Christian Slavery - Bad News About Christianity

If a free man has unknowingly contracted with a slave girl, and did not consent when he discovered this,
the matrimony may be put asunder, and he can contract with another.
Innocent III to Bishop H.
You know that it has come to our hearing that our beloved son G., the cardinal priest under the title of
Santa Maria in Trastevere, legate of the Apostolic See, separated our beloved son R., a nobleman and
knight, from a certain woman because of an error about her condition.
By apostolic decree, therefore, we command Your Fraternity: Carefully investigate the truth of this matter
and, if it is clear to you that this knight contracted with the slave girl unknowingly and, afterwards, when he
understood her condition, did not consent to her by word or deed (the reason their union was put asunder
by the cardinal), you may, by apostolic authority, grant him permission to contract with another woman.
Notes
1 The Authorised Version invariably uses the word servant where the natural translation is slave. Most modern translations
use the word slave (a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew "ebhedh, Greek doulos) — masters buy and sells slaves not
servants.
2. Ignatius's letter to Polycarp 4. See Andrew Louth (ed.), Maxwell Staniforth (trans.) Early Christian Writings, p 110.
3. St Augustine, City of God, Book XIX, Chapter 15.
4. Fox, Pagans and Christians, p 298, citing G Sotgiu, Arch. Class. 25/6 (1973-4) 688. Felix's collar was an inscribed
bronze collarof the late fifth or early sixth century AD, worn by a slave of the Christian archdeacon in Sardinia, reproduced
in G H R Horsley (ed), New Documents illustrating Early Christianity (Macquarie University, North Ryde, New South
Wales, 1981, pp 140-141. The inscription runs S[ervus sum] Felicis ar[ch]idiac[oni]: tene me ne fugiam, translated into
English: "I am a slave of Felix the archdeacon: hold me lest I run away", Frederick Fyvie Bruce, The Epistles to the
Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, William. B. Eerdmans Publishing, Michigan 1984, p 198.
5. Kyle Harper, Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275-425, Cambridge University Press, p 258.
6. Ibid, p 258.
7. Ibid, p 258.
8. Ibid, p 259
9. Keith Bradley, Slavery and Society at Rome, Cambridge University Press, p 148, citing the longer monastic rules of
Basil, Bishop of Caesaria, in the 370's
10. Kyle Harper, Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275-425, Cambridge University Press, p 259
11. Kyle Harper, Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275-425, Cambridge University Press, p 258
12. Kyle Harper, Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275-425, Cambridge University Press, p 498
13. Kyle Harper, Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275-425, Cambridge University Press, p 498, citing Greg Mag Ep
6:10
14. Kyle Harper, Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275-425, Cambridge University Press, p 498, citing Greg Mag Ep
9:124}
15. Decretum gratiani, Case. 32: Misuse of Marriage q. 3: Marriage of Slaves.
16. The fuller relevant passages are:
Let matrimony be put asunder when a free man has unknowingly contracted with a slave girl, unless he
had relations with her after discovering this.
Alexander the III to the Guardian and Prior of Mortari.
The woman M., the bearer of the present letter, set out to us that, after her husband had lived with her a
long time, he objected to the blemish of her servile condition and asserted that she was a slave, and that
he thought she was free when he took her as wife.
This matter was treated before our venerable brother, the bishop of Asti, and the woman, who feared that
she would be injured there, appealed to our hearing. After a short delay this man withdrew the lawsuit he
had initiated. Both are alive. Therefore, by apostolic decree, we command Your Discretion, since you have
inquired concerning this: Summon the parties before you and carefully investigate the truth of this matter.
If it is clear to you that this man knew the woman carnally after he heard she was a slave, admonish him
and compel him to take her and treat her as his wife with marital affection. But if this is not the case, and a
decree of divorce is to be given, have restitution made to the woman of the money she gave the said man
in dowry, as this is just. (Decretals of Gregory IX, Book Four, The Marriage of Slaves, C. 2)