocious crime was to escape corporeal punishments by taking refuge in a church.
"Servus reatu atrociore culpabilis si ad ecclesiam confugerit, a corporabilibus tantum suppliciis excusetur. De capillis vero, vel quocumque opere, placuit, a dominis juramenta non exigi." (Canon 39.)
Very remarkable precautions to prevent masters from maltreating the slaves who had taken refuge in churches.
(Concilium Aurelianense quintum, anno 549.)