A letter from Joan of Constantinople, Countess of Flanders (1217, July 10)

Translated letter:

I, Joan, of Flanders and Hainaut, make known to all in the future as well as the present, that the nuns of the cloister which is called the place of St. Mary beside Locre, bought from me 110 boneria(1) of wasteland lying near the wasteland which they first bought from me on which first wasteland namely their cloister was founded; which bonerium they bought with sixty shillings so that the sum of the whole debt was 330 pounds. And of this money they paid me at my desire 100 pounds and to Eustachius of Mera a hundred pounds which I owed him for clothes which he had made for me, and to Boidin, son of Odo, 80 pounds, which I owed him for various works and 10 pounds to my jeweler and 40 pounds to my creditor of Insula, which I owed him. The whole of this 330 pounds they paid me the said CCC and XXX pounds. Truly this wasteland lies near the trench of that wasteland over which said cloister is located, which first wasteland namely they bought from me before. I granted also to them on my legitimacy that I will observe this firm and constant to them and my lord count, when he comes out of prison by the grace of God, I shall make him grant it. Dated at Gent, on the Tuesday after the octave of the apostles Peter and Paul, in the Lord’s year 1217.

Original letter:

Ego Johanna, Flandrie et Hainonie comitissa, notum facio universis tam futuris quam presentibus quod sanctimoniales de claustro, quod dicitur locus Sancti Marie juxta Locre, emerunt erga me centum et decem boneria wastine jacentis prope wastinam, quam prius erga me emerant, super quam videlicet primam wastinam claustrum earum fundatum est; quorum quodlibet bonerium emerunt sexaginta solidis, ita quod summa totius debiti erat trecente et triginta lib [re]. Et de hiis denariis michi solverunt ad voluntatem meam centum libras et Eustachio de Mera centum libras, quas ei debui de pannis, quos me habere fecerat et Boidino, filio Ode, octoginta libras, quas ei debui de vario opere et decem libras ad ioellos meos et quadraginta libras creditori meo de Insula, quas ipsi debebam. Totum hoc trecente et triginta libre et sic michi solverunt predictas CCC et XXX libras. Ista vero wastina jacet proxima fossato illius wastine super quam predictum claustrum situm est, quam videlicet primam wastinam erga me emerunt prius. Concessi etiam ipsis super legitimitatem meam quod hoc ipsis firmum et stabile observabo et dominum meum comitem, cum per Dei gratiam a captione exibit, concedere faciam. Datum Gandavi, ferio tertia post octavam apostolorum Petri et Pauli, anno Domini M°CC° septimo decimo

Historical context:

The countess registers a sale of undeveloped land she made to nuns, the price of the land, and the dispersal of payment to her and her creditors.

Scholarly notes:

1 A bonerium is about a quarter of an acre.

Printed source:

Johanna van Constantinopel, Gravin van Vlaanderen en Henegouwen ed. Theo Luykx, Verhandelingen van de Koninklijke Vlaamsche Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schoone Kunsten van Belgie, Klasse der Letteren, VIII.5 (1946), 537-38, ep.6.

Date:

1217, July 10