September 2003 version, created and maintained by Trish Skinner
Extract from J. M. Powell, tr. The Liber Augustalis or Constitutions of Melfi (New York, 1971)
xxxvi ‘the repression of communal aspirations in the towns and cities of southern Italy and Sicily was more thorough and perhaps more effective than any action by the monarchy against the interests of the nobility or the church.’ p.48
I./50 [Since there are plenty of people available from whom to seek justice] we abolish the illegal usurpation that has prevailed in certain parts of our kingdom and command that from now on they should not create podestas, consuls or rectors in any districts. Also, no-one should usurp any office or jurisdiction for himself by authority of some custom or by election of the people... But if any commune establishes such officials in the future, it should suffer perpetual desolation, and all the men of that city should be held as perpetual forced labourers. But we order that anyone who has received any of the aforesaid offices should be punished by death.
p.132 XLVIII/25 We intend to preserve the healthfulness of the air insofar as we can, for it has been reserved to the attention of our provision by divine judgement. Therefore we order that no-one should be permitted to soak flax or hemp in water within a mile of any city or near a castrum so that the quality of the air may not, as we have learned for certain, be corrupted by it. If he does this he will lose the flax and hemp which has been put in the water and they will be brought to court. We order that burials of the dead which are not contained in urns should be as deep as half an ell extended. If anyone acts contrary to this, he will pay one augustalis to our court. We order that cadavers and filth that make a stench should be thrown a quarter of a mile out of the district or into the sea or river by the persons to whom they belong. If anyone acts contrary to this, he will pay to our court one augustalis for dogs or larger animals, ½ for smaller animals.
p.132/3 XLIX/26.1 We order that masters of the mechanical arts whose works are necessary for mankind should exercise their crafts legally and faithfully. We desire that gold and silversmiths, bronze and iron workers, the makers of catapults and bows, and all artisans should work with trustworthiness and zeal to the extent that each is skilled in his craft. Moreover, we especially enjoin on shield and saddlemakers that they should desire faithfully yo make buyers more secure, whether there are pictures put on with silver or with plate. They ought to strengthen saddles and shields with the needed strong ornament. We desire that butchers and fishmongers, who administer the necessities of life and from whose frauds loss can be inflicted not merely on property but also on persons, should be trustworthy in their merchandise and their marketing. They should not dare to sell breeding sows for pigs or diseased flesh or what has been kept from one day to another, or anything corrupt or infected to the loss and deception of buyers, unless they tell the buyers beforehand. Also we order that fishmongers should keep trust by not selling corrupt fish and by not keeping it from one day to another without announcing it beforehand, as we said above. All the aforementioned should announce in advance the defect of the things to be sold on his trust and should not sell food prepared the day before and reheated on the next day without also making a prior announcement. Candle sellers should also make them carefully and should not mix anything with them at the expense of the buyers and should not include anything in them except cotton paper, or if they do, they should be sure to inform the buyers at that time. 27 Moreover, we forbid tavern-keepers and winesellers of any kind to dare to sell watered wine as pure. 28 No-one may work gold that contains less than 8oz pure gold per pound. Likewise, no-one may work silver that is known to contain less than 11oz per pound. This should be the rule whether artisans make cheap work of this kind for themselves or fashion work out of materials received from another, like seal-rings, clasps, dishes or gold and silver cups, in which they try to mix something besides the aforesaid amount and content of the materials from the owners. [Two men appointed by bailiffs and announce artisan frauds to court...] Anyone apprehended in fraud for the first time, if he makes counterfeit works or sells forbidden or corrupt food or watered wine for pure, will pay 1lb of purest gold to our fisc. If he cannot pay because of his poverty, he should be beaten. If he is apprehended again in the same crime, he should lose a hand. If he is apprehended committing the same crimes a third time, he should undergo the penalty of death on the forks, which he has fully merited by committing illegal acts and not correcting the things he has done...
p.135 LI/30 All sellers should sell their merchandise at legitimate weights and measures. If anyone has been found to have acted falsely or to have committed other frauds in weights and measures, he shall pay 1lb of purest gold to the fisc. If he can’t he should be publicly beaten through the land in which he committed the fraud, with the weight or measure hung round his neck for a punishment... If apprehended a second time, his hand to be amputated. If a third, he is to be hanged.