The early Catholic church used to issue Indulgences for a fee. Were
these a physical document? If so, do any examples exist in image or
text form (regardless of language, though I assume it would be latin)?

Hello

First a little background.  Yes, the church did issue paper receipts
for indulgences.  The following is from Richard Hooker's world
civilization pages at the Washington State University.
( http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GLOSSARY/INDULGE.HTM ) - - "Indulgences
had their critics from the very beginning. With the invention of the
printing press, however, indulgences could be printed in mass
quantities (they had to be written out by hand in the Middle Ages) and
became big business for..."

You will find a click-to-enlarge image of an indulgence here, along
with the name of the artist who wrote it.  This is a hand made
document predating mass production on the printing press.
( http://www.dhm.de/ENGLISH/sammlungen/dokumente1/do91_112.html ) -
The website belongs to the German Historical Museum.  You can access
the rest of the museum pages from here, if you choose.

This image is of an indulgence letter for St. Peters
( http://www.unf.edu/classes/freshmancore/core1images/indulgenceletter-forstpeters-Mainz-1516-17-2.jpg
)
That image comes from the University of North Florida and the main
website from which I "clicked" it is:
( http://www.unf.edu/classes/freshmancore/halsall/core1-23.htm )

The next image is not of an indulgence letter but of the sale of the
indulgence letters.  The image shows the documents stacked on a table
in front of somebody counting out money.  It is the second image down
on the page.
( http://chi.lcms.org/melanchthon/ ) - This website is called "Philipp
Melanchthon 500th Anniversary Exhibit"

The websites above should answer your question and point in some
directions you may continue your research.  The websites to which I am
sending you may or may not reflect any opinion about indulgences which
I may or may not hold. (rather pompous little sentence, but I figured
it might be needed)

If I can clarify anything above, please let me know.

Search - google
Key terms - indulgences, church indulgence documentation, indulgence
letters (using Google's image search)

Cheers
digsalot

---

Request for Answer Clarification by spack-ga on 11 Sep 2002 13:00 PDT

Thank you so much for your quick response. I will take a look at the
websites you provided. In giving them a quick once over, none seemed
to have a word for word translation. Are you aware of any resources
for such a translation?

Thanks again!

---

Clarification of Answer by digsalot-ga on 11 Sep 2002 14:43 PDT

I will see what I can find for you.

---

Clarification of Answer by digsalot-ga on 12 Sep 2002 17:52 PDT

I'm amazed at how little there is in the way of translation of
indulgences.  I have found a few modern ones (20th century created
texts) which would be unrelated to the old ones.  I was also surprised
to find that almost half of the Latin manuscripts from the Middle Ages
have yet to be translated.  These include the most common and mundane
of works.  They have been repeatedly copied and even reprinted in
modern times.  The reason I was given was that they are of interest
mostly to church scholars to whom Latin is already a working language
and the translations have never been made or needed.

I did find this from the 9th century.  It is a plenary indulgence for
soldiers and sounds more like a pronouncement than it does something
that would be issued in "letter" form to any other than the bishops
themselves. - - I will keep looking.

----------------------------------------------------------------

John II to the bishops in the realm of Louis II [the Stammerer].
You have modestly expressed a desire to know whether those who 
have recently died in war, fighting in defence of the church of God
and
for the preservation of the Christian religion and of the state, or
those
who may in the future fall in the same cause, may obtain indulgence 
for their sins. We confidently reply that those who, out of love to
the
Christian religion, shall die in battle fighting bravely against
pagans or
unbelievers, shall receive eternal life. For the Lord has said through
his
prophet: "In whatever hour a sinner shall be converted, I will 
remember his sins no longer." By the intercession of St. Peter, who
has
the power of binding and loosing in heaven and on the earth, we 
absolve, as far as is permissible, all such and commend them by our 
prayers to the Lord.

In Migne, Patrologia Latina, 126: 816
trans. Oliver J. Thatcher, and Edgar Holmes McNeal, eds., A Source 
Book for Medieval History, (New York: Scribners, 1905)

Excellent source of information. Answered the question and pointed me
to several good resources.