The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

PROTECTION OF AGRICULTURE. IO9
The greatest credit is due to the Pope for the improvement
effected in agriculture in the Campagna, and the estabhshment
of granaries in Rome. After he had, in September, 1566,
set up the tribunal of agriculture, he issued, on October nth
in the same year, a constitution which has deservedly become
famous, which afforded protection and support of all kinds
to agriculture in the Campagna, secured the importation of
grain into Rome, and strictly forbade every kind of monopoly.
Anyone who offended in this respect, be he baron, bishop, or
even Cardinal, was subject to the severest penalties. In his
care for the well-being of his subjects, the Pope constantly
saw to it that the officials in charge of the supply of grain,
who were partly municipal and partty subject to the Apostolic
Camera, and who fixed the price of grain, should always supply
it to the bakers at the same fixed price, however high might
be the price at which it was purchased.^ Especially in times
of famine, as for example in 1568 and 1569, the Pope made
unwearied efforts to meet the scarcity, and to prevent any kind
of usurious profit being made out of the crisis. The people
must have bread at a fair price, since, as he was accustomed
to say, it is written in the Bible : qui abscondii fnimenta,
maledicetur in populis. (Prov. xi 26.)^
1 Cf. Catena, 53 seq. ; Gabutius, 206 seq. For these two
ordinances see Bull. Rom., VII., 481 seq., 484 seq. Besides
Nicolai, II., 37 seq., see also de Cupis, 151 seq., 153 seq., and
the same author's Saggio bibl. degU scritti e delle leggi sulfagro
Romano, Rome, 1903, 146, and Usi civili nell'agro Romano,
Rome, 1906, 21 seq. ; also Ardant, Papes et paysans, Paris,
1891, 147 seq.: Tomassetti, I., 215; Rodocanachi, Institutions,
280. An *Avviso di Roma of July 6, 1569, announces
that on the previous day the Pope had taken 30,000 scudi from
the Castle of St. Angelo for the " abondanza," and had sent
20,000 to the Marches for grain. Urb. 1041, p. 106, Vatican
Library.
2 Cf. Catena, 53 seq., and the *Avvisi di Roma of August 17
and September 24, 1569, August 12, 1570, and September 12,
1571, Urb. 1040, p. 133, 146 ; 1041, p. 318 ; 1042, p. 112, Vatican
Library. See also Bull. Rom., VII., S48 seq.