Anonymous

“ Which holy church we command to be spoken of, cherished, venerated and preached of, as the head and summit of all the churches in the whole world—as we have commanded through our other imperial decrees. ”

“ Our most gracious serenity desires, in clear discourse, through the page of this our imperial decree, to bring to the knowledge of all the people in the whole world what things our Saviour and Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the most High Father, has most wonderfully seen fit to bring about by the intervention of our father Sylvester, the highest pontiff and the universal pope. ”

“ Peter we performed for him the duty of groom; decreeing that all the pontiffs his successors, and they alone, may use that tiara in processions.
In imitation of our own power, in order that for that cause the supreme pontificate may not deteriorate, but may rather be adorned with power and glory even more than is the dignity of an earthly rule: behold we—giving over to the oft-mentioned most blessed pontiff, our father Sylvester the universal pope, as well our palace, as has been said, as also the city of Rome and all the provinces, districts and cities of Italy or of the western regions ”

“ He did not cease to be what He had been, but began to be what He had not been, perfect God and perfect man: as God, performing miracles; as man, sustaining human sufferings. We so learned Him to be very man and very God by the preaching of our father Sylvester, the supreme pontiif, that we can in no wise doubt that He was very God and very man. And, having chosen twelve apostles, He shone with miracles before them and an innumerable multitude of people. ”

“ I—together with all our satraps and the whole senate and the nobles and all the Roman people, "who are subject to the glory of our rule—considered it advisable that, as on earth he (Peter) is seen to have been constituted vicar of the Son of God, so the pontiffs, who are the representatives of that same chief of the apostles, should obtain from us and our empire the power of a supremacy greater than the earthly clemency of our imperial serenity is seen to have had conceded to it,—we choosing that same prince of the apostles, or his vicars, to be our constant intercessors with God. ”

“ We confess these, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, in such way that, in the perfect Trinity, there shall also be a fulness of divinity and a unity of power. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God ”

“ The crier of parliament shall stand without the door of the parliament, and the usher shall announce to him what he is to cry. The king usually sent his men-at-arms to stand in the great space before the door of parliament, to guard the door, so that no one should make attacks against the door or disturbances before it, through which the parliament might be impeded, under penalty of bodily capture. For according to law the door of parliament may not be closed, but shall be guarded by the usher and the men-at-arms of the king. ”

“ All the peers of parliament shall sit, and no one shall stand except when he speaks; and he shall so speak that every one in parliament may hear him. No one shall enter the parliament, or go out from parliament, unless through the one door; and whenever any one says something that is to be deliberated upon by the parliament, he shall always stand when he speaks; the reason is that he may be heard by his peers, for all his peers are judges and justices. ”

“ For let all the people and the nations of the races in the whole world rejoice with us; we exhorting all of you to give unbounded thanks, together with us, to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For He is God in Heaven above and on earth below, who, visiting us through His holy apostles, made us worthy to receive the holy sacrament of baptism and health of body. ”

“ The king, after the announcement, ought, on behalf of the parliament, to ask the clergy and laity, naming all their grades—namely the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, archdeacons, representatives and others of the clergy, counts, barons, knights, citizens, burgesses, and other laymen—that they diligently, studiously and heartily labour to treat of and deliberate upon the business of parliament: according as they shall learn and feel, in the first place that this is, principally and chiefly, according to the will of God ”

“ The dismissal of parliament is, by custom, managed thus:—First it should be asked and publicly proclaimed in parliament, and within the confines of parliament, if there is any one who has handed in a petition to the parliament, and has not yet received a reply. But, if no one calls out, it is to be supposed that every one has been satisfied, or at least a reply given as far as there lawfully can. ”

“ The king is in every way bound to be personally present in parliament, unless he be detained by bodily sickness; and then he can keep his room, provided it do not lie beyond the manor, or at least the town, where the parliament is held; in which case he ought to send for twelve of the greater and more illustrious men who have been summoned to parliament: two bishops, namely, two earls, two barons, two knights of the shires, two citizens and two burgesses,—to view his person and testify about his condition. ”

“ Therefore, the virtues of the Heavens and all the material part of the earth having been perfected, by the wise nod of His wisdom first creating man of the clay of the earth in His own image and likeness, He places him in a paradise of delight. ”

“ Wherefore we have perceived it to be fitting that our empire and the power of our kingdom should be transferred and changed to the regions of the East; and that, in the province of Byzantium, in a most fitting place, a city should be built in our name; and that our empire should there be established. For, where the supremacy of priests and the head of the Christian religion has been established by a heavenly Ruler, it is not just that there an earthly ruler should have jurisdiction. ”

“ And if he do not then come, there shall be sent to him two of his peers, to view and testify to such infirmity; and if there be suspicion, those two peers shall swear that in this matter they tell the truth. And if it shall be found that he has been feigning, he shall be fined as if for default. And if he have not been feigning, then he shall, in their presence, empower some suitable person to be present in parliament for him; nor can a healthy man be excused if he be of sound mind. ”

“ An archbishop, or bishop, or one of the greater clergy who is discreet and eloquent, and who is chosen by the archbishop in whose province the parliament is held, should preach, on one of those first five days of parliament ”

“ If any one, moreover,—which we do not believe—prove a scorner or despiser in this matter, he shall be subject and bound over to eternal damnation; and shall feel that the holy chiefs of the apostles of God, Peter and Paul, will be opposed to him in the present and in the future life. And, being burned in the nethermost hell, he shall perish with the devil and all the impious.
The page, moreover, of this our imperial decree, we, confirming it with our own hands, did place above thv venerable body of St. ”