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[1.] [Bar., tit. I c. 3] Beneficium intelligitur quasi ex bono praeterito vel praesenti vel futuro facto et licito, et generaliter habet in se servitium et fidelitatem; nisi ex pacto excipiatur, ut fit saepius. De fidelitate autem sapientes aliter opinantur. Respiciunt autem ad personam dantis vel recipientis beneficium, vel ad beneficii quantitatem. Si enim dominus et vasallus nunquam de fidelitate cogitavit, pro nimia parvitate beneficii, quis unquam contradixit? [2.] [Bar., tit. IV c. 7] Beneficium paternum sive hereditarium intelligitur feudum patris vel proavi, usque ad infinitum. [3.] [Bar., tit. VI c. 4] Beneficium intelligitur investitura cum traditione. Ex quo ita fit, ut, si quis primo investiatur re nondum tradita, ille, cui posterior investitura cum traditione facta fuerit, potior habeatur. [4.] [Bar., tit. VIII c. 33] Si uni propter propriam culpam feudum abdicatum1 fuerit, aliis non nocet, nisi ad tempus, id est donec heredes illius inculpati fuerint. |
Appendix 2 Supplementary chapters by Baraterius [1.] [Bar., tit. I c. 3] ‘Benefice’ is understood [to derive] in some way from a good and lawful act, whether past, present, or future, and it generally involves the provision of service and fealty—unless an exception is made by agreement, as is very often done. Concerning fealty, however, the experts have a different opinion. They also pay attention to the person who gives or receives the benefice and to the size of the benefice: for if neither the lord nor the vassal has ever considered [an oath of] fealty because the benefice is too small,1 who has ever objected to that? [2.] [Bar., tit. IV c. 7] An ‘ancestral’ or ‘hereditary’ benefice is understood to be a fief that belonged to the father or a previous ancestor ad infinitum. [3.] [Bar., tit. VI c. 4] A benefice is understood to be an investiture with a transfer of possession. Hence, it so comes about that, if anyone is first invested and the property has not yet been transferred, a person to whom a later investiture has been made with a transfer of possession is considered to be in a stronger position. [4.] [Bar., tit. VIII c. 33] If a fief has been taken from anyone because of his own fault, this does not harm others,2 except temporarily—that is, as long as there are heirs of the one who was proved guilty. |
V2 abiudicatum.
Lit., because of the excessive smallness of the benefice.
I.e., coheirs or fellow fief-holders.
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[5.] [Bar., tit. XII c. 8] Si quis nominatim de beneficio alicuius militis investiatur, inutilis est investitura, quia inde occultum et nequissimum homicidium posset oriri et periurium et alia nefanda evenire possent. Unde et si de beneficio alicuius,1 ‘cum primo apertum fuerit’, aliquis investiatur, cum propter hoc magis occulte malitia perpetrari possit, magis inutilis est investitura. [6.] [Bar., tit. XIII c. 20] Si unus vasallus domino refutaverit, non praeiudicat ceteris. [7.] [Bar., tit. XV c. 13] Illud quoque curialis usus memoriae tradere curavimus, ut, si qualiscunque controversia inter dominum et vasallum fuerit, et exinde dominus ad suos milites conquestus fuerit, tunc pares curiam faciant, et ex se ipsis legatos primo, secundo et tertio suo pari dirigant, tribus dilationibus datis, quarum prima quindecim dierum intercapedinem habeat, secunda triginta, tertia quadraginta; et eo non veniente, nec idoneam excusationem faciente, tunc pares dominum possessorem faciant, salvis beneficiis. Pari ratione salva profecto ratio intelligatur, si certis excusationibus suam contumeliam intra annum purgaverit. Et si quidem veniens se excusare non potuerit, hoc domino laudatione parium emendet, et possessionem beneficii accipiat, et iustitiam, prout res exigit, domino laudatione parium faciat. [8.] [Bar., tit. XV c. 14] Si de allodio aliaque re extra beneficium inter dominum et vasallum contentio fuerit, tunc pares ad iudicem legis, vel alibi, id est, ad arbitros mittant eos. Sed si de proprio beneficio, sua sententia dirimant. Similiter si dominum offensum habuerit, sua sen- |
[5.] [Bar., tit. XII c. 8] If anyone is expressly invested with a benefice of some other knight, the investiture is ineffective because covert and most depraved murder could arise from this, and perjury, as well as other abominable actions, could result. And, consequently, if someone is invested with a benefice ‘as soon as it becomes vacant’, since for this reason cruelty might be perpetrated even more covertly, the investiture is even more so ineffective. [6.] [Bar., tit. XIII c. 20] If one vassal renounces [his fief] to his lord, this does not prejudice others.1 [7.] [Bar., tit. XV c. 13] We have taken care to commit to memory also this ‘curialis usus’.2 If there is any kind of dispute between a lord and a vassal, and, as a result, the lord brings a complaint before his knights, then the [vassal’s] peers are to hold court and send messengers, from among themselves, to their [accused] peer a first, a second, and a third time. After three deferrals have been allowed—the first of which is to allow an interval of fifteen days, the second thirty, the third forty—if he does not appear nor gives an appropriate excuse, then the peers are to make the lord the possessor, without prejudice to [the rights inherent to] benefices. For the same reason, the [vassal’s] argument is to be considered utterly unaffected if he purges his fault with proven excuses within a year. But if he appears and cannot justify himself, he is to compensate the lord according to the judgment of his peers, then receive possession of the benefice, and do justice to the lord, as the case requires, by the judgment of his peers. [8.] [Bar., tit. XV c. 14] If there is a dispute between a lord and a vassal over an allod or another property other than a benefice, then the peers are to send them to a judge of the law, or elsewhere—i.e. to arbitrators. But if [the dispute concerns] a proper benefice, [peers] are to resolve it by their judgment. Similarly, if [the vassal] has committed an offence against the lord, |
V2 omits alicuius.
I.e., coheirs and fellow fief-holders.
For ‘curialis usus’ or ‘usus curialis’, see Glossary.
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tentia dirimant. Si inter duos vasallos, tunc domini cognitio est. Et si vasallus spernit ad iudices ire, pares per feudum constringant vasallum, dantes domino beneficii possessionem. |
[the peers] are to resolve the dispute by their judgment. If [the dispute is] between two vassals, then the lord has to take cognisance. And if the vassal disdains to go before the judges, the peers should compel the vassal through his fief, giving the lord possession of the benefice. |