text:
. February 27. The Lateran. Pope Innocent IV writes to the master and brothers of the Hospital of St Mary of the Teutonic knights of Jerusalem in Acre, concerning the case between them, on the one side, and the noble man Aimery Barlais of the diocese of Acre, on the other, over their casals of Arabia and Zakanin [near Acre], of which the noble despoiled them, keeping them and other things. Cardinal-Deacon Ottobono [Fieschi] of Sant’Adriano al Foro, to whom the pope committed the case, heard the parties concerned through their agents, Brother Conrad for the Teutonic Knights and Perin the Spaniard for Aimery. Conrad maintained that the Teutonic Knights had held the casals peacefully and legitimately for a long time, but that Aimery took them over by force of arms; Conrad demanded their return, 10,000 marks as the revenue they estimated Aimery received in the meantime, and 1,000 marks damages and expenses. Perin countered that Aimery had seized the casals not on his own authority, but through the executors of King [Henry I] Cyprus lord of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and by royal decree, producing as proof a document with the king’s seal claiming that the Teutonic Knights held the casals through violence and unjustly and refused to appear before the king when summoned, with the result that the king put Aimery in possession of the casals. Conrad replied that the brothers were religious and exempt from appearing before the secular court, which had no jurisdiction and could not deprive them of their casals. Perin responded that the casals were from the fief of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and thus applied to the king’s court. Conrad then asserted that the casals were given to the Teutonic Knights in alms and not taken by violence. In the end, with the pope’s mandate, in a definitive sentence the cardinal condemned Aimery to return the casals of Arabia and Zachanim and the revenues he received from them (3,000 besants per year) and to pay a certain money for the trial expenses (100 livres of Provins). Responding to the addressees’ request, the pope confirms and strengthens the cardinal’s decision, the other side’s appeal notwithstanding, since it is frivolous. The pope inserts the cardinal’s letter with the decision verbatim, dated Rome, the cardinal’s house at San Clemente, 19 February 1254, with various witnesses, including Filippo da Pizano (de Pixano) canon of Limassol and Raymond the cleric of the bishop of Limassol.*
Sources:
ASV, Reg. Vat. 23, f. 68r-v, no. 508; Innocent IV, Les registres, 3:382, no. 7344; Strehlke, Tabulae, pp. 85-88, nos. 106-7; RRH 1214
