10 - Of Adultery and Divorce

Summary

Adultery must be severely punished.

So awful is the wickedness of adultery that it is specifically attacked by one of the ten commandments, and under the ancient divine laws promulgated by Moses, it was also punished by the culprit's being stoned to death by the people and buried under the stones, and furthermore, it was also punishable by death according to the civil law. It therefore follows that a crime so hateful to God and visited by our godly forefathers with a punishment specially designed for it, must not be passed over by our ecclesiastical judges without the most severe punishment.

How ministers convicted of adultery shall be punished.

Let us begin with the ministers of the church, whose lives ought to be particularly blameless. If one of them is convicted of adultery, fornication or incest, all his goods and property shall pass to his wife, if he has one of his own, and to the children, whether they were born of her or are the lawful fruit of a previous marriage. But if he has neither wife nor children of his own all his property shall be divided among the poor or devoted to other works of godliness, at the judge's discretion. Furthermore, if he holds a benefice, he shall lose it from the time he is convicted of adultery, incest or fornication, and shall be ineligible to obtain any other. Moreover, he shall either be condemned to perpetual banishment or else consigned to the darkness of the dungeon for life.

Laicus quomodo puniendus.

Laicus crimen adulterii damnatus uxori suae dotem restituito; deinde bonorum universorum dimidiam partem eidem uxori concedito. Praeterea, vel in perpetuum exilium ito, vel aeternae carceris custodiae mancipator.

Uxores sive ministrorum sive laicorum quomodo puniendae.

Uxores ex contraria parte, tam laicorum quam ministrorum, si crimen adulterii contra illas probatum fuerit, et iudex adversus illo/as pronuntiaverit, dotibus carebunt, et omnibus emolumentis quae vel [ex] ullo regni nostri in re iure vel m… consuetudine vel pacto vel promisso poterant ex bonis maritorum ad illas descendere, tum etiam vel in sempiternum exilium eiicientur, vel perpetuae carceris custodiae mandabuntur.

Integra persona transit ad novas nuptias legitime.

[49r] Cum alter coniunx adulterii damnatus est, alteri licebit innocenti novum ad matrimonium (si v[e/o]1[i/e]t) progredi. Nec enim usque adeo debet integra persona crimine alieno premi, coelibatus ut invite possit obtrudi.