DEED OF GIFT TO THE ABBEY OF ST LAURENCE

MS 590/50
MS Short Title DEED OF GIFT TO THE ABBEY OF ST LAURENCE
Text DEED OF GIFT OF SUMS OF MONEY BY WILLELMI, AND WILLELMI AND IOVANNI, HIS BROTHERS, AND WIRLA AND FRUL, HIS SISTERS, TO THE ABBEY OF ST LAURENCE, IN MEMORY OF THEIR MOTHER; ALSO MENTIONING A HERMITAGE SOLD BY RANNOLF ASUMARIO. WITNESSES: DOMINUS AUDEGARII, ABBOT, REMUNDI SENIOFREDI DE RESUBIO, AMATI ULDRICI, MIRONI RENARDI, BERNARDI TERRECII, WILLELMI WILABERTI, WILABERTI OLIBANI AND WILLELMI DURANDI AND OTHERS; ISSUED UNDER THE NOTARIAL MARK OF THE SACRIST AND MONK BENEDICTUS, WITH THE MARKS OF WILLELMI, WILLELMI, IOVANNI, WIRLA AND FRUL AND OF THE WITNESSES, WADALL, MIRONI RENARDI, PERE WILLELM, WILLELM WIFRE; DATED 10 KALENDS OF JUNE IN THE 3RD YEAR OF THE REIGN OF KING PHILIP
Description

MS in Latin on vellum, San Iuliani de Altura, Terrassa near Barcelona, 23 May 1062, 1 f., 11x15-26 cm, (9x25 cm), 14 long lines in a littera minuscula carolina documentaria currens (Current Carolingian documentary script), the confirmation clause in an engrossed and more cursive version of the script, by the monk Benedictus, opening decorated penwork initial, penwork notarial mark. Annotated on the dorse in several later medieval hands.

A copy, now at the library of the Abbey of Montserrat, of this MS was made by J. A. de Plandolit in the late 19th c. The Plandolit copies are ca. 50 charters of which most are now at the British Library, except for four charters including this one. The British Library purchased 78 manuscripts from Sant Llorenç del Munt (11th to 13th c.) in 1920, now BL MSS Add. Chart. 62604-62681

Binding
Context The witnesses Dominus Audegari, abbot, and Remundi Seniofredi, are possibly the same individuals who sign another document dated 1039, which also has the word 'Monte' on the dorse and appears to relate to the same monastery of St Laurence.
Provenance 1. Abbey of San Iuliani de Altura, Terrassa near Barcelona (1062); 2. Abbey of San Laurenzio, Spain (1062); 3. Archive of San Llorenc del Munt, near Barcelona (until 19th c.); 4. Sold in Barcelona (19th c.); 5. E. Fisher (1920); 6. Swann Galleries, New York 6.11.1986:33; 7. Bernard Rosenthal Collection, San Francisco, I/281 (1986-1989); 8. Quaritch, London.
Commentary

King Philip, possibly to be identified with the Capetian king Philip I, King of France 1060-1108. Audegarius may have been abbot of San Iuliani de Altura.

The annotations on the dorse mention the place-names of Terraca and Monte. The place (now a suburb) is still known by its old name, Sant Julià d'Altura, now just 3 km NE of Terrassa, itself 15 km N of Barcelona. The monastery of Sant Llorenç del Munt is just 8 km N of Terrassa. Formally founded as an independent Benedictine house only in the mid 11th c., it soon fell under the domination of the important house farther south, Sant Cugat del Valles, and declined and was dissolved in the 16th c. The most prominent person in the charter is Amat Eldric (or Uldric), seneschal for Count Ramon Berenguer I of Barcelona, and prominent in the region North and West of the city in the 1040s-1060s.

Information thanks to Nathaniel L. Taylor, Ph.D.

Published Pere Puig i Ustrell. El monestir de Sant Llorenç del Munt sobre Terrassa: Diplomatari dels segles X XI, no 410, vol 3, pp. 1189-90. Barcelona, Fundaciò Noguera, 1995. 3 vols. This MS was known to the editor only through the Plandolit copies.

Archiv für Diplomatik, Schriftgeshichte Siegel- und Wappenkunde, 49 Band 2003, pp. 49-80; Mark Mersiowsky: Katalanische Urkunden in privaten Sammlungen.
Exhibited
Mentioned
Boxing
See also
Place of origin Spain
Dates 1062 AD