A letter from Matilda of Tuscany, countess of Tuscany, duchess of Lorraine ()

Translated letter:

In the name of the holy and indivisible trinity, Matilda by the grace of God if she is anything. To all our faithful in the present and the future, we wish it to be known that I have put the church of Gonzaga — which in former times was in the possession of my progenitors and me by secular property and hereditary right, and obtained by whatever right by bad priests, fornicators and adulterers — under the [juris]diction of St. Peter the apostle and I wished and granted that it be regulated in its entirety by his vicar in the future with proprietary right in all things pertaining to it, secure and free from all secular foundations, to the effect that the abbot who governs the monastery of St. Benedict have the power of disposing and regulating it according to the rule of St. Benedict, saving apostolic authority and respect, so that it pays an annual sum to the apostolic see like the foresaid convent of St. Benedict according to its precept. We concede and confirm all the things it now possesses and will have in the future, secure from all harm and opposition. If any count, viscount, provost, porter [scario], any large or small person of any other condition should presume to do injury to the monks now established or to be established there or harm to the goods of said church by evil treatment, when the contents of this our command are known, and he is admonished by said abbot or by the brothers, and does not reform after the second and third admonition, let him pay a hundred pounds of Pavian money, half to said church and half to our chamber/treasury. And so that this will be believed with certitude, I have assented to it by my hand. Matilda, what she is by the grace of God.

Original letter:

In nomine sancte et individue trinitatis. Matildis dei gratia, si quid est. Omnibus fidelibus nostris tam presentibus quam futuris notum fieri volumus, quod ecclesiam de Gunzaga, que preteritis temporibus a progenitoribus meis et a me seculari quodam proprio ac hereditario iure possessa est et per malos sacerdotes fornicarios et adulteros qualitercumque optenta, dictioni sancti Petri apostoli futuris temporibus per vicarium eius ordinandam subdidi ac proprietario iure cum omnibus sibi pertinentibus in integrum fore concessi et volui, ut libertate scilicet donata ab omni sit deinceps seculari conditione secura et libera, tali quoque tenore, ut abbas, qui cenobium sancti Benedicti gubernaverit, eam disponendi et secundum regulam beati Benedicti ordinandi potestatem habeat, salva tamen auctoritate et reverentia apostolica, ita quidem, ut apostolice sedi, sicut et predictum sancti Benedicti cenobium, annuum censum secundum preceptum eius persolvat. Omnia itaque, que nunc possidet et que in posterum habitura est, omni remota molestia et contradictione concedimus et confirmamus. Si quis autem comes, vicecomes, gastaldio, scario, alicuius insuper conditionis aliqua magna parvaque persona constitutis vel constituendis ibi monachis iniuriam vel dampnum de bonis predicte ecclesie cognita huius nostri precepti serie pravo studio inferre presumpserit et ammonitus a predicto abbate vel a fratribus post secundam et tertiam ammonitionem non emendaverit centum libras denariorum Papiensis monete componat, medietatem videlice predicte ecclesie et medietatem camere nostre. Et ut certius credatur, manu mea subscripsi. Matilda dei gratia si quid est.

Historical context:

Because of moral laxity on the part of its priests, Matilda transfers a church of Gonzaga to the holy see under the direction of an abbot.

Manuscript source:

copies: Milano, Archivio di Stato, Diplomatico: Diplomi e dispacci sovrani, Toscana, s.d, incomplete, not authenticated, 12th c.

Printed source:

Die Urkunden und Briefe der Markgräfin Mathilde von Tuszien, ed. Elke Goez and Werner Goez (Hanover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 1998), 68.  In a review of the Urkunden, Paolo Golinelli  raises doubts about the authenticity of this charter (CCM 45 [2002], 85-89).

Date:

1101?