Thus it is not surprising that Pisa should already have had its own code of laws (Consuetudini di mare), which in 1075 were approved by Gregory VII., and in 1081 confirmed by a patent from the emperor Henry IV., a document which mentions for the first time the existence of a magistrate analogous to the consuls of the republic, although the latter, according to some writers, already existed in Pisa as early as the year 1080; the point, however, is doubtful, and other writers place the first authentic mention of the consuls in the year 1094.1 The oldest of Pisan statutes still extant is the Breve dei consoli di mare of 1162.
Finally on the 21st of July 1773 the famous breve Dominus ac Redemptor appeared, suppressing the Society of Jesus.
The question of missions is reserved, and the relaxations granted to the Society in such matters as fasting, reciting the hours and reading heretical books, are withdrawn; while the breve ends with clauses carefully drawn to bar any legal exceptions that might be taken against its full validity and obligation.
It has been necessary to cite these heads of the breve because the apologists of the Society allege that no motive influenced the pope save the desire of peace at any price, and that he did not believe in the culpability of the fathers.
Far from submitting to the papal breve, the ex-Jesuits, after some ineffectual attempts at direct resistance, withdrew into the territories of the free-thinking sovereigns of Russia and Prussia, Frederick II.