The efforts of Church Councils to mitigate the worst evils of
slavery and serfdom were unremitting, though the very frequency
of such legislation as is quoted in this section is adequate testimony
to the ineffectiveness of the law. Violent seizure of those manu-
mitted, sale of slaves to foreign peoples, and all manner of crimes
against them, including that of murder, were the subjects of dis-
cussion at diocesan, national, and ecumenical councils down to the
twelfth century at least. There was no opposition to slavery as such,
merely injunctions to men not to maltreat their slaves, though some
of the Fathers thought the whole institution wrong. St. Thomas
Aquinas found it justifiable, quoting Aristotle and the Roman Civil
Law, and approving of the doctrine first propounded by St. Augus-
tine that slavery is just as a consequence of sin. Indeed he says that
"inducing a slave to leave his master is properly an injury against
the person...since the slave is his master's chattel, it is referred
to as theft." Medieval churchmen therefore defended slavery as a
property right and as a means to the exercise of Christian charity.
Hence, we do not find its abolition being urged by Church Councils,
but we do find insistence on the precept of treating one's neighbor
(even though he be a slave) as one's self. At the same time the
Councils took care to protect the Church from attack by refusing
to ordain those who were not free lest the principle of private prop-
erty be violated, and lest the lord of the ordained serf should sub-
sequently reclaim him.

Manumitted slaves were given as freedmen reasonable liberty and
holdings sufficient for their sustenance. Freedom, once granted, was ir-

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