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The Crusades 339 a. tallages, and other taxes. And we have taken their per- sons and property, after the assumption of the cross, under St. Peter's and our own protection, and we have decided that their defense shall be intrusted to the archbishops, bishops, and all the prelates of the Church. We have also appointed officers of our own especially for their protection, in order that their property may be kept intact and uninjured until their death or return is known with certainty. And if any- one attempts any attack upon their property, he shall be restrained by ecclesiastical censure. If any of those setting out thither are bound by oath to They are pay interest, we command that their cr^ditpj^^halLhe-com- ^ e g ed fr ^ nt pelted by the same means to release them from their oaths O f interest, and to desist from the exaction of interest. But if any creditor shall compel them to pay interest, we order that he shall be forced, by a similar chastisement, to pay it back. We command that the Jews, however, shall be compelled Jews to be by the secular power to remit interest; and until they remit ^^ ^ ebts it all faithful Christians shall, under penalty of excommuni- O wed them cation, refrain from every species of intercourse with them. b y crusaders. For those, moreover, who are unable at present to pay their debts to the Jews, the secular princes shall provide by a useful delay, so that after they begin their journey they shall suffer no inconvenience from interest, until their death or return is known with certainty. The Jews shall be com- pelled, after deducting the necessary expenses, to count the income which they receive in the meantime from the mort- gaged property toward the payment of the principal; since Mediaeval a favor of this kind, which defers the payment and does not P ohtlcal 11 * economy. cancel the debt, does not seem to cause much loss. More- over let the prelates of the Church who are proven to be negligent in doing justice to the crusaders and their families, understand that they shall be severely punished. Therefore, trusting in the mercy of omnipotent God and Indulgences in the authority of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, by f^"^ that power of binding and loosing which God has conferred an d those on us, although unworthy, we grant to all who undergo the who aid difficulties in their own person and at their own expense, *