Primary source documents

chapter 12: Outward militancy and inward divisions in the high and late medieval time

Robert the Monk: Speech of Pope Urban II (1088-99) at the Council of Clermont (1095) calling for a crusade

Source: Frederic Austin Ogg (ed.), A Source Book of Medieval History. Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the German Invasions to the Renaissance, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: American Book Company 1908, 284-8.

Urban’s famous speech calling for the people of Europe to join the crusade that initiated the history of crusading Western attacks on the Middle East, is a rhetorically skillful call to arms. As a Frenchman, he knew how to appeal to the emotions of his audience and how to stir up interest in the crusades. He therefore gave his speech not in Latin, the common language for ecclesial statements, but in his native language. The speech combines an appeal to the military pride of the Europeans with an incentive and a strategy to deflect inner-European, regional conflicts towards the outside.

Several versions of the speech survive. The version below was written by Robert the Monk nearly a quarter of a century after the Council of Clermont, but it is assumed that he was in fact present at the Council; for further information, he relied on an anonymous historiography called The Deeds of the Franks, which reported the events of Clermont.

   Oh, race of Franks, race beyond the mountains [the Alps], race beloved and chosen by God (as is clear from many of your works), set apart from all other nations by the situation of your country, as well as by your Catholic faith and the honor you render to the holy Church: to you our discourse is addressed, and for you our exhortations are intended. We wish you to know what a serious matter has led us to your country, for it is the imminent peril threatening you and all the faithful that has brought us hither.

   "From the confines of Jerusalem and from the city of Constantinople a grievous report has gone forth and has been brought repeatedly to our ears; namely, that a race from the kingdom of the Persians, an accursed race, a race wholly alienated from God, 'a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God' [Ps. 78:8], has violently invaded the lands of those Christians and has depopulated them by pillage and fire. They have led away a part of the captives into their own country, and a part they have killed by cruel tortures. They have either destroyed the churches of God or appropriated them for the rites of their own religion. They destroy the altars, after having defiled them with their uncleanness. . . . The kingdom of the Greeks [the Eastern Empire] is now dismembered by them and has been deprived of territory so vast in extent that it could not be traversed in two months’ time.

   "On whom, therefore, rests the labor of avenging these wrongs and of recovering this territory, if not upon you—you, upon whom, above all other nations, God has conferred remarkable glory in arms, great courage, bodily activity, and strength to humble the heads of those who resist you? Let the deeds of your ancestors encourage you and incite your minds to manly achievements—the glory and greatness of King Charlemagne, and of his son Louis [the Pious], and of your other monarchs, who have destroyed the kingdoms of the Turks and have extended the sway of the holy Church over lands previously pagan. Let the holy sepulcher of our Lord and Saviour, which is possessed by the unclean nations, especially arouse you, and the holy places which are now treated with ignominy and irreverently polluted with the filth of the unclean. Oh most valiant soldiers and descendants of invincible ancestors, do not degenerate, but recall the valor of your ancestors.

   "But if you are hindered by love of children, parents, or wife, remember what the Lord says in the Gospel, 'He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me' [Matt. 10:37]. 'Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life' [Matt. 19:29]. Let none of your possessions restrain you, nor anxiety for your family affairs. For this land which you inhabit, shut in on all sides by the seas and surrounded by the mountain peaks, is too narrow for your large population; nor does it abound in population wealth; and it furnishes scarcely food enough for its cultivators. Hence it is that you murder and devour one another, that you wage war, and that very many among you perish in civil strife.

   "Let hatred, therefore, depart from among you; let your quarrels end; let wars cease; and let all dissensions and controversies slumber. Enter upon the road of the Holy Sepulcher; wrest that land from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves. That land which, as the Scripture says, 'floweth with country milk and honey' [Num. 13:27] was given by God into the power of the children of Israel. Jerusalem is the center of the earth; the land is fruitful above all others, like another paradise of delights. This spot the Redeemer of mankind has made illustrious by His advent, has beautified by His sojourn, has consecrated by His passion, has redeemed by His death, has glorified by His burial.

   "This royal city, however, situated at the center of the earth, is now held captive by the enemies of Christ and is subjected, by those who do not know God, to the worship of the heathen. She seeks, therefore, and desires to be liberated, and ceases not to implore you to come to her aid. From you especially she asks succor, because, as we have already said, God has conferred upon you, above all other nations, great glory in arms. Accordingly, undertake this journey eagerly for the remission of your sins, with the assurance of the reward of imperishable glory in the kingdom of heaven."

   When Pope Urban had skillfully said these and very many similar things, he so centered in one purpose the desires of all who were present that all cried out, “It is the will of God! It is the will of God!” When the venerable Roman pontiff heard that, with eyes uplifted to heaven, he gave thanks to God and, commanding silence with his hand, said : "Most beloved brethren, today is manifest in you what the Lord says in the Gospel, ' Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them' [Matt. 18:20]. For unless God had been present in your spirits, all of you would not have uttered the same cry; since, although the cry issued from numerous mouths, yet the origin of the cry was one. Therefore I say to you that God, who implanted this in your breasts, has drawn it forth from you. Let that, then, be your war cry in battle, because it is given to you by God. When an armed attack is made upon the enemy, let this one cry be raised by all the soldiers of God: 'It is the will of God! It is the will of God!'

   "And we neither command nor advise that the old or feeble, or those incapable of bearing arms, undertake this journey. Nor ought women to set out at all without their husbands, or brothers, or legal guardians. For such are more of a hindrance than aid, more of a burden than an advantage. Let the rich aid the needy; and according to their wealth let them take with them experienced soldiers. The priests and other clerks [clergy], whether secular or regular, are not to go without the consent of their bishop; for this journey would profit them nothing if they went without permission. Also, it is not fitting that laymen should enter upon the pilgrimage without the blessing of their priests. Whoever, therefore, shall decide upon this holy pilgrimage, and shall make his vow to God to that effect, and shall offer himself to Him for sacrifice, as a living victim, holy and acceptable to God, shall wear the sign of the cross of the Lord on his forehead or on his breast. When he shall return from his journey, having fulfilled his vow, let him place the cross on his back between his shoulders. Thus shall ye, indeed, by this twofold action, fulfill the precept of the Lord, as He commands in the Gospel, 'He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me'" [Luke 14:27].

William of Malmesbury: From the Chronicle of the Kings of England – the popular reaction to Urban II’s call for a crusade.

Source: Frederic Austin Ogg (ed.), A Source Book of Medieval History. Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the German Invasions to the Renaissance, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: American Book Company 1908, 289-90.

William of Malmesbury, an English monk, lived in the first half of the twelfth century. He wrote a valuable chronicle about the kings of England, using first-hand knowledge about the first crusade from returning participants and from the people who remained at home.

This section from the Chronicle describes with some humor, and probably some exaggeration, the enthusiastic response of those departing and those staying at home.

   Immediately the fame of this great event [i.e., Pope Urban II’s speech] being spread through the universe, penetrated the minds of Christians with its mild breath, and wherever it blew there was no nation, however distant and obscure, that did not send some of its people. This zeal animated not only the provinces bordering on the Mediterranean, but all who had ever even heard of the name Christian in the most remote isles, and among barbarous nations. Then the Welshman abandoned his forests and neglected his hunting; the Scotchman deserted the fleas with which he is so familiar; the Dane ceased to swallow his intoxicating draughts; and the Norwegian turned his back upon his raw fish. The fields were left by the cultivators, and the houses by their inhabitants; all the cities were deserted. People were restrained neither by the ties of blood nor the love of country; they saw nothing but God. All that was in the granaries, or was destined for food, was left under the guardianship of the greedy agriculturist. The journey to Jerusalem was the only thing hoped for or thought of. Joy animated the hearts of all who set out; grief dwelt in the hearts of all who remained. Why do I say "of those who remained "? You might have seen the husband setting forth with his wife, with all his family; you would have laughed to see all the penates [Roman household gods – used humorously to refer to all the items that were regarded as necessary to take on the journey] put in motion and loaded upon wagons. The road was too narrow for the passengers, and more room was wanted for the travelers, so great and numerous was the crowd.

Fulcher of Chartres: History of the Crusade to Jerusalem. The Deeds of the French Journeying Thither.

Source: Frederic Austin Ogg (ed.), A Source Book of Medieval History. Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the German Invasions to the Renaissance, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: American Book Company 1908, 290-1.

Fulcher of Chartres was a priest and a scholar who chronicled the first crusade, which he had joined as a chaplain to Stephen of Blois and Robert of Normandy. The extract from his History is thus an eye-witness account. 

Fulcher describes how the crusade brought together people from all parts of Europe, and what they felt when departing or when seeing their loved ones leave.

   Such, then, was the immense assemblage which set out from the West. Gradually along the march, and from day to day, the army grew by the addition of other armies, coming from every direction and composed of innumerable people. Thus one saw an infinite multitude, speaking different languages and coming from divers countries. All did not, however, come together into a single army until we had reached the city of Nicaea [May 1097]. What shall I add? The isles of the sea and the kingdoms of the whole earth were moved by God, so that one might believe fulfilled the prophecy of David, who said in his Psalm: "All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord, and shall glorify Thy name;" and so that those who reached the holy places afterwards said justly: "We will worship where His feet have stood." Concerning this journey we read very many other predictions in the prophets, which it would be tedious to recall.

   Oh, how great was the grief, how deep the sighs, what weeping, what lamentations among the friends, when the husband left the wife so dear to him, his children also, and all his possessions of any kind, father, mother, brethren, or kindred! And yet in spite of the floods of tears which those who remained shed for their friends about to depart, and in their very presence, the latter did not suffer their courage to fail, and, out of love for the Lord, in no way hesitated to leave all that they held most precious, believing without doubt that they would gain an hundred-fold in receiving the recompense which God has promised to those who love Him.

   Then the husband confided to his wife the time of his return and assured her that, if he lived, by God's grace he would return to her. He commended her to the Lord, gave her a kiss, and, weeping, promised to return. But the latter, who feared that she would never see him again, overcome with grief, was unable to stand, fell as if lifeless to the ground, and wept over her dear one whom she was losing in life, as if he were already dead. He, then, as if he had no pity (nevertheless he was filled with pity) and was not moved by the grief of his friends (and yet he was secretly moved), departed with a firm purpose. The sadness was for those who remained, and the joy for those who departed. What more can we say? "This is the Lord's doings, and it is marvelous in our eyes."

From the Royal Chronicle of Cologne: The ‘Children’s crusade’

Source: Chronica Regiae Coloniensis Continuatio Prima, s.a.1213, MGH SS XXIV 17-18, translated by James Brundage, The Crusades: A Documentary History, (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1962), 213.

The Children’s Crusade (1212) was an amazing chapter of medieval revivalism. It was a movement of children as young as six and young adults who came from various parts of Europe, most importantly from France, joining a conquering journey to the Holy Land. In France, the crusade was preached by a young peasant boy named Stephen, in Germany by a boy named Nicholas from Cologne.

The text below is from the Chronicle of Cologne, an anonymous history that records the history of kings and emperors from the 6th to the early 13th century.

   In this year occurred an outstanding thing and one much to be marveled at, for it is unheard of throughout the ages. About the time of Easter and Pentecost, without anyone having preached or called for it and prompted by I know not what spirit, many thousands of boys, ranging in age from six years to full maturity, left the plows or carts which they were driving, the flocks which they were pasturing, and anything else which they were doing. This they did despite the wishes of their parents, relatives, and friends who sought to make them draw back. Suddenly one ran after another to take the cross. Thus, by groups of twenty, or fifty, or a hundred, they put up banners and began to journey to Jerusalem. They were asked by many people on whose advice or at whose urging they had set out upon this path. They were asked especially since only a few years ago many kings, a great many dukes, and innumerable people in powerful companies had gone there and had returned with the business unfinished. The present groups, moreover, were still of tender years and were neither strong enough nor powerful enough to do anything. Everyone, therefore, accounted them foolish and imprudent for trying to do this. They briefly replied that they were equal to the Divine will in this matter and that, whatever God might wish to do with them, they would accept it willingly and with humble spirit. They thus made some little progress on their journey. Some were turned back at Metz, others at Piacenza, and others even at Rome. Still others got to Marseilles, but whether they crossed to the Holy Land or what their end was is uncertain. One thing is sure: that of the many thousands who rose up, only very few returned.

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica. Second part of the second part. Question 11, article III: Whether Heretics should be tolerated.

Source: Summa Theologica by Saint Thomas Aquinas. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.html (public domain). 1630-31.

Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) was a Dominican theologian and is regarded as one of the most important Roman Catholic theologians.
The section printed below gives theological support to the inquisition. The text shows how Thomas methodologically proceeded by raising a question, by critically engaging with apparently conflicting positions found in the Bible, and by dialectically weighing alternative answers and drawing a conclusion.  

Whether heretics ought to be tolerated?

   Objection 1: It seems that heretics ought to be tolerated. For the Apostle says (2 Tim. 2:24,25): "The servant of the Lord must not wrangle . . . with modesty admonishing them that resist the truth, if peradventure God may give them repentance to know the truth, and they may recover themselves from the snares of the devil." Now if heretics are not tolerated but put to death, they lose the opportunity of repentance. Therefore it seems contrary to the Apostle's command.
   Objection 2: Further, whatever is necessary in the Church should be tolerated. Now heresies are necessary in the Church, since the Apostle says (1 Cor. 11:19): "There must be . . . heresies, that they . . . who are reproved, may be manifest among you." Therefore it seems that heretics should be tolerated.
   Objection 3: Further, the Master commanded his servants (Mat. 13:30) to suffer the cockle [tares] "to grow until the harvest," i.e. the end of the world, as a gloss explains it. Now holy men explain that the cockle denotes heretics. Therefore heretics should be tolerated.
   On the contrary, The Apostle says (Titus 3:10,11): "A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid: knowing that he, that is such an one, is subverted."
   I answer that, With regard to heretics two points must be observed: one, on their own side; the other, on the side of the Church. On their own side there is the sin, whereby they deserve not only to be separated from the Church by excommunication, but also to be severed from the world by death. For it is a much graver matter to corrupt the faith which quickens the soul, than to forge money, which supports temporal life. Wherefore if forgers of money and other evil-doers are forthwith condemned to death by the secular authority, much more reason is there for heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only excommunicated but even put to death.
   On the part of the Church, however, there is mercy which looks to the conversion of the wanderer, wherefore she condemns not at once, but "after the first and second admonition," as the Apostle directs: after that, if he is yet stubborn, the Church no longer hoping for his conversion, looks to the salvation of others, by excommunicating him and separating him from the Church, and furthermore delivers him to the secular tribunal to be exterminated thereby from the world by death. For Jerome commenting on Gal. 5:9, "A little leaven," says: "Cut off the decayed flesh, expel the mangy sheep from the fold, lest the whole house, the whole paste, the whole body, the whole flock, burn, perish, rot, die. Arius was but one spark in Alexandria, but as that spark was not at once put out, the whole earth was laid waste by its flame."
　Reply to Objection 1: This very modesty demands that the heretic should be admonished a first and second time: and if he be unwilling to retract, he must be reckoned as already "subverted," as we may gather from the words of the Apostle quoted above.
　Reply to Objection 2: The profit that ensues from heresy is beside the intention of heretics, for it consists in the constancy of the faithful being put to the test, and "makes us shake off our sluggishness, and search the Scriptures more carefully," as Augustine states (De Gen. cont. Manich. i, 1). What they really intend is the corruption of the faith, which is to inflict very great harm indeed. Consequently we should consider what they directly intend, and expel them, rather than what is beside their intention, and so, tolerate them.
　Reply to Objection 3: According to Decret. (xxiv, qu. iii, can. Notandum), "to be excommunicated is not to be uprooted." A man is excommunicated, as the Apostle says (1 Cor. 5:5) that his "spirit may be saved in the day of Our Lord." Yet if heretics be altogether uprooted by death, this is not contrary to Our Lord's command, which is to be understood as referring to the case when the cockle cannot be plucked up without plucking up the wheat, as we explained above (Q[10], A[8], ad 1), when treating of unbelievers in general.

Various papal and conciliar decrees regarding the Jews

Source: Solomon Grayzel, The Church and the Jews in the XIIIth Century. A Study of Their Relations During the Years 1198-1254 Based on the Papal Letters and the Conciliar Decrees of the Period. Philadelphia: The Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, 1933, 115-7 (text 1); 309 (text 2); 143 (text 3); 201-3 (text 4); 241 (text 5).

The tragic history of the Christian persecution of Jews in Western Europe began at an early time in history, increased once Christianity became more powerful, and further increased as a result of the crusades.

The Catholic Church played an ambiguous role regarding the Jews. On one hand, official declarations accused Jews of blasphemy, arrogance, employing Christian as slaves, or even murder. On the other hand, popes and church leaders tried to restrict popular persecution and called on political leaders to protect the Jews in their lands. A point of convergence between these two attitudes, the more protective and the more discriminating, was the propagation of a clear demarcation between the Christian and Jewish faiths.
Below are extracts from several papal decrees that reflect something of this ambiguity. A peak of ecclesial decisions regarding the Jews was the 12th to 14th centuries, with Pope Innocent III and Gregory IX issuing the most decrees.

Out of the multitude of statements regarding the Jews, a few have been chosen. The first text is from the Decree Etsi Judeos, issued by Innocent III. It denounces the so-called perfidies of the Jews.  The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, the second text below, decided that Jews had to wear special clothing to distinguish them from Christians and that they had to pay the tithe to local churches. The third text is only the title of an otherwise lost letter of Pope Innocent III. The fourth text, Etsi Judeorum by Gregory IX in 1233, is a decree asking for prevention of attacks and for humane treatment of the Jews. Only a few years later, the same pope issued a decree – our fifth text – that was very different in tone. The text Si vera sunt (“If it is true”) calls on Christians and secular forces to seize all religious books from the Jews.

(1)
Innocent III (July 15, 1205) – to the Archbishop of Sens and the Bishop of Paris. [Etsi Judeos]

   While Christian piety accepts the Jews who, by their own guilt, are consigned to perpetual servitude because they crucified the Lord, although their own prophets had predicted that He would come in the flesh to redeem Israel, and while (Christian piety) permits them to dwell in the Christian midst, although, because of their perfidy, even the Saracens who persecute the Catholic faith and do not believe in the Christ whom the Jews crucified, cannot tolerate the Jews and have even expelled them from their territory, vehemently rebuking us for tolerating those by whom, as we openly acknowledge, our Redeemer was condemned to the suffering of the Cross, the Jews ought not be ungrateful to us, and not requite Christian favor with contumely and intimacy with contempt. Yet, while they are mercifully admitted into our intimacy, they threaten us with that retribution which they are accustomed to give to their hosts, in accordance with the common proverb: (“like the mouse in a pocket, like the snake around one's loins, like the fire in one's bosom."

   For we have heard that the Jews, whom the kindness of princes has admitted into their territories, have become so insolent that they hurl unbridled insults at the Christian Faith, insults which it is an abomination not only to utter but even to keep in mind. Thus, whenever it happens that on the day of the Lord's Resurrection (Easter) the Christian women who are nurses for the children of Jews, take in the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the Jews make these women pour their milk into the latrine for three days before they again give suck to the children. Besides, they perform other detestable and unheard of things against the Catholic faith, as a result of which the faithful should fear that they are incurring divine wrath when they permit the Jews to perpetrate unpunished such deeds as bring confusion upon our Faith. We, therefore, asked our dearest son of Christ, Philip the Illustrious King of France, we also ordered the noble Duke of Burgundy, and the Countess of Troyes, so to restrain the excesses of the Jews that they shall not dare raise their neck, bowed under the yoke of perpetual slavery, against the reverence of the Christian Faith; more rigidly to forbid them to have any nurses nor other kinds of Christian servants in the future, lest the children of a free woman should be servants to the children of a slave; but, that rather as slaves rejected by God, in whose death they wickedly conspired, they shall, by the effect of this very action, recognize themselves as the slaves of those whom Christ's death set free at the same time that it enslaved them. For, as soon as they begin to gnaw in the manner of a mouse, and to bite in the manner of a serpent, one may fear lest the fire that one keeps in his bosom burn up the gnawed parts. Wherefore, we command Your Fraternity, by this Apostolic Letter, so far as possible to make haste carefully to warn the aforementioned king and the others to this effect, and on our behalf most zealously to prevail upon them that henceforth the perfidious Jews should not in any other way dare grow insolent, but, under fear of slavery, shall show always the timidity of their guilt, and respect the honor of the Christian Faith. If indeed the Jews do not dismiss the Christian nurses and servants, we give you our authority to forbid any Christian in the district, under penalty of excommunication, to enter into any commercial relations with them.

   Given at St. Peter's in Rome, on the Ides of July, in the eighth year.

(2)
IV Lateran Council (November 11, 1215)

   §68. – Whereas in certain provinces of the Church the difference in their clothes sets the Jews and Saracens apart from the Christians, in certain other lands there has arisen such confusion that no differences are noticeable. Thus it sometimes happens that by mistake Christians have intercourse with Jewish or Saracen women, and Jews or Saracens with Christian women. Therefore, lest these people, under the cover of an error, find an excuse for the grave sin of such intercourse, we decree that these people (Jews and Saracens) of either sex, and in all Christian lands, and at all times, shall easily be distinguishable from the rest of the populations by the quality of their clothes; especially since such legislation is imposed upon them also by Moses.

   Moreover, they shall not walk out in public on the Days of Lamentation or the Sunday of Easter; for as we have heard, certain ones among them do not blush to go out on such days more than usually ornamented, and do not fear to poke fun at the Christians who display signs of grief at the memory of the most holy Passion.

   We most especially forbid anyone to dare to break forth into insults against the Redeemer. Since we cannot shut our eyes to insults heaped upon Him who washed away our sins, we decree that such presumptuous persons shall be duly restrained by fitting punishment meted out by the secular rulers, so that none dare blaspheme against Him Who was crucified for our sake.

(3)
Innocent III to the Archbishops and Bishops of France (12-15-16)

It is commanded them to forbid all Christians, especially crusaders, to hurt the Jews or their families.
[This is only the title of the letter. The letter as such has been lost.]

(4)
   Gregory IX (April 6, 1233) - to the Archbishops and Bishops of the Kingdom of France [Etsi Judeorum]

   Although the perfidy of the Jews is to be condemned, nevertheless their relation with Christians is useful and, in a way, necessary; for they bear the image of our Savior, and were created by the Creator of all mankind. They are therefore not to be destroyed, God forbid, by His own creatures, especially by believers in Christ, for no matter how perverse their midway position may be, their fathers were made friends of God, and also their remnant shall be saved.

   But certain Christians of the French Kingdom, heeding this circumstance not at all, persecute and afflict the said Jews with many kinds of oppressions and with many unbearable burdens. Cruelly raging in their midst, and longing for their property, they torture them horribly by means of hunger and of thirst, by the privations of prison and by intolerable tortures of the body. Indeed, we have heard that recently in certain parts of the same kingdom it was enacted by means of a certain device, that after postponing for a period of four years the payment of the debts which Christians owed them, they agreed to pay them in annual instalments, not being bound to pay anything above the principal, though all this was contrary to the contracts into which they had publicly entered. At the end of the four years, however, the Jews were seized and were kept for so long under custody in prison, until, having pooled all the debts which were due them from the Christians, they gave the Lord of the place whatever security he thought proper that within a stated period of time they would not demand any payment on their debts whether these were being paid or not. Whence, some of the Jews, unable to pay what security was considered sufficient in their case, perished miserably, it is said, through hunger, thirst, and privation of prisons, and to this moment some are held in chains. Certain ones of these lords, rage among these Jews with such cruelty, that unless they pay them what they ask, they tear their finger-nails and extract their teeth, and inflict upon them other kinds of inhuman torments. Some nobles of the kingdom, boldly intending to exterminate the Jews, are said to have vowed that they would not suffer the agreements entered upon, or to be entered upon, between Jews and Christians, to be held valid.

   Wherefore, since the Jews, driven out from their lands by these lords because they cannot satisfy their greed, are being killed, robbed, or suffer other damage and injury to person and property at the hands of others who see them thus driven out by their own lords, and since there is no one who would afford them proper protection, or see to it that justice is shown them, they fled to the protection of the Apostolic Throne, begging us humbly to deign to take them under apostolic supervision in view of the fact that with regard to the matters in which they seem annoying to Christians they are ready, according to their agreement, to live among themselves as prescribed by legal and canonical regulations: that they will take no usury nor anything else in order to cover up their usury, nor do anything insulting to the Christian Faith. Wherefore, since we are, by the duty which the Apostolic Office lays upon us, under obligation alike to wise and foolish, we order that, if this be so, you shall pronounce the oaths, made in the heat of passion rather than in the coolness of judgment, not at all binding, and that you make every effort carefully, in our name, to warn all the faithful Christians in your dioceses and to induce them, not to harm the Jews in their persons, nor to dare rob them of their property, nor, for the sake of plunder, to drive them from their lands, without some reasonable cause or clear guilt on their part, but rather to permit them to live in pursuance of their laws and their former status, as long as they do not presume to insult the Christian Faith. After the captive Jews have been restored to their former liberty, they are to observe the legitimate contracts and agreements which are made with them, though without the exaction of any usury. Such kindliness must be shown to Jews by Christians, as we hope might be shown to Christians who live in pagan lands.

   Given at the Lateran, on the eighth before the Ides of April, in the seventh year.
  
(5)
Gregory IX (June 9, 1239) – to the archbishops throughout the Kingdom of France, whom these letters may reach: [Si vera sunt]

   […]
   If what is said about the Jews of France and of the other lands is true, no punishment would be sufficiently great or sufficiently worthy of their crime. For they, so we have heard, are not content with the Old Law which God gave to Moses in writing: they even ignore it completely, and affirm that God gave another Law which is called "Talmud," that is “Teaching," handed down to Moses orally. Falsely they allege that it was implanted within their minds and, unwritten, was there preserved until certain men came, whom they call "Sages" and "Scribes," who, fearing that this Law may be lost from the minds of men through forgetfulness, reduced it to writing, and the volume of this by far exceeds the text of the Bible. In this is contained matter so abusive and so unspeakable that it arouses shame in those who mention it and horror in those who hear it.

   Wherefore, since this is said to be the chief cause that holds the Jews obstinate in their perfidy, we thought that Your Fraternity should be warned and urged, and we herewith order you by Apostolic Letters, that on the first Saturday of the Lent to come, in the morning, while the Jews are gathered in the synagogues, you shall, by our order, seize all the books of the Jews who live in your districts, and have these books carefully guarded in the possession of the Dominican and Franciscan Friars. For this purpose you may invoke, if need be, the help of the secular arm; and you may also promulgate the sentence of excommunication against all those subject to your jurisdiction, whether clergy or laity, who refuse to give up Hebrew books which they have in their possession despite your warning given generally in the churches, or individually.

   Given at the Lateran, on the fifth before the Ides of June, in the thirteenth year.

Decree Sacrosancta, Council of Constance (1415) – on the supreme authority of a church council in ecclesiastical matters

Source: Frederic Austin Ogg (ed.), A Source Book of Medieval History. Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the German Invasions to the Renaissance, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: American Book Company 1908, 393.

The Great Western Schism lasted from 1378-1415. The first attempt at ending it, a council in Pisa in 1409, was a failure and led to three rival popes claiming power. The Council of Constance was more successful. The decree given below, issued in April 1415, clearly asserts the supreme authority of a church council in all matters of the church and its superiority over the pope. The council was able to heal the division of the Western Schism. The rival popes either abdicated or were deposed, and a new pope, Martin V, was elected.
The Decree Sacrosancta was the strongest expression of the conciliar movement in the church. Note that the term ‘church militant’ simply designates the church in the world, as opposed to the ‘church triumphant’, which means the church in heaven.

   This holy synod of Constance, being a general council, and legally assembled in the Holy Spirit for the praise of God and for ending the present schism, and for the union and reformation of the Church of God in its head and in its members, in order more easily, more securely, more completely, and more fully to bring about the union and reformation of the Church of God, ordains, declares, and decrees as follows: First it declares that this synod, legally assembled, is a general council, and represents the Catholic church militant and has its authority directly from Christ; and everybody, of whatever rank or dignity, including also the pope, is bound to obey this council in those things which pertain to the faith, to the ending of this schism, and to a general reformation of the Church in its head and members. Likewise it declares that if any one, of whatever rank, condition, or dignity, including also the pope, shall refuse to obey the commands, statutes, ordinances, or orders of this holy council, or of any other holy council properly assembled, in regard to the ending of the Schism and to the reformation of the Church, he shall be subject to the proper punishment, and, unless he repents, he shall be duly punished, and, if necessary, recourse shall be had to other aids of justice.

 
Copyright 2015 Tobias Brandner. All rights reserved.
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