A letter from Clementia of Burgundy, countess of Flanders (1099-1100)

Translated letter:

In the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit, to lord Hugh abbot of the holy church of Cluny, Clementia countess of Flanders, a blessed share with the sheep on the right hand. Since, reverend father, I trust greatly in the inner depths of your piety, I recur faithfully to your mercy sometimes by writing, sometimes by messenger, to establish religion in our region. I think no work would be more pleasing to our creator than the work we do here, in a place that up to now was a church of the wicked, being changed by providence to a glorious dwelling for the servants of God and those living by rule and piously. And since your holy wisdom wrote to me that, according to the saying of a higher one, I should give more attention to the outcome of things than to the beginning, and that you fear the discords of nobles and the brothers of that place, I answer boldly to the first that I shall persevere in my intention altogether firm and most constant, with God as my witness, and I shall never give up such holy work with such a pious intention as long as I live, not for the dissension of nobles, which will not occur since it is greatly desired by all, nor for the controversies or objections of the brothers, which we shall bring to nothing in every way. I, therefore, Clementia, countess of Flanders by the grace of God, with that same power and stability as my lord, while he was in his land, ordering and disposing whatever is in my right, by counsel of my bishops, John of Therouanne and Lambert of Arras, at the same time at the incitement of certain princes whom I summoned to dispose this with me by swift counsel, according to the request of that abbot and the will inspired in me by heaven, [we] concede and we give with perpetual right by the transfer of this page to God and St. Peter and to you and your successors the monastery of St. Bertin and all the things pertaining to it, external and internal, and whatever came to us and our predecessors from it up to now freely by grant of the diocesan bishop,(1) for the redemption of my soul and of my successors, for the safety of my lord count Robert, with whose will and assent over this business, if divine piety brings him back, we subject most certainly this his place to you according to the tenor of the lord pope's letter. So also [we concede] that you have the free authority to remove the abbot ordained by you, if he does not live according to the Rule of St. Benedict and the holy institutions of your Cluniac church, and to substitute another in his place, especially since no one from anywhere but Cluny can preside there. All these concessions are firmly commended by witness of the abovementioned bishops, John of Therouanne and Lambert of Arras, and my magnates, Robert of Bethune, advocate of that abbacy and Baldwin, chatelain of that town, and also Baldric, a man of great competence/wealth. This place looks therefore to your wisdom and holiness for the love of God so to order from your religious persons and honorable men in whom you abound that the evil so long worked in that place be thoroughly eradicated and the name of God be glorified by all in all things in the life and honorable customs of those who make their profession there. Amen.

[On the back: Order of lady Clementia, countess of Flanders, about the abbey of St. Bertin.]

Original letter:

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus sancti. Domno Hugoni sanctae Cluniacensis Ecclesiae abbati, Clementia Flandrensium comitissa, beatam cum dextrae partis ovibus portionem. Quoniam de pietatis vestrae visceribus, Pater reverende, plurimum praesumo, idcirco pro religione in partibus nostris per vos construenda, nunc scriptis, nunc internuntiis, fiducialiter ad misericordiam vestram recurro. Nullum enim opus gratius Creatori nostro fore existimo quam ut hic operam demus, quatenus locus, qui huc usque plane erat ecclesia malignantium, ex superni respectus immutatione fiat gloriosa habitatio Deo servientium et regulariter ac pie insimul viventium. Et quoniam sancta prudentia vestra mihi scripsit, ut, iuxta cuiusdam superius dictum, plus rerum exitus quam initium attenderem, vosque discordias procerum, ac ipsius loci fratrum vereri, ad id primum audacitater respondeo quod in hoc meo proposito, omnino firma, imo constantissima, Deo teste, perseverabo, nec pro dissensione procerum quae nulla erit, cum maxime cordi sit omnibus, nec pro controversiis seu contradictionibus fratrum, quas omnimodis ad nihilum redigemus, a tam sancto opere, tamque pia intentione, quoad vixero, unquam declinabo. Ego igitur Clementia, gratia Dei Flandrensis comitissa, eadem potestate ac stabilitate, qua dominus meus, dum adhuc in terra sua esset, quaecunque iuris mei sunt ordinans atque disponens, consilio episcoporum meorum, Joannis videlicet Morinensis, et Lamberti Atrebatensis, simulque instinctu quorumdam principum, quos ad hoc mecum disponendum alacriori quidem consilio convocavi, iuxta petitionem ipsius abbatis atque voluntatem mihi coelitus inspiratam, monasterium Beati Bertini, omniaque ad ipsum pertinentia, tam exterius quam interius, et quidquid ad nos ac antecessores nostros ex eodem hactenus, attinebat Deo et sancto Petro, vobis quoque, ac successoribus vestris per concessionem dioecesani episcopi libenter concedimus, et per praesentis paginae traditionem iure perpetuo donamus, atque pro redemptione animae meae, ac successorum meorum, pro salute quoque domini mei Roberti comitis, de cuius voluntate atque assensu super hoc negotio, si forte divina pietas eum reduxerit, certissime suum locum illum secundum tenorem litterarum domni papae perfecte vobis subjiciemus, ita etiam ut abbas a vobis ibidem ordinatus, si, secundum Regulam sancti Benedicti, et sacras institutiones vestrae Cluniacensis Ecclesiae, non vixerit, liberam facultatem removendi, alterumque substituendi habeatis, praesertim eum non aliunde, nisi de Cluniaco, quemquam deinceps ibidem liceat praeesse. Haec autem omnia concessa et firmiter collaudata sunt sub testimonio episcoporum supramemoratorum, Joannis Tarvanensis, et Lamberti Atrebatensis, ac optimatum meorum, scilicet Roberti de Bethunia, ipsius abbatiae advocati, atque Balduini eiusdem villae castellani, nec non Baldrici magnae probitatis viri. Ad vestram ergo prudentiam atque sanctitatem spectat locum illum pro amore Dei ex vestris religiosis personis ac honestis viris quibus abundati sic ordinare, quatenus malitia inibi diutius iam inolita penitus exstirpetur, atque in vita morumque honestate ibidem conversantium nomen Domini per omnia ab omnibus glorificetur. Amen.

[Au dos: Preceptum domne Clementie, Flandrensis comitisse, de abbatia Sancti Bertini.]

Historical context:

The countess grants a corrupt monastery to Hugh (abbot from 1049-1109) and his order for purposes of reform. The note on the back of the letter is from the edition in the Recueil des Chartes.

John Ott informs me that the date of this letter can be fixed between July 17, 1099 and June 20, 1100: the terminus a quo by the consecration of John, bishop of Therouanne, and antequem by the return of Clementia’s husband, Robert II, from the First Crusade.

Scholarly notes:

(1) Robert removed the provision by which Clementia exempted the abbey from episcopal jurisdiction when he confirmed her grant, see Nicholas, 118.

Printed source:

PL 159, c.939-40; Recueil des chartes de l'abbaye de Cluny, ed. A. Bernard and A. Bruel (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1876-1903), 5.836-38, #3733bis.

Date:

1099-1100