The Sardinian Church 203
he could be protected from simony and the interference of the lay world. It fol-
lowed that laypeople were obliged to pay first-fruits and tithes and to respect
wills for “spiritual causes,” which were exempt—like church belongings—
from the jurisdiction of the lay tribunal. Bishops and clergymen were still free
to contribute to the needs of their respective communities, although they were
advised to consult the pope.
Beside the central figure of the bishop, there emerged the role of the chap-
ter. Guided by its archpriest, the chapter was independent of the bishop in the
management of the assets of the cathedral. Its members, at least theoretically,
were held to a near-monastic way of life (insimul vivant, dormiant et mandu-
cent). As for the clergymen that administered the assets of the church to which
they had been assigned, before their death they were allowed to divest only
that which they could demonstrate, before the bishop, belonged to them and
not to the church.
The canons regarding the mores and honestas clericorum reflected the ne-
cessity of differentiating laymen and clergy. However, one area in which the
clerici did not seem to distance themselves from the lascivia laicorum was the
practice of concubinage, which was discouraged by creating a zone of scorched
earth around the guilty priest and going so far as to reduce any offspring of
such a union to slavery, even if the woman herself was free but refused to aban-
don the priest. This amounted to a kind of progress in terms of this offense, but
it involved a certain barbarization in that the Sardinian synod—in contrast to
the Fourth Lateran Council, which called for the suspension of the priest and
the termination of his benefice—dealt very harshly with the women and chil-
dren. Besides, there were clerics who simply left the cura animarum to their
own sons:72 a clear indication that this phenomenon was not very unusual is
the fact that the papal legate had the power to absolve this crimen.
No less worrying were the cases of violence (with steel or poison) perpe-
trated by clerics against their bishops.73 The backwardness of Sardinia in the
instruction of the clergy was at least provisionally rectified by a rule that each
episcopal see should found a grammar school and, in the metropolitan sees,
a school of theology. In Sardinia, this obligation was reduced to the establish-
ment of a grammar school in the latter areas, although there is no evidence of
compliance with this minimal prescript.74 There were also cases of bishops
who were so ignorant that they were unable to teach and preach, as well as
cases of simony and the abuse of laypersons.
72 Ibid., p. 84.
73 Sanna, Innocenzo III e la Sardegna, pp. 321–334.
74 Zichi, “Note sul codice di S. Giusta,” p. 85.