A letter from Ermengarde

Translated letter:

The sweetest goods of almighty God are benignly uttered by the prophet when he says:  “I do not wish the death of a sinner, but that he is converted and lives.”  And since “he wishes all to be saved, and led to eternal life,” he order the goods of this world for those who possess them, that from what they possess they acquire friends in the present life by whom they will be received in the eternal tabernacles.  Drawing these and many other divine admonishments to mind, I Ermengard queen, considering my innumerable sins, placed at the extreme end, for the redemption of the soul of my Lord king Rudolph, and also for my soul, that God may be indulgent to us for whatever we have sinned in the present life, I give to God and his apostle, St. Andrew, and the abbot Ither, and the monks in the abbacy of said apostle established within the walls of the city of Vienne, the church of St. John in Albigny, in the bishopic of Grévisaudan, with all its appurtenances, namely so that from this day the monks of said place for the redemption of our souls and of all the faithful may hold for their own use and possess without any disturbance.  If indeed anyone in the future, which I scarcely believe, should oppose or challenge this our alms and donation, unless he swiftly repent, will incur the wrath of almighty God and of all the saints.  That this our donation remain firm and stable through all future centuries, the sign of queen Ermengard who ordered this charter to be made and ordered those present to sign it.  Sign of Leudegar, archbishop of Vienne.  Sign of provost Artald.  Sign of deacon Wigo.  Sign of priest Richard.  Sign of Otmar.

Original letter:

OMNIPOTENTIS Dei dulcissima bona benigniter per Prophetam clamat dicens  Nolo mortem peccatoris, sed ut convertatur et vivat. Et quia omnes vult salvos facere, et ad vitam aeternam perducere, praecipit bona hujus saeculi possidentibus, ut ex his quae possident, amicos adquirant in praesenti vita, a quibus recipiantur in aeterna tabernacula. Haec et alia multa ego Ermengardis Regina ad mentem reducens divina monita, consideransque innumerabilia peccata mea, in extremo fine posita, pro redemptione animae Senioris mei Radulfi Regis, necnon et pro anima mea. ut nobis Dominus indulgeat quidquid peccavimus in praesenti vita, dono Deo et sancto ejus Andreae Apostolo, et Abbati Iterio, et Monachis ejus in Abbatia jam dicti Apostoli infra moenia urbis Viennae, constitutis, Ecclesiam sancti Joan­nis in Albriniaco, et in Episcopatu Gratianopolitano, cum omnibus appen­diciis, scilicet ut ab hac die Monachi praedicti loci pro redemtione animarum nostrarum omniumque fidelium in proprios usus teneant et possideant absque ullius inquietudine. Si quis vero huic nostrae eleemosynae et donationi, quod futurum minime credo, contrarius vel calumniator exstiterit, nisi cito resipuerit, iram omnipotentis Dei omniumque Sanctorum incurrat. Haec vero nostra donatio firma et stabilis permaneat per omnia futura saecula. Sig. Ermengardis Reginae quae hanc chartam fieri jussit, et adstantibus ibi firmare praecepit. Sig. Leudegarii  Viennensis Archiepiscopi. Sig. Artaldi Praepositi. Sign. Wigoni Decani. Sig. Ricardi Presbyteri. Sig. Otmari.

Historical context:

The queen grants to the monastery of St. Andrew of Vienne the church of St. John in Albigny, situated in the bishopric of Grévisaudan.

Printed source:

HGF 11.556; also in Chartularium monasterii St. Andreae inferior Viennae Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, ed. C.U.J. Chevalier (Lyon:  N. Savigné, 1869), 168-69, #224.  Summarized in Regesta Comitum Sabaudiae, ed. Dominico Carutti (Turin:  Fratres Bocca, 1889), 54, #154.

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