The Latin and Greek Churches in former Byzantine Lands 163
holy orders, to the financial detriment of their lords who were thereby deprived
of their labour, was restricted, so that henceforth no Greek serf could do so
without the consent of his lord. When Latin bishops ordained a Greek outside
his lord’s domain they had to replace him, and even when Greeks left their
place of origin on account of ordination they had to leave their families behind
and be replaced. Those Greeks leaving the island to be ordained could be sus-
pended by the Latin diocesan and recalled to their initial servitude by their
feudal lords, and Greek bishops in Cyprus ordaining them without the per-
mission of the feudal lord and the Latin diocesan were to be suspended from
office. In the second agreement of 1222 confirmed in 1223 by Pope Honorius iii
limits were set on the number of Greeks becoming monks, with an upper limit
placed on the number of Greek monks in each monastery. Monasteries exceed-
ing the limit were to have their numbers reduced by the death or translation of
the surplus monks, and could recruit new monks only when their number fell
below the limit. Greek clergy were relieved of paying poll tax or of performing
manual labour, two privileges providing an additional incentive to limit their
numbers. The agreement also safeguarded those properties and charitable
donations given to the Greek Church by Latin nobles from future confiscation,
an important provision showing that the Greek Church did acquire new prop-
erties following the Latin conquest and that these were acknowledged and
protected.43
Efforts to limit the number of Greek clergy were also undertaken in Latin
Greece, once again for economic reasons. An agreement that Pope Honorius iii
concluded with Geoffrey de Villehardouin on 4 September 1223 decreed that
two priests would serve villages with between 25 and 70 hearths, four those
with between 70 and 125 hearths, and six those villages with over 125 hearths.
Villages with less than 25 hearths would be served by priests in the nearest
village. In Latin Greece Greek clergy were likewise exempted from payment of
the poll tax and the performance of manual labour. Nonetheless, they had to
pay the acrosticum, could not celebrate the divine offices without the consent
of the Latin clergy, could not be ordained from the ranks of the laity or obtain
promotion to holy orders over and above a predetermined number. These pro-
visions suffered in the execution. Over a decade previously, in 1210, Archbishop
Antelm of Patras had complained to Pope Innocent iii of how despite rulings
to the contrary the local lords still required Greek priests to perform manual
duties and were preventing them from showing the due obedience to Latin
prelates. In addition Latin clergy were forced to file claims for the restitution
of church property in secular courts because Geoffrey de Villehardouin and
43 Coureas and Schabel, Cartulary, nos. 82–84 and 95.