Letter of Pope Clement VII to the Ecclesiastical Officials of Langres, Autun, and Châlons-sur-Marne

Clement, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our beloved sons, the officials of Langres, Autun, and Châlons-sur-Marne, greetings and apostolic blessing.

Some time ago, on behalf of our beloved son, the noble Geoffrey, lord of Lirey in the diocese of Troyes, a matter was laid before us, and we issued our decisions in it, as is more fully contained in our other letters.

Therefore, desiring that our will, and our statute and ordinance in this matter be observed without violation, we command that you, or two of you, or even one of you, either personally or through one or more others acting for you, should, wherever and whenever you judge it useful, solemnly publish our said will, statute, and ordinance by our authority, and that you ensure they are firmly observed by ecclesiastical sanctions, restraining and compelling those who oppose them.

This is to apply even if the dean and chapter involved, or any persons at all, whether jointly or individually, have some apostolic privilege that they cannot be placed under interdict, suspended, or excommunicated by apostolic letters, unless those letters make full and explicit mention, word for word, of that kind of privilege.

Given at Avignon, 6 January, in the twelfth year.

Note: This is the complete substance as commonly printed in critical editions. Medieval formulary sections are often abbreviated in print with “etc.”, so there is usually no longer full text in printed editions unless one works directly from the Vatican register or the BnF manuscript copy.