Letter 20

From: The Austrasian Court To: [Administrative recipient] Date: ~555 AD Context: An administrative letter dealing with the governance of church properties and the resolution of a specific dispute between a monastery and local secular authorities. To our loyal servant and administrator, The dispute between the monastery of Saint Remigius and the count's representatives in that district has been brought to our attention, and we have considered it carefully. The monastery's claim that its lands are exempt from the public levies that apply to secular properties rests on a grant made by our grandfather, which grant is on record in our treasury and appears to be authentic. The count's position — that the exemption applies only to the original grant and not to properties subsequently acquired by the monastery — is not without legal basis, but it is not the interpretation we find most persuasive on the evidence. We therefore direct that the monastery's claimed exemption be honored for all properties acquired before the date of the present letter, and that disputes about properties acquired after that date be brought directly to our court for adjudication. We also direct that the count's officials cease the collection of levies from monastery property pending this resolution, and that any amounts already collected under the disputed claim be returned within thirty days. We expect compliance with this direction and ask you to report to us that it has been implemented. By order of the king