A letter from Joan of Constantinople, Countess of Flanders (1218/19, January)

Translated letter:

I, Joan, countess of Flanders and Hainaut, make known to all who will see the present letters that I sold to the nuns from the place of St. Mary in Ten Bosche 310 boneria(1) of wasteland lying in the parish of Lokerne, more or less, and I received the full payment from the sale of this wasteland. I therefore, for the salvation and prosperity of my lord and husband count Fernand and my own and for the souls of our ancestors, I conferred said wasteland on said nuns free of annual payment in alms to be possessed in perpetuity freely and peacefully. In memory indeed of this alms, those nuns will be held to celebrate solemnly the anniversary of my said lord and husband and mine after our death; so also that they celebrate each year the anniversary of Baldwin of pious memory, emperor of Constantinople, my father, and my dearest mother Marie, countess of Flanders and Hainaut, as well as my illustrious predecessor count Philip of Flanders and Vermandois. That these alms may remain stable and unchanged in perpetuity, I had the present page written and signed by the appending of my seal. Enacted in the year of the Lord 1218, in the month of January.

Original letter:

Ego Johanna, Flandrie et Hainonie comitissa, notum facio omnibus presentes litteras inspecturis quod ego vendidi sanctimonialibus de loco beate Marie in Busco trecenta et decem bonaria wastine jacentis in parrochia de Lokerne, parum plus parum minus, et de venditione hujus wastine totum pagamentum recepi. Ego igitur, pro salute et prosperitate domini et mariti mei Fernandi comitis et mea ac pro animabus antecessorum nostrorum, prefatam wastinam ab annuo censu absolutam memoratis monialibus in elemosinam contuli in perpetuum libere ac pacifice possidendam. In memoriam vero hujus elemosine eedem sanctemoniales anniversarium jam dicti domini et mariti mei ac meum post decessum nostrum sollempniter facere tenebuntur; ita etiam quod de cetero diem anniversarium pie recordationis Balduini, Constantinopolitani imperatoris, patris mei et karissime matris mee Marie, Flandrie et Hainonie comitisse, nec non etiam et illustrissimi predecessoris mei Philippi, Flandrie et Viroman[die] comitis, annis singulis celebrant. Ut hec igitur elemosina in perpetuum stabilis et inconcussa permaneat, presentem paginam scribi feci et sigilli mei appensione signari. Actum anno Domini M°CC° octavodecimo, mense Januario.

Historical context:

The countess confirms her sale of undeveloped land to the nuns and their agreement to observe the anniversaries of the deaths of herself, her husband, and various ancestors.

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), 540-41, ep.9.

Date:

1218/19, January