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In1 nomine sanctÄ et individuÄ Trinitatis. Chuonradus gratia Dei Romanorum imperator augustus. Omnibus sanctÄ Dei ecclesiÄ fidelibus et nostris tam presentibus quam et futuris notum esse volumus, quod nos ad reconciliandos animos seniorum et militum, ut adinvicem semper inveniantur concordes et ut fideliter et perseveranter nobis et suis senioribus serviant devote, precipimus et firmiter statuimus: ut nullus miles episcoporum, abbatum, abbatissarum aut marchionum vel comitum vel omnium, qui benefitium de nostris publicis bonis aut de ecclesiarum prediis tenet nunc aut tenuerit vel hactenus iniuste perdidit, tam de nostris maioribus valvasoribus quam et eorum militibus, sine certa et convicta culpa suum beneficium perdat, nisi secundum constitucionem antecessorum nostrorum et iudicium parium suorum. Si contentio emerserit inter seniores et milites, quamvis pares adiudicaverint, illum suo beneficio carere debere, et si ille dixerit, hoc iniuste vel odio factum esse, ipse suum beneficium teneat, donec senior et ille quem culpat cum paribus suis ante nostram presentiam veniant, et ibi causa iuste finiatur. Si autem pares culpati in iudicio senioribus defecerint, ille qui culpatur suum beneficium teneat, donec ipse cum suo seniore et paribus ante nostram presentiam veniant. Senior autem aut miles qui culpatur, qui ad nos venire decreverit, sex ebdomadas ante quam iter incipiat, ei cum quo litigatur innotescat. Hoc autem de maioribus valvasoribus observetur. De minoribus vero in regno aut ante seniores aut ante nostrum missum eorum causa finiatur. Precipimus etiam, ut cum aliquis miles sive de maioribus sive de minoribus de hoc seculo migraverit, filius eius beneficium habeat. Si vero filium non habuerit et abiaticum ex masculo filio reliquerit, pari modo beneficium habeat, servato usu maiorum valvasorum in dandis equis et armis suis senioribus. Si forte abiaticum ex filio non reliquerit et fratrem legittimum ex parte patris habuerit, si seniorem offensum habuit et sibi vult satisfacere et miles eius effici, beneficium quod patris sui fuit habeat. |
Appendix 3 [Conrad IIâs] edict on benefices in the Italian Kingdom In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, Conrad [II], by the grace of God the august emperor of the Romans. We wish it to be known by all the faithful people of the Holy Church of God and ours, both present and future, that, in order to reconcile the spirits of lords and knights, so that they shall always be seen to be in concord, and that they devotedly serve us and their lords with loyalty and perseverance, we command and firmly establish: that no knight of bishops, abbots, abbesses, or marquesses, or counts, or of anyone else, who now holds a benefice from our public property or from the estates of churches, or will hold it, or has up to now lost it unjustly, regardless of whether this concerns our greater âvalvasoresâ or their knights, is to lose his benefice without a proven and demonstrated fault but only according to the disposition of our predecessors and the judgment of his peers. If a dispute arises between lords and knights, even if the peers judge that the latter ought to be deprived of the benefice, if he says that this has been done unjustly or out of hatred, he is to hold his benefice until the lord and he who is accused1 come with his peers before our presence, and here the case is to be determined justly. However, if the peers of the accused fail [to support] the lords in judgment, he who is accused is to hold his benefice until he comes before our presence with his lord and peers. The lord, however, or the knight who is accused, who decides to come to us, is to notify him with whom he is disputing six weeks before the journey begins. This, however, is to be observed concerning the greater âvalvasoresâ. But concerning the lesser [âvalvasoresâ] in the kingdom, their case is to be determined either before the lords or before our representative. We also command that, when any knight, whether from among the greater or the lesser, departs from this earthly life, the son is to have his benefice. But if he has no son and leaves a grandson born of his son, he is to have it in the same way, as long as the usage of the greater âvalvasoresâ of giving horses and arms to their lords is observed. If he does not happen to leave a grandson born of his son and has a legitimate brother from his fatherâs side, and if [this brother] has committed an offence against the lord and wishes to make amends and be made his knight, he is to have the benefice that was his fatherâs. |
MGH, Constitutiones, i, 89â91 (n. 45); MGH, Conradi II. Diplomata, ed. Harry Bresslau (Diplomatum regum et imperatorum Germaniae, iv; Hannover/Leipzig, 1909), 335â337 (n. 244): 28 May 1037, Milan.
1 Lit. he whom he accuses.
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Insuper etiam omnibus modis prohihemus, ut nullus senior de beneficio suorum militum cambium aut precariam aut libellum sine eorum consensu facere presumat. Illa vero bona, que tenent proprietario iure aut per precepta aut per rectum libellum sive per precariam, nemo iniuste eos divestire audeat. Fodrum de castÄllis, quod nostri antecessores habuerunt, habere volumus. Illud vero, quod non habuerunt, nullo modo exigimus. Si quis hanc iussionem infregerit, auri libras centum componat, medietatem kamerÄ nostrÄ et medietatem illi cui dampnum illatum est. Signum domni Chuonradi serenissimi Romanorum imperatoris augusti. Kadolohus cancellarius vice Herimanni archicancellarii recognovit. Datum .v. Kal. Iunii, indic. .v., anno dominicÄ incarnacionis millesimo .xxxviii. Anno autem domni Chuonradi regis .xiii., imperii .xi. Actum in obsidione Mediolani; feliciter amen. |
Moreover, we also prohibit in any way that any lord presumes to make an exchange, or to grant a âprecariaâ1 or a lease, out of his knightsâ benefice without their consent. Indeed, no one is to dare despoil unjustly those goods which they hold by proprietary right, or through a grant,2 or rightful lease or âprecariaâ. We want to have the âfodrumâ3 from the castles which our predecessors had, but in no way do we demand that which they did not have. If anyone breaches this command, he is to pay one hundred pounds of gold, one half to our treasury and one half to him to whom damage was inflicted. The mark of the lord Conrad, most serene and august emperor of the Romans. Chancellor Cadolus acknowledged [this] in lieu of Archchancellor Hermann. Given on the fifth day of the Kalends of June <28 May>, the fifth indiction, in the year of the Lordâs incarnation 1037, the thirteenth year of Lord Conrad as king, the eleventh of [his] empire. Done at the siege of Milan, with good auspices, amen. |
For âprecariaâ, see Glossary.
For this interpretation of âper preceptaâ, see: H. Keller, âDas Edictumâ, 247.
For âfodrumâ, see Glossary.