A letter from Adelaide

Translated letter:

I, Odo, and my wife Adalaide, [we] recognize our fragility and disobedience and we are frightened by it; lest by chance we and our children perish because of our faults/sins, and for the love of Almighty God and the redemption of our souls, as for the redemption of our relatives, from whose lineage we were born and on the part of whom our honor/position came to us, whose names we cite.  For Manfred and his wife Bertha, and their sons and daughters, and our other relatives, living and dead, we give, for love of our Redeemer and for the redemption of our souls, the church of St. Lawrence, called “Plebs Martyrum,”1 the church of St. Just, which Countess Bertha began to build.  We give these churches and other churches which are built in the parishes of Sesana, Oulx, and Salabertana, or will be from now on, or other churches which will be given by the will of those who have the power of possession, we give and transmit said churches with the things of the churches, namely tithes, first-fruits, and oblations of the faithful, living as well as dead, and we give lands and meadows with woods, cultivated and uncultivated, and waters of waters according to what is know to pertain to the church of St. Lawrence as much as the clerics of St. Lawrence could acquire, with our will or the will of those who hold by our hand:  this donation I, Odo, and my wife Adalasia, and my sons Peter and Amadeus and my daughters, we make this donation to the clerics who live by rule in that place whose names are seen to be written here.  The names are Gerard and Uldaric, and Aicard and Martin and Lantelin, and Walter and Arman, and Garner and to those who are now there and will be in that place in the future that these and those may have power of holding, having, and possession according to the Monastic Rule.   We give this whole and entire, so that it remain firmly for the redemption of our souls and on the last day, when we shall appear in God’s sight, we may deserve to hear the kind voice of the Lord who will say Come, blessed of my father, accept the kingdom which was prepared for you from the beginning of the world.  If any person, cleric or lay, or higher power, should wish to contest or break this donation, let him not succeed in his claim, but let the wrath and the curse of Almighty God come upon him and with Dathan and Abiram,2 whom the earth swallowed, let him share in hell, and perish in despair with the traitor Judas, and remain in perpetuity with the devil.  Enacted at Cartula in the month of May, in the 1057th year from the Incarnation of the lord, Christ ruling as lord, who sits on the throne of heaven, Amen.  Girald is the sign of the witness through this writing, I who marked the sign with its witnesses, let him break with hands, through a second endowment and donation.   Odo, marquis, gives and confirms, Adais, countess, confirms. 

Original letter:

Ego Odo & Uxor mea Adalaisis, recognoscimus fragilitatem & inobedientiam nostram & expavescimus; ne forte per culpas nostras nos & Liberi nostri pereamus, & pro amore Omnipotentis Dei, & pro redemptione animarum nostrarum, seu pro redemptione Parentum nostrorum, ex quorum progenie orti sumus; & ex quorum parte honor noster nobis advenit, quorum nomina vocitamus.  Manfredo & Uxor sua Berta, & Filiis & Filiabus suis, vel aliorum Parentum nostrorum; tam vivis quam defunctis donamus, pro amore Redemptoris nostri, & pro redemptione animarum nostrarum, Ecclesiam sancti Laurentij, qui vocatur Plebs Martyrum, Ecclesiam sancti Iusti, quam coepit aedificare Berta Comitissa.  Donamus has Ecclesias, & caeterarum Ecclesiarum, quae in Parrochiis de Sesana, & de Ulcio & de Salabertana constructae sunt, aut deinceps erunt, vel aliarum Ecclesiarum, quarum datae erunt ex voluntate illorum qui potestatem habent possidendi, donamus, & transfundimus has Ecclesias supradictas, cum rebus Ecclesiarum, scilicet Decimationes & Primitiae & Oblationes fidelium, tam Vivorum, quam Defunctorum, & donamus terras & prata cum silvis cultis & incultis, & aquis aquarum secundum quod videtur ad Ecclesiam sancti Laurentij pertinere quantum Clerici sancti Laurentij conquirere potuerint, cum nostra voluntate, vel cum illorum voluntate, qui per manum nostram tenent:  hanc Donationem Ego Oddo, & Uxor mea Adalaisia & Filij mei Petrus & Amadeus & Filiae meae, hanc donationem facimus ad Clericos, qui in eodem loco regulariter vivunt, quorum nomina scripta videntur adesse.  Nomina autem haec sunt, Girardus & Uldaricus, & Aicardus & Martinus & Lantelinus, & Walterius & Armannus, & Garnerius, & ad illos, qui modo ibi sunt, & futuri erunt in eodem loco ut isti, & illi habeant potestatem tenendi, habendi, & possidendi secundum Regulam Canonicam.  Donamus ita totum & integrum, ut firmiter permaneat pro redemptione animarum nostrarum, & in die ultimo, quando in conspectu Dei apparebimus, vocem Domini benignam audire mereamur, qui dicturus est Venite Benedicti Patris mei, percipite Regnum, quod vobis paratum est ab origine Mundi.  Si quis hanc donationem qualiscunque persona, Clericus aut Laicus, sive Praepotens frangere vel irrumpere voluerit ire, aut agere, vel inquietare voluerit, non valeat vindicare, quod repetit; sed ira Omnipotentis Dei, & maledictio super eum veniat, & cum Datan & Abiron, quos terra absorbuit, participationem in infernum habeat, & cum Iuda traditore desperatus pereat hic & in perpetuum cum Diabolo permaneat.  Acta Cartula in mense Madio, Anni ab Incarnatione Domini mlvii regnante Christo Domino, qui Coeli sedet Solio Amen.  Giraldus est signaculum testis, per hoc scriptorium, qui firmavi testibus signatum suis, manibus erumpat, qui per secundum dotem & donationem.  Odo Marchio donat & firmat, Adalais Comitissa firmat.

Historical context:

The count and countess give churches of Oulx and Susa for the redemption of their souls and those of relatives.    The churches are dedicated to martyrs, who were supposedly massacred at a mythical monastery at Oulx, a legend that began in the eleventh century and St. Just of Susa and St. Flavian were eventually identified as two of those martyrs, according to Previté Orton, The Early History of the House of Savoy, 183.

Scholarly notes:

1 Thought to be a corruption of the “mansio ad Martem,” identical with Oulx, according to Previté Orton, 183, n.2, because of the legend of a monastery whose inhabitants were massacred by the Lombards or Saracens.
2 Dathan and Abiram, of the tribe of Ruben, rebelled against the civil leadership of Moses, Numbers 16.

Printed source:

Samuel Guichenon, L’Histoire Généalogique de la maison royale de Savoye  v.2 Preuves, p.9-10.

Date: