A letter from Blanche of Navarre, Countess of Champagne (1215)

Translated letter:

To all who will look at the present letters, Blanche, countess palatine of Troyes, brother Oliver of Quincy, brother William of Fontaine-Jean, called abbots, [send] greetings in the Lord. You should know that when the complaint was lodged between the venerable men, abbot Walter and the brothers of Vauluisant on one side, and lord Geoffrey Eventat of Plessis, his uncle Nicholas, and the men of Pleissy, Pailly, and Courmont on the other, over the usage of the woods of Ceruins and Bosreant, they submitted it to us so that if I, the countess, did not wish to take this on, lord Peter of Bouy-sur-Orvin would take my place. Indeed we abbots and that Peter, having diligently inspected the documents of each side, received testimonies, and discussed them with care, from the counsel of noble and prudent men whom I, the countess, ordered to be summoned for this, namely the count of St. Paul, lord Garnier of Traînel, lord Robert of Milly, lord Guy of Chappes, lord Oger of Saint-Chéron, lord Raoul of Pont-sur-Seine, lord Baldwin of Reims, we thoroughly absolved said abbot and brothers of Vauluisant from the claim of said Geoffrey, Nicholas and the men, over the usage of the woods of Ceruins and Bosreant. Imposing perpetual silence on them over this, and condemning them for the harms and injuries inflicted by them on the said abbot and brothers in those woods, that they would make amends to said aboot and brothers by our counsel, with the exception that lord Geoffrey could exercise the use of hunting there, and make an enclosure for this as often as he wished, which said brothers could destroy after the hunting, and said Nicholas and the men could send their animals there for pasture, beyond the brothers’ continuous wood-cutting, from which they will abstain for three years. Enacted in the year of the Lord, 1215.

Original letter:

Universis presentes litteras inspecturis, Blancha comitissa Trecensis palatina, frater O. Quinciaci, frater G. Fontis-Johannis dicti abbates, salutem in Domino. Noveritis quod cum querela verteretur inter venerabiles viros abbatem Galterum, et fratres Vallis-lucentis, ex una parte, et dominum Gaufridum Eventatum de Pleisseto, Nich(olam) avunculum suum, et homines de Pleisseto, de Palliaco et de Courmont, ex altera, super usagio nemorum de Ceruins et de Bosreant, tandem in nos compromiserunt ita, quod si ego comitissa nollem hoc in me recipere, loco mei esset dominus Petrus de Boy. Nos vero abbates et idem Petrus, instrumentis utriusque partis diligenter inspectis, attestationibus receptis, et sollicite discussis, de consilio nobilium et prudentum virorum, quos ego comitissa adhoc ad vocari precepi, videlicet comitis Sancti Pauli, domini Garneri de Triangulo, domini Roberti de Milliaci, domini Guidoni de Capis, domini Ogerii de Saint-Chirum, domini Radulfi de Pontibus, domini Balduini de Remis, dictos abbatem et frates Vallis-lucentis ab impetitione dictorum Gaufridi, Nich(oli) et hominum supradicto usagio nemorum de Ceruins et de Bosreant penitus absolvimus. Perpetuum super hoc eidem silentium imponentes, et eosdem in dampnis et gravaminibus sepedictis abbati et fratribus in illis nemoribus ab ipsis illatis, condempnantes, ut ad nostrum consilium satisfaciant abbati et fratribus memoratis, hoc excepto quod dictus Gaufridus usum venandi ibidem exercere poterit, et facere ad hoc ipsum hayam, quotiensque voluerit, quam tamen dicti fratres post venationem poterit extirpare, et tam ipse quam dictus Nich(olas) et homines animalia sua ad pascendum ibidem mittere poterunt, preter in copetiis continue fratris, a quibus per triennium abstinebunt. Actum anno Domini millesimo CC XV.

Historical context:

The countess records the decision made by the arbitrators she appointed to settle a dispute between an abbot and a lord.

Printed source:

The Cartulary of Countess Blanche of Champagne, edited by Theodore Evergates, © The Medieval Academy of America 2010, University of Toronto Press, 2009.  302-03, #342.  The decision is summarized in Layettes du Tresor des Chartes, ed. A. Teulet (Paris, Plon, 1863), 1.422, #1150.

Date:

1215