A letter from Joan of Constantinople, Countess of Flanders (1241-42, April)

Translated letter:

Joan, countess of Flanders and Hainaut, to all who will view the present letters, greeting. Since the renowned and dearest lord and our husband Ferdinand, count of Flanders and Hainaut, and we, had begun beyond Ghent on our estate a certain hospital in honor of the blessed Virgin, for the governing of the hospital we had also begun within its boundary a monastery of nuns of the Cistercian order. A matter of dispute began to arise, however, between the persons who resided in the hospital itself and the persons who governed it, with those aforesaid persons fearing lest with the passing of time the possessions of the hospital should be applied for uses other than for the uses of the poor infirm and especially the secular poor, for whose use and in the name of whom the aforesaid furnished and contributed possessions serve, but, with the venerable father lord Walter, bishop of Tournai, mediating and with our consenting agreement, friendly agreement or judgment was made between the aforesaid monastery and the persons of the hospital, which is expressed in the letters of the same lord bishop and also in our letters. Nonetheless for the sake of the honor of the monastery and of the hospital we have made no mention in those letters of the controversy brought forth. But the sense of our same letters, which we have brought to the aforesaid monastery, is thus: (note referring to letter 42 of November 1233). Moreover, we, desiring very much in the Lord the preservation and promotion of the aforesaid hospital, have caused to be written these present letters for the use specifically of the hospital in the house of the preaching brothers in Ghent, to be reserved faithfully for the benefit of the hospital itself. Therefore in strength and memory of the aforesaid we have caused these same letters to be strengthened by the affixing of our seal. In the year of the Lord 1241, in the month of April.(1)

Original letter:

Johanna, Flandrie et Haynonie comitissa, omnibus presentes litteras inspecturis salutem. Cum illustris et karissimus dominus ac maritus noster F[ernandus] Flandrie et Haynonie comes, et nos extra Gandavum in fundo nostro inchoassemus quoddam in honore beate Virginis hospitale, propter regimen hospitalis infra ambitum ipsius fecimus monasterium etiam monialium cisterciensis ordinis inchoare. Inter personas autem que in ipso hospitali manserant et inter personas, que ipsum rexerant cepit suboriri materia questionis, formidantibus illis personis predictis ne possessiones hospitalis processu temporis applicentur usibus aliis quam in usus pauperum infirmorum et precipue pauperum de seculo, quorum usibus et quorum nomine predicte possessiones conparate servunt vel collate, sed, mediante venerabile patre domino W[altero] Tornacensi episcopo et nostro accedente assensu, inter predictum monasterium et personas hospitalis amabilis compositio sive ordinatio facta fuit quod in litteris eiusdem domini episcopi et etiam in nostris litteris est expressa. De controversia tamen mota propter honestatem monasterii et hospitalis nullam fecimus in eisdem litteris mentionem. Earumdem vero litterarum nostrarum, quas prefato monasterio contulimus, talis tenor existit: (J., Flandrie et Hainonie comitissa... November 1233, nr. XLII). Nos autem conservationem et promotionem prefati hospitalis in Domino plurimum affectantes, has presentes litteras scribi fecimus ad opus specialiter hospitalis in domo fratrum predicatorum in Gandavo in usum ipsius hospitalis fideliter reservandas. In robur igitur et memoriam predictorum has easdem litteras sigilli nostri fecimus appensione muniri. Anno Domini M°CC°XLI°, mense Aprili.

Historical context:

The countess announces the resolution of a dispute between the residents of the hospital she and her late husband had established for the poor and infirm and those who ran it, the former fearing the diversion of funds from their original use.

Scholarly notes:

1 The 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), 595-96, ep.68.

Date:

1241-42, April