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Exhibit 400

Instructio Summaria ad sub-commissarios (Albert of Mainz's instruction to indulgence preachers and confessors)

Exhibit 400 ยท Instruction to commissioners

Instructio Summaria ad sub-commissarios (Albert of Mainz's instruction to indulgence preachers and confessors)

Declaramus etiam quod pro dictis duabus gratiis principalibus consequendis non est opus confiteri, seu ecclesias aut altaria visitare, sed duntaxat confessionale redimere

Sets out four principal graces of the St. Peter's indulgence, a graded scale of contributions from 25 Rhenish gulden (kings, bishops, princes) down to half a florin or prayer and fasting for those without money, and a confessional letter priced at one quarter of a Rhenish florin. Excerpted in Latin in Kidd, Documents Illustrative of the Continental Reformation (Oxford, 1911), No. 6, pp. 13-17, from Gerdes (1744). Kidd's text uses ellipses; the full text should be read in Gerdes or Kohler, Dokumente zum Ablassstreit (1934).

Source
Albert of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeburg, and the Guardian of the Mainz Observant Franciscans (papal commissioners)
Date
1517
Quoted from
Kidd 1911, No. 6, p. 16 (checked against page image)
Grade
Primary record
Document
https://archive.org/details/cu31924029236458
Accessed
2026-11-09
Cited by
Findings citing this exhibit

Cited by

Finding REL-1.5
Primary record Albert's Instructio Summaria set a contribution by rank: at least 25 Rhenish gulden for kings, queens, archbishops, bishops and other great princes, 10 for abbots, counts and wealthy nobles, down to half a florin for others. It told those without money to supply their contribution by prayer and fasting.
Finding REL-1.6
Reported In the excerpt printed by Kidd, the Instructio Summaria declares that to obtain the two principal graces it names it was not necessary to confess or visit churches, only to redeem the confessional letter, which cost a quarter of a Rhenish gulden in addition to the ordinary tax. It also stated that those contributing for souls in purgatory need not be contrite or confessed.