Liber Paradisus

The Liber Paradisus (Paradise Book) is a law text promulgated in 1256 by the Commune of Bologna which proclaimed the abolition of slavery and the release of serfs (servi della gleba).

The result was an ethical and economic reflection on the serfs' status, until then determined by their bond to their owners, called Signori (Lords).

On 25 August 1256, the Arengo bell of the Palace of Podestà (Bologna) called Bolognese citizens into the Piazza Maggiore, where the Podestà (head of city government, expression of urban aristocracy), Bonaccorso da Soresina, and the Capitano del popolo (head of city militia, expression of urban bourgeoisie) announced the liberation of about 6,000 serfs, owned by 400 lords.

In 1257 the Commune ordered four notaries – between them Rolandino de' Passaggeri – to catalogue names and details of freed serfs in a memorial.

Latin incipit: «Paradisum voluptatis plantavit dominus Deus omnipotens a principio, in quo posuit hominem, quem formaverat, et ipsius corpus ornavit veste candenti, sibi donans perfectissimam et perpetuam libertatem» («In the beginning God planted a paradise of delights, where he put the man whom he had formed, and adorned his body of a bright dress, giving him the most perfect and perpetual freedom»)