DLH VIII.19

English, pp.451

19. Abbot Dagulf had been convicted time and time again for his crimes, for he was guilty of a great number of robberies and murders, and he frequently committed adultery. He lusted after the wife of a man who lived near by, and he kept having intercourse with her. On a number of occasions he sought some way of killing his paramour's husband, who occupied land which belonged to his monastery. In the end the husband swore that the Abbot would pay dearly for it if he came near his wife again. He had occasion to leave home for a while, and the Abbot came in the night with one of his clergy and was allowed into the woman's house. For a long time they sat drinking until they were quite tipsy, and then they lay down together in one bed. As they slept the husband returned home. He lighted some straw, raised his axe and killed them both. Let this story be a warning to all clergy not to break the statutes of the canons by seeking the company of women not related to them, for the canon law itself and all the Holy Scriptures forbid such relationships, except with those women concerning whom it can hardly be considered a crime.

Latin, pp.

19. De interitu Daulfi abbatis.

Cum autem saepius Dagulfus abba pro sceleribus suis argueritur, quia furta et homicidia plerumque faciebat, sed et in adulteriis nimium dissolutus erat, quodam tempore uxorem vicini sui concupiscens, miscebatur cum ea. Requirens occasiones diversas, qualiter virum adulterae, qui in terra huius monasterii conmanebat, deberet oppremere, ad extremum contestatus est ei, dicens, quod, si ad uxorem suam accederet, puniretur. Illo quoque discedente ab hospitiolo suo, hic nocte cum uno clerico veniens, domum meretricis ingreditur. Postquam autem diutissime bibentes inebriati sunt, in uno strato locantur. Quibus dormientibus, adveniens vir ille accenso stramine, elevata bipenne utrumque peremit. Ideoque documentum sit haec causa clericis, ne contra canonum statuta extranearum mulierum consortium potiantur, cum haec et ipsa lex canonica et omnes scripturae sanctae prohibeant, praeter his feminis, de quibus crimen non potest aestimari.

Notes:

• David & Bathsheba style