2896

. January 30. Perugia. Pope Innocent IV writes to the master and brothers of the knighthood of the Temple of Jerusalem, relating that he has learned that their house is overwhelmed by debt, and because their revenues and incomes are much reduced by the malice of the time and hardly sufficient, they cannot escape the usurious hole on their own. Thus they ask for a remedy lest their house collapse, to the grave danger of the Holy Land. The pope grants that they can receive up to ten thousand silver marks anywhere except the Kingdom of Germany from the redemption of crusading vows, payments by usurers and others with ill-gotten gains who wish to redeem their souls before dying but cannot make restitution, and general legacies to the Holy Land, such that those who give them this money are not otherwise obliged to make restitution or satisfaction.