medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> Hoping someone can help me answer what I thought would be a simple question but on which I've just spent a great deal of time! Would the Fourth Lateran Council's ban on clergy participating in or being present at events involving bloodshed extend to hangings -- in principle or in practice? I would assume that it did, although hanging technically doesn't shed blood.
In 1208, before the Council, the bishop of Albenga (Liguria) consented
and was present when a thief offered to clear himself by ordeal, failed
and was hanged (suspensus). Pope Innocent III ordered the bishop to
resign, and if he refused, to depose him, "because the said bishop had
gravely offended not only because of the ordeal but also the thief's
hanging" (Register Innocenz' III vol. 11 no 182; entered as a decretal
in the Compilatio tertia 5. 14. 3, compiled in 1209/10, and then in the
Liber Extra: X 5. 31. 10).
Best, Herwig Weigl
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