In 1510, the French diocese of Autun faced a devastating agricultural crisis: local rats were voraciously destroying the region's vital barley crop. Instead of relying solely on traps or poison, the ecclesiastical authorities resorted to legal excommunication, summoning the rodent population to appear before an episcopal court. Appointed to represent the accused rats was a young, sharp jurist named Bartholomew Chassanee, who turned what could have been a comical sham trial into a legendary demonstration of due process and legal maneuvering.
Chassanee understood that an immediate trial would lead to an instant guilty verdict and formal excommunication. He began his defense by invoking procedural rights, arguing that the initial summons was far too narrow. Because the rats were scattered across numerous villages, a single summons at the cathedral was insufficient notice for his clients.
The court conceded and ordered a comprehensive summons read from pulpits throughout every parish in the diocese. When the appointed court date arrived and still no rats appeared, Chassanee delivered his master stroke: he cited reasonable delay due to life-threatening danger. He pointed out that his clients, in order to obey the court order, had to travel long distances past dangerous terrain crawling with their mortal enemies, the local cats and dogs.
Under canonical law, no defendant could be forced to attend a trial if doing so posed a mortal risk to their safety. By demanding that the townspeople first guarantee safe passage for all rats by tethering their domestic animals, Chassanee stymied the prosecution completely. The court adjourned indefinitely, cementing Chassanee's reputation and establishing an incredible precedent in medieval animal trials.