The Portable Medieval Reader

by James Bruce Ross

  In sum and substance then, this ought to be understood: the aim of a ruler should be to establish laws by agreement. It is, therefore, fitting that all general matters affecting the commonwealth should be decided and ordered in a council of the two estates of primates and bishops (primatum et praesulum). Indeed the king must be the executor of what is enacted by the council, since this very legislation is the rule according to which the subjects desire the authority of the king to be controlled. No one doubts that a universal council has the power to regulate, by agreement of the head and members, the chief governing (praesidentialem) authority, for the good of the commonwealth....

  We know that the emperor is head and chief of all; and from him comes the imperial command for the assembling of subordinate kings and princes, while they, as members, have to concur with the head. In this universal council are the heads of the provinces, as representatives of their provinces; also the rectors and teachers of the great universities; and those who are of the senatorial rank, which is called the holy diet, since they are illustrious as closest to the ruler and parts of his body; or they are notable members of the middle group; or those most distinguished in the lowest group—beyond which grades none was found among the well-defined grade (certum) of the senators. The first orders are the rulers and electors of the empire and the highest nobles. The second are the dukes, governors, prefects, and others of this sort. The third are the marquises, land-graves, and the like. All those who are superior to the rest and who are nearer to the imperial government, compose that imperial body whose head is the emperor himself; and when they are met in one complete representative body, the whole imperial authority is brought together....

  Let the annual meeting be set for about the feast of Pentecost, in Frankfort, which seems to be the most suitable place from its situation and from other circumstances. To this meeting all the judges and electors of the empire should come in person, without pomp or heavy expense. Let his lordship the emperor himself preside, if he can be present in person; otherwise, the chief of the electors in the emperor’s name. Let affairs of the empire, and even local affairs that have come before the judges, be dealt with; and let things that need reforming be reformed. If a critical matter of business really demands that a full meeting of all the chief officials take place, there or elsewhere, let whatever is most suitable be done. However, a regular annual council of lords, judges, and electors—in which cases of the princes are to be decided through a common vote—should never be omitted. And since it is useful to introduce any reform on the basis of precedent, I would submit an imperial letter which is credited to Constantine, who ordered a similar meeting of judges to be held at Aries....

  Following this form, an annual council should be established in Frankfort (which, by reason of its situation and the converging of merchandise there, may be correctly likened to Arles), to be held for at least one month, in either May or September; and, with those mentioned above, at least one should come from each city and metropolis and from the large imperial towns. The chief electors should bring with them those whom they wish as counsellors. The nobles and all should be bound by oath to contribute counsels for the public good, according to the right verdict of reason. Let provincial customs be there examined, and harmonized as nearly as possible with the common practices; and especially let captious formalities be completely laid aside; for the simple poor are often most unjustly led outside the case (extra formam) by the sophistries of lawyers, and so lose their whole case, since he who loses a syllable loses a case, as I have often seen happen in the diocese of Treves. Moreover, those very bad usages that permit an oath against anyone whomsoever and witnesses of whatever number should be abolished. Throughout Germany there are many such bad practices that are against true justice and are also breeders of crimes which no one could enumerate in detail. Wherefore judges of the provinces ought to come together and put the customs of their provinces into writing and lay them out before the council, so that they may be examined.

  From De concordantia catholica, trans. F. W. Coker, in Readings in Political Philosophy (New York: Macmillan, 1938).

  A Plea for the Reform of Germany

  c.1437

  ALMIGHTY GOD, Creator of heaven and earth, give strength and grace, give wisdom in the most blessed manner to achieve and to possess an ordinance for the spiritual and temporal estates in which Thy holy name and divinity shall be acknowledged; for Thy wrath is manifest. Thy displeasure has laid hold upon us; we go about like sheep without a shepherd. We go about, O Lord, in Thy pasture without permission. Obedience is dead; justice suffers distress; nothing stands in its proper station.

  Therefore God withdraws His grace from us and justly, for we disregard his commandment. What He has commanded is held lightly without all righteousness. But one thing must be known, that matters cannot well go on longer unless there is a proper ordering of the spiritual and temporal estates, for they stand naked and without power. Therefore are admonished first all you high princes, lords, and you worthy members of the knighthood, and you noble imperial cities. For the head is too ill, the spiritual and temporal leaders let drop what has been commanded of them by God, and if one regard it rightly, all now depends upon the imperial cities. If they slept and did not watch, then Christendom would be estranged from God and all His grace, and all righteousness would be worthless before God since the divine order would be extinguished.

  The great superiors are not to be admonished, for by force they have taken to themselves injustice. Our lord the emperor or king can no longer maintain his status; that most worthy office is diminished for the empire by the electors and others, so that our empire is ill, infirm, and weak.

  Therefore, you noble imperial cities, be admonished through God the Father, through Jesus Christ, through His red blood which He shed on our account, that you recognize how we are liberated by God, how we should conduct ourselves, how all order has no proper structure. Act then, for you are the chief member upon which, indeed, Christendom at this time is built.

  Also, it is to be known, that the holy council [Basel] has gathered. There is to take place a reformation, the spiritual and temporal estates shall be well ordered. But the spiritual superiors wish to resist on many points. They do not wish to give up unrighteousness, as you will hear hereafter in the reformation.

  But one thing: it should truly be known what an oppression lies upon Christendom and how one may ward it off: the discovery has been made through the grace of God that all defects may be easily remedied [by him] who will be true to God and the Christian faith. All the defects suffer primarily in respect to two things: in the clergy the malady is great simony, that is so much as usury. This same simony has poisoned the whole ecclesiastical estate. In the laity the malady is greed which divides all friendship; enmity, faithlessness, and much wrong arise from it....

  CONCERNING TOLLS

  It must also be known that all lands are greatly overburdened by tolls. There is a toll at almost every spot, one land wholly refuses to assist another or be of advantage to it, nor will anyone give another his rightful penny’s worth. All that happens on account of the tolls.

  You shall hear how tolls were first instituted by an emperor. There were wild mountains over which there had to be roads; likewise over the rivers.

  So it was held that it should justly be done by a common effort, and a small toll was set in such a measure that no one should be oppressed by it, and help and tax were asked for.

  No one pocketed it, except to use it for building [the roads]. For whoever puts tolls somewhere else than where they rightly belong, if he makes use of them he makes use of usury, for he takes it from one who does not owe him anything. He shall do penance for it, as being property acquired by usury..

  Therefore let two-thirds of the tolls be abolished and the third part applied [to the roads] and let no one pocket it; thus one will be able to travel more easily.

  But whoever will not do this and wishes to collect the common injustice by force, if he is
a lord, any one may attack him and be permitted to take from him his property, for he, in turn, unjustly takes the property of everyone....

  Item, a priest, a member of a religious order, a knight, and a nobleman shall pay no tolls....

  Item, every toll shall always be renewed every ten years [in order to see] if it should be decreased or increased according to the circumstances of the mountains or rivers, so that no one shall be wronged and that no evil fraud should arise.

  Item, two men shall be elected in every city who shall personally swear to the council to look after the construction [of roads] whether through the mountains or over rivers, to see to the bridges and ways, so that no one should suffer any loss in his property....

  GUILDS

  It is also to be known, that in the good cities, namely imperial cities, there are guilds. These have now become very powerful, and [entrance into] the guild must be dearly bought. They make laws among one another as at one time the cities did. In many cities they appoint the council [and determine] how many from each guild shall enter the council. This is called in one city in Latin una parcialitas and is not a proper community, as I assure you.

  If there is a guild which ought to be punished because of the work which it does, which is not beneficial to a community in a city, such as the butchers who sell meat too dearly, or the bakers who bake too small loaves, or the tailors who take too great fees, as it now is, the [representatives] of the guilds sit in the council and have sworn loyalty and truth to the city and community; still one guild closely assists the other, as if to say: overlook me, I will overlook you. Thus then the community is defrauded and does not get its rightful penny’s worth. That now everyone recognizes well is grossly contrary to all justice and God, and the oaths are overlooked, and it is [to be] feared that thus one will clearly and unquestionably go to hell.

  This has become so much of a custom that it seems right to them not even to mention in the confessional that they so greatly burden the community and the city. But should one wish to bring it about that cities should become good and every man be faithful to the other, then one would abolish guilds, and everything would be equal and everyone would be helpful to the other and the council would be cleansed. Those then who were members of the council would be moved in their advice neither by fears nor hopes as is now the case, and would give the just penny’s worth, and the cities would thrive mightily. Otherwise, everyone speaks thus: I am overburdened, everything in the city is overburdened, and therefore lords and citizens bear the cities a grudge. If in the cities all things were in common, then lords and everyone else would have a common opportunity. Otherwise if one man in a guild is provoked, the whole guild is provoked. Let it come to a state of community [and] certainly no one will regret it.... If there are other associations which wish to come together in which no one excludes another from any trade, then there is neither coldness nor heat and everyone is equal to the other, and the councillors are generally untroubled.

  CRAFTS AND TRADES

  It is also to be known that it is a bad thing in the cities and in the countryside in many places, that someone has more trades than are proper for him. One is a vintner and besides sells salt and cloth. One is a tailor and also engages in commerce. Thus whoever is able buys and sells in whatever way it seems to him that he can bring in a penny. But will you hear what imperial law commands—our predecessors were not fools—trades were created to the end that everyone should earn his daily bread by them, and no one should intervene in another’s trade. In that way the world will take care of its needs, and everyone will be able to support himself.

  Is someone a vintner, let him occupy himself with that, and let him not practise anything else besides. Is he a baker, likewise, no trade excepted....

  CONTROL AND JURISDICTION

  Now subordination and all jurisdiction should be maintained according to imperial ordinance. It is to be known that the great princes, who have much land, still maintain an almost imperial jurisdiction on their part.

  But counts, barons, knights, and nobles, who also have rights of jurisdiction, enserf people and hold them now as serfs and tax them and besides take exceptional daily service from them in addition to making them pay heavily for wood and field.

  It is an unheard of thing that, in holy Christendom, one must proclaim the great injustice which exists, that someone is so presumptuous before God that he dares to say to anyone: “You are mine.” For let one reflect that our God, by His death and His wounds and torments which, for our sake, He suffered and bore, [did so] to the end that He liberated us and freed us from all bonds, and in this no one is raised one above the other, for we are in the same state of liberation and freedom, whether noble or non-noble, rich or poor, small or great. Whoever is baptized and believes, he is counted among the members of Jesus Christ.

  Therefore let everyone know, whoever he is, who calls his fellow Christian his own, that he is not a Christian, and is against Christ and all the ordinances of God are lost on him.

  And still more has unfortunately been added, in that cloisters also take people for serfs. Now they wish to belong to God, and ought to support the faith; they all depart from God.

  I say it openly: no one may continue to do this any more who wishes to be a Christian.

  If he is noble and does not desist, and the act is not done penance for, they [the serfs] shall be taken away and renounced. But if it is a cloister and it does not entirely desist, then it should be completely and utterly destroyed: that is godly work. The cloisters should wait upon the service of God; now they recognize the world and worldly things.

  Through their wealth, they cannot live properly according to their rules. They rest well; they are day and night distinguished as great drinkers and eaters, as if, in their evil way of life, they were in the world. They have what they want. They order and do what they want.

  They not only say: “This one belongs to us.” They create widows, and orphans. When the fathers die, they [the cloisters] inherit and rob the rightful members, and make orphans. They force them, besides, to swear themselves serfs, and thus they rob them of their proper work; they rule like lords.

  It should no longer be borne or permitted from anyone, whether temporal or ecclesiastical.

  Let us recognize our own advantages and live our great freedom which everything that belongs to God enjoys! But if we permit this and do not prevent what well might be prevented, then there is no expedient, we will go with them to hell, for the sin is greater than other sins: it is called having sinned consciously.

  Item, in the countryside there are estates, farm-lands, and meadows as there are farm-houses. They are now heavily loaded with taxes. To the estates, now, belong meadows and grazing lands, woods and fields, which every peasant can cultivate with his animals. Now that is reckoned as interest on the estate, and in addition it is taxed. They [the peasants] are forbidden the woods, they are assessed, day-work is taken, there is no mercy. One takes away lightly but still one lives from their labour, for without them neither can nor may anyone exist. The beast in the forest and the bird in the air live on the peasant.

  It should be known that neither forest nor field ought to be placed under any sort of prescription; its cultivators prescribe it to their requirements when they pay taxes for it, as far as their prescription runs.

  Excepted are the great forests on the flat or in the mountains, they belong to various jurisdictions and to the highest courts. That is because every lord ought to provide good security and convoy through them so that no harm should come to anyone. Therefore they may enjoy the great forests and exclusive hunting rights. But now they add on a tariff for convoy on the roads, and take what they will. It should be abolished, for it is against God and all justice.

  Item, there are placed under prescription all the rivers, which must have their way, which serve all lands and which no one may nor can turn other than as God has ordained. They shall henceforth be free, namely those that are navigable. For in respect to bridges only
that shall apply which was previously determined in regard to tolls. But where there is no bridge over the river, there no toll shall either be taken or given.

  Where, however, there are little streams they shall also be free to the whole world. It has unhappily come to the point that, wanting to prescribe the whole world and the waters, they were prescribed.

  Now we see well how God has ordered; that we reject and do not maintain. The dumb beasts ought verily to cry out and declare about us: “Pious, faithful Christians, according to all of the admonition which has been given you, let your hearts feel all the great unrighteousness, while there is still time, before God avenges it.”

  From Die Reformation Kaiser Sigmunds, trans. H. F. Schwarz, text v, K. Beer, ed. (Stuttgart: F. A. Perthes, 1933).