A letter of donation

Translated letter:

We, Isabella, by the grace of God queen of Hungary, commending to memory, signify to all to whom it reaches by the wording of the presents, that in bestowing alms hoping to be promised salvation, we have given, donated, and conferred certain land of ours called Chu sufficient to the cultivation of two ploughings situated in the county/ispánate of Esztergom, in which three dwellings (mansiones) are said to sit, with all their rights and appurtenances, on lady Elizabeth and the other sisters of the Island in the church of the Blessed Virgins serving God perpetually, to be held, had, and possessed irrevocably and by perpetual right, wishing that said three dwellings belong henceforth to that church in that freedom in which they are known to have remained up to now.  Dated at Buda, on the day after St. Margaret, Virgin, in the thousand two hundred seventy fourth year.

Original letter:

Nos Isabella Dei gratia regina Vngarie memorie commendantes significamus universis, quibus expedit, presentium per tenorem, quod nos in largitione elemosinarum sperantes salutem promereri, quandam terram nostram Chw vocatam culture duorum aratrorum sufficientem sitam in comitatu Strigoniensi, in qua tres mansiones dicuntur residere, cum omnibus iuribus suis et pertinentiis dedimus, donavimus et contulimus domine Elysabeth et aliis sororibus de Insula in ecclesia Beate Virginis Deo iugiter famulantibus iure perpetuo et inrevocabiliter tenendam, habendam et etiam possidendam, volentes, ut dicte tres mansiones in eadem libertate, in qua hactenus permansisse dinoscuntur, ad ipsam ecclesiam de cetero pertineant sive spectent.  Datum Bude, in crastino beate Margarete virginis, anno Domini Mo  CCo LXXo IIIIto.

Historical context:

The cloister of nuns on the Island of Rabbits (now Margaret Island) was visited and patronized by several Árpád queens.  Isabella, who would be enclosed there by her husband in 1276, issued several charters concerning it.  St. Margaret’s day in July 20.  The chapter of the Esztergom church records the queen's gift of Chu and the establishment of boundaries by their man and hers:  "We the chapter of the church of Esztergom give as a record that we have received the letters of lady Isabella, illustrious queen of Hungary, saying that that lady queen conferred a certain land of hers called Chu in the county/ispánate of Esztergom on the sisters of the Island of the Blessed Virgin and when we received the messages of that lady queen with the contents of her letters, we sent our man by whose testimony count/ispán Haragus the man of the lady queen walking that land with all its uses and appurtenances, with the present shared boundaries and neighbors, stated that it was to be possessed by said sisters without injury of alien right/law, after that count Haragus the man of the lady queen and our man came back to us, and told us what they had found in said reginal land Chu, one hundred seventy three measures (iugera) with land of nobles and others of Chu, mixed, adjacent and divided with vegetation, of which one hundred seventy three measures are in fertilized land which is called teluk in the vulgate, indeed one hundred measures is arable and flatland and divided with vegetation ..." ( BTOE 137-38, #123, dated July 15, 1274:  Nos capitulum ecclesie Strigoniensis damus pro memoria, quod litteras domine I[sabelle] illustris regine Hungarie recepimus continentes, quod ipsa domina regina quandam terram suam Chu vocatam in comitatu Strigoniensi existentem sororibus de Insula Beate Virginis contulisset et cum nos recepto mandato eiusdem domine regine iuxta continentiam litterarum suarum hominem nostrum misissemus, cuius testimonio comes Haragus homo domine regine reambulando ipsam terram cum omnibus utilitatibus et pertinentiis suis, presentibus commetaneis et vicinis, statueret predictis sororibus sine preiudicio iuris alieni possidendam, postmodum iidem comes Haragus homo domine regine et homo noster ad nos reversi nobis retulerunt, quod in predicta terra Chu invenerunt terram reginalem centum et septuagintatria iugera cum terra nobilium et aliorum de Chu mixtim adiacentia et divisa cum herbis, de quibus centum et septuaginta tribus iugeribus septuagintatria iugera sunt in terra fimata, que vulgariter teluk vocatur, terra vero centum iugerum est arabilis et campestris et dividitur cum herbis...)

Printed source:

Budapest történek okleveles emlékel.  Monumenta diplomatica civitatis Budapest, I (1148-1301), ed. D. Csánky (Budapest:  Gárdonyi, 1936), 137, #122.

Date: