A letter from Alix of Vergy (1244, November)

Translated letter:

Let all who look at the present letters know that I, Alix, mother of the duke of Burgundy, asked by the executors of the will of my brother lord William of Vergy to give evidence on the alms which my father Hugo, lord of Vergy, gave to the Cistercian monastery and brothers of St. Mary, make my testimony known to all, namely that the aforesaid H[ugo], my father, conferred 20 sesters of grain in perpetual alms on the monastery and aforementioned brothers,to be taken at Rouvres from the fifty sesters which they owed annually to him there, from which he also ordered many other alms in his will to be paid. It happened afterwards, with the lapse of some years from my father’s death, that my said brother W[illiam], with the consent of my mother, exchanged the said payment from Rouvre with Odo, duke of Burgundy, my lord and husband, for sixty pounds’ worth of land at Brianny and for that sum of money with which the security of Chateauvieux was redeemed from the lord of Montreal, which he held obligated under the feudal name. In witness of which I handed over the present letters strengthened by the protection of my seal. Enacted in the 1244th year of the Lord in the month of November.

Original letter:

Noverint universi presentes litteras inspecturi quod ego Alaydis, mater ducis Burgundie, requisita ab executoribus testamenti fratris mei domini Guillermi de Vergeio perhibere testimonium super elemosina quam fecerat pater meus Hugo, dominus Vergeyi, monasterio et Fratribus beate Marie Cistercii, testimonium meum notum facio universis, videlicet quod predictus H., pater meus, XX sextaria frumenti in elemosinam perpetuam contulit monasterio et Fratribus pretaxatis, percipienda apud Rovram in quinquaginta sextaria que sibi annuatim ibidem debebantur, de quibus etiam multas alias elemosinas quas in testamento suo ordinaverat persolvi precepit. Contigit postea elapso aliquot annorum curriculo patre meo mortuo, fratrem meum predictum G., de consensu matris mee jam dictum redditum de Rovra cum Odone, duce Burgundie, domino et viro meo, pro sexaginta libratis terre apud Brianne et pro illa summa pecunie de qua redempta fuit gageria de Viez Chastel a domino Montis Regalis, quam tenebat obligatam sub nomine feodali, permutasse. In cujus testimonium presentes litteras tradidi sigilli mei munimine roboratas. Actum anno Domini M° CC» XL.IIII° mense novembri.

Historical context:

The duchess describes a donation made by her father and modified by her brother to the monks of Citeaux.

Printed source:

E. Petit, Histoire Generale des Ducs de Bourgogne de la race Capétienne (Dijon: Darentiere, 1885-1905), 6v., 4.346, #2500.

Date:

1244, November