[167] Cf. Hutten's Vadiscus (Böcking, IV, 199).
[168] i. e., Lie in Roman appointment.
[169] i. e., The ministry in the congregation. See above, p. 119.
[170] Quantum ragilitas humana permittit. A qualification of the vow.
[171] i. e., Celibacy. Non promitto castitatem.
[172] Fragilitas humana non permittit caste vivere.
[173] Angelica fortitudo at coelestis virtus.
[174] The court-jester was allowed unusual freedom of speech. See Prefatory Letter above, p. 62.
[175] The laws governing marriage were entirely the laws of the Church. The canon law prohibited marriage of blood-relatives as far as the seventh degree of consanguinity. In 1204 the prohibition was restricted to the first our degrees; lawful marriage within these degrees was possible only by dispensation, which was not all too difficult to secure, especially by those who were willing to pay for it (see above, p. 96). The relation of god-parents to god-children was also held to establish a "spiritual consanguinity" which might serve as a bar to lawful marriage. See Benrath, p. 103, note 74, and in the Babylonian Captivity, below, p. 265.
[176] This Luther actually did. When he burned the papal bull of excommunication (Dec. 10, 1520) a copy of the canon law was also given to the flames.