A letter from Blanche

Translated letter:

I Blanche, countess palatine of Troyes, make known and testify to the present as well as the future, that I have granted to all men of Poivres and La Rivière-de-Corps that they be free and immune from all tax.  For which they will give me annually on the feast of St. Remy fifty pounds in denarii, and by the following nativity of the Lord a thousand two hundred sesters of approved and good rye, which they will bring in their wagons to Bar-sur-Aube or Troyes.  In this payment all those men who can and should be in it are included.  But it is to be known that the mayor of the town will not be able to levy more than twenty solidos for those crimes which include external-marriages and mortmains, false measure, rape, homicide, theft, murder; the rest will be mine.  If indeed something happens between the mayor and men that cannot be resolved or decided by them, they will be reconciled by my provost of Rosnay.  That this remain in force and firm, I wished to have the present charter strengthened by the protection of my seal in witness of this thing.  Enacted at Troyes in the year of the lord’s incarnation, 1205, in the month of November.  Given by the hand of Walter, chancellor.  Notation of John.

Original letter:

Ego Blancha comitissa Trecensis palatina. Notum facio et testificor tam presentibus quam futuris, quod omnibus hominibus de Piparo et de majoria Pipari et de Riparia concessi, quod ab omni tallia liberi sint et immunes. Ipsi vero propter hoc annuatim in festo sancti Remigii michi reddent quinquaginta libras in denariis, et usque ad natale Domini sequens mille et ducento sextarios laudabilis avene et bone, quam ipsi adducent ad suas vecturas apud Barrum vel Trecas. In hac autem censiva sunt omnes illi homines qui in ea possunt esse et debent. Sed sciendum quod major ville de illis forefactis que sunt, sicut forismaritagiis et manumortua, de falsa mensura, de rapta, de homicidio, de latrone, de multro non proterit levare plus quam viginti solidos, residuum autem meum proprium erit. Si vero inter majorem et homines aliquid accidat, quod per ipsos concordari aut diffiniri non possit, per prepositum meum de Rosnaco se concordabunt. Quod ut ratum et firmum permaneat, in huis [sic] rei testimonium presentem cartam fieri volui sigilli mei munimine roboratam. Actum Trecas anno Incarnationis dominice M CC quinto, mense novembri. Data per manum Galteri cancellari. Nota Johannis.

Historical context:

The countess reduces the tax on the men of two towns to a yearly payment of rye.

Printed source:

The Cartulary of Countess Blanche of Champagne, edited by Theodore Evergates, © The Medieval Academy of America 2010 (University of Toronto Press, 2009), 324-25, #369.  Reprinted with permission of the press.

Date: