A letter from Constance of Hungary (1240, December 5)

Translated letter:

We Constance, by grace of God formerly queen of Bohemia, now indeed humble handmaid of Jesus Christ, to all who will see the present page, greetings in Christ Jesus. We wish notice to come to all in the present age and future posterity, that we recognized around the kalends of December that weighed down by grave illness and the weakness of a failing body we will inevitably enter the way of all flesh through that sickness. But since the town which is called Komin which we bought from lord Dyvis of Divisov through the mediation of noble men, namely lord Albert of Slivno, chamberlain of Bohemia, and our faithful lord Buno, for 280 marks, we paid a part of, because when the said lord Divis of Dyvisov paid the debt of flesh, his son Zdeslas, whose favor for the buying of the mentioned town we also had and to whom we paid a part of the money for said town, did not wish to surround [include] the town Komyn with its appurtenances, woods, meadows, fisheries, and other fields cultivated or uncultivated, as was held to surround them by right, [despite] our often repeated urging and request. And so, taking counsel for the salvation of our soul, we have given this record to our house, asking in the Lord that after the proof of boundaries and the circuit, the abbess whoever she may be pay to the aforesaid Zdeslas 50 marks, since we have paid 230 to him and his father. For greater precaution in this deed, we have ordered this writing to be confirmed by our seal and that of the abbess. Enacted in the year of grace 1240, nones of December.

Original letter:

Nos, Constancia, dei gracia quondam Boemie regina, nunc vero humilis ancilla Jesu Christi, omnibus presentem paginam inspecturis salutem in Christo Jesu. Ad universorum presentis etatis et future posteritatis pervenire volumus noticiam, quod nos egritudine gravi preoccupate circa kalendas decembris et imbecillitate corporis invalescente cognovimus nos viam carnis universe per eandem infirmitatem inevitabiliter ingressuras. Set quia villam, que Komyn nuncupatur, quam aput dominum Dyuis de Diuysou mediantibus viris nobilibus, videlicet domino Alberto de Slyuen, camerario Boemie, et fideli nostro domino Bunone, emimus pro ducentis et octoginta marcis, ex integro persolvimus minime, maxime propter hoc, quia prenominato domino Diuis de Dyuisov carnis debitum persolvente, filius suus Zdeslaus, cuius eciam favorem super empcione ville prelibate habuimus et cui partem pecunie solvimus pro villa sepe dicta, ad monicionem et peticionem nostram sepius iteratam noluit circuire villam Komyn cum suis attinenciis, silvis, pratis, piscacionibus, agris et aliis cultis sive incultis, sicut tenebatur de iusticia circuire. Saluti itaque anime nostre consulentes, memoriale istud nostre dimisimus domui rogantes in Domino, ut post ostensionem metarum et circuitum antedicto Zdeslao solvat abbatissa, quecumque fuerit, quinquaginta marcas, quia CC et XXX marcas solvimus sibi et patri suo. Ad maiorem autem caucionem huius gesti nostro sigillo et abbatisse hoc scriptum iussimus communiri. Acta sunt anno gracie MCCXL, nonis decembris.

Historical context:

The queen, now a nun, leaves instructions for the abbess of a house for which she bought a town to pay the remaining sum owed for the surrounding area when the legal boundaries have been fixed.

Printed source:

Codex Diplomaticus et Epistolarius Regni Bohemiae, ed. Gustavus Friederich (Prague: 1942), 3.2.350-51, ep.258.

Date:

1240, December 5