The Foundation Of The Mediaeval

The penitential system, as it was organized in the Western Church in the

sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, was but the carrying out of

principles which had appeared elsewhere in Christendom and were involved

in the primitive method of dealing with moral delinquents by the

authorities of the Church. [See the epistles of Basil the Great to

Amphilochius (Ep. 189, 199, 217) in PNF, ser. II, vol. VIII.] Similar

problems had to be handled everywhere whenever the Church came to deal

with moral conduct, and much the same solution was found everywhere. There

is, however, no known connection between the earliest penitentials of the

Western Church, those of Ireland, and the similar books of the East. There

is no need of supposing that there was a connection. But in the case of

the works attributed to Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury,

himself a Greek and probably a native of Tarsus, there is a provable

connection which is evident to any one reading his work, as he refers to

Basil and others. The characteristics of the Western penitentials are

their minute division of sins, their exact determination of penances for

each sin, and the great extent to which they were used in the practical

work of the Church. They serve as the first crude beginnings of a moral

theology of a practical character, such as would be needed by the poorly

trained parish clergy of the times in dealing with their flocks. On

account of the nature of these works, it is hardly necessary or expedient

to give more than a few brief extracts in addition to references to

sources. Much of the matter is extremely offensive to modern taste.





(a) King AEthelberht, Laws. Thorpe, Ancient Laws and Institutes

(Rolls Series), 1 ff.





The Early Germanic Codes are full of regulations whereby for an

injury the aggrieved party, or his family in case of his death,

could be prevented from retaliating in kind upon the aggressor and

his family. This was effected by a money payment as compensation

for damages sustained, and the amount for each sort of injury was

carefully regulated by law, i.e., by ancient custom, which was

reduced to writing in the sixth century in some cases. The Laws

of AEthelberht are written in Anglo-Saxon and are probably the

earliest in a Teutonic language. For a translation of

characteristic portions of the Salic Law, which should be

compared with the Laws of AEthelberht to show the universality of

the same system, see Henderson, Select Historical Documents of

the Middle Ages, p. 176, London, 1892; also Hodgkin, Italy and

Her Invaders, VI, 183, for the Lombard law of Rothari, a little

later, but of the same spirit.





21. If any man slay another, let him make bot with a half leod-geld of 100

shillings.



22. If any man slay another at an open grave, let him pay 20 shillings and

pay the whole leod within 40 days.



23. If a stranger retire from the land, let his kindred pay a half leod.



24. If any one bind a freeman, let him make bot with 20 shillings.



25. If any one slay a ceorl's hlaf-aeta,(269) let him make bot with 5

shillings.



38. If a shoulder be lamed,(270) let bot be made with 12 shillings.



39. If the ear be struck off, let bot be made with 12 shillings.



40. If the other ear hear not, let bot be made with 25 shillings.



41. If an eye be struck out, let bot be made with 50 shillings.



51. For each of the four front teeth, 6 shillings; for the tooth that

stands next to them, 4 shillings; for that which stands next to that, 3

shillings, and then afterward 1 shilling.





(b) Vinnian, Penitential. Wasserschleben, Die Bussordnungen der

abendlaendischen Kirche, 108 ff.





This is one of the earliest of the penitentials and belongs to the

Irish Church.





1. If one has committed in his heart a sin of thought and immediately

repents of it, let him smite his breast and pray God for forgiveness and

perform satisfaction because he has sinned.



2. If he has often thought of the sins and thinks of committing them, and

is then victor over the thought or is overcome by it, let him pray God and

fast day and night until the wicked thought disappears and he is sound

again.



3. If he has thought on a sin and determines to commit it, but is

prevented in the execution, so is the sin the same, but not the

penance.(271)



6. If a cleric has planned in his heart to smite or kill his neighbor, he

shall do penance half a year on bread and water according to the

prescribed amount, and for a whole year abstain from wine and the eating

of meat, and then may he be permitted again to approach the altar.



7. If it is a layman, he shall do penance for a whole week; for he is a

man of this world and his guilt is lighter in this world and his

punishment in the future is less.



8. If a cleric has smitten his brother [i.e., a clergyman] or his

neighbor and drawn blood he shall do penance a whole year on bread and

water; he may not fill any clerical office, but must with tears pray to

God for himself.



9. Is he a layman, he shall do penance for 40 days, and according to the

judgment of the priest or some other righteous man pay a determined sum of

money.





(c) Theodore of Tarsus, Penitential, I. Haddan and Stubbs, III, 73

ff.





For Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury, see W. Stubbs,

art. "Theodorus of Tarsus" in DCB. That he wrote a penitential is

not certain. But that he was regarded as the author of a

penitential is clear enough. In fact, his name is attached to

penitentials in much the same way as David's name is attached to

the whole book of Psalms. For a discussion of the various works

attributed to Theodore, see Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and

Ecclesiastical Documents, loc. cit. This is a characteristic

penitential and may be regarded as following closely the decisions

and opinions of Theodore. Much of it is unprintable in English.





Cap. I. On drunkenness. 1. If any bishop or other person ordained is

customarily given to the vice of drunkenness, let him cease from it or be

deposed.



2. If a monk vomit from drunkenness, let him do 30 days' penance.



3. If a presbyter or deacon do the same, let him do 40 days' penance.



4. If any one by infirmity or because he has abstained for a long time,

and it is not his habit to drink or eat much, or for joy at Christmas or

at Easter, or for the commemoration of any of the saints, does this, and

he has not taken more than is decreed by the elders, he has done no wrong.

If the bishop should have commanded, he does no harm to him unless he

himself does likewise.



5. If a believing layman vomits from drunkenness, let him do 15 days'

penance.



6. He who becomes drunk against the commandment of the Lord, if he has a

vow of holiness let him do penance 7 days on bread and water, and 70 days

without fat; the laity without beer.



7. Whoever out of malice makes another drunk, let him do penance 40 days.



8. Whoever vomits from satiety let him do penance 3 days.



9. If with the sacrifice of the communion, let him do penance 7 days; but

if out of infirmity, he is without guilt.



Cap. II. On fornication.



Cap. III. On theft.



Cap. IV. On the killing of men. [This should be compared with the

secular laws.]



1. If any one out of vengeance for a relative kill a man, let him do

penance as for homicide 7 or 10 years. If, however, he is willing to

return to relatives the money of valuation [Weregeld, according to the



secular rating], the penance will be lighter, that is by one-half the

length.



2. He who kills a man for vengeance for his brother, let him do penance 3

years; in another place he is said to do penance 10 years.



3. But homicides 10 or 7 years.



4. If a layman kills another man with thoughts of hatred, if he does not

wish to relinquish his arms, let him do penance 7 years, without flesh and

wine 3 years.



5. If any one kills a monk or a clergyman, let him relinquish his arms and

serve God(272) or do 7 years' penance. He is in the judgment of the

bishop. But he who kills a bishop or a presbyter, the judgment concerning

him is in the king.



6. He who by the command of his lord kills a man, let him keep away from

the church 40 days; and he who kills a man in a public war, let him do

penance 40 days.



7. If out of wrath, 3 years; if by chance, 1 year; if by drink or any

contrivance, 4 years or more; if by strife, let him do penance 10

years.(273)



Cap. V. Concerning those who are deceived by a heresy.



Cap. VI. Concerning perjury.



Cap. VII. Concerning many and various wrong acts and those necessary

things which are not harmful.



Cap. VIII. Concerning various failings of the servants of God.



Cap. IX. Concerning those who are degraded or cannot be ordained.



Cap. X. Concerning those who are baptized twice, how they shall do

penance.



Cap. XI. Concerning those who violate the Lord's Day and the appointed

fasts of the Church.



Cap. XII. Concerning the communion of the eucharist or the sacrifice.



Cap. XIII. Concerning reconciliation.



Cap. XIV. Especially concerning the penance of those who marry.



Cap. XV. Concerning the worship of idols.





(d) Bede, Penitential, ch. XI. Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and

Ecclesiastical Documents, III, 32.





The Penitential of Bede is to be distinguished from the Liber de

Remediis Peccatorum attributed to him, cf. Haddan and Stubbs,

op. cit., who print the genuine penitential. It belongs to the

period before 725. In not a few points it closely resembles that

of Theodore. The concluding passage here given is to be found in

many penitentials with but little variation. It is probably as

early as the work itself, although apparently not by Bede. It is a

method of commuting penances. In place of fasting inordinate or

impossible lengths of time, other penances could be substituted.

In later ages still other forms of commutation were introduced.

Even money payments were used as commutation of penance.





XI. On Counsel to be Given.



We read in the penitential of doing penance on bread and water, for the

great sins one year or two or three years, and for little sins a month or

a week. Likewise in the case of some the conditions are harsh and

difficult. Therefore to him who cannot do these things we give the counsel

that psalms, prayers, and almsgiving ought to be performed some days in

penance for these; that is, that psalms are for one day when he ought to

do penance on bread and water. Therefore he should sing fifty psalms on

his knees, and if not on his knees seventy psalms inside the church or in

one place. For a week on bread and water, let him sing on his knees three

hundred psalms in order and in the church or in one place. And for one

month on bread and water, one thousand five hundred psalms kneeling, or if

not kneeling one thousand eight hundred and twenty, and afterward let him

fast every day until the sixth hour and abstain from flesh and wine; but

whatsoever other food God has given him let him eat, after he has sung the

psalms. And he who does not know psalms ought to do penance and to fast,

and every day let him give to the poor the value of a denarius, and fast

one day until the ninth hour, and the next until vespers, and after that

whatsoever he has let him eat.