To our venerable brother, the Archbishop of Tarragona.

Those things which earthly kings or princes ordain, establish or arrange for the glory of the eternal King and the increase of the Christian religion should be observed all the more fervently and willingly, without contradiction, by all the faithful, of whatever dignity, condition or order, because they are believed to be pleasing to the divine majesty, and because through them the companies of those praising Christ are known to receive greater increase.

Your pleasing petition, brought to us, stated that our dearest son in Christ, the illustrious King of Aragon, blessed by the Lord, desiring with the whole affection of his mind to please him in whose hand are all powers and all rights of kingdoms, recognizing his royal dignity from him and attributing to him everything that he is and has, since he made all things by his word alone, and having deeply fixed in his mind fear and love of him from the flower of his childhood, was moved by holy and prudent deliberation to establish this for the increase of the people of the Lord, through whom the name of the Crucified may be more fully and perfectly glorified:

that in every land subject to his dominion and jurisdiction, any Saracen or Jew who turns from the darkness of ignorance to the way of truth, which is Christ, through the washing of holy regeneration, may retain all his movable and immovable goods which he had before his conversion to Christ, whole and free, without any impediment or contradiction from anyone, by royal authority, and may possess them forever. This is to stand notwithstanding any statute, prohibition or agreement of the king’s predecessors or of anyone else, or any custom obtained on this matter, as we have seen more fully contained in the letters of the same king issued about this matter.

Therefore, approving this statute as holy and praiseworthy, we confirm it by apostolic authority and strengthen it by the protection of this present writing.

We have caused the text of those letters to be inserted into these presents. It is as follows:

Let all know that we, James, by the grace of God king of Aragon, Majorca and Valencia, count of Barcelona and Urgell and lord of Montpellier, for ourselves and all our successors, throughout Aragon and Catalonia, Majorca, Minorca, Montpellier, the kingdom of Valencia and all our dominion and jurisdiction, wherever we now have it or, with God’s help, we and our successors may have it in the future, for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the glorious Virgin his mother, and for the remedy of our soul, establish forever that any Jew or Saracen who, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, wishes to receive the orthodox faith and the saving washing of baptism may do so freely and without contradiction from anyone.

No statute, prohibition or agreement of our predecessors or of anyone else, and no custom obtained on this matter, shall stand in the way. Because of this, he shall lose nothing of the movable or immovable goods that he had before. Rather, by our authority, he shall have, hold and possess all of them securely and freely, saving the lawful rights of the children and close relatives of the convert. That is, during the convert’s lifetime, the said children or relatives may claim nothing from the goods of the convert. After his death, they may claim only that, and nothing more, which they could reasonably have claimed if he had died in Judaism or paganism. Thus, just as such converts merit divine grace by this act, so may they be known to obtain our favor, since we ought to imitate the will and good pleasure of God.

We further establish forever and firmly prohibit, under a monetary penalty to be imposed at the discretion of the judge, that anyone should presume to taunt any person converted from Judaism or paganism to our Catholic faith about his condition, by saying or calling him “renegade,” “tornadiz” or any similar word.

We also will and establish that whenever the archbishop, bishops or the Friars Preachers and Friars Minor come to towns or places where Saracens or Jews reside, and wish to set forth the word of God to those Jews or Saracens, they shall gather at their summons and patiently hear their preaching. And our officials, if they are unwilling to come freely, shall compel them to do this, putting aside every excuse.

Therefore, we command our vicars, bailiffs, courts and all our subjects and officials, present and future, to cause all the above matters to be held and observed everywhere inviolably, if they trust in our favor and love.

Given at Lleida, in the year of the Nativity of the Lord 1242, on the fourth day before the Ides of March.

Therefore, let no person at all be permitted to infringe this page of our confirmation or rashly oppose it.

Given at Lyons, on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of September, in the third year of our pontificate.