2880

. July 26. Perugia. Innocent IV writes to the patriarch of Jerusalem (Robert de Nantes), relating that King [Henry I] of Cyprus, lord of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, informed him of that the law cases that sometimes arise among widows and orphans and between them and other layfolk of the Kingdom of Jerusalem have been concluded in the secular forum by ancient, approved and hitherto peacefully observed custom. But the prelates of the kingdom are dragging these layfolk before them in legal cases at the behest of these widows and orphans, and they compel them through sentence of excommunication to respond under their examination and conclude these cases in their courts, without warning those in whose jurisdiction they layfolk come, or without any prior [secular] negligence in showing the complement of justice to the widows and orphans, to the king’s prejudice. The pope orders the patriarch to warn and induce the prelates not to interfere in any way in cases that do not pertain to them without prior warning and negligence. Otherwise they shall conduct an inquiry and enforce their decision with ecclesiastical censure, papal indulgences and de duabus dietis notwithstanding.