A Letter from Melisende

Translated letter:

In the name of the the holy and individual trinity, father and son and holy spirit, amen.  The brief days of men are ended with swift and unexpected finish, since death habitually envying the whole of human kind, anticipates the times of many, and those it finds incautious it altogether destroys and overthrows, so that unremembered  by all, nothing from [their] life can be proved again or brought to memory or put forth in speech.  So it is in the custom of wise men to commend to the memory of writing their studies or works or whatever can be so disposed, so that it is impossible to erase it from the memory of moderns, and their successors may hold it virilely and imitate what their ancestors are testified to have done in the memory of the page of writings left behind.  I, therefore, Melisende, by the grace of God queen of Jerusalem, conforming to the diligence of the preceding fathers who adorned the places dedicated to God with their gifts, strive to dispose or arrange nothing henceforth in any way about the more lasting things that the page of memorial writing contains for the future.  Let it be known, therefore to all, future as well as present, that I, with the consent of my son lord Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, changed or exchanged with lord Raymund, provost of the Hospital of the poor of Christ, for those baths which are in the village of St. Leonard at Ptolomeida, which is usually called Acera, that lodge which is in the same city, before the entrance of the church of St. John the Baptist, advocate of the above mentioned poor of Christ, and the houses that Franconi, castellan of Acre, had which we charged ought to return to the power and disposition of the kingdom.  I also exchanged with that brother Raymond for said baths that land which is on the right side of the road that goes from that Ptolomeida to the chamberlains’s village, Album; which land, indeed, is divided on its other side with the land of the forenamed village Album, second with Disdero, third with Syrians.  Determining and establishing this piously, strongly and sincerely, with the necessary impression of our seal, so the above-named poor of Christ might possess the said possessions in perpetuity legitimately and peacefully and without disturbance, and have it from the assumed benefice.  Whence they should pray for us and for the state of the kingdom and the holy church of God.  Moreover that purchase, which is made by that above-inscribed father Raymond, protector of the poor from the home of Robert viscount of Acres, whose sale was made legitimately to him by the hand of Clarembald, also viscount of Acre, with the agreement of Agnes, his wife, and his mother, with the tower of the house adjacent and all the appurtenances of that house, I with my aforenamed son king Baldwin determine to be held altogether fixed and untroubled, and I leave it to be possessed as a whole completely with its appurtenances , with the other rights of possession of the poor.  Which I make fully known to the future as well as the present with the same impression of my seal [bulla] furnished to their eyes.   I grant besides that he fully cedes that village which is called Assera, which that oftmentioned brother Raymond bought for the use of the poor of the Hospital from John, lord of Bethsan -- except for those peasants of the village whom he, John, retained for himself -- with all its appurtenances, for the use of the guest-house [xenodochium] of Jerusalem, as was agreed in that purchase, and that he promises it to the disposition of the brothers serving there with perpetual stability.  So that after future times the arrangement of this my donation may be uncorrupted  and nothing troubling should happen to the poor of the said Hospital from worldly disturbance.  So that the declaration of this our disposition may not be dissolved ever by human usage, we have signed the protection of our seal at the end of this page, and ordered trustworthy witnesses to note what they saw and heard.  Indeed the witnesses of the exchange which was spoken of in the first part of the charter, are those of whom the names are noted below:  Gerald of Valentia, by the hand of whom the exchange was made in the days of his viscounty; Menard of Portu; and Deauratus, and many others.  The purchase, also, which was made of the village of Assera by John of Bethsan, is testified by these witnesses, namely:  Ysaac, butler of the royal court; and Hugo, uncle of the aforesaid John.  And Thomas and his wife wanted and granted this, whose village it was.  And Walter of Caesarea, and his son Eustache, whose fief it was, wished and granted it, and Oddo Strabo.  This was enacted in the year MCXLIX from the incarnation of the Lord, indiction 12, in the reign of my son Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, in the fifth year of his reign.

Original letter:

In nomine sancte et individue trinitatis, patris et filii et spiritus sancti, amen.  Dies hominum breves veloci et insperato fine terminantur, quia mors, universitati generis humani ex consuetudine invidens, tempora multorum prevenit, et quos incautos invenit omnino necat et subruit, ita ut, omnium facti inmemores, et de vita periclitari nichil prorsus possint aut ad memoriam reducere, aut eloquio proferre.   Moris itaque prudentium est studia sua, vel opera seu que cumque disponi possunt scripti memorie commendare, quatinus et a modernorum memoria elabi sit impossibile, et successores viriliter teneant et imitentur, quod antecessores suos fecisse in memoriam derelicte scriptorum pagine protestantur.   Ego autem Milisendis, Dei gratia Iherosolimorum regina, precedentium patrum, qui Deo dicata loca suis ornaverunt donariis, industrie me conformans, nihil omnino de rebus durabilibus disponere aut ordinare satago, quod non imposterum pro futura scripture memorialis contineat pagina.  Notum sit igitur omnibus, tam futuris quam presentibus, quod ego, assensu filii mei domini Balduini, rex Iherusalem, cambivi seu mutavi cum domino Raimundo, Hospitalis pauperum Christi provisori, pro balneis illis que sunt in vico S. Leonardi apud Ptolomaidem, que usitatori nomine Acera dicitur, logiam illam que est in eadem civitate, ante fores basilice S. Johannis Baptiste, supra dictorum Christi pauperum advocati, et domos illas que fuerunt Franconis, castellani Acconensis, quas nos calumpniabamur in potestatem et dispositionem regni debere reverti.  Cambivi etiam eidem fratri Raimundo pro predictis balneis terram illam que latere est dextro vie illius qua itur ab ipsa Ptolomaida ad Casale Album Camerarii; que quidem terra ab altera sui parte partitur cum terra prenominati Albi Casalis, a secunda cum Disdero, a tertia cum Surianis.  Hoc pie, valide et sincere, debita sigilli nostri impressione, decernens et statuens, ut supranominati pauperes Christi prefatas possessiones in perpetuum, sicut legitime ita pacifice et inconvulse possideant, ut ex beneficio suscepto habeant.   Unde pro nobis, et pro regni statu, atque sancta ecclesia Dei orare debeant.  Preterea emptionem illam, que facta est ab eodem patre supra scripto Raimundo et tutore pauperum de domo Roberti vicecomitis Acconensis, cujus vendicio legitime facta est ei per manum Clarembaldi, itidem vicecomitis Acconensis, ex concessione Agnes, uxoris ejus, et matris ipsius, cum ture domui adjacente et omnibus appendiciis ipsius domus, ego cum prenominato filio meo rege Balduino omnino ratam et inconvulsam haberi decerno, eamque, sicut integra cum suis appendiciis est, de cetero usui pauperum integre possidendam derelinquo.  Quod etiam una eademque bulle mee impressione ego tam futuris quam presentibus quasi oculis subditum notissimum facio.  Concedo insuper ut casale illud, quod Assera dicitur, quod jam sepedictus frater Raimundus ad usum pauperum Hospitalis a Johanne, domino de Bethsan, exceptis rusticis ipsius casalis quos ipse Johannes sibi retinuit, cum omnibus pertinenciis suis emit, in usum Xenodochii Iherosolimitani, sicut in ipsa emptione pretaxata est, integerrime cedat, et disposicioni fratrum ibidem deservientium perpetua stabilitate respondeat.   Sicque post futuris temporibus incorruptum sit hujus mee donationis institutum, ne ex inquietudine seculari aliquod proveniat pauperibus predicti Hospitalis incommodum.   Ne autem hujus nostre constitutionis indictum aliquando more humano dissolvi possit, pagine huic et munimentum sigilli nostri in fine firmavimus, et testes veridicos visus et auditus adnotari precepimus.   Testes vero sunt cambitionis, de qua in prima parte Karte sermo est, hii quorum subter adnotata sunt nomina:  Geraldus de Valentia, per manum cujus facta est cambitio diebus vicecomitatus sui; Menardus de Portu; et Deauratus, et alii plures.  Emptio etiam que facta est de casali Assera a Johanne de Bethsan, his testibus acta probatur, videlicet:  Ysaac dapifero regie curie; et Hugone, avunculo ipsius predicti Johannis.  Et Thoma, et ejus uxor hoc voluerunt et concesserunt, quorum istud casale erat.   Et Gualterius Cesarie, et filius ejus Eustachius, quorum istud feudum erat, hoc voluerunt et concesserunt, et Oddo Strabo.  Actum est hoc anno ab incarnatione Domini MCXLIX, indictione XII, regnante filio meo Balduino, rege Iherusolimorum, anno equidem regni ejus quinto.

Historical context:

The queen records her donation and exchanges she made  with  the brothers of the Hospital, with the consent of the king, her son.  Note that she calls herself queen of the people of Jerusalem (Iherosolimorum).

Printed source:

Delaville Le Roulx, J., Cartulaire Général de l’Ordre des Hospitaliers de S. Jean de Jérusalem 1100-1310 (Paris:  Leroux, 1894).  1.140-41, #180, 1149.  Noted in Re gesta Regni Hierosolymitani (1097-1291), Additamentum, ed. Reinhold Rohricht, #256, 1149,  

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