THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 49 



yearly of certain of his lord's acres, and might not marry with- 

 out his lord's will ; he found life harassed by restrictions and 

 obligations that made him in reality a serf. Although villein- 

 age was common enough in England in the XIV century, 

 slavery in its worst forms was nearly abolished ; and in France 

 the King issued an edict for all serfs to be free on payment of 

 a petty ransom to the Crown. In the towns workmen were 

 free ; but the first English " Statute of Labourers," passed in 

 1349, ordained that under penalty, all workmen must work in 

 their own districts, and for the rate of wages common three 

 years before passage of that act. 



Although in those days there was little divei'gence from 

 the doctrines of the church, the State deemed it necessary to aid 

 the spiritual power, and by force of law to prevent if possible 

 error in matters of faith. To that end, in 1383 a law was 

 passed in England to imprison heretics. It was the first piece 

 of English legislation against heresy, and was soon repealed, 

 though only to be replaced by the ghastly statute de cofuburen- 

 dis hcereticis, under which law, heretics were burnt at the stake. 

 Heresy was one of the professed reasons for suppression of 

 the Knights Templars, the great military order organized to 

 protect Crusaders on their way to Jerusalem. That act was 

 one of the notable events of the XIV century, as the Templars 

 could muster 15,000 members, and for more than a hundred 

 years had been the richest and most powerful order in Christen- 

 dom. Within its ranks were found distinguished men. It is 

 on record that Pope Innocent III was a Templar, and that a 

 King of France, Philip IV would have been one, but was re- 

 jected. Skilled, fearless, and fanatical in war, the Templars 

 were " first to attack and last to leave " on many a hard fought 

 field. Kings borrowed from their hoard, and made treasure 

 houses of their temples. The overthrow of the Knights 

 Templars is one of the strangest of the many strange stories 

 to be met with in medieval history. Begging and preaching 

 Friars were organized by the church in the XIII century to 

 quicken the spiritual dullness of the people, and to arrest their 

 growing prejudice against monasticism. Chief among these 



