A letter from Adelaide, Agnes of Aquitaine, and Agnes of Savoy

Translated letter:

Thursday, ides of June, twelfth indiction, in 1089th year of the incarnation of the lord.  In the name of the holy and individual trinity,  I, Adelaide, countess, with my daughter-in-law Agnes and her daughter Agnes, we give up, grant, and donate to the church of St. Mary, on the part of the bishopric of Asti, and to lord Odo, designated bishop of that church, the abbacy of St. Dalmazzo and the archpriestdom* of Levaldigi as bishop Girelm at some time held them on good terms.   Also the woods of Bannale, as could be found through the inhabitants of Bene  and St. Alban, who constrained by sworn jurisdiction judged it.  We also grant every land about which there was dispute between the castle of Annone and Rocca [d’Arazzo] and for that which the abovesaid church has in the court/county  of Bredolo which we also receive from said bishop, as a benefice, we give him that whole land which is called a “ghiara” that is whatever we are known to have from the middle of the Tanaro river up to the castle of Rocca, with fifty pounds, so only that the port remains always in our jurisdiction.  And if the bishop wished to make a mill on his riverbank, he may, and he may establish another port in another place, if he wished, and our [people] may not forbid our wharf to his port.  We also set aside the conflict of Vezza as it was determined between lord Peter, marquis, and bishop Ingo.  All these, as we have said, we remit,  grant, and give, having removed all opposition by us or our heirs and future heirs, in good faith and without evil trick.

Original letter:

Die jovis idibus Junij Indicione duodecima Anno dominice incarnationis. Millesimo. Octuagesimo. nono. In nomine Sancte et indiuidue trinitatis. Ego Adalasia Comitissa cum nuru mea Agnete et filia eius Agnete. Reddimus concedimus et donamus ecclesie Sancte Marie, ad partem Astensis episcopatus et domno Oddoni eiusdem Ecclesie designato episcopo abbaciam sancti dalmacij. et plebem de loualdes sicut episcopus Girelmus aliquo tempore eas melius tenuit. Siluam eciam de banalli sicut inueniri poterit per incolas Baienne et Sancti Albani, qui Iure Jurando obstricti illam iudicauerint. Insuper eciam concedimus omnem terram de qua contentio fuit inter Castrum noni et rocham atque propter illud quod supradicta ecclesia habet in curte [comitatu] Bredolensi quod nos eciam dicte episcopo, prò beneficio accipimus, donamus ei totam illam terram que glarea dicitur. hoc est quicquid habere uidemur a medietate tanagri fluminis usque ad Castellum de la rocha cum quinquaginta libris. ita tamen ut portus semper in nostro iure permaneat. Et si episcopus  in sua rippa molendina facere uoluerit faciat et portum alium in alio loco, si uoluerit, constituat. nec nostri, nostrum rippatum suo portui prohibeant. Remittimus eciam contentionem de la uicia sicut finitum fuit inter domnum Petrum marchionem et episcopum Ingonem. hec omnia, sicut prediximus remittimus concedimus et donamus remota, omni nostra, nostrorumque heredum ac proheredum contradictione per bonam fidem et sine malo, ingenio.

Historical context:

Adelaide, her daughter-in-law Agnes and her granddaughter Agnes  give up the ghiara [a pebbled strand by a river, useful for mills and towpaths] of the Tanaro beside Rocca d’Arazzo, in return for the court of Bredolo and  yield the abbey of St. Dalmazzo to bishop Odo (Adelaide’s son), and the archpriestdom of Levaldigi, in Aurade, as bishop Girelm had held them.  The document reflects and attempts to resolve some ongoing problems of many years. Adelaide had sided with bishop Girelm when the people of Asti threw him out in 1061; in 1065, she made a grant to him, the court of Bredolo, perhaps in compensation for his losses, or in return for the fief she held of him.  She took and burned the city of Asti in 1070 and restored its bishop, now Ingo, to power, but Ingo sought consecration by the excommunicated bishop of Milan (Guido), which made trouble for Adelaide with the papacy. As a result, she went to Rome, where she may have agreed to support reforms (on clerical marriage and simony).  At some point in the conflicts, Adelaide had taken possession of the abbey (Dalmazzo) and arch-priestdom (Levaldigi) in question and had a dispute with Ingo over the land along the river between Annone and Rocca d’Arazzo (see Prévité-Orton, 228-29).

Scholarly notes:

• So designated by Previté-Orton, The Early History of the House of Savoy, p.228  Plebem can also be a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended or a chapter.

Printed source:

Muletti, Memorie storico-diplomatiche appartenenti alla città ed ai marchesi di Saluzzo, 1.267-68; also Il Libro Verde della Chiesa d’Asti, ed. Giiuseppe Assandria(Pinerolo: Tipografia Chiantore-Mascarelli, 1907), 67-68.; summarized by Domenico Carutti, Regesta Comitum Sabaudiae Marchionum in Italia (Turin:  Bocca, 1889), p.76, #215. 

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