Letter 20

From: [Lombard court] To: [Frankish court] Date: ~625 AD Context: A diplomatic communication between the Lombard and Frankish kingdoms on church matters of mutual interest. From the court of the Lombard king to the court of our most excellent Frankish brother. The matters we discussed at our last meeting through our respective ambassadors have now been reviewed by our respective bishops, and we are prepared to communicate the result. On the question of the monastery at the boundary: the monastery in question was founded by a Frankish abbot and initially received property from both Frankish and Lombard donors. The legal status of its property under each kingdom's law is, as our jurists have established, genuinely ambiguous. We propose the following: the monastery is to be treated as subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop in whose diocese it is located; its property follows civil law according to which kingdom it is physically within; and neither kingdom will attempt to assert broader jurisdiction over the monastery as a whole. On the relics and their transfer: we accept your proposal that the relics of the saints currently in the monastery's possession shall not be moved without the agreement of both courts. On the question of the trade route through the pass: this is a civil matter and our ambassadors are prepared to discuss it separately from the church matters. We transmit this communication in good faith and await your reply. The Lombard court.