A letter of donation

Translated letter:

It is known to all children of the holy church that the creator of the universe God the father formed all things for the adornment and composition of the most sacred nuptials of his only son, not only the father but the son, with the agreement of (in harmony with) the Holy Spirit, [it] as his bride as he says to that bride in the Song of Songs:  “Come from Lebanon, my bride, come from Lebanon, come from the crest of Amana, from the summit of Sanir  Hermon” [4:8]  And I, Anna, understanding in my heart, noting with my mind such beauty and such ornament and remembering what is written:  “Blessed who are called to the supper of the Lamb” [Rev.19:9]  and what the bride of Christ says elsewhere:  “Who explain me will have eternal life” [Eccl.24:31], I thought to myself how I might be a participant of those meals and of that blessedness and of eternal life, when at last my heart was lifted to construct a church for Christ, so that I might be worthy to be incorporated within and be connected as a member of that holy society which is joined to Christ by faith, in honor of the holy Trinity and of Mary, the pious mother of God, and the precursor of the Lord and martyr, St. Vincent, I constructed it for Christ and ordered it be dedicated and giving assigned from my means and those which my husband king Henry gave me at our marriage, all of which with the favor of my son Philip, king by the grace of God, and the counsel of all the magnates of his realm, I grant to be assigned so that the religious men serving God, renouncing the world, embracing the life ruled by canon, of the holy apostles and St. Augustine, which is written, may live and pray day and night for the sins of king Henry and mine and my children and friends so that without stain or wrinkle as the church is formed by Christ, they may show me to God by their prayers; the land which bishop Ivo possessed next to the church, bought by that price, with the oven and all the customs that land is accustomed to render; nine tenants with every custom that I possessed before in that place; from the rent of money, three pounds; the walkway (?pediter)* of the city in whose suburb the said church was constructed, and what pertains to the city; one mill in the town that is called Guvils; one town which is called Blanc-Mesnil (Mansionale Blavum); in the territory of Laon, one allod in the town called Crespis, but so that noone there is harmed, I grant all the customs entirely to St. Vincent and its canons.

I Philip, by the grace of God king of the Franks, we have obtained from those canons of St. Vincent 30 pounds and we granted them a certain town of ours called Barberie, in pledge (vadimonium), on the condition that as long as we did not render said pounds to the canons until the most recent quadrant, they would hold that town with everything pertaining to it and possess it in peace and free, while we paid in full, said pledge would return to our control as it was in the past; they are money of Beauvais coinage.

Original letter:

Notum est omnibus sancte aecclesiae filiis quoniam universitatis creator omnia ad ornatum compositionemque sacratissimarum nuptiarum unigeniti sui Deus pater condidit, nec solum genitor sed et ipse genitus, concordia Sancti Spiritus, sibi sponsam aptavit, sicut ipse in Canticis Canticorum eidem sponsae dicit:  “Veni de libano, sponsa mea, veni de libano, veni et coronaberis de capite Amana, de vertice Sanir et Hermon.”  Ego autem, Anna, corde intelligens, mente pertractans tantam pulchritudinem tantumque decus atque recolens illud quod scriptum est:  “Beati qui ad cenam Agni vocati sunt”, et quod ipsa Christi sponsa alias dicit:  “Qui elucidant me vitam aeternam habebunt”, deliberavi apud me quomodo illarum epularum illiusque beatitudinis ac vitae aeternae particeps existere possem, cumque demum sublevatum esset cor meum ad fabricandam Christo aecclesiam, ut intus incorporari et quodlibet membrum illius sanctae societatis, que fide Christo adjuncta est, connecti valuissem, in honore sanctae Trinitatis et piae Dei genitricis Mariae et precursoris Domini et sancti Vincentii martyris, Christo eam fabricavi et dedicare precepi atque dans deputavi ibi de facultatibus meis et de his, que in matrimonio Henricus rex, conjux meus, michi dederat, que omnia, favore filii mei Philippi, Dei gratia regis, et omnium optimatum sui regni consilio attitulari concedo, quatinus ibi quieti et tranquilli religiosi viri Deo servientes, mundo renuntiantes, regularem, id est sanctorum apostolorum et beati Augustini, que scripta est, vitam canonice amplectentes, vivere valeant et pro peccatis Henrici regis ac filiorum et amicorum meorum atque meis die ac nocte Deum exorent, et ut sine macula aut ruga, sicut a Christo aptatur aecclesia, suis precibus me Deo exhibeant:  terram scilicet quam juxta aecclesiam Ivo prepositus possidebat, ab ipso pretio emptam, cum furno et omnibus consuetudinibus quas terra reddere solet; novem hospites, cum omni consuetudine, quos prius in eodem loco possidebam; de censu monete, tres libras; pediter civitatis, in cujus suburbio prefata constructa est aecclesia, et quod ad civitatem pertinet; molendinum unum in villa que dicitur Guvils; villam unam que dicitur Mansionale Blavum; in territorio Laudunensi, alodium unum in villa que dicitur Crespis, sed ne quis deinceps eis molestus sit, concedo omnes omnino consuetudines sancto Vincentio et canonicis ejus.

Ego Philippus, Dei gratia Francorum rex, mutuavimus ab ipsis canonicis sancti Vincentii XXX libras et eis inde quandam villulam nostram, que vocatur Barberiacus, in vadimonium concessimus, ea conditione ut quandiu prefatas libras canonicis usque ad novissimum quadrantem non reddiderimus, villulam illam cum omnibus ad eam pertinentibus teneant et possideant quietam et solutam, dum cero persolverimus ex toto, prefatum vadimonium redeat in dominium nostrum, sicut prius fuerat; sunt autem denarii Silvanectensis monete.

Historical context:

A record of the donation and construction of the church of St. Vincent by the queen is contained within a later agreement made by her son Philip with the canons of the church and signed by the king and his queen Berta.

Scholarly notes:

* I could not find a definition of pediter.  Afforty suggests pediter civitatis may mean "said city" in another context, but that does not seem appropriate here.

Printed source:

M. Prou, Recueil des actes de Philippe I (Paris, C. Klincksieck, 1908), CXXX, p.329-30.

Date: