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CHAPTER XIII - THE CHANCES OF LIBERATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2010

G. G. Coulton
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Summary

Let us begin with the question of manumission; for this is perhaps the most significant line of enquiry; that on which the fullest evidence can be found, and which has been treated in greatest detail by advocates on both sides. There is much in the Bible, there is much in the medieval creed, to favour the enfranchisement of bondfolk; in the realm of mere theory, the question might seem simple; but how far were Biblical texts and medieval churchmen practically operative in this direction? Here, again, modern writers are commonly content to echo Montalembert, or at best to quote the monograph in which Paul Allard has embroidered upon his master, or Kröss's reply to Brecht. Allard's main thesis is that of the Church's liberating rôle. He quotes from Montalembert a passage which, taken at its face-value, might seem to carry great weight (p. 207):

As Montalembert has justly remarked, it might be said that [Gregory the Great] signed the death-warrant of slavery in advance, in this following preamble to a deed of enfranchisement: “Seeing that the Redeemer and Creator of the world vouchsafed to take man's flesh in order by the grace of freedom to break the chain of our servitude and to restore us to our first liberty, therefore we act well and wholesomely in restoring the blessing of original liberty to men whom nature hath made free, and whom human laws have bowed under the yoke of servitude. […]

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The Medieval Village , pp. 151 - 165
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010
First published in: 1925

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