What has been mortgaged or alienated from the property of the Church by a Bishop who has left nothing of his own, must be restored; but enfranchised slaves are excepted from this rule: they shall preserve their liberty.
(Concilium Aurelianense quartum, anno 541.)
"Ut episcopus qui de facultate propria ecclesiæ nihil relinquit, de ecclesiæ facultate si quid aliter quam canones eloquunter obligaverit, vendiderit, aut distraxerit, ad ecclesiam revocetur. Sane si de servis ecclesiæ libertos fecerit numero competenti, in ingenuitate permaneant, ita ut ab officio ecclesiæ non recedant." (Canon 9.)
An English Council ordains that, at the death of each Bishop, all his English slaves shall be freed. The solemnization of the obsequies is regulated; to terminate the funeral ceremonies, each Bishop and abbot shall enfranchise three slaves, by giving them each three solidi.
(Synodus Cellichytensis, anno 816.)
"Decimo jubetur, et hoc firmiter statuimus asservandum, tam in nostris diebus, quamque etiam futuris temporibus, omnibus successoribus nostris qui post nos illis sedibus ordinentur quibus ordinati sumus: ut quandocumque aliquis ex numero episcoporum migraverit de sæculo, hoc pro anima illius præcipimus, ex substantia uniuscumque rei decimam partem dividere, ac distribuere pauperibus in eleemosynam, sive in pecoribus, et armentis, seu de ovibus et porcis, vel etiam in cellariis, nec non omnem hominem Anglicum liberare, qui in diebus suis sit servituti subjectus, ut per illud sui proprii laboris fructum retributionis percipere mereatur, et indulgentiam peccatorum. Nec ullatenus ab aliqua persona huic capitulo contradicatur, sed magis, prout condecet, a successoribus augeatur, et ejus memoria semper in posterum per universas ecclesias nostræ ditioni subjectas cum Dei laudibus habeatur et honoretur. Prorsus orationes et eleemosynas quæ inter nos specialiter condictam habemus, id est, ut statim per singulas parochias in singulis quibusque ecclesiis, pulsato signo, omnis famulorum Dei cœtus ad basilicam conveniant, ibique pariter XXX psalmos pro defuncti animæ decantent. Et postea unusquisque antistes et abbas sexcentos psalmos, et centum viginti missas celebrare faciat, et tres homines liberet et eorum cuilibet tres solidos distribuat." (Canon 10.)
A curious document, which shows the generous resolution made by the Council of Armagh in Ireland, to give liberty to all the English slaves.
(Concilium Ardamachiense in Hibernia celebratum, anno 1171: ex Giraldo Cambrensi, cap. xxviii. Hiberniæ expugnatæ.)
"His completis convocato apud Ardamachiam totius Hiberniæ clero, et super advenarum in insulam adventu tractato diutius et deliberato, tandem communis omnium in hoc sententia resedit: propter peccata scilicet populi sui, eoque præcipue quod Anglos olim, tam a mercatoribus, quam prædonibus atque piratis, emere passim, et in servitutem redigere consueverant, divinæ censura vindictæ hoc eis incommodum accidisse, ut et ipsi quoque ab eadem gente in servitutem vice reciproca jam redigantur. Anglorum namque populus adhuc integro eorum regno, communi gentis vitio, liberos suos venales exponere, et priusquam inopiam ullam aut inediam sustinerent, filios proprios et cognatos in Hiberniam vendere consueverant. Unde et probabiliter credi potest, sicut venditores olim, ita et emptores, tam enormi delicto juga servitutis jam meruisse. Decretum est itaque in prædicto concilio, et cum universitatis consensu publice statutum, ut Angli ubique per insulam, servitutis vinculo mancipati, in pristinam revocentur libertatem."
It is thus that religious ideas influence and soften the ferocious manners of nations. When a public calamity occurs, they immediately find its cause in the divine anger, justly excited by the traffic which the Irish carried on by buying English slaves of merchants, robbers, and pirates. It is not less curious to learn, that at that time the English were barbarous enough to sell their children and relations, like the Africans of our days. This frightful custom must have been pretty general, as we read in the passage quoted, that it was the common vice of those nations: communi gentis vitio. This makes us better understand the necessity of a regulation inserted above, that of the Council of London, held in 1102, which proscribes this infamous traffic in men.