''Spondent quas non exhibent'' (sometimes referred to as ''Spondent pariter'') was a

papal The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

decretal Decretals ( la, litterae decretales) are letters of a pope that formulate decisions in ecclesiastical law of the Catholic Church.McGurk. ''Dictionary of Medieval Terms''. p. 10 They are generally given in answer to consultations but are sometimes ...

promulgated in 1317 by Pope John XXII forbidding the practice of

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

. The rationale provided for the ban in the decretal is not a specifically

theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

one, but instead a moral condemnation, with the Pope expounding how fraudulent alchemists exploited the poor and charging them with knowingly engaging in falsehood.

Description

Calling it "The Crime of Falsification", the Pope specified that any person who either produced, successfully ordered the production of, assisted in the production of or knowingly sold false alchemic metals in attempt to pay off debt should be sentenced to pay a fine; the fine was to be calculated by weighing the alchemic metal and then charging however much that weight of real

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

would cost. Provisions were also made for those who could not afford to pay, the decree stated that other forms of punishment were allowed to be used, such as

imprisonment Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...

, but that the precise sentence depended on the surrounding factors of the case. Those who went on to use alchemic metals for the forging of coins were also condemned (one possible motivating factor for this inclusion being that the papacy was located in the

French commune The () is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French are analogous to civil townships and incorporated municipalities in the United States and Canada, ' in Germany, ' in Italy, or ' in Spain. The United Kingdom's equi ...

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

, which had a lot of counterfeit currency in circulation), but the harshest punishment was reserved for clerics, who if found guilty, were to be subjected to the loss of all their clerical benefices and denied the chance to regain them in the future, in addition to the normal punishment detailed above. As a result of the decree, alchemists were forced to conduct their practice in secret. The decretal is frequently misunderstood to have been an

anti-science Antiscience is a set of attitudes that involve a rejection of science and the scientific method. People holding antiscientific views do not accept science as an objective method that can generate universal knowledge. Antiscience commonly manifes ...

(specifically an anti-

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

) edict, but this is false – it was specifically against fraudulent alchemy. Pope John XXII had himself studied chemistry before entering the clergy, and his papacy was marked by events that led one historian to remark that he was "one of the most liberal patrons of education and of science in history." ''Spondent Pariter'' is sometimes referred to as a papal bull, though canonically it is not a bull but a less important document termed a decretal, specifically an

Extravagantes The term ''Extravagantes'' (from the Latin ''extra'', outside; ''vagari'', to wander) is applied to the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, to designate some papal decretals not contained in certain canonical collections which possess a specia ...

. It is listed in ''

Corpus Juris Canonici The ''Corpus Juris Canonici'' ( lit. 'Body of Canon Law') is a collection of significant sources of the canon law of the Catholic Church that was applicable to the Latin Church. It was replaced by the 1917 Code of Canon Law which went into effe ...

'' Tome II (published in Lyons, 1799), but not in the ordinary list of Pope John XXII's bulls.

References

{{reflist Alchemy Documents of the Catholic Church Medieval law Canon law history 1317 works Pope John XXII