A letter from Joan of Constantinople, Countess of Flanders (1237, January 4)

Translated letter:

Joan, countess of Flanders and Hainaut, to all her beloved people to whom it may happen to see or hear the present document, greeting. We make known to you that we put in our place William Bloc, our bailiff from Oudenarde, to receive the resignation and surrender from lord William of Tiel, knight, of those portions of tithes lying in the parishes of Berkin, Ruslede and Tiel which he says he holds from us in fealty and which he intends to renounce and surrender to the full extent of the law for the use of the hospital of Oudenarde, such that the said surrender will be made by the said lord William, under the witness of our people, peers of William himself, and legitimately through their judgment. Dated in the year of the Lord 1236, octave of the (feast of) the Innocents.(1)

Original letter:

J[ohanna], Flandrie et Hain[onie] comitissa, dilectis suis omnibus hominibus, quibus presens scriptum videre vel audire contigerit, salutem. Significamus vobis, quod nos ponimus loco nostri Willelmum Bloc, ballivum nostrum de Alden[ardo], ad recipiendum resignationem et werpitionem a domino Willelmo de Tielt, milite, de partibus illis decimarum, jacentium in parochiis de Berkin, de Ruslede et de Tielt, quas dicit se tenere a nobis in feodo et quas ad opus hospitalis de Alden[ardo] intendit resignare et werpire ad plenam legem, ita quod dicta werpitio fiet a dicto domino W[illelmo], sub testimonio hominum nostrorum, parium ipsius W[illelmi], et legitime per judicium eorumdem. Datum anno Domini M°CC0XXXVI°, in octava Innocencium.

Historical context:

The countess announces the appointment of one of her men to receive the surrender of tithes from another of her men for the use of the hospital of Oudenarde.

Scholarly notes:

1 This translation was provided by Ashleigh Imus.

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), 574-75, ep.46.

Date:

1237, January 4