ON S. BERTICHRAMNUS,
BISHOP OF LE MANS IN GAUL.
IN THE YEAR 623.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Bertichramnus, Bishop of Le Mans in Gaul (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
§. I. The Acts of his life up to the undertaking of the Bishopric, and its beginnings.
[1] The Church of Le Mans, after its first Bishop S. Julian, who is venerated on the 27th of January, commemorates eight others in order, Among the first eleven Bishops who were Saints, the tenth is this one, honored with the honor of Saints on various days throughout the year. The penultimate of these, Innocentius, will come to be commemorated by us on the 19th day of this month; concerning the last, and the eighth after Julian, S. Domnolus, we have treated on the 16th of May. This most beautiful series of holy Prelates, that it should no further be continued to the twelfth inclusive, was made to cease by Badegisilus, not so much a Bishop as a tyrant; canonically ordained, however, so far as we can know from the history of S. Gregory of Tours, at least interpolated, Book 6 chapter 19. For after it had there been narrated how S. Domnolus, feeling himself dying, pre-elected Theodulfus the Abbot in his place, to whose assent King Chilperic gave his will; presently it is subjoined: "but not long after, the will being changed, the election is transferred to Baudegisilus, the major of the royal House: ordained in the year 586, who, tonsured, ascending the grades which the Clergy obtain, after forty days succeeded the Priest Domnolus on his departing," in the year 581; then, as a legitimate Bishop, he subscribed to the Council of Mâcon of the year 585. But, as is there read in Book 9 chapter 39, when, the fifth year of his Episcopate being completed, now entering the sixth, in the year of Christ 586, he had prepared a feast for the citizens with immense joy; "the year which he had begun he forthwith ended, death imminent. Bertichramnus, Archdeacon of Paris, was substituted." He himself subscribes himself in his testament Bertichramnus, and others after him; but contemporary with and of the same name as him, the Bishop of the Church of Bordeaux is noted as Bertechramnus in the aforesaid Council: but commonly it was pronounced Bertrannus, which his Notary at the beginning of the Testament followed; and so he is found inscribed in the old Calendar of the Church of Le Mans on the 30th of June, he is venerated on the 6th and 30th of June. on which day he is believed to have died; but, on account of the solemn Office of S. Paul, he is honored only with a simple Commemoration; but he is prescribed to be more festively recollected on this 6th day, under the title of the Translation, with an Office of three Lessons and a Mass: whose ancient observance on this day is proved from the Life of Arnaldus the Bishop, who died in the year 1082, who, having obtained the honor of burial in the oratory of S. Vincent, was finally, in the time of Lord Hugh the Bishop, ordained in the year 1135, translated into the chapter-house of the same monastery in the year of the Lord, not 1111 (as wrongly printed) but 1141, on the day of the Translation of S. Bertrannus the Bishop.
[2] "Many altercations," says Gregory, "he is proved to have had with the widow left of his dead predecessor; because she was detaining as her own the property An. 588 he is sent as legate to the Bretons. which in his time had been given to the Church, saying: 'This was the military service of my husband': but, though unwilling, she nevertheless restored everything." Meanwhile the Bishop, now passing the third year in his Episcopate, by S. Gunthramn, King of the Burgundians, to whom, as guardian of his great-nephew Lothar, posthumous son of Chilperic, Le Mans was subject; sent as legate with Namatius of Orléans to the Bretons, received the sureties and subscribed pledges of those who had promised every satisfaction for the incursion made into the territory of Nantes, in the year of Christ 588, as we seem to ourselves to gather from Gregory, who narrates the matter at greater length in Book 9 chapter 18, and then in chapter 20 subjoins what was done "in that," that is, in the same year, the 13th of King Childebert, of him who afterward succeeded Gunthramn; although Charles le Cointe in the Annals of the Franks prefers to refer it to the preceding year. More concerning Bertichramnus Gregory does not have; The Acts written in the Register after the year 855 for he did not reach, in writing, the death of King Gunthramn—who died in the year 593—and the adversities of the holy Prelate which followed this. But no one, so far as is known, in the next two centuries wrote his Life; but he who compiled the Deeds of S. Aldricus, the 23rd Bishop, who died in the year 855, to be presented in the Supplement of January on the 7th day; and in the same style entirely arranged the Acts of the preceding Bishops; from those monuments which he received either in writing or by tradition; gave us also some history of S. Bertichramnus, to be inserted into this Commentary by parts; but for the greater part taken from the Testament, made on the 6th day before the Kalends of April around the year of Christ 616, which is subjoined to the Deeds. For this, since it is very prolix, teaches many things concerning his acts: but above all is proved the excellent faith of Bertichramnus toward King Clothar II, deprived of his guardian his paternal uncle Gunthramn. From the same place also it becomes known how great was his diligence and liberality in founding, endowing, and fortifying for perpetuity sacred places dedicated to God; taken almost entirely from his own Testament, of the year 615, how much, moreover, of estates devolved to him from goods, whether by inheritance, or by donation, or even by purchase, he himself possessed; of which, however, some small portion, but a very small one, he sprinkled upon his dearest Nephew and Great-nephews and other friends and intimates, as mindful of duty as he was sparing in lavishing benefit upon those not in need.
[3] The 22nd year of King Clothar—no, This Testament was first published from the Register of the Church by Antonius Corvaserius, lord of Curtilles, royal Counsellor in the Senate of Le Mans, and afterward Lieutenant for criminal cases, in the History of the Bishops of Le Mans, published in French in 1649. But Joannes Bondonnetus, a Benedictine, having pursued the same subject not a little more accurately and learnedly in the same French language, three years later brought a grave charge against him, as though he had presumed not only to correct grammatical and orthographical errors, but also to change certain substantial things, and to substitute the twenty-second year of Clothar for the thirty-second. Charles le Cointe in the Annals of the Franks, meeting this accusation, shows that Clothar, having first obtained possession of Le Mans after the death of Gunthramn, but 32, according to the more accurate edition: though for twenty years unstable, could have numbered the years thus among them. But there is no need of that evasion, so uncertain, and so remote from the practice of that time, in which the testament was written, and in which Clothar, possessing the whole Frankish Monarchy, and yet numbering the years of his reign with his life, the Epoch being drawn from the year 593, was everywhere setting an example to his subjects to do likewise. There is no need, I say, of that evasion: for in the Register, whence Corvaserius professes to have received a copy, the year is noted in numeral letters as 32; so that nothing is more probable than that Corvaserius, deceived by the carelessness of his copyist, in good faith omitted the decade. That this writer ought and can be so excused, otherwise not very attentive to Chronological observations, is proved by the most faithful edition of the whole Register itself from the Manuscript, in volume 3 of the Analecta of Mabillon, just as various Authors successively supplemented it; beginning from Arnaldus the 33rd Bishop, and after S. Aldricus (in whom the prior part ends) the tenth, and further writing up to
Gaufridus of Loudun, who died around the year 1255.
[4] where the Saint is said to have sat without a Chorepiscopus for 37 years: At the front of this Register (which, that the recourse may be easier to the Reader, it pleases to note in the margin the number of the Page for the several places to be taken thence)—at the front, I say, of this Register, "begin the names or times of the just or unjust Pontiffs, dwelling in the city of Le Mans": and after the Most Blessed Julian, and eight others intermediate, there called Blessed, follows: "X. Lord Baldegisilus the Bishop sat in the Episcopate for 5 years"; and under him are noted "Berthodus the Chorepiscopus and Merolus"; then is subjoined: "Blessed Bertichrannus the Bishop sat for 37 years." Page 46 According to which reckoning, the Epoch being taken from Gregory of Tours, he would have died in the year of Christ 623. He could certainly not have lived much longer, since the Precaria, which his successor Lord Hadoindus the Bishop made for Lonegisilus the Priest, is found signed on the Kalends of December in the 42nd year (be it that by the copyist's carelessness it is written 52) of King Clothar reigning, that is, 625. Corvaserius and Bondonnetus, later writers add that he lived 70 years. no Author being cited, write that he was, when he died, 70 years old; and so they conceive him born about the year 553; when S. Germanus, whom presently below the Saint calls his Godfather, was still Abbot of S. Symphorianus at Autun, made Bishop of Paris two years later; whence it seems to follow that Bertichramnus, born of a Frankish father and an Aquitanian mother, came into the light at Autun rather than at Paris. The same man also, by the aforesaid reckoning, would have been advanced to the Episcopate in the 32nd year of his age, taken up from the sacred font at Autun by S. Germanus the Abbot, and certainly could not have been ordained much earlier according to the Canons. Furthermore, since in the aforesaid Register, under number X, nothing had been written concerning Bishop Baldegisilus, Chapter XI is filled by "The Deeds of Lord Bertichramnus, Bishop of the city of Le Mans, who lived in the very last time of Chilperic son of Clothar, for a little more than one year, and in the time of Clothar son of the same Chilperic, who were Kings of the Franks, illustrious Men."
[5] and afterward educated under the same Bishop of Paris, This is the beginning of those Deeds. "Lord Bertichramnus, Prelate of the city of Le Mans, noble by lineage, by nation partly Aquitanian, partly Frankish, but tonsured at Tours, and afterward for some time having conversed with Lord Germanus, the distinguished Bishop of the city of Paris, and taught by him, and ordained in certain Sacerdotal grades, and spiritually instructed." Thus he himself gave occasion for the writing, speaking thus in his Testament: "To the basilica of Lord Germanus the Bishop, my special Godfather, who most sweetly nourished me, and by his holy prayer, though unworthy, brought me to the honor of the Priesthood … I order the village of Bobane to be given in honor of his burial": and again below, speaking of the Basilica built by him at Le Mans, of the most blessed and holy Germanus, Prelate of Paris, he adds: "who sweetly nourished me, and by his intercession I came, as I did not merit, to the Sacerdotal burden": from him he received his first Orders; but the Saint could not dictate these things in any other sense than that he ascribes the obtaining of the Episcopate of Le Mans to the supplication, before God, of Germanus, already since the year 576 blessed in heaven. P. 121, P. 133 And this is what the Author of the Deeds, observing (for "Priest" and "Sacerdotal" are the same to the ancients as "Bishop" and "Episcopal," nor was it said of Presbyters), cautiously said, "certain Sacerdotal grades"; that is, those leading to the Episcopate, such as are also the four Minor Orders, and the Subdiaconate and Diaconate.
[6] But the Saint could not have received even these from S. Germanus, if it were rightly read from the Testament for it ought not to be believed that at the age of 30 he was still a layman, that he received certain things from King Clothar while he was a layman. For Clothar the Second, posthumous to his father, as I have already said, first began to live and reign in the year 583; but the First died in the year 561, when Bertichramnus was only eight years old. But if, under Clothar II, though an infant, but able through his ruling mother to give many things, Bertichramnus had still been a layman, already passing the 30th year of his age; it would follow that no sacred Order was received by him before that time; and that he was already a man when, converted from the world, at the tomb of his Lord and special Patron S. Martin he laid down his hair, and began to render there annually a tribute under that title; and so that he had scarcely for one year performed the office of Archdeacon at Paris, and that under Ragnemodus, the successor of S. Germanus. [P.] So sudden a promotion, as if by a leap, is rightly suspect to me, nor sufficiently credible in a holy man. Let the passage itself therefore be consulted. It is contained in Mabillon, in these words: "It has pleased me to assign this, that the village of Nimione, situated in the territory of Paris, with the vineyards, which are known to be at Frontanitum for the wrestling-grounds palaestrae and the vine-dressers, which Lord Lothar the King gave me, which were often mine while I was a layman, both from the fisc and from purchase, I wish to be given entirely to be possessed by the holy Church of Paris, under whose grace I was nourished." P. 116 That the sense is gappy, no one fails to see: and (if there does not here lie hidden someone who gave or sold something to the Bishop, as in number 44 a certain Eusebius once a Layman) I strongly suspect that he wishes the village of Nimione to be given to the Church, with the vineyards which are known to be of Frontinetum, or in Frontinetum, which King Clothar gave; and that in it (namely Nimione or Frontinetum) "Dumlaicus" formerly was, or "Dumlaicus" had. For some names of this termination are found in use among the Franks, as Wulfilaicus, Grimlaicus, and below number 61 Berthelaicus, while in the Translation of SS. Marcellinus and Peter is found the Notary of Eginhard the Abbot, Ratleicus or otherwise Ratlaicus. Meanwhile I do not wonder that, from these same words, thus distorted in Corvaserius, as if it were clearly and distinctly written, "which Lord Clothar the King gave me when I was a layman," Charles le Cointe in his Annals drew a sense altogether contrary to the opinion of Corvaserius himself, who asserts that Bertichramnus was initiated into sacred Orders by S. Germanus and made Archdeacon: and I grieve the more that even in the Abbey of La Couture the original charter of the Testament has perished, or that at least no older copy survives, whence a truer reading could be more certainly drawn out.
[7] From the same Abbey (if I am not mistaken) there came to us, fifty years ago, sent from Paris by Father Joannes d'Ardes, the beginning of a certain most verbose Life, and not very ancient; first divided into twelve, then into eight Lessons; The more recent Life is omitted: all very short, such as are commonly found in the older Breviaries of the Gallican Churches, reporting only the beginnings of the Legends; which twenty Lessons were probably followed in the autograph by others, eight or twelve for the several days throughout the remaining Octave. But that beginning is such that the first twelve contain only the praises of his youthful training; the other eight, the petitioning of the Saint to the Episcopate; with so great an ambition of useless exaggeration that, just as there is nothing of historical substance there to read, except the errors by which Bertrannus is said to have been ordained a Priest by S. Germanus, nor is it believed that the Saint was Count of Le Mans. and, S. Domnolus being dead, immediately substituted as Bishop (both of which Saussay transcribed), so neither in the rest does it seem able to teach us anything worthy of relation, not even concerning the Translation or miracles; since, if Corvaserius and Bondonnetus had found any such thing, they seem likely to have indicated it to us, at least in one word. No more is to be made of Saussay's fabrication, asserting that the County of Le Mans pertained to Bertichramnus himself, which power he converted into the protection of justice; as if either at that time the Counties were hereditary, or the Saint ever administered justice in the manner of secular judges, who from adolescence (as Saussay himself writes, and follows from what has been said) was enrolled into the lot of the sacred soldiery. But neither of the two brothers, who are named in the Testament, are called by the title of Count, by no means to be omitted on such an occasion, if either of them had used it, from any administration committed to him personally and anywhere.
§. II. The Monasteries and Hospices founded by S. Bertichramnus.
[8] The Monastery of SS. Peter and Paul, Corvaserius observes that among the Bishops of Le Mans, who preceded or followed Bertichramnus, none is found who erected so many temples and hospices. The first place among these is deservedly claimed and held by the holy and venerable basilica of Lord Peter and Paul the Apostles, which, he says, "Bertichramnus, in sight of the city, on its southern side, by my own work, for the defense of the city or for the health of the people, I built"; concerning which church, it is thus read in his deeds. Page 113 "He made in the territory of the mother and city church of S. Mary and the holy Martyrs Gervasius and Protasius, from the village whose name is Vivereus, from the foundation (an Angel showing it to him, while in the church of S. Michael within the city, near the aforesaid mother church, constructed in a certain tower of that city, he was keeping vigil in prayer; and the Angel visibly to him, at the rising of the dawn of the Lord's day, designating it) a monastery near the city, in which in the 9th century there were Monks in honor of SS. Peter and Paul the Apostles, and nobly constructed it; and that very church of the Apostles, now completed, both from the property of S. Mary and S. Gervasius the mother and city church, and from others which he could justly and lawfully draw or find from anywhere, both from the property of his own inheritance and from others purchased or acquired, lawfully by the consent of Lord Clothar the King and of many Bishops, he marvelously endowed: and a monastery around the church, with cloisters and other buildings, nobly worked from the foundation, and in it instituted that hosts of many Monks living regularly should be; and most devoutly supplied the receptions and refreshings of the poor and of arriving pilgrims or of the matricularii, and constituted that it should be so in perpetuity."
[9] it was founded for Canons by the Saint, Thus far he, namely according to the state in which things then were when he was writing, the 9th century running. Bertichramnus, who in the monastery of S. Martin, concerning which below, declares "Moniculi," that is, little Monks, constituted by him; speaking of that more important and prior place, does not mention Monks; but, "I ask," he says, "and command the Abbots, through the several times, just as the divine power or the grace of the Lord Apostles shall have ordered them to endure therein, that at all the time of their life this above all should be observed by them … that what is hoped from the fields, or the villages named in the testament, be sufficiently ministered each year for the uses of the holy Basilica and of its monastery, or for the sustenance of the Canons or of the poor, who are seen to sit at the matricula of that holy church, in food and clothing." Page 117 Bondonnetus, interpreting Canons, that is those living under a Rule, thinks that by that name Monks are designated, moved
perhaps by the title of Abbot, by which Bertichramnus calls the Prelates of this monastery of his. But such an explanation cannot please; under an Abbot who was a Canon; since from the Councils of the centuries a little later it sufficiently appears that the appellation of Abbots for Canons is by no means foreign or new, which even today endures among those whom, for distinction from seculars, we call Regular Canons. Thus in the Council of Mainz of the year 813, the matter is treated of Clerics "who are without a head, neither under a Bishop, as seculars; nor under an Abbot, as Regulars; but without a canonical or regular life." And in that of Tours of the same year, the Bishops are ordered to know "how the Canons, who are with Abbots, live; and how many Canons each Abbot has in his monastery." Concerning which see Nicolaus Desnos, in the work entitled The Secular and Regular Canon, Book 1 chapter 13. Meanwhile, by whom and when Monks were introduced into the Monastery of SS. Peter and Paul, I confess I do not know: but I find that they, not however alone, were there under the 39th Bishop Hoëllus, who in the year 1090 had not yet wholly failed. who in his Deeds is narrated, in the year 1090, to have relaxed in that very Church the excommunication of the Clerics of the mother Church, with both congregations of St. Peter, both of Clerics and of Monks, hearing.
[10] Charles le Cointe, in the Annals of the Franks, refers this Foundation to the year 579, which I would wish to be proved by records produced, The year of the foundation uncertain: at least those which were written concerning the village of Patrilliacum, which is beside Pont-Chigganne, which, says the Saint, "I purchased from Dolenus, and the sale in the name of SS. Peter and Paul, or of their Basilica, which we then seemed to be building, and afterward I assigned to that holy Basilica." Page 126 Now that concerning the year remains uncertain to us: much more uncertain still, what Charles adds from the opinion of Corvaserius; namely, that because the Saint, an Angel appearing, learned that God wished to be worshipped in that place, he himself wished it to be called "of the Cultivation Culture of God." Indeed, reading the Testament, I cannot but judge that the name of "Culture," which is commonly rendered "la Coulture," is far more ancient; and the name of Culture more recent. and yet that it did not accrue to the aforesaid monastery and church except after the writing of the Deeds, which did not mention such a name when they speak of the monastery; but the Testament, among the villages and fields attributed to the Church of S. Mary, that is the Cathedral, names in the second place the Field of Culture, acquired at that time at which before he had said had fallen to him the village named in the first place, whose name is Bonalpha; "which," he says, "the most lofty Lord Clothar the King, by his gift, taken from a field bequeathed to the Church, together with the most lofty Lady Fredegunda the Queen, his mother of late … upon me their humble servant, for the preservation of my faith, which I have always been seen to have and hold toward that Prince, they granted"; namely after Clothar, in the year 605 or even later, recovered nearly the whole kingdom which, often defeated, he had lost; or even after, in the year 613, his rivals Theodebert and Theodericus being dead, he was made Monarch of the whole Frankish Empire. Page 113.
[11] which fell to the Saint after the year 605, Then therefore, and after the faith manifoldly proved to the King, but not much before, Bertichramnus, given Bonalpha, acquired also Culture: which field, he says, "you, Lady my heir the Church, I wish and decree to have." Page 114. And explaining how he acquired it for the Church itself, he adds: "of which field a half the Lady Ingoberga of good memory, once Queen (the wife of King Charibert, and, her husband having died around the year 567, a survivor up to the year 589), at my insistence and my service requiring it, left to S. Mary," by testament, as it seems; "but the other half I purchased from her brother Magnulfus, a price being given, that into the rights of the holy Church that field might come entire." and in which a new monastery seems to have been built in the 10th century. The whole of that field, therefore, was, and was confirmed by the Testament, to the mother Church; be it that long after it came to the right of the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul; which, when, perhaps destroyed and collapsed after the writing of the prior part of the Register, it had to be rebuilt, a new site in the neighboring field of Culture pleased, whence a new name was made for the monastery, which is not found in the Register, except under the aforesaid Hoëllus in the 11th century; at which time also there is read to have been joined, to the Congregation of Clerics hitherto subsisting there, a Congregation of Monks, perhaps not long before introduced, with such a pact that, the Clerics gradually dying off, those alone should thereafter hold the place.
[12] More ancient perhaps is the Basilica of S. Germanus, likewise founded by Bertichramnus; certainly it is named earlier in the Deeds, The Church of S. Germanus with a Hospice had Monks from the beginning, on the occasion of his early training under S. Germanus being commemorated. Concerning this foundation, consequent upon the words recited in number 4, the compiler thus writes: "For the aforesaid Lord Bertichramnus made a certain little cell beyond the river Sarthe, in honor of his holy master Lord Germanus, the distinguished Prelate of the city of Paris, which he endowed from the property of S. Mary and S. Gervasius; or from certain villages of the same S. Mary and S. Gervasius, and from other property which he merited to acquire by his good ingenuity, he endowed it by ecclesiastical right: and in the aforesaid little Cell, which he had constructed and consecrated or endowed in honor of the said S. Germanus, he constituted some Monks, living under a Rule; and instituted there to be a hospital of the poor and of the noble: which little cell he subjected to the church of his See of S. Mary and S. Gervasius; or left it to be possessed and ruled in perpetual times under the regular order by his Successors and the Canons of S. Mary and S. Gervasius."
[13] So I believe the matter stood, when the Deeds were written; [who are gratuitously said to have been from that time subjected to the Church of Le Mans.] and this very cause was why, the monastery being desolated, there is now nothing else there but a parish, Corvaserius being witness; but from the beginning it was not so, and, without any mention of such subjection, Bertichramnus speaks thus in his Testament: "A Basilica in honor of that S. Germanus … I built, and built houses there, and instituted Moniculi, who therein, Christ being propitious, may procure the office and service in perpetual times. Page 133 I give to that basilica, in honor of that Pontiff, these villages by these names: Chorisago with the vineyards which are at the village of Silviacum; and the property which is called Stirpiacum, with the little vineyards and little bondservants which are known to be there; and Landolenas, Graciaco and Manciaco, which, a price being given, I purchased from all sides and which came into my power, both what I am seen to possess at the present time, and what I may yet be able to improve, to that holy basilica in honor of the most blessed Lord Germanus I wish to be given; and those vineyards which are at Ruilio, which Aunigilus the Deacon held, or which I afterward purchased from all sides, with half of the meadow, I order to be possessed for that Ruilio."
[14] Thus he, and nowhere else any word concerning the Basilica of S. Germanus, by which its founder might seem to have subjected it to the Cathedral church: yet with a similar phrase the same Deeds, as also the Hospice of the Holy Cross; with the Basilica of the Apostles; after the foundation of the Monastery of SS. Peter and Paul has been set forth, in the words reported above, speak concerning that very Hospice of the Holy Cross adjoined to it: "But not far from the same monastery, he made a church in honor of the Holy Cross, and instituted servants of God for fulfilling the divine Office, and marvelously ordained there receptions of the poor and of guests: and the aforesaid monastery of the Apostles Peter and Paul, with the church of the said Holy Cross, with all things pertaining to it, he subjected to the See of his Church of S. Mary and S. Gervasius; and that mother and city Church of S. Mary and S. Gervasius, from all his property, both his own and ecclesiastical or hereditary, he called heir, and constituted to be heir; and to his Successors and the Priests and Canons of that elder Church, that very monastery of SS. Peter and Paul the Apostles, to be possessed and ruled with all integrity by ecclesiastical order, by most firm right, in perpetuity he assigned and left." whom the Saint wrote as heir with equal right with the Church; Who would not believe that these things are read thus in the Testament? Yet in its very beginning you may find one church set in equal hereditary right with another, in these words: "When I, Bertrannus the sinner, shall have departed from human affairs, or shall have completed the time due to nature; then you, the most holy Church of Le Mans, together with the holy and venerable Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul the Apostles … be my heirs, and you I constitute to be my heirs: let all the rest be disinherited": and so consequently, now both together, now each separately, he repeatedly names his Heirs. Page 113
[15] The holy Bishop seemed to presage what was to come, when he dictated these words. Page 141. "And because human chance renders many things doubtful; and I fear lest (which God avert) iniquitous cupidity, which is the root of evils, his successors being adjured. break my devotion in any way; I conjure you, Lord Priest, whom after me God shall have wished to be; by that dreadful judgment and day; so may you obtain the eternal reward of blessedness, and not acquire with Judas the portion of damnation, that in all things you fulfill the decision of my will, or, while God shall have wished you to be a survivor, intend to guard all things." And again below, wishing to provide by name for the liberty and indemnity of the aforesaid monastery; "Because I desire firmly to preserve by this Testament the decision of my deliberation; therefore I conjure you, indeed all the Bishops, Lord Pontiffs (he addresses all the Bishops of Gaul in common) by the Apostolate which you have received by divine tradition, wherever it shall be necessary, always furnish solace to my Basilica or to the Abbot of that place, and instruct such counsel to my Lord and Successor, that from what I have deputed to the holy Basilica, in honor of Lord Peter and Paul the Apostles, for the remedy of my soul, that they may always provide for its indemnity. he diminish nothing thence, or by any occasion should defraud anything: because I know that I have generated no loss to the holy Church"; which thing before he had shown at length, as will appear from what is to be alleged below. Page 143
[16] The compiler nevertheless continues, in the same tenor, to subject also the monastery and Hospice of S. Martin: "The same Lord Bertichramnus also made or restored, Likewise also the Hospice of S. Martin, upon the river Idonia, a certain monastery or Hospice in honor of S. Martin, which is called Pontileugua; and endowed it from the property of his Bishopric, or from others which he was lawfully able to find or acquire, and constituted this, that all arriving there should take all necessities; and there constituted Monks to live regularly, and matricularii in the number and tenor in which
it is contained in his Testament; and that Hospice he left, subjected to the Church of his See, and to be possessed by his Successors in future times, in the canonical and ecclesiastical manner; just as hitherto in his Testament it is held by us under oath decreed, whose copy it has pleased to write out in what follows." But presently, after a few things interposed, by which the Deeds of the Saint are concluded, there follows "the copy of the Testament of the aforesaid Lord Bertichramnus, it is wrongly said to be subjected to the church by the Testament; which he made likewise (note the word Likewise) to the mother Church of Le Mans and the monastery of S. Peter … which therefore we have inserted into these Pontifical Deeds; that if by any (which be far) negligence it should be lost, it may here be found, by which it may be known how it was done."
[17] Meanwhile from the Testament itself it is clear that he who nowhere mentions the Monastery to be subjected to the Church, [whereas from it it is established that it was founded under the power of the Abbot of St. Peter:] expressly wished the Hospice of S. Martin to be subjected to the monastery; and that without any mention of Monks constituted there (as the Deeds nevertheless say). So therefore it is read: "Concerning Ponteleugua, that is concerning the matricula and Hospice in honor of S. Martin, if we weigh through the several things, how great crimes of ours, while we were detained in the world, are known to have been committed; we acknowledge that there is not so great a faculty of redeeming, as great as are the faults committed: but the omnipotent God, who wishes no one to perish, He himself the little gifts, which with great tears or a mindful soul we are seen to offer to the Redeemer, in the poor will receive, and for the large grace of His piety will grant some pardon. Therefore, because it is my vow and deliberation, that the basilica be preserved, which in honor of the most blessed and special Patron of ours S. Martin the Bishop, at Pontileuga I founded, where also I have placed his holy Relics, God being propitious (so I correct, for 'his holy rest'), I assign to that holy place little places by these names: Logiagas, Noginto, Novavilla, Antoniaco, and from Monasteriolum that part which I purchased from Leodelene, a price being given, and from Avantum whatever I purchased there or which came to me from elsewhere, with the bondservants, movables and immovables. Page 127 And these with all their right, or however much I shall yet be able to subjoin and purchase for those places, I order and decree to be had, that it may stand under the power of the Abbot of the Basilica of St. Peter and Paul. But although we say presumptively that it is a place of a Hospice, since we have brought little there; nevertheless God is powerful, and that holy Athlete of Christ himself, to confer very many things there; whence the poor may enjoy both food and be clothed, and all our friends and pilgrims may be seen to have reception, for our memory."
[18] and indeed under the threat of the divine judgment, Bertichramnus could not more clearly explain his mind, as regards the subjection; which above he did, after, however, he had ordered for the present, that sixteen little souls devoted to God, that is poor men, blind, or feeble, should be placed in that very place; and on each day food should be sufficiently ministered to them, a reckoning being made, from the tribute of Taledum and the support of Criscinianum, or of Camburio, both in clothing and in bedding or footwear, and to these our Brothers and the Matricularii of S. Peter, who are known to be under his governance; "You," he says, "Abbot of S. Peter and Paul, let it be in every way above all your care, to fulfill this for them in all things: but if in anything (which be far) you shall appear negligent in this, before the Tribunal of Christ (and not of the Bishop of Le Mans) with S. Peter and Paul the Apostles and S. Martin the Prelate may you have a reckoning; and let none of the Pontiffs our successors presume to take away from that which is assigned to the aforesaid place or to the poor; but at that festivity (of S. Martin), extended even to the Bishops, let both the Pontiff and all the Clergy receive a worthy dinner; and whoever shall withdraw anything from the aforesaid little place in faith, let him be judged before the divine sight as a slayer of the poor." Page 122 Nor content with these things, he goes on to inculcate and explain to the Abbot his office, saying: "But you, venerable Abbot, or your successors, have such care of the course of the holy Church of Lord Martin, as also of that of SS. Peter and Paul; and let a light through the nights be sufficiently procured, from the tributes of those very villages; and what is left over, let it profit those poor or needy ones of that basilica." But concerning the aforesaid Hospice, a mile distant from the city, it is narrated in the Deeds of his successor S. Hadoinus, how, when a certain Alanus passed by there, a rich man and having decreed all his goods to God, wherever it should more please, to consecrate; the servants of God came to meet him, That was founded also for the reception of the noble: and receiving him with silence, and leading him with prayers, voluntarily and diligently ministered all necessities to him, and served him with great honor: because for this work the aforesaid Lord Bertichramnus had made that very Hospice at Pontileuca in honor of S. Martin, that all arriving, both rich and poor, might there have receptions, and abundantly receive there food and the other necessities. Page 147
[19] Concerning the Hospice of the Holy Cross, whence we have digressed hither, I find nothing written in the Testament The Hospice of the Holy Cross is more recent, which proves that it was subjected to either of the heirs; but neither do I find whence I might know that more was founded by Bertichramnus under that name than a church: for it is only commended to the future Abbots that, from the half of certain villages named at the beginning, a sufficient light be furnished, both to the basilica of the Holy Apostles, and to the Holy Cross, which, he says, "I afterward built; or to the basilica of Lord Martin at the Hospice, which is at Ponteleugua." Page 117 Nor do I doubt, if any Hospice afterward accrued to the Holy Cross, that it too, likewise as the other, was commended and subjected to the Abbot of SS. Peter and Paul, and had Clerics. which not yet in the age of Charlemagne and the Emperor Louis. But such an accession and foundation seems to be far later than the age of S. Bertichramnus. For the precept of Charlemagne, given to the Canons of Le Mans in the 2nd year of his Empire, of Christ 802, concerning the census both of the monasteries and of the cells of the Bishopric, which is had in the Register under the Pontificate of Bishop Franco, among those from which the ninths and tenths ought to be paid to the church of S. Gervasius, names indeed "the Monastery of S. Peter, which Bishop Bertrannus built, with the monastery or Hospice of S. Martin at Ponteleva … and the little monastery of S. Germanus beyond the river Sarthe"; but it nowhere mentions the Holy Cross; as neither does Louis the Pious, in the renewal of the same Privilege made for S. Aldricus, in the 14th year of his Empire, of Christ 831. Page 258 Meanwhile from the prior instrument we learn that the subjection of the aforesaid Monasteries and of the Martinian Hospice to the Cathedral Church can be referred to nearly Carolingian times.
[20] But this Comparison of the Deeds with the Testament can evidently teach how diverse are the notices which are drawn from the original Instruments, from those which are had only from narrations written long afterward, and altered, according to each one's affection, according to the then-present state of things; although their Authors had those same originals before their eyes. But the Oratory of S. Michael Bertichramnus found, he did not build it. Corvaserius certainly had both the Deeds and the Testament, from which we have hitherto proceeded, and in him the Annalist Charles read it not without diligence; and yet both wrote that Bertichramnus added to all the aforesaid a little Oratory in the same place where the Archangel had offered himself to be seen, which now also takes its appellation from the name of S. Michael. And yet the Deeds say that that vision was offered to the Saint "while in the church of S. Michael near the mother church, constructed in a certain tower of that city, he was keeping vigil in prayer." It is supposed therefore that that church then existed: and the Saint in his Testament says, "I completed the house which within the walls, on the right part of the postern, I built by my own work; where the little oratory in honor of S. Michael the Archangel is constructed, and therefore I wished that that house and basilica should be of SS. Peter and Paul." Page 123
[21] but there he constituted the matricula of the Church; But he goes on concerning the House itself, not the Oratory or Church, for what use he wishes it to serve, thus to narrate, so that he at the same time indicates to us another Hospice, observed neither by the Compiler of the Deeds nor by the more recent writers, dictating the following: "While we were detained with King Clothar, for our faith and love of him; the mill of the Church, namely of the mother situated nearby, was built before that house: therefore in these places I have determined that the stipends of the Church should be distributed and I erected the Matricula there. Page 124 Wherefore I suppliantly ask my Lord Pontiff, who shall be my successor, and a Hospice for Bishops and Religious, that at all time that matricula, just as up to now in my times it has merited stipends, so always henceforth, the holy Church ministering, be nourished; and that house be for the reception of Pontiffs or Religious, who serve at that Oratory (of S. Michael): because both virtues were shown there (namely the aforementioned vision) and it ought to be honored in all things. We pray our Lord and Pontiff successor, and by the God of the Trinity (that is, subsisting in the Trinity, lest Bondonnetus here cavil at anything, catching at Corvaserius, as if this phrase were his, little orthodox, when it is original) by the God, he says, of the Trinity we conjure, that of the villages which I have assigned to the holy Church by this page of the Testament, and commended it to his successors. or which in my time were acquired, or came into the donation of the holy Church, from all or in all, the tithes of grain, wine, cheese, lard—all the tithes—be gathered in that house of S. Michael the Archangel every year, just as in our time it was done; and let it be ministered to the poor or pilgrims for their food: because neither will the holy Church suffer loss; if those things which we, though unworthy, who were seen to occupy some place of the Priesthood, strove, God granting, to minister to the poor, be unceasingly preserved by you."
§. III. The faith constantly kept to King Clothar by Bertichramnus amid his adversities, and the rest of his acts.
[22] Although after the year 597 and before the Saint suffered many things, The Founder of the Frankish Annals, already often named, le Cointe, when he had represented Bertichramnus under the year 589, wholly at leisure for pious matters, and had enumerated what we explained in the preceding §, as commemorated in the Testament; "thence we gather," he says, "that before the year of Christ 597 so many buildings were completed: for after the death of Queen Fredegunda (she was the mother of Lothar, the chief patroness of Bertichramnus) twice or thrice he suffered so grave a loss of his resources, that on that account he blushed to write in his Testament that little remained for offering … Indeed before Clothar's
disaster he abounded in most ample wealth." Here the Annalist seems to understand that disaster which that King suffered in the year 600, by far the greatest of all, but by no means the first; but the losses which on his account Bertichramnus suffered took their beginning with the end of King Gunthramn; when the same Childebert his nephew, who had occupied his kingdom in the year 593, also claimed for himself, against the order of right, Le Mans, which otherwise pertained to the inheritance of Clothar, but had been left to his paternal uncle under the title of guardianship as a benefice as long as he lived. and therefore he excuses his poverty in the Testament; The words of the Testament to which the Annalist looked sound thus: "It is known to all how twice or thrice I sustained despoliation in the property of the holy Church or my own. Page 130. God knows that I suffered this not for our faults, but because I wished to keep my faith inviolate. And the holy Church at that time suffered grave loss in its estates, and I, impoverished of my own little substance, came out very needy, therefore I blush to write that little remained for offering."
[23] But from what follows it presently appears that he does not complain that, while writing the Testament, little remained to him in estates, yet he understands this only of silver. but in silver, which afterward God or the Lord King or friends conferred: but concerning the estates, from whose proceeds I think the buildings were chiefly built, it is clear that these repeatedly returned to the Bishop with interest. For the afflictions of Bertichramnus, which may be prolonged from the year 594 to 613, had repeatedly clear intervals. That this may be more clearly evident, it pleases to pursue all the fortune both of Clothar and of Bertichramnus at once, just as we have it expressed in the Testament. The chief passage on this matter is read thus: "Although it is unknown to none how I, after the passing of the late King Gunthramn, While he himself faithfully adheres to his King, because I gave an indissoluble oath to my Lord King Clothar, therefore, because the city of Le Mans, by legitimate order, after the passing of Lord Gunthramn, from the inheritance of his begetter of good remembrance Chilperic, the late King, ought to him to come: but cupidity acting, both that city was taken away, and of the rest of his kingdom he suffered much loss. Page 119 the city's possession being taken away, But while my oath constrained me entirely, that I should by no means abandon him; it was easier for me to leave both See and resources, both the holy Church and my own property, than to be found a perjurer (which be far)." Page 123 Meanwhile (as he goes on below) "Berthigisilus, in an illicit manner, against the decrees of the Canons, in his See excessively attacked the property of S. Mary, or my own, and generated for these a most grave loss."
[24] But who was that Berthigisilus? Page 110 The Deeds call him "a certain Cleric, A certain Berthigisilus invaded the See, who twice had invaded the See and Episcopate by tyrannical power, against Canonical authority." He was certainly not the Chorepiscopus of Bertichramnus, for the ancient list of Episcopal Names, alleged in number 4, joins no such one to him; nor would the Saint have concealed adding this for the exaggeration of the injury. The words, however, "in his See," seem to sound the same as "in the time of his See," and so they hint at some Episcopal ordination, which, Bertichramnus being absent, Theodoricus son of Childebert ordering it, Bertegisilus received; but illegitimate, and null; wherefore none dignifies him with the name of Bishop, except Corvaserius. But this man errs in his history in two ways; first, that against this man, as illegitimately ordained, different from Baldegisilus his predecessor. already from the year 581, he feigns Bertichramnus elected and ordained at Paris, not yet having attained the years required for the Pontificate: then, that Baldegisilus, whom Gregory asserts to have died at the beginning of the sixth year of his Episcopate, he himself presumes to retain alive under the name of Berthigisilus, and to oppose to the holy Bishop not only twice, but a third time in the See wrongly usurped.
[25] Furthermore, while, Bertigisilus thus holding the chief part of the occupied See, Through him many things unjustly carried off for the love of that Prince Clothar, I stood unanimously with him, says Bertichramnus, insisting on the narrative he had begun; "it was necessary for that Prince himself to add something to us, whence we ought to sustain the substance of life both ourselves and our poor." Page 119 Where I think there are not understood the household members who followed their Lord into exile; but the poor of that very Church of Le Mans; and that Bertichramnus returned to the same, after a battle joined between the armies of both Kings; in which battle "God rendered justice to Lord King Clothar," [were partly compensated to the Saint, the people of Le Mans returning to Clothar.] as he had said before on another occasion. Page 118 Then namely both Le Mans returned to the power of its legitimate Lord (suppose in the second or third year from the death of Gunthramn) and the Church to its Bishop: who indeed soon recovered other things wrongly taken away, but Bertigisilus, removed from his place and condemned to repair the damages, did not restore as he ought except in smallness (I would rather read sparingness) concerning the Bishop's own property, which he had distracted in an evil order; and gave certain little places with a charter of sale; that is, with the houses of Campariacum and Stivale, he sold his portion entire to the Bishop. Page 123 So therefore there was rest for some years for Le Mans and Bertichramnus; not only up to the death of Queen Fredegunda, but when this man was again despoiled of his possessions in the year 600, who died in the year 597; but altogether up to the year 600, in which Clothar, invaded by Theodebert and Theodericus, sons of Childeric, and defeated in battle, and then besieged at Paris, was compelled by a damaging compact to cede—to Theodebert indeed whatever he had previously possessed between the Seine and the Loire, up to the Ocean sea and the boundary of the Bretons, as Fredegar speaks, and so also Le Mans; but to Theodericus the whole Duchy of Dentelinus up to the Ocean sea, that is (if I am not mistaken) all of Picardy, Champagne, and Belgium; there remaining to himself only twelve districts, between the Oise and the Seine and the sea of the Ocean shore, that is, Normandy this side of the Seine, with Paris and the people of Calais.
[26] And this was the latter despoliation, which Clothar unjustly suffered, named in the Testament after the earlier one; the Bishop led into captivity, in which, likewise as in the prior one, Bertichramnus glories that, for the love of that Prince, he stood unanimously with him; and concerning which he thus further narrates. Page 119. "And afterward, when on another occasion the glorious Lord Clothar suffered much loss to his kingdom from ambushes, and again I, on his account, was very much in captivity; in that very time the not-to-be-named Berthegisilus again, the devastator of the Church, came; and that charter, which he had made before, he found in the archive of the Church, and ordered it to be burned with fire." Page 123 With these things cannot well consist what, without a witness, Bondonnetus first writes, that the Saint, shut out from the city by Bertigisilus, built for himself an eremitical cell in the aforesaid place Stivale, or Aestivale, in which, living solitary, and at leisure for God and for himself, he awaited the time of his relief. I believe that, at the first incursion of the victor's army, Le Mans was captured, and the Bishop led away; but, peace being made, freed, and that he betook himself, not to holding the See under the alienated King, but to Clothar at Paris; whence it happened that he did not recover the lost things before the year 605, after (as that man goes on) "our Lord, with the will of God, nor before the year 605 is he restored entire; together with his most lofty cousin King Theodebert, fearing the excessive power of his brother Theodericus, entered into charity and a treaty against this man; and voluntarily received the quantity from his kingdom; and we recalled those little places, that Bertigisilus resisting in vain, to our Dominion."
[27] This matter being narrated, Charles subjoins: "Although the Bishop did not long possess those places either: and afterward he suffers a third loss in his own and the Church's goods: because Clothar was again inferior in forces, after the brothers Theodebert and Theodericus returned to friendship." Indeed I find in Fredegar that, Protadius having been killed by the army of Theodericus, who was inciting him against his brother; he himself, confounded and compelled, made peace with Theodebert, and that in the very next year: but I do not find any notable disaster inflicted upon Clothar. Since therefore above I read concerning Bertichramnus that "twice or thrice, in the property of the holy Church or his own, he sustained despoliation"; I would rather ascribe this third loss to some time and cause not sufficiently known; by which not the city of Le Mans itself changed its lord, but the region only was overrun by the armies of Theodericus and Theodebert, often returning to discords; from which dangers the people of Le Mans were then first freed, when God, as is had a little after, "gave his whole kingdom to Lord Clothar," in the year namely 612, until in the year 612 Clothar was restored entire, Theodebert being twice routed. Page 120 For thus in the preceding year it had been agreed through legates, that, "if Clothar were not in support of Theodebert, he should receive the Duchy of Dentelinus, which he had annulled against Theodebert, if Theodericus overcame Theodebert." But to a far more constant peace all things returned for Bertichramnus, those two being dead, one or another year after, of Christ 613; when (as the Saint elsewhere speaks) "God commanded the whole kingdom of the Franks, hitherto divided in three parts, to come into the power of Lord King Clothar." presently he was also made Monarch of the Franks. "Afterward," he says, "his large piety, on account of our services, regarded us in something," giving to him, and to the Church on his account, various estates; concerning which and others (as said above) he disposed by the Testament made in the year 615, certainly before the death of Queen Bertetrudis, to whom in number 19 he bequeaths the village of Pempinas: but she died in the year 619. Page 134
[28] From what has been said, and from the abundance of villages concerning which the Saint testifies, it is clear, After these things and after the making of the Testament, that he was neither perpetually absent from his city, up to the entire restitution of Clothar; nor that he necessarily ceased for all 17 years from buildings; nor, if he ceased then to found new ones, does it follow that he did not afterward found some of the aforementioned, under Clothar now most favorable to him as Monarch, even before he made the Testament. Concerning the convent of Nuns certainly afterward erected, the deeds give us assurance, in which, in the place next after the monastery of S. Germanus (for no order of time is there kept), "to the aforesaid Bertichramnus also the little Cell which is called the monastery of Stivale, by a certain Cleric named Bertigisilus … lawfully and by the instruments of charters, for certain of his negligences, which in the Episcopate of Lord Bertichramnus and in the property of S. Mary and S. Gervasius he had made, under the right and dominion of S. Mary and S. Gervasius and of SS. Peter and Paul the Apostles was handed over, Nuns founded at Stivale, just as in the Testament of Lord Bertichramnus it can hitherto be found." Page 110 But
there is there no mention of S. Mary: only Campariacum and Stivale are mentioned, which namely Bertigisilus (as said above) had sold, "with the houses, bondservants, vineyards, and woods, meadows, waters and watercourses, and their rights or all the property, to whom were they subjected? I assign to the holy Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul." Page 123 If, therefore, Lord Bertichramnus nobly enlarged and improved the aforesaid monastery or little cell, and constituted there Nuns living under a Rule; I doubt indeed whether he subjected the same to his See of S. Mary and S. Gervasius, and left it to his successors to be possessed and ruled in perpetuity by most firm right; and not rather to the Abbots of SS. Peter and Paul, although this perhaps was afterward changed.
[29] "But the aforesaid Lord Bertichramnus," say the Deeds, "was an Archbishop; and he bore the Pallium, as is the custom of Metropolitans, Bertichramnus was indeed not an Archbishop, and he presided over and profited all the Bishops of the whole kingdom": whence some gather, Corvaserius being witness, that the Metropolitan right was at some time transferred to Le Mans from the Archbishopric of Tours; for they will have it established that not only S. Bertichramnus, but also S. Madoinus, Agilbertus, and several others of his successors, used the Pallium and the Cross. Page 112 Corvaserius suspects that such a prerogative was not an indication of Archbishopric power, but of preeminence of birth, or a tribute to virtues. Bondonnetus preferred to be silent about the whole matter. We only wish that by ancient testimonies of Writers that prerogative of Le Mans should be confirmed; for our Cantel removed every scruple, in the History of the Metropolitan cities, Part 1, Dissertation 3 on the Pallium, chapter 3, writing thus: "In the first times the use of the Pallium was granted only to those to whom the Pontifical functions were delegated; which belonged in Gaul to the Bishop of Arles alone. yet that the Pallium was granted to him, Not much after, also to others, whether they were Metropolitans or mere Bishops, from whom much help was hoped for the public and the Church's advantage, because they flourished either in virtues, or in nobility, or in great favor with Kings"; all three of which fell upon Bertichramnus. On that account both Siagrius from Gregory, and Adelgerius from John VIII, each Bishop of Autun, obtained the Pallium; of whom the former, with Theodebert (at the very same time at which Bertichramnus was with Clothar), the usage of that age persuades us to believe. the latter with Charles the Bald, could indeed do very much. Therefore it was given also to Grodegandus and Drogo of Metz, because the one was a kinsman of Pippin, the other a son of Charlemagne. To Aetardus of Nantes also, on account of virtue, Adrian II granted it, on account of the torments strongly endured for the cause of the faith. But I would be endless if I should pursue all the examples: let these be enough for our matter.
[30] But how this concerning the Pallium of Bertichramnus could be true beyond controversy; so beyond controversy is rejected as false even by Corvaserius that with which Saussay thus closed the Eulogy of our Saint, after the praised foundation of the Monastery of the Apostles: "Then, solicitous for the increase of religion, He did not request S. Maurus from S. Benedict, he summoned S. Maurus from Cassino, through Frodogarius the Archdeacon and Harderidus the Vidame, who in his name requested and obtained this help from S. Benedict. Who arriving, he himself, having discharged eminent labors for the glory of Christ, the adornment of the Church, the utility of the People, departed to the celestial reward of his merits laid up." What things can be more disparate than these are, to be coupled? For if Maurus was sent into Gaul by S. Benedict, who died around the year 544, nor did he die when that man came. even after the 40 years passed in the monastery of Glanfeuil founded there, he would have died before Bertichramnus was ordained Bishop: nor except by great license of conjecturing (as I said at the Life of S. Domnolus, 16th of May, number 10) will Maurus be brought to the beginnings of Bertichramnus, by positing this man as requested and obtained, not from Benedict, but from Bonitus, more than 40 years after the death of Benedict; in which case, for all the time that Bertichramnus was at Le Mans, Maurus would have lived at Glanfeuil, dying around the year 628, which I know not whether it can easily be proved to any Benedictine. The first Author of the Episcopal Deeds, ending the prior part in S. Aldericus about the year 856, has nothing concerning the coming of S. Maurus to Le Mans; I believe because among them nothing was found written about it, the Life of Maurus not yet being published, which Odo of Glanfeuil directed to Almodus, Archdeacon of Le Mans, only around the year 869, deceived, I know not by what reasoning, to such a degree that he made Domnolus the successor of Bertichramnus, who without controversy was his predecessor.
[31] The Author of the Deeds speaks thus concerning the end of S. Bertichramnus: "But he, full of days, in a good old age, died in peace … on the day before] the Kalends of July; and in the aforementioned church, which he himself had built in honor of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, by his fellow-Priests and Disciples he was honorably and worthily buried: He is buried in the monastery of the Apostles. who also lives in heaven with the Saints of God, where also may we merit by his and all their prayers to come and to live, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom is honor and glory through all the ages of ages. Amen." More you would seek in vain in the Register; for the whole context concerning Bertichramnus we have already given by parts: accordingly his Translation, which is now celebrated with chief solemnity on the 6th of June, had not yet taken place, when the Author of the first part ceased to write. But neither does the second part, carried beyond the middle of the 13th century, mention it: wherefore Corvaserius could speak of it only in one word, and thus ended the Life of Bertichramnus: "Fear, lest I seem importunate by often repeating similar things, after the year 1255 translated on the 6th of June. forbids me to write the miracles which rendered his life illustrious, his death precious, and his tomb frequented: which is now held under the vault of the lower chapel, whose columns sustain the high altar of the church, and make it itself much elevated above the pavement of the choir: which whole work, although I think it not very ancient, I would yet easily believe was made before the Abbey was devolved into commendam, given to the Bishop of Senlis." But I think that through this calamity, or through the carelessness of preceding times, it came about that neither concerning the Translation, nor concerning the Miracles, anything was either written, or at least is now found.
§. IV. The Testament of the Saint, insofar as it contains things given to his first heir, namely the Church of Le Mans.
[32] After the acts of his life thus deduced, the Testament comes to be explained, although made nine years before his death: not however in the order in which it was written, that is, in no order, just as it came into the mind of the one dictating: In what order is the Testament here given? for to keep this seems now in no way necessary, since we have the copy inserted into the Register, not now emended or changed by the judgment of Corvaserius, but altogether unvaried. It pleases therefore to reduce everything to certain heads; and just as in the points of the preceding §, as the history required, we did with some excerpts from the Testament; so also in arranging the rest to correct, and to smooth out somewhat the several things to grammatical and orthographical laws, even to supply certain deficient words by the benefit of these signs [] for the favor of the reader, who (as I think) will not here miss the roughness contrary to these, more often imputable to copies than to autographs, since everything is now had to the letter most faithfully expressed by Mabillon; to whose edition while the Reader is referred by the number of Pages noted in the margin, as has begun to be done, no one will be able to take it ill that the order of articles, which in the autograph is almost fortuitous, is here changed and reduced to certain heads. But that you see so many names of districts and villages, occurring throughout the whole context, illustrated by no Annotations, is because in most I would see myself laboring in vain, and why with a smoothed Style, and without Annotations? very many appellations being changed or grown obsolete, of which, if any traces still survive, the people of Le Mans themselves and other Franks each in their provinces will find and clear them out more easily, so that this work ought to be expected from them rather than from me. The Testament itself begins thus:
[33] "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, on the sixth day before the Kalends of April, in the 32nd year of the most glorious Lord King Clothar reigning, Berttannus, By it the Saint in the year 615 of King Lothar 32, though an unworthy sinner, Bishop of the holy Church of Le Mans, sound, God being propitious, in mind and body and of sound counsel, fearing the chances of human fragility, made my Testament, and asked and dictated my son Ebbo the Notary to write it. Page 112 Which my Testament, if by any chance, by civil law or by praetorian law, or by the intervention of some new law, it should be unable to be valid, he writes as heirs the Church of Le Mans and the Basilica of the Apostles, I wish it to be valid as if from the intestate in the manner of Codicils, and let it be valid. And so when I, the above-written Bertrannus the sinner, shall have departed from human affairs, or shall have completed the time due to nature; then you, the most holy Church of Le Mans, together with the holy and venerable Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul the Apostles … be my heirs … And so everyone to whom by this my Testament I shall have given, bequeathed, or ordered to be given anything; that it be given, done, furnished, I commit to the faith of my heirs; but if I shall have ordered any to be free men or free women, let them be wholly free, men or women." Page 113
[34] "And because the renowned and most lofty Lord King Clothar, from the faculty obtained from the King for this purpose. to whom may God repay eternal blessedness a thousandfold, by his precept, confirmed by the right of his hand, granted me free decision; that of my own resources, which I have from the succession of my parents, or which I have obtained by his gift, or have purchased or, God helping, shall be able to purchase, or in whatever things or bodies to augment, both for the remedy of my soul, and to my kinsmen or faithful ones, I may assign whatever I wish; therefore you, most holy Church of Le Mans, my heir, I wish and order to have a village of my right, whose name is Bonalfa, And to the first indeed he assigns the villages, Bonalfa, situated in the territory of Étampes or the wood of Aequilina; which the most lofty Lord King Clothar by his gift, together with the most lofty Lady Queen Fredegunda of late his mother, after Lord Vaedola rendered it of their justice, granted to me their humble servant, for the preservation of my faith, which I have always been seen to have and hold inviolable toward that Prince; that very village, with the houses, bondservants, vineyards, fields, or every property, right, and its appurtenances, both movables and immovables; that it after my death you may be able perpetually to possess; except those whom from it I shall have wished to free. Likewise also the field of Cultura, etc., number 11."
[35] "And concerning the village of Celonica, situated in the territory of Tricurium, half of which Bobolenus of good memory had assigned to the Church, Celonica, and on account of that half I had many
vexations, but I worked it so that it should not be taken from the right of the holy Church; and afterward the other half, which he had assigned to his wife or heirs to possess, a price being given, I purchased entire, and it came into my dominion; I wish that that very village, with all security, you, most holy Church my heir, together with the shrine of Vicinonia, may possess. Page 114 Whatever I purchased there for myself, or by my work established for the bondservants; with the shrine of Vicinonia, together with what I shall yet, God being propitious, be able to improve in that field, with all their integrity, and the bondservants remaining there, to you, most holy Church, I wish to be given. And likewise the village Brea, which Daulfus conferred upon me by title of donation; Brea, and what there I afterward purchased for myself, or whatever I subjoined, namely that village, with all its integrity, just as it is possessed by me at the present time, let it endure in the dominion of the holy Church of Le Mans my heir … The village Dolus, which I built by my work, and whatever there by my ingenuity came to me from all sides, whatever I shall have labored therein, Dolus, with the houses, bondservants, vineyards, fields, meadows, cultivated and uncultivated, and all its right or its boundary which I drew there by just order, after the day of my death, you, holy Church, I decree to have entire … Page 117
[36] But the village Morenacum, which by my work and with great labor I acquired, and afterward, while I was absent for the preservation of my faith, was seized in an evil order by Modeghisilus; but, when God rendered justice to Lord King Clothar, Morenacum, it again came to the dominion of the holy Church or my own; that village, with all its right and boundary, you, holy Church, I constitute to have … The little vineyards or meadows, which are at Riulio, Grandis fontana, and are joined to the vineyards of the holy Church, or within the boundary of Calimarcum, which, a price being given, I purchased, I wish to be given to the holy church. Page 118, Page 125, Page 121 And likewise also the small farm Statovera, which Vulsarius once held, Certain vineyards with a small farm, and afterward Aiga gave it to us, with that very sale which she had received from that Vulfarius … with the vineyards and with all its right, you, holy Church my heir, may receive … To the holy Church my heir I give the village whose name is Grandefontana, which, a price being given, from Vaddolenus my godfather, Monciacum, and his and my son Bavo, I purchased, with all its right or its boundary … The village Monciaco, with the small farm Condaco which I founded, or whatever from all sides in that boundary of Condacum or Monciacum I purchased and joined, to you, holy Church my heir, entire I wish to be given: but the vineyards, which Lord Licinius the Bishop (of Angers, whose Acts we gave on the 13th of February) of holy memory gave me by his gift, for the affection of love, vineyards added by him to those of Cariliacum, beside the vineyards of Cariliacum; and we before purchased from a certain Sargites, a merchant, the divine portion with land, and afterward planted vineyards there, and joined them in one enclosure with the vineyards of the holy Church, we wish that, for the reward of our soul, the holy Church of Le Mans may possess. For although before that very field had little vineyards, nor did my Lord predecessor Bishops wish to add anything there; we, for the love of the holy Church or its increase, both from the merchants and from the rest, especially extended them and gave a price; [and] we desire that they may profit in the right of the holy Church …
[37] The village Blacciago, situated in the territory of Bordeaux beside the fortress of Blaye, which is upon the channel of the Garonne, and by my parents was long possessed, Blaviagum, the third part, but through the interregna or the youth of my mother was taken from her right, and by Aunulfus son of Marilio, who had occupied them, by the pages of his Testament, two parts illicitly were assigned to the holy Churches of Bordeaux and Tours and Angoulême, from that very village; but the third part Arnulfus, the brother of that Aunulfus, possessed: whence we had altercations between us and him concerning the aforesaid village. Page 128 But he, recognizing that it was legitimately owed to us, in the presence of those Pontiffs, who were seen to possess two thirds of these, restored to us present the third of all of the aforesaid village; and an epistle thence confirmed by his hand, and ratified by the aforesaid Priests, he handed over to us to be possessed. But while divine love so constrains us, with the purpose of redeeming also the two others, that we walk not against the holy Church, perhaps we shall wish if we can, with the grace of my Lords and Brothers, to redeem that very thing. But because Lord Agericus the Bishop (of Tours) sold to us that portion which was St. Martin's, and made the sale to us with his Canons, and 60 solidi, as much as according to his judgment it was worth, of the present we gave, and subjoined that altercation of ours; we wish that you, holy Church of Le Mans my heir, may possess [it]: and if we can yet redeem that very thing from the Lord Pontiffs of Bordeaux and Angoulême, the whole and entire you may recall to your power. Page 129
[38] The village Redonatiogo, which always looked to Bonalfa, and we afterward there purchased both lands and woods, a price being given, from Chargarius and Ragnaricus, Redonatiagum. or wholly from all sides and entire, just as that very village Redonatiaco always looked to Bonalfa, [so] also it ought to look in future, that it may profit to the holy Church my heir in perpetuity … The villages Rufiniaco and Marogilo, which from the action of Nunciana came to me, Rufiniacum and Marogilum, on account of the property of the holy Church which she greatly devastated, and which the glorious Lord Clothar after the death of that Nunciana granted us (she was perhaps the worse wife of Bertegisilus, the bad Bishop, such as Gregory describes, and with whom we saw at the beginning that Bertechramnus had to litigate) you, most holy Church my heir, I order to have … Of the village named Tauriaco that portion which Nunciana held there, Tauriacum, and which we now by the precept of our Lord, just as Marogilo and Rufiniaco, hold; and in that very village Tauriaco, both the portion which was Nunciana's, and now to our power by handing-over has come; and that portion which Audericus and his nephews, the sons of his sister and his brother, sold to us, and we joined them together, you, most holy Church my heir, I order to have … Page 134, Page 135, Page 136
[39] Those properties which Suadria, sister of Theodorus once Bishop (perhaps of Marseille around the end of the 6th century, much praised for sanctity by Gregory of Tours and Aimoinus), gave to the holy Church by her Testament, Luciniacum, Mons, that is Luciniaco and Mons; and afterward by my work I vindicated them: the village also which from Dudo nephew of Romanus, upon the Loire, I purchased for a hundred solidi given, [and] whatever there I am seen to have at present, with the houses, vineyards, lands, bondservants, and all that portion, you, most holy Church my heir, I order to have. The same. Likewise the village Berea, which Theudoaldus sold to me, you may recall it to your power, with the vineyards, bondservants and all its right … The village Sitriaco, Blaciacum, which, a price being given, I purchased from Leugadius, with another little place which is called Blaciacus, with the appurtenances pertaining to it, houses, bondservants, vineyards, lands, meadows, woods, or all their right, you, most holy Church of Le Mans, my heir, I command to have … The village Montiniaco, Montiniacum, which Giboaldus once Bishop held and afterward came to our power, with all its right, holy Church, to be of your right I now assign and decree. Page 137, Same, Page 144 … The house Diablentes, which by my work I built, the house of Diablentum with its adjuncts, with the court and stable, and gardens, and small farms; and whatever from all sides, both from Boso the Presbyter, and [his] heirs Etolenus and Trilonus, in the place which is called Calviaco, or anywhere in the town of Diablentum, beside the bank of the little river Aroëna I purchased, with the lands, bondservants, woods, meadows, and all its right; and with the badger-warren, which I vindicated against Leutherus and his heirs, the whole and entire you, most holy Church my heir, I wish to have; excepting the ancient property of the holy Church of Diablentum. And likewise those portions which Guntherus conferred upon me by donation in all his property, and that very thing joined at that very house of Diablentum, you, most holy mother and my heir the Church, I decree to have.
[40] Although it be known to all, Christ being propitious, how and how faithfully I have labored in the holy Church or in the monasteries or in all things; nevertheless also you, [Finally he beseeches his successor, lest, after so many things conferred by him on the Church,] Lord Pontiff, whom God shall have wished to be in them after me, can know how much there by my study or labor, in my time, God deigned to confer. Page 114 But if with full faith you dispose to inquire, you will know that I labored not a little for your Church. Page 115 Whence it ought not to be unfitting to you, if I commit something of the property of S. Mary to any of our Brothers, that is Presbyters and Deacons or Lectors, or my kinsmen or friends or servants, both of the holy Church and my own, something in usufruct; because I take not away the property of the holy Church, he take it ill that something is bequeathed to friends, and of my little substance I constitute it itself heir. Lord Domnolus once Bishop of holy remembrance assigned some little places from the field of the Church to his basilica, where he is seen to rest: but it was troublesome to us, if again we should under a similar condition take away or diminish something from the fields of the Church, to confer upon the Basilica of the holy Peter and Paul the Apostles, which I built in honor of their name. But [yet], treating with the counsel of our venerable Brothers, and from the consent of the Clergy of the Basilica of the Apostles the Presbyters or Deacons or all the Clerics, I judged it equitable that one little place from the condition of the Church to that holy Basilica, not so much for necessity, as on account of the first-fruits or reverence of those Lord Apostles: because the holy Mother Church cherishes and enriches all the Basilicas pertaining to her. It was agreed therefore with the Lord Pontiffs gathered together for that day, given Umbriacum, on which the celestial blessing or the Relics of the holy Peter and Paul the Apostles were placed in that Basilica, and that Basilica was doubly, by divine grace helping, consecrated by the holy Priests; the village Umbriaco, which Basilius and Baudegundus once by title of donation
founded to the holy Church, to be handed over to that Basilica to be possessed after their death.
[41] Whence also we afterward continually labored, that it should not be taken from the Church (after all the aforesaid) what through me, the humble servant of the holy Church, profited or accrued, which nevertheless he seems to wish restored to the Church. both in the aforesaid Umbriacum and in the suburban Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul the Apostles, which is known to have been built by my work."
Here, furthermore, some words seem to me lacking, by which the Testator decreed, notwithstanding the aforesaid cession, that, the donors being dead, that very Umbriacum ought to remain in perpetuity, not to the Basilica of the Apostles, but to that very holy Church, Christ being propitious. I would not, however, dare to infer from a context so badly cohering with itself, that the Testator wished (although these last words in the printed editions immediately follow what preceded concerning the Basilica of the Apostles) to subject to the dominion of the Church that very basilica, which with equal right with the Church he so often names his heir, no other indication of such a will appearing anywhere; but rather that he, having enough from elsewhere whence to provide for the monastery founded by him, as will appear from what follows, could reasonably rescind the aforesaid cession, and restore to the Church the right once already acquired in that estate: wherefore also it is not found named in the following §. However that be, he wished the supreme right to be preserved to it over the Casellae, which Domnigisilus the Deacon had had by his gift; when he granted them to his great-nephew Leodochramnus, in such a way also that after his death they should revert to the right of the holy Church.
§. V. The estates bequeathed to the Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, the other heir.
[42] "The Basilica of the holy and most blessed Peter and Paul the Apostles I constituted above as heir, together with the holy Church of Le Mans, as is my devotion: Wishing to be buried in this basilica, because there I desire (when indeed God shall have wished) my little body to be placed; that for my crime, which here in the world I am seen continually to have perpetrated, those Apostles by their suffrages may deign to free me from infernal punishment; and, if not glory, which I do not merit, at least pardon by their patronage or intercessions I may merit to obtain. Page 116 I give therefore to that holy Basilica villages situated both in the territory of Le Mans, and in that of Étampes or Bordeaux or anywhere, both those which by title of donation, he confirms to it several villages, given at its dedication: to that Basilica on the day of its birthday I gave, and also those which I shall yet by the page of this Testament give from those which the glorious Lord Clothar by his munificence conferred upon me for the preservation of my faith: who also by his precepts confirmed by his hand, granted me entire license, that to the aforesaid place, for the remedy of my soul or the stability of his kingdom, those villages, which by his gift I merited, I ought to confer. These moreover are the villages. The village Thedone, a small farm by name Telate, and another village Buresaco, and dwellings in the Gâtinais, which we received from the illustrious man Warnacharius the Major-domo, for the village Columbaria.
[43] But this I ask and command the Abbots through the several times, and from their proceeds just as the divine power or the grace of the Lord Apostles shall have ordered them to endure therein; that at all the time of their life this above all be observed by them, that of the villages above named, whatever thence either in tribute or in support each year can accrue, half of this, when there shall be my commemoration, be expended on the poor either in clothing or in gold; the other half be set apart so that an abundance of light may thence be sufficiently kindled in the holy Basilica at all times; he orders his anniversary, that there be never even one hour of the night without lights, that very holy Basilica; [but] just as is worthy, in honor of the aforesaid Apostles, there an abundance of light at all times may shine unceasingly, both at the Basilica of the holy Apostles, and at the Holy Cross which I afterward built; or at the Basilica of Lord Martin at the Hospice which is at Pont-leugua. Page 117 Except for what from the fruits or other conditions of the aforesaid fields is separated for the uses of the holy Basilica and of its monastery, or for the sustenance of the Canons or of the poor, and a perpetual light to be cared for in the church: who are seen to sit at the Matricula at that holy Basilica, to whom food and clothing each year be sufficiently ministered, that for expiating my sins they may continually beseech the Lord; and that for the munificence conferred by the Prince, the celestial King may both grant him a long-lived reign, and may he merit to receive a hundredfold in the eternal retribution …
[44] I also assign to the basilica of SS. Peter and Paul the villages which, a price being given, I purchased, that is, Gaviaco, Colonica, likewise he bequeaths several other villages, Laudolenas, and Ferrenas, by my work acquired from all sides; and whatever at Cellae or in Samarcianum, near the city of Le Mans, and whatever in Portithorengum, which I received for guardianship, was mine; and this which Ceta and Mancia and Gunthia were seen to have possessed there by right, and came to my power, both in lands and vineyards and in coloni and slaves, their entire portion. Page 117 Likewise also the villages which in honor of the Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul I purchased from the money which the glorious Lord King Clothar gave us for the preservation of our faith, or which we acquired from all sides (these are those very villages; Campocunana, Ludina, and Comariago or Cambariaco, as the sales declare, made to that very basilica, with the small estate whose name is Piciniaco, which Gundobaldus once a Deacon held; likewise also Iliaco, which we received from the illustrious man Babiso) in the name of God I wish to be possessed … Concerning the village Morenaco … [let] the basilica of SS. Peter and Paul have the portion, and the portion of Moriacum. which there I am seen to possess, with the small farm which Leodaldus conferred upon me by title of donation, with what there afterward from all sides I purchased in that very estate of Mechum and Voligio, with all integrity, and with its portions or their boundaries and bondservants, movables and immovables; that of all these you, holy Basilica, you may perpetually be able to be lord … Page 118
[45] Fontanidum, The little place which is called Fontanido, which the glorious Lord King Clothar granted me by his gift, where Eusebius once a layman planted vineyards, and we afterward placed bondservants, with all integrity and all which is seen to look to the same, the whole and entire let the basilica of Lord Peter and Paul recall to its dominion … Page 120 My small estate, a small estate in Crampteno, which is in the territory of Cramlenum at Summa Vedantia, just as it is possessed by me at the present time, and from the succession of my Lord and Begetter was legitimately rendered, to the basilica of Lord Peter and Paul after my death, for the reward of my soul, I wish to be given … Page 121, Page 122 The little vineyards beside the sands, various vineyards, just as I purchased or gathered them with the greatest diligence from the wilderness, from that very sand up to the road which that enclosure encircles, which that holy basilica of Lord Peter and Paul is seen at the present time to possess; and likewise the little vineyards, the little meadow or territory, which is on the right part of the road which goes to Pontileugua, which I purchased from my venerable Brother Eoladus the Abbot, which is known to be a property of that basilica; with Brugilum, Brugilum, which from my Brother Leusius the Abbot, forty solidi given, I redeemed; and the little fields, which with that Abbot we purchased, which [are] at the channel of the Sarthe, with the meadow which is at the confluence, the whole and entire, with the servants whom I placed there, or shall yet, Christ being propitious, be able to place, and now by that holy basilica in the name of God is possessed, to the same in perpetuity I wish to remain. Page 123
[46] Vatilonnum, In like manner half of the small farm Vatilonno, which from Bero in the name of that very holy basilica I purchased; and the other half, which the illustrious matron Aegidia conferred upon that holy place by title of donation; I order entire, just as from now by that basilica, Christ presiding, it is possessed, to remain therein in perpetuity … Page 124. The court also with the houses, which Romulus of good memory, a house in the city, once a Presbyter, held in the city of Le Mans; and that house which in our times he built above the walls, and we extended a hand to this, and afterward purchased from his niece; those houses I say, just as at the present time in the name of God they are possessed by that holy basilica, with whatever there shall have been labored, or before or in my times subjected, the whole and entire the aforesaid basilica, without the impediment of anyone, perpetually may be able to possess … Page 125 To you also, holy basilica of Lord Peter and Paul, I give the village Conadaco, Conadacum, which from Belletrudis or Bettana the matron, widow once of Mautinus, a price being given, I purchased; and the Colica villages, which afterward, a price being given, from Betholenus or Mantharigus, with the woods or all appurtenance pertaining to it, with the houses and bondservants, just as already into your power I handed over, with movables and immovables, entire I wish to be given; likewise that little field by name Timiago, which from my son and kinsman Berulfus we possess in usufruct, after my death you may recall to your power … Page 126
[47] Patriliacum, The village Patriliaco (concerning which number 10 … I wish that you may possess in perpetuity, with the small farm pertaining to it … likewise also the little vineyards, which are in Saboranum, which by my work I joined from all sides, either by gift or by sale, and if I shall yet be able to join, with their cultivators and the families which we established there, you, holy Church of Lord Peter and Paul, I order to have … Page 129 But the small farm of Vincentiana, a small farm beside Blaviacum, which my Lady and Begetter possessed, and we now in the name of God are seen to possess, which is seen to be beside the field Blaviaco of the Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, with the bondservants, vineyards and lands I wish to be given. Of the village Floriaco, situated between two seas, which was my parents', and afterward my mother through orphanhood lost [it], and by Childegernus was possessed in an evil order; of which village half, with the bondservants, houses, vineyards, woods, and all its boundary or appurtenances, from Berthtannus or Betto son of that Childegernus, a price being given, I redeemed, I wish that … the Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul may be lord in perpetuity … But the place which is called Bresetum in the territory of Bordeaux, Bresetum, where we are seen to have pitch-works, which, a price being given, with Arennoaldus once we purchased … with the pitch-makers remaining there and their families or the pitch, just as by me at the present time
they are possessed, after my death you, holy and venerable Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul, may recall to your power, and thence each year let pitch be received. Page 130
[48] But the village of Comancio, which I purchased from my son and kinsman Ebroaldus, Comancium, and afterward built houses and vineyards there, with what I found, and with all its appurtenance, to you, Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, just as it in your honor I built and immediately constituted heir, I decree in all things to have. The property which is called Fontana, Fontana, within the boundary of Alaunum, which the magnificent man Baudegisilus and Sancia his wife founded for me, and made donations, because we furnished them many comforts as far as we could, after our death, holy and venerable Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul, you may recall to your power, just as it was possessed by that very Baudegisilus; so also that their names may be recited in the book of life in that Basilica. Page 133, Page 134 But because, after God commanded the whole Kingdom of the Franks to come into the power of our glorious Lord King Clothar … his large piety on account of our services regarded us in something, his portion in the inheritance of Avitus, neither ought that to be passed over. The same. Therefore that he may be continually prayed for those villages which Avitus of good remembrance, son of Felix once Bishop (of Bourges), who had our nearest kinswoman joined to him in marriage, and all the property of Avitus his Piety granted to be divided between me and the illustrious man Gundoaldus the Major-domo; all my portion which I now at present am seen to have against him, both what is in Bourges, and in Albigeois, Quercy, and Agenais, the whole and entire whatever of the half from that field pertains to my reckoning … the Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, which I constituted heir, after my death … may receive …
[49] Vocriomnum, The village Vocriomno which the glorious Lord King Clothar gave me by his gift, for our property which Egulfus and Arnoaldus held and devastated in an evil order, although the pious King had already given us more thence, by his injunction to the Church of Metz in honor of S. Stephen I relinquished; but I asked this village from my Lord Brother Arnulfus the Bishop, that he should receive those villages which were Egulfus's and Arnoaldus's, and we should hold the village of Vocriomno in perpetuity, and what we wished to do with it we should have free decision. Page 135 Therefore that very village, both for the reward of the Lord King, and for ours, because the Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul has little vineyards in this place, with all its right and appurtenance pertaining to it, the whole and entire, to you, holy Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul, where I desire my little body to be buried, in perpetuity I wish to be given. But the village Nociogilos, Nociogilos, which is in the territory of Poitiers upon the Loire, which there Beato, nephew of Babo once, son of Theudaldus, from his maternal property by title of donation founded, you, most holy Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul, I order to have … The little place which is called Luciacus, and whatever there from Berthigisilus, or his wife and their sons, I purchased, Luciacum, and at present am seen to have, and whatever there I joined or shall yet be able to join, to the Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul my heir I assign to be possessed … Page 136, Page 137 But the village Kairaco, and Kairacum. which from Comerius the Deacon, 300 solidi given, I purchased, and now in my power, in the name of God, is recognized to be, you, holy Church of Lord Peter and Paul, which I named heir with the Church, I decree to have, with the houses, bondservants, vineyards, meadows, woods, with all its right, and if I shall yet be able to improve anything there, the whole and entire to your power may you recall …
§. VI. The legacies to both heirs in common, and others assigned to other pious places.
[50] The house within the walls of the city of Paris, which was once built or possessed by Eusebius, He orders to be possessed in common his house at Paris, and is recognized to have been granted to me by the most lofty Lord King Clothar, between [you] holy Church of Le Mans and holy Basilica, my heirs, I decree to be possessed equally: so also that of the shops, which are known to be within the house, that rent which each year is hoped from it, be brought in for the light in the most holy Church of Le Mans and the aforesaid Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul; and the right of lodging at Bordeaux. and the open lots, which are outside the city, let the same possess in common … Page 122 But the house within the walls of the city of Bordeaux we bequeath indeed to our nephew Sichelmus and his posterity; but we command that at all the time of their life, when men sent by the venerable Lords of the holy Church of Le Mans or of the Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul shall come there to trade for fish, they always have in that house a receptacle, and there purchase what shall be necessary for them … Page 122, Page 129 Likewise we constitute to be observed, that whatever on the day of my death, but the furniture to be divided, on the day above named, at Paris, or … in any property which is known to be our own shall be found, let my heirs, the holy Church of Le Mans and the Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul, equally divide among themselves … Page 118 This also we constitute and decree, that whatever to me in small things or in any manners has been given, as in my charters they are known to be written, this whole and entire, you, holy Church and venerable Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, although in this page of my Testament it perhaps came into oblivion for me, with equal balance may you divide to be possessed …
[51] I give that silver which to us, after the despoliation which I sustained twice or thrice, likewise the silver which shall remain: God or the Lord King or friends conferred, just as a memorandum written by my hand contains, by which I have arranged, that two parts of that silver which I am seen to have labored, you, most holy Church, may receive; but the other portion, which in that memorandum I wrote, you, Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, which my heir, just as you holy Church, I constituted, I order to have. Page 130 I adjure moreover by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, both you, Lord Pontiff, who are to succeed, and the Abbot, who shall be at that time when God shall have ordered me to migrate from this world, or your successors; that none presume of these little gifts, which I to the holy Church or the holy Basilica for the commemoration of my name bequeathed, and of these things to withdraw anything or to sell; his successor being adjured not to withdraw anything, but at all time both for the adornment of the holy Church or Basilica and for the equipping of their table it ought perpetually to endure. But of the remaining little silver whatever after the day of my death shall be found in my little chest, and which here I have not assigned, the silver of the holy Church being preserved, I order that what I am seen to have at present or shall yet be able to labor, which shall not have been assigned, the whole be divided equally between the holy Church and the holy Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul: and let the Abbot, the portion which he shall have received, if it be necessary that something be adorned for my burial, and if I shall not have done this before, from that very thing which he shall have received against the Pontiff, and the Abbot being bound to care for the burial. let him order that burial of mine worthily thence to be arranged: but if Christ should permit us to endure to these things, let that silver be brought into the ministry which shall be necessary to be done for the Basilica … Page 131
[52] I wish and order that of all the servants of the holy Church, He orders a horse to be given individually to his Ministers and Clerics: who are known to be ministerial; or mine, both Clerics and seculars, who are seen to converse with me, each receive single horses, both freeborn and freedmen or servants, of the present: but the rest of the horses, both stallions and geldings or colts, which shall be found and shall have the mark of the holy Church, let the Pontiff or Church receive; but of those which shall have my particular mark, or which my kinsmen or friends gave me, let the holy Church receive half; but the other half let the Basilica or the Abbot who shall be seen to preside there gather up. The same, Page 132 This also I wished to be annexed to this Testament, he wishes the other horses to be divided among his heirs, that of the herds of horses, which my littleness drew or augmented from all sides … of those which are seen to be my own and have pastures upon the land of the holy Church, let two portions be made; let the holy Church receive one, and the Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul receive the other …
[53] The village Nogiogilo, which I and the illustrious man Gundolandus granted in usufruct to my daughter and kinswoman Dundana, and likewise Nogiogilum, after her death you, most holy Church and Basilica, in common by halves, just as by the precaria of the aforesaid Matron it was agreed, may recall to your power to be divided equally … Page 135 But of the villages situated in Burgundy, and the villages in Burgundy which the glorious our Lord King Clothar gave us, and the illustrious men Brado and Warneharius the Majors-domo, which were once Leodigisilus's, the third portion which to me from those villages by legitimate order with those illustrious men is owed, you, most holy Church of Le Mans and Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, my heirs, equivalently with them I wish to have. Page 137, Page 138 And the villages in Provence, which the pious King himself gave between me and the illustrious men Gondolaidus and Chugo from the reckoning of Aurelia, and in Provence. as much as thence by justice we can vindicate without our sin, that is my portion, you my heirs with those illustrious men may recall to your power …
[54] It has pleased me to assign that the village of Nimione, situated in the territory of Paris, To the Church of Paris he bequeaths Nimione, with the vineyards which are known to be at Frontanitum for the wrestling-grounds and the vine-dressers, which Lord King Clothar gave me … both from the fisc and from purchase, to be possessed, to the holy Church of Paris, under whose grace I was nourished, entire I would wish to be given … Page 116 To the Basilica of Lord and my special Godfather Germanus the Bishop, who most sweetly nourished me, and by his holy prayer, though unworthy, brought me to the honor of the Priesthood; if he is still in the Basilica of Lord Vincent, and to that in which is the body of S. Germanus the village of Bobona, where his holy little body rests; I order to be given, in honor
of his burial, the village Bobane, which is in the territory of Étampes upon the river Calla, which the most glorious Lord King Clothar conferred upon me by his gift. Page 121 This I order on this condition, that if his holy body, into the new Basilica which the renowned Chilperic once King built, it shall be agreed to be there translated; that very village always there may serve, where his holy body shall be, that that holy Pontiff may deign to intercede for my crimes. I ask the illustrious Abbot of that place, that my name be recited in the book of life …
[55] or to that in which it shall be after the translation has been made; We gave on the 28th of May, the birthday of S. Germanus, the Translation of the body, under King Pippin, in the year 755; in which it is said that this was made, when for about two hundred and more years, in the portico of the church of blessed Vincent the Levite and Martyr, the basilica having long since been made, it had lain buried; although yet the Saint first died in the year 576. This argues the supine carelessness of the author in drawing the reckoning: but now we also learn that the translation here designated was unknown to him; and at the same time that the founder of the later Basilica (for the earlier church Childebert had built around the year 558, having received from the Bishop of Saragossa the Stole and Tunic of S. Vincent) was Chilperic, who died in the year 584. But if the holy body was not moved from the place of the first burial, as it is probable it was not; it must be that the prior church was converted wholly or in part into a portico of the later Basilica. Mabillon, moreover, hence also teaches that the old statues of the Kings, which even now stand at the greater door of the church, are to be attributed to the age of Chilperic: for neither any destruction or restoration of this church is reported to have been made, from that time up to the storms of the Normans, which that door antedates. It would deserve therefore, if the inference is true, that so notable a monument of Frankish antiquity should be accurately engraved and represented in bronze, otherwise soon to fall wholly to ruin. But let us resume the rest of the pious legacies of Bertechramnus in the Testament.
[56] The little place which is called Lucianus, and whatever there Hesigilo owes me; that property also which is upon the river Ledo, by name Bauciallo, likewise some things to the church of S. Victurius at Le Mans, which I purchased from Bestingeselus of Vendôme and his wife or his stepchildren; to the basilica of S. Victurius in the city of Le Mans, with the bondservants and all that has been improved there, I wish to be given … Page 136 The little herd of horses, which is seen to look to the equine portions upon the property of the holy basilica of Lord Victurius, to that holy basilica I wish to be given … Page 132 The village Cresciaco and Vallem, just as by epistles between me and Lord Arnulfus, Bishop of the Church of Metz, it was agreed, to St. Stephen of Metz, in honor of Lord Stephen … after my death that holy Church … may recall to its power; and let him who at that time shall be Pontiff order my name to be written in the book of life. Page 137 Three parts of the small farm, which we had from the reckoning of Annoaldus, and to St. Medard of Soissons, that very basilica of Lord Peter and our special patron Medard the Bishop, after my death I order to have …
[57] To you, sweetest Archdeacon, who shall be at the time of my death, I order to offer reverently to your Lord and Pontiff my successor two best pairs of my own vesting-wardrobe; Then to his successor something, but to you, holy Archdeacon, I command that you presume one good horse, and one pair, of my own property. Page 131 But all things which of my property or from my office shall be found in my little chest after my death, or the things or vestments which I labored or acquired, I order three portions thence to be made; one, let my Lord and successor the Pontiff receive; another, the basilica of Lord Peter and Paul; but the third, of the present I order to be expended on the poor. Likewise I command you, Archdeacon, and before God I attest, that of those fruits which in that year I shall leave, and to the poor, when I shall have concluded my last day, by your hands a third part be expended on the poor without fraud.
[58] I ask, when my Testament shall have been opened by all my fellow-provincials; then by the hand of the Archdeacon a hundred solidi, through the Lord Bishop of the city of Tours, likewise to the church of St. Martin of Tours, to the tomb of Lord and special Patron S. Martin the Prelate, where I laid down my hair and every year rendered tribute there, be transmitted. Page 142 Likewise to the basilica of S. Albinus the Prelate, to St. Albinus of Angers, by the hand of the Pontiff of Angers, let fifty solidi be directed: which solidi, in little bags separately … into the hand of a faithful dispenser I have committed, just as the page of my Testament declares, to be dispensed. But to you, Archdeacon, I charge and command, that through all the basilicas which are known to be around our city, and to the individual churches of his city, you distribute alms. That is, to the basilica of S. Victurius, my special Patron, you will give 20 solidi; to the basilica of Lord Vincent, where S. Domnolus the Bishop rests, in honor of that Martyr or Lord Prelate, you will give 20 solidi; to the basilica of S. Mary or the Holy Cross, you will give 10 solidi; to the basilica of S. Julian the Bishop, either a horse, or in gold you will give 5 solidi; likewise to the Basilica of S. Richomerus, 10 solidi; to the Basilica of S. Hilary, you will give 5 solidi. To the oratories of Lord Martin, of Lord Victurius, or of S. Peter within the walls, you will give in gold or in a horse 5 solidi … To the capitular matriculae in the city, or those which are through the little basilicas, by the hand of the Archdeacon I order five solidi to be given … Page 143 Likewise I wish and order, and to his Clerics: that to all our Clerics, who here in the Church are known to serve, of sheep or in any things, you give fifty solidi. But this I specially ask, that in the above-written places, where something, not as was fitting, but as far as ability prevailed, I have assigned; and everywhere he asks his name to be entered in the Diptychs. my name their Priests may order to be inscribed in the book of life, and to be recited through the several festivities … Namely when from the Diptych of the Church were recited the names of departed Bishops, Princes, and Benefactors; which, when at last they grew too numerous, Necrologies began to be written, to be recited after the Martyrology; and each name inscribed in it, to be reported on each one's anniversary day; which likewise could be called a Book of life.
§. VII. The legacies to the Kings, to his Nephew, his great-nephews, and other intimates.
[59] While for the love of my Lord King Clothar I stood unanimously with him, Increased with many possessions by the King, wishing to attest himself grateful, after his earlier despoliation, or the later which he unjustly suffered; it was necessary for that Prince himself to add something to us of the substance of life, whence both ourselves and our poor we might sustain; whence may the celestial King be his rewarder for us: for we poor have neither gold nor silver, whence to you, most glorious Lord Clothar, we might repay good things. Page 119 Nevertheless, of that which Your Glory conferred upon us, he bequeaths him two villages, we shall presume in this our Testament to make memory of Your Highness. We offer therefore to your Kingdom of your gifts; whence to us by precept, confirmed by the vigor of your hand, you granted license of doing what we wished: that is the villages Neolone and Walionno, with all boundary and appurtenances pertaining to them, or whatever afterward was improved by us, this Your Highness may receive into His dominion. Likewise we give to you, most glorious Lady Queen Berchtrudis, and one to the Queen. the village Penpinis, which is called Cella, which our glorious Lord, your Consort, conferred upon us by his gift; that that very village, with the houses, bondservants, or its boundary, after my death, into your governance without any impediment you may receive.
[60] To my sweetest nephew Sigechelmus and my great-nephew Thoringus, if they shall survive me, I wish to be given the village Seuvacum, and the small estate Ripariola, which let them divide with equal balance. Page 120 In like manner let it be done concerning the village Briomilia, he leaves certain hereditary goods to his nephew Sigechelmus, which from the succession of my parents was justly owed to us, and through the interregna was taken from us for a long time: and afterward when God gave to Lord Clothar his kingdom entire, his Piety restored that very village to us, and confirmed it by his precept: which village to my sweetest great-nephews, the sons of Sigechelmus, Leuthramnus and Sichramnus, I wish to be given. Likewise the village Castalione, situated in Saintonge, which was my parents' and the illustrious man Sigelenus's, and which the glorious Lord King Clothar granted us by his precept; because already for a long time both from me and from my said kinsman Sigelenus it was taken away, [and to his great-nephews Thoringus, Leuthramnus, Sichramnus, Sichelecus, Berthelaicus,] if that Sigelenus survive me, let him recall it to his power: but if not, to his sons, Sichelecus and Berthelaicus, I wish it to be given. The villages Crisciago and Botilo, which from the succession of our Begetter are justly owed us, and which with my brothers I ought to share, if their death had not preceded; now I order, my sweetest nephew Sigechelmus, that with my nephew Thoringus you divide with equal balance. The village Bualone, situated in Étampes beside the wood Aequalina, which by title of donation to my sweetest great-nephew Leuthramnus on the day of his nuptials I gave, just as that donation contains, also by this my Testament to him I wish to be given … And from the little place also which is called Fontanido half of the vineyards let my great-nephew Leuthramnus and his wife be able perpetually to possess … Page 120
[61] To my sweetest great-nephew Thoringus I give the small farm whose name is Villa-nova, which from [my] son Papolenus once, a price being given, I purchased, that in perpetuity he may hold and possess it. Page 121 The village Idguino, to my sweetest nephew Sigechelmus, while he lives, I wish to be given: and other things previously given he confirms: but after his death, to his sons, who are known to be born of Bertichildis daughter of Leuthramnus, without the partnership of their brothers (if my nephew Sigechelmus from elsewhere shall have other sons), I command that to be possessed … Page 125 Although to my sweetest nephew Sigechelmus already by title of donation the village Murocincto in past times I conferred, which from the succession of my Lord and Begetter was legitimately rendered to me; and after, my sins causing it, my brother Berthulfus having been killed in the expedition of Lord King Clothar, also his portion legitimately fell to me; [it] I wished to be comprehended in this Testament, [likewise what fell to him from his brothers Berthulfus and Ermenulfus who had died before him:] that both what I gave him before, and what afterward fell to me from my brother, the whole and entire that very nephew of mine may possess, namely that very village with the houses, bondservants, vineyards, fields, meadows, woods, waters, or watercourses
watercourses, movables or immovables, just as he is now seen to possess these; over them both he himself and his offspring may perpetually be lord.
[62] But the third portion of that very village Murocincto, which my brother Ermenulfus of good memory held, and gave it to me, to my sweetest great-nephew, the son of that very Sigechelmus, by name Leodefredus, after my death I wish to be given; excepting those whom my aforesaid brother released or I redeemed from captivity: likewise concerning a house: some at Le Mans let them themselves remain free. Page 126 But the house, which is within the walls of the city of Le Mans, which my Lord and brother Chaimoaldus the Bishop (Charles le Cointe thinks him to be Aimoaldus, or Annoaldus, or Ennoaldus, then Prelate of Poitiers, and Mabillon agrees) while he performed the office of the Archdeaconate, built; with the little house which Malaricus the Deacon held, to my sweetest nephew Sigechelmus, to whom I gave them I confirm; and I wish that over them both he himself and his sons in perpetuity may be lord, because where the new house is, those open lots are known to have been purchased … Page 129 and at Bordeaux: The house within the walls of the city of Bordeaux, which I and my brother Ermenulfus by our work recovered, … with its appurtenances by addition, to our sweetest nephew Sigechelmus we order to come; that he himself may have [it] and possess it, and leave it to his posterity to be possessed … Page 132 The village Mareiliaco, likewise Mariliacum to Leutchramnus situated beside the village of Diablentas, which, a price being given, from Medighisselus and Ebretrudis I purchased, or joined from all sides, or shall yet be able to join, with the houses and bondservants and its appurtenance, meadows, pastures, waters, or watercourses, to my sweetest great-nephew Leodechramnus I give and transfer in perpetual dominion.
[63] Likewise the village beside Pacilenovicus, which the begetter Blado … sold us for our solidi, with all its appurtenance, to you, my sweetest great-nephew Sigramnus, and to Sichramnus Pauliacum: I order to have. Likewise the village Pauliacum, which I, a price being given, that is three hundred solidi of gold, from the venerable Bobenus, Abbot of the Basilica of Lord Albinus, purchased, to my sweetest great-nephew Leodochramnus I order to have, that he may possess it in perpetuity. So also that if either the Basilica of Lord Albinus or the Abbot, who shall be the successor of that Bobenus, shall attempt anything thence concerning it, with double satisfaction let him render it to the said Leudochramnus; and that very village, if he shall wish to act against the definition of his predecessor, let him not even so be able to vindicate it, and so by that great-nephew of mine let it be vindicated in perpetuity. Page 133 The village which is recognized to be beside the village of Berulfus, and in that very village which Berulfus once lost, whatever there I purchased, both from the son of Erculphus, and from Remoaldus or his wife; the whole and entire, between my sweetest great-nephews Leutfredus and Thoringus, if they shall survive me, to be divided in equivalence, I wish to be given; to Leutfredus and Thoringus the great-nephews other things, so also that all things after my death, they may recall to their power entire … But the villages situated in the territory of Dunum, that is, the village Pannonio, which from Joannes the Abbot, a price being given, that is a hundred and forty solidi, I purchased; and the village Marcirias, which from Betho son of Baddo once I am seen to have purchased; you, my sweetest nephew Sigechelmus, after my death may receive; so also, that after your death your sons divide among themselves in equivalence … Page 136, Page 138 The villages, which, a price being given, from Dracoaldus the Bishop I purchased, and which near that very city, where the aforesaid Pontiff was killed, are known to be; to you, my sweetest nephew Sigechelmus, together with your sons I command to be possessed …
[64] and he adjures him, that with his own he may often come to the tomb. I command you, my sweetest nephew Sigechelmus, and your sons, and you I ask and adjure by Almighty God, that as long as He shall have wished you to survive in the world, together with your wives and your offspring, if health permits, always each year twice or thrice you visit my little tomb: and this I adjure the Abbot of that place, that he so refresh you and honor your sons, in such a way as he knows me to have been a consoler of the holy Church; that it may delight you and your sons frequently to visit that holy place or to commemorate my memory … Page 144 Those little houses, which Domnigiselus the Deacon of good memory had from our gift, things given to Leudochramnus he confirms for life: and I built there for that poor man; and we after his death granted to our sweetest great-nephew Leudochramnus, with all the little houses, little forts, little vineyards, little fields, and what that Deacon was seen to have there, with those little bondservants who are seen to dwell there, we wish that that nephew of ours, while for our love he resolves to come frequently to the basilica of SS. Peter and Paul the Apostles, just as also we wrote in the Testament; we wish I say that he always possess them with the grace of the Pontiff our successor: so also that after his death they may revert to the right of the holy Church …
[65] The village, which from the reckoning of Nuntiana, both in Poitiers and in Erbaticola fell to me; He bequeaths something to Ghiso his godfather, and those other villages, which with Ghiso my godfather in Quercy, Limousin, or anywhere in Gutia the portions of Nuntiana were thence legitimately rendered us; you, my sweetest godfather Ghiso, for the affection of love and godparenthood, together with your and our nephew Thoringus, to be divided equally I command to have … Page 138, Page 122 and to two maidservants, The little place which is called Condomas, which for my property I received, and afterward to the most faithful Cottana by title of donation granted, I wish that that said Cottana or her sons may be able in perpetuity to possess entire … Page 132 Those mares, which were the private property of Gallimerus, for my faithful Elopodia I wish to be given …
[66] To my most faithful Warnecharius and Walco, son of Tedemundus once, who to me faithfully from their adolescence, then to his faithful servants, Warnecharius and Walco, or to the holy Church with entire faith, which is unknown to none, are known to have served; whatever to them in lands, bondservants, vineyards I gave, or they themselves in my time are seen to have acquired, the whole and entire to them I wish to be granted: and let their sons and daughters, as long as they live, possess; and let none of them take away anything, I order and decree. Page 138 Whatever to our faithful Cherulfus once we gave or to his sons, this entire we confirm. to Cherulfus and Chadelenus, To my most faithful friend Chadelenus, whatever to him here and in the Le Mans territory I gave, I wish that this in perpetuity both he and his sons may possess: because it is known to all, that he faithfully and continually served in the ministries of the holy Church, and in the time of his life disposes to do the same; and it is just, that whatever to him accrued from the right of the Church, or that which by my labor came to the Church, always in him perpetually it endure. To my faithful Betolenus, son of Candolenus once, whatever to his begetter I shall have given, or what afterward to that very Betolenus from our largess was granted, to that very Betolenus and his wife or their sons in perpetuity I wish to be given: so also that his mother whatever thence she has, while she lives, to Betolenus and his wife; possess in usufruct: but after her death, the said Betolenus and his sons may receive entire, and always remain friends of the Church. Page 139 This therefore I ask and order, and he commends to them his memory. that however many my friends or faithful servants there shall be, may my nurture, or my benefaction which I bestowed upon them, always be remembered by them; and that after my death they may have care, that when the day of my commemoration shall come, they always ought to be present there; and let the Abbots of that place furnish solace, and say: Happy is that man who leaves good friends.
§. VIII. The manumissions both of slaves and of bondservants of either sex. The care of burial and of the anniversary: the conclusion with the subscriptions.
[67] These men and women I order to be free, men or women. Page 140 Libigisus, with wife and sons; Chinemundus; He grants liberty to bondservants of either sex, Chrodosindus, with wife and children; Theodogundis, and her son; Lopus, and his daughter; Emmanes, with wife and sons; Ebrelenus, with wife and sons; Gaviulfus; Julianus; Picoaldus, with wife and sons; the son and daughter of Maurellus. Likewise also my servants who are seen to serve me, both of Roman and of Barbarian nation, as are, Theodanes, Bajanes, Baudesindus, Maurus, Austreharius, Audegisilus, Vetesigilus, Berchanus, Quotanes, Alagises, Leodigisilus, and the sons of Theodonivia. All these entire I order to be free, with all their private property which they have, on this condition that they minister at his Anniversary, or hereafter shall be able to labor: and the protection of the holy Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul the Apostles, where my little body in the name of God I desire to rest, may they merit to have: so that each one may gather at the time of my deposition, and offer or recount oblations only of my name before the holy altar; and the ministry such as each is seen to have performed, in the name of God on the aforesaid day let them observe; and let them furnish solace to the Abbot of that place; and afterward on the morrow let the Abbot give them a worthy refreshment, and let each return to their homes, both these whose names are here contained, and those whom afterward from the barbarian people I purchased, or shall yet be able to purchase; both boys and girls, who are known to have been bought by me, and for whom I made charters.
[68] And let those Dasgastaldi of them who shall wish to stay with that Abbot or to serve the Basilica, under the patronage of the Abbot of SS. Peter and Paul: from the property of the holy Basilica be enriched, that it may better delight them to bestow honor on my little tomb, and to serve the holy Basilica. Page 141 And those who are known to remain here in the territory of Le Mans, let them know that they have the protection of the holy Basilica of the Lord Apostles Peter and Paul, if it be necessary: and let that Abbot, to whom the holy Basilica shall have been committed to be ruled and governed, at all times, of that which there was conferred by me, my deposition and the threshold of my little tomb so strive to celebrate, in such a way as it delights others to enrich the places of the Saints with the greatest things. But if that Abbot shall be negligent thence, let him know that he has, before the tribunal of Christ, with the Lords Peter and Paul, an action from this, to whose care he commends his burial, and that he will receive perpetual damnation. But those whom from the reckoning of the Church, for the several festivities in Albis, by charters I have released or shall release, just as their charters declare, under the protection and defense of the holy Church let them render account …
[69] I adjure and ask my Lord Chaimoaldus the Bishop, because he is recognized to be my kinsman, and to Chaimoaldus, Bishop of Poitiers. and divine piety led him to the Sacerdotal summit through [me]; let my nurture or the patronage of S. Peter, whence to that burden, Christ presiding, he walked, always be remembered by him; and that with fitting burial, whenever God shall have ordered me to migrate from this light, by his hands, with the rest of his Lords and Brothers, my little body they may worthily bury, that thence they may acquire the Lord's reward, and praise may run through the people. Page 139: This I order my Archdeacon, that to those Lords, who shall have deigned to bury a sinner, he give them two march-horses, and two herd-colts, and let those Lords each receive single pairs: and you, Lord Chaimoaldus, with the Archdeacon may worthily do this; and to you in like manner, just as your Brothers shall receive, we order that you receive. And as long as God shall have wished you to survive in the world, I ask that you deign to come to my commemoration: and let the Lord Abbot or the Congregation of SS. Peter and Paul bestow upon you worthy honor …
[70] Although above I ought to have intimated, who should serve my ashes; From each village he wishes some to be designated because, however, I had not entirely searched out concerning my household, to whose care this should be committed to be done; therefore it suited me, that of however many villages which to the holy Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul my heir I have assigned to be possessed, let them do this single bondservants from each village who are known to be the more shining, and serve us or the holy Basilica faithfully; and we wish to write their names in one charter, and confirm it by our hand, that they may be entirely released from service; and to them, together with the Abbot, of my little tomb, both of the light and of my ashes, who shall attend at his Anniversary, to be freed from service: let there be entire care, up to the last day of their life: and both they, and the offspring which shall be procreated from them, in perpetuity ought to serve my little tomb with entire diligence; and the freeborn status of them, under the protection of that Abbot, ought to endure perpetually. Page 142, Page 143 And because we, concerning the household of the holy Church, presume neither [for] my ashes, nor [for] the deposition to be made, to enjoin or release, just as our Lords and Predecessors did; in like manner I order, just as also the rest of the bondservants. that if any of my servants shall have been least in my mind, or of my brother Bertulfus once, and are seen to remain here in the Le Mans territory, let them all be absolved from service, and may they merit to have the protection or tutelage of the holy Basilica of Lord Peter and Paul, just as the rest of my freedmen. But those whom I redeemed from captivity, and who before were freeborn, and now for a price are seen to serve, both men and women, from the village of Boalcha, let all be released from service …
[71] Because I desire firmly to preserve by this Testament the decision of my deliberation; He commends the execution to the Bishops therefore I conjure you, Lords and Pontiffs, etc., as above in number 15. Page 143 Likewise I conjure you all, by the victories of the most clement Princes, you who in the world have the power of acting with our Lords and Princes, and to the Nobles. that, if it be necessary, you never deny to this little page the help of your defense … Page 144, Page 145 For I also at present declare, that if anyone shall attempt to come against this my will, let him be struck with perpetual excommunication; He concludes with an execration of those who contravene, and may God show such judgment upon him, that, struck with the leprosy of Naaman, the earth may swallow him like Dathan and Abiron; and so may divine vengeance appear upon him, that in the present world he may know himself to have acted badly, and in the future judgment may never obtain the pardon of remission. If any erasures, with an approval of the erasures, if any scratchings, if any letters added or removed; I made, or ordered to be made, while I read over to myself my will rather often, and recognize and emend all the several things. And this testament as the Law teaches, I have judged should be fortified with the subscriptions and seals of seven men, and for the firmness and stipulation of the whole matter I commanded to be annexed. Done at Le Mans, on the day and year comprehended above.
I, Bertichramnus, in the name of Christ, with the subscriptions of 7 witnesses, etc. though an unworthy Bishop, my Testament, which I dictated to my son Ebbo the Notary to be written, I have read over and subscribed.
I, Guntinus the Honoratus, subscribed, at the request of Lord Bertichramnus. Dado, at the request of Lord Bertichramnus, subscribed. Gerinus, at the request of Lord Bertichramnus, subscribed. Ibbolenus, at the request of Lord Bertichramnus, subscribed. Gaddo, at the request of Lord Bertichramnus, subscribed. I, Hugo the Honoratus, subscribed. I, Ebbo the Notary, by order of my Lord Bertichramnus the Bishop, and he being present, this Testament wrote, read over, and subscribed [and] noted the day.
Likewise therefore, I, Bertichramnus the Bishop, ask my son the Archdeacon; that, when the Testament shall have been opened, he, prosecuting it, cause it to be bound to the municipal acts according to the law, whereby it may always firmly endure.
[72] Thus far the Testament, digested in that order which we promised at the beginning, not in that in which it was originally written, and subscribed according to the Roman Law of Constantine the Great, which is now sought in vain in the Theodosian Code, [according to the Law of Constantine the Great which today is missing in the Code.] as the most learned James Gothofredus notes, in his Commentary on law 1, title 4, On Testaments and Codicils; yet formerly it was read therein. For that which is now the first proceeds according to a prior one, as the old Interpretation notes; and the same is clear of itself, in that now the first is concerning Codicils, which a Testament does not precede; in which the Law defines, that "just as in the wills of a Testament the intervention of seven witnesses or five ought not to be lacking." There fell out therefore the prior one, which was concerning the wills of a Testament. This, moreover, he says was passed by Constantine in the year 326, but the later one is of his son Constantius, passed in the year 334; although both names are now confused, in the title and subscription of the later law; in which there seems to be conflated the Praetorian right, which required seven, with the civil, which required only five Witnesses. If therefore at any time the number of witnesses shall be lacking, let the instrument of the Codicil (and much more of the Testament, concerning which the law was omitted) be held invalid: which it pleased to be observed also in the other wills.
[73] Hence in a certain Capitulary of Charlemagne, made around the year 789, according to the most learned Baluze, it is said: "The Testament, which the Romans make, is not firm, unless it is confirmed by five or seven testimonies." Furthermore, for the explanation of the formula, proposed at the beginning, by which it is provided, that "this Testament, if by any chance, by civil law or by praetorian law, or by the intervention of some new law, it should be unable to be valid; let it be valid as if from the intestate in the manner of Codicils"; for the explanation, I say, of this formula Gothofredus notes, that very many testators were so timid in that age that, because they despaired of being able to observe the exact diligence of the law in ordering testaments, they would invoke their will by various names, indeed they would sometimes employ a clause to the same end, "Let it be valid by the right of Codicils." To which pertains, among others, also that notable preface of a Testator in law penult., § ult., ff. On legacies 2: "Lucius Titius wrote this my Testament without any Jurist, following the reason of my mind rather than excessive and miserable diligence: and if I shall do anything less legitimately or less skillfully; for legitimate right ought to be held the will of a sane man."