The ''Liber Paradisus'' (''Paradise Book'') is a law text promulgated in 1256 by the Commune of

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

which proclaimed the abolition of

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

and the release of

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

s (''servi della gleba'').

History

After the

battle of Fossalta The Battle of Fossalta was a battle of the War of the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Lombardy. It took place in Fossalta, a small location on the Panaro River, and is especially remembered for the capture of Enzio of Sardinia, son of Emperor Fr ...

(1249) almost all ''

Signorie A ''signoria'' () was the governing authority in many of the Italian city-states during the Middle Ages, Medieval and Renaissance periods. The word ''signoria'' comes from ''signore'' (), or "lord", an abstract noun meaning (roughly) "governme ...

'' (Lordships) of Bologna countryside were defeated. The result was an ethical and economic reflection on the serfs' status, until then determined by their bond to their owners, called ''Signori'' (Lords). On 25 August 1256, the

Arengo The Arengo was the name of the assembly that ruled San Marino from the fifth century A.D. to 1243, and of the popular councils which regulated the political life in Northern Italy free ''comuni'' in the Middle Ages as well. It was made up of the h ...

bell of the Palace of Podestà (Bologna) called Bolognese citizens into the

Piazza Maggiore Piazza Maggiore (''Piâza Mażåur'' in the Bolognese dialect, Bolognese language) is a central square in Bologna, region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy, largely preserving its 15th century layout. The Northwest corner opens into Piazza del Nettuno wit ...

, where the ''

Podestà (), also potestate or podesta in English, was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of central and northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a c ...

'' (head of city government, expression of urban aristocracy), Bonaccorso da Soresina, and the ''

Capitano del popolo Captain of the people () was an administrative title used in Italy during the Middle Ages, established essentially to balance the power and authority of the noble families of the Italian city-states.Najemy, John M. 2006. ''A History of Florence 1 ...

'' (head of city militia, expression of urban bourgeoisie) announced the liberation of about 6,000 serfs, owned by 400 lords. They were emancipated by the payment, from the communal treasury, of 8 (for children) or 10 (for adults) Bolognese silver lire, which was the market price. For the emancipation of 5,855 serfs, the Commune paid 54,014 Bolognese Lire. There was, arguably, some economic benefit for the city in the emancipation of so many serfs: firstly, free men were better workers; secondly, freedmen were no longer exempt from the taxes of the Commune (and, in fact, the Commune forbade freed serfs to move outside the diocese to which they belonged). In some cases, the serfs were gathered in certain ''free'' places (Italian: ''franco''), from which the names of towns like

Castelfranco Emilia Castelfranco Emilia ( Western Bolognese: ; Modenese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Modena, Emilia-Romagna, north-central Italy. The town lies about northwest of Bologna. Castelfranco either occupies or lies near the site of the ancient For ...

. Whether, however, the economic benefits outweighed the economic disadvantages caused by the loss of so much unremunerated labor is hard to assess. Whatever the case, a combination of theological and practical concerns seems to have led to the extraordinary Bolognese mass manumission, and the Liber Paradisus is a powerful theological treatise on human equality.

"Book of Paradise"

With this act, also called ''Paradisum voluptatis'', Bologna was probably the first city in the world to abolish slavery. In 1257 the Commune ordered four notaries – between them Rolandino de' Passaggeri – to catalogue names and details of freed serfs in a memorial. This book is now kept at the State Archives (in ''Piazza dei Celestini'', Bologna), and it is called ''Paradisus'' because the first written word is

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

, to remember that God created man in paradise in perfect and perpetual freedom. Latin incipit: «Paradisum voluptatis plantavit dominus Deus omnipotens a principio, in quo posuit hominem, quem formaverat, et ipsius corpus ornavit veste candenti, sibi donans perfectissimam et perpetuam libertatem» («In the beginning God planted a paradise of delights, where he put the man whom he had formed, and adorned his body of a bright dress, giving him the most perfect and perpetual freedom»)

Editions

External links

Online reading of ''Liber Paradisus''
{{Authority control 1256 works 1250s books 1250s in law 1256 in Europe 13th century in Italy Serfdom History of Bologna Abolitionism in Europe