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Judgment of Imar of Tusculum in favour of the monks of St Andrew’s Priory, Rochester, Textus Roffensis, ff. 203v–204r Translated from Latin and edited Dr Chris Monk

Abstract: ‘Hence, we wish to be known to you all through this present communication, because a dispute of this sort has arisen between Ascelin, bishop of Rochester, and the monks of that same place, namely the church of St Andrew, over the right of the manors of Lambeth and Haddenham...’

To cite this report: Monk, C. (2018) Judgment of Imar of Tusculum in favour of the monks of St Andrew’s Priory, Rochester, Textus Roffensis, ff. 203v–204r; Translated from Latin and edited. Rochester: Rochester Cathedral Research Guild.

To link to this article: https://rochestercathedralresearchguild.org/bibliography/2018-17 Published online: 24th April 2018

General Queries: jacob.scott@rochestercathedralresearchguild.org

Produced by permission of Dr Chris Monk. All rights reserved to the author. Any views and opinions expressed in this work are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of either the Research Guild or the Dean and Chapter.

Textus Roffensis, ff. 203v-204r Dr Chris Monk

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Textus Roffensis, Rochester, Cathedral Library, MS A. 3. 5, f. 203v

Textus Roffensis, ff. 203v-204r Dr Chris Monk

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Textus Roffensis, Rochester, Cathedral Library, MS A. 3. 5, f. 192r

Textus Roffensis, ff. 203v-204r Dr Chris Monk

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Judgment of Imar of Tusculum in favour of the monks of St

Andrew’s Priory, Rochester, Textus Roffensis, ff. 203v–204r

Translated from Latin by Dr Christopher Monk © 2018

Date: 1144–451

Imar, bishop of Tusculum, by the grace of God, legate of the apostolic see.2 To all the sons of the

mother church to whom this letter shall have come, greetings. The memory of a former matter is

providently committed to a letter: quarrels not finally laid to rest may yet be renewed in the future.3

Hence, we wish to be known to you all through this present communication, because a dispute of

this sort has arisen between Ascelin, bishop of Rochester,4 and the monks of that same place,

namely the church of St Andrew, over the right of the manors of Lambeth and Haddenham. The

aforesaid monks have claimed the above-mentioned manors for themselves for their own living

by [grant of] William the younger,5 king of the English, and on record by Lanfranc, pious

archbishop at Canterbury,6 and granted and bestowed in accordance with reason by Gundulf,

bishop at Rochester.7 And for the proof of this very thing they have brought forward to the

mediator the charters and confirmations of these same ones, as well as the supporting

[documentation] of Henry and Stephen, kings of the English,8 and of Anselm, archbishop of

Canterbury.9 Whereas, against this, the aforementioned Ascelin, bishop of Rochester, has

responded with nothing of substance, nothing of validity; nor has he been able to prove his right

to the previously assigned manors to our venerable brothers sitting in council: Theobald,

archbishop of Canterbury;10 Robert of London;11 Henry of Winchester;12 Alexander of Lincoln;13

Everard of Norwich;14 Seffred, bishop of Chichester;15 the abbots, Geoffrey of St Albans,16

1 This document was copied by a later scribe; the principal scribe of Textus Roffensis completed his work about 1123. The original charter dates to the period of Imar of Tusculum’s service as papal legate. See n. 2, below. 2 Imar of Tusculum (d. 1161), cardinal-bishop from 1142, and served as papal legate to England during the pontificate of Lucius II, 1144–45. 3 This rather enigmatic statement alludes to the ongoing nature of the disagreement over the ownership of certain manors between the monks of St Andrew’s and their bishops; it is outlined in what follows. Though the charter does not say so, the disagreement originally began in the time of bishop John II, 1139–42; see Mary P. Richards, ‘Texts and their traditions in the medieval library of Rochester Cathedral Priory’, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 78.3 (1988), pp. 1–129, at p. 59. 4 Ascelin, bishop of Rochester, 1142–48. Unlike some of the earlier bishops of Rochester, Ascelin was not a monk and so was not also the prior at St Andrew’s. 5 William II (‘Rufus’), r. 1087–1100. 6 Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, 1070–89. 7 Gundulf, bishop of Rochester and prior of St Andrew’s Priory, 1077–1108. 8 Henry I, r. 1100–35; Stephen, r. 1135–54. 9 Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, 1093–1109. 10 Theobald of Bec, archbishop of Canterbury, 1139–61. 11 Robert, bishop of London, 1141–50. 12 Henry of Winchester, also known as Henry of Blois, younger brother of King Stephen, and bishop of Winchester, 1129–71. 13 Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, 1123–48. 14 Everard, bishop of Norwich, 1121–45. 15 Seffred I, bishop of Chichester, 1125–45. 16 Geoffrey, abbot of St Albans Abbey, 1119–46.

Textus Roffensis, ff. 203v-204r Dr Chris Monk

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Gervase of Westminster,17 Peter of Sherborne;18 and Hilary the master;19 and to as many other

religious persons. The very manors, with all their associated appurtenances, which the charters of

gift and confirmation were securing, we awarded to the very monks, and constituted them owners

with the assurance of their bishop, who hereafter, without vexation and disturbance, might both

permit the good monks to have their properties and preserve peace towards them – which we give

orders to him to observe steadfastly. And as evidence of this he received the very monks with the

kiss of peace. Therefore, with such just petitions of the aforementioned brothers, we give our easy

assent to both those oft-spoken manors and all other goods and possessions, which in the present

time they rightly possess, or in the future will legitimately hold, whether rights, customs, or

freedoms reasonably granted. We confirm these very things by the authority of the office which I

discharge and reinforce the present written testimony.

17 Gervase of Blois, illegitimate son of King Stephen, abbot of Westminster Abbey, 1138–57. 18 Peter, abbot of Sherborne Abbey, c. 1142–c.1160. 19 Probably Hilary of Chichester (c. 1110–69), who served as clerk for Henry of Blois, see n. 12, above; he was educated as a canon lawyer, hence the use of ‘master’, i.e. a scholar, and was appointed as bishop of Chichester in 1147.

Textus Roffensis, ff. 203v-204r Dr Chris Monk

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Latin text, directly from Textus Roffensis

The digital facsimile of this text is located at:

http://luna.manchester.ac.uk/luna/servlet/detail/Man4MedievalVC~4~4~990378~142729?page=0.

Type ‘n415’ into the page search box. The text covers both the left-hand and right-hand folio.

The layout approximates that of the manuscript: the display letter has been represented; and single words which are

split over two lines are hyphenated. Punctuation has been modernised. Word-division and capital letters have been

normalised. Scribal abbreviations have been expanded and are indicated by italics.

[folio 203v]

MARUS Dei gratia Tusculanus episcopus, apostolicę

sedis legatus. Omnibus matris ęcclesię filiis ad

quos litterę istę peruenerint, salutem. Rei gestę

memoria litteris prouide committitur, ne lites

semel sopitę, in futuro iterum instaurentur.

roinde uniuersitati uestrę per pręsentia scripta

notum esse uolumus, quod inter Ascelinum Rofensem

episcopum, et eiusdem loci monachos, ęcclesię scilicet beati

Andreę, super iure maneriorum Lamhetham

et Hendenham,20 controuersia huiusmodi

orta est. Asserebant prędicti monachi memo-

rata maneria sibi ad uictum proprium a rege An-

glorum Willelmo21 iuniore, et Lamfranco22 pię

recordationis Cantuariensi archiepiscopo, et

Gundulfo23 Rofensi episcopo concessa rationabi-

liter et donata, et ad eiusdem rei euidentiorem

probationem, eorundem car( )tas24 et confirma-

tiones, et sequentium regum Anglorum Henrici,

et Stephani, et Anselmi Cantuariensis archiepiscopi

in medium proferebant.25 Contra quę cum

pręfatus Ascelinus Rofensis episcopus nichil firmum,

nichil ualidum responderet, nec se in pretaxatis

maneriis ius habere probare posset, assiden-

tibus nobis uenerabilibus fratribus Teobaldo26 Cantuariensi

20 ‘Lamhetham et Hendenham’ (‘Lambeth and Haddenham’), underlined for emphasis by a later scribe, who has also drawn the symbol } in the right margin to draw attention to the lines where he has made further underlines, for which see the notes below. 21 ‘ad uictum proprium a rege […] Willelmo’ (‘for their own living by king […] William’), underlined by a later scribe. 22 ‘Lamframco’ (‘Lanfranc’), underlined by a later scribe. 23 ‘Gundulfo’ (‘Gundulf’), underlined by a later scribe. 24 A letter has been erased to give the correct spelling of ‘cartas’. 25 A partially legible Latin annotation appears in the left margin at this point, written in a non-medieval hand, and in the form of a question. It is possible to decipher ‘pro Lambeth’ (‘for Lambeth’) on the upper line; and the last word looks like ‘pensionis’ (genitive form of pension, ‘payment’). 26 ‘Teobaldo’ (‘Theobald’), underlined by a later scribe.

I P

Textus Roffensis, ff. 203v-204r Dr Chris Monk

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[folio 204r]

archiepiscopo, Rodberto Lundoniensi, Henrico Wintoniensi,

Alexandro Linconiensi, Ebrardo Noruuicensi, Si-

fredo Cicestrensi episcopis, Gaufrido Sancti Albani, Ger-

uasio Westmonasterii, Petro Scireburnensi, abbatibus,

et magistro Hilario, et aliis quam pluribus

religiosis personis ipsa maneria cum omnibus

suis appenditiis secundum quod carte donatio-

nis et confirmationis continebant, ipsis

monachis adiudicauimus,27 et ipsos possessores

constituimus ipso eorum episcopo promittente, quod

deinceps sine uexatione et inquietatione,

monachos bona et possessiones suas habere

permitteret, et pacem eis seruaret, quod et ipsi

firmiter obseruare precipimus, ad cuius rei ar-

gumentum ipsos monachos in osculo pacis

recepit. Nos itaque prędictorum fratrum iustis

petitionibus facilem prębentes assensum,

tam sepedicta maneria quam alia omnia

eorum bona et possessiones quas in pręsentia-

rum iuste possident, uel in futuro legitime

habituri sunt, iura etiam, consuetudines,

libertates rationabiliter indultas, auctoritate

officii quo fungimur ipsis confirmamus, et

pręsentis scripti attestatione roboramus.

27 ‘ipsis monachis adiudicauimus’ (‘we awarded to the very monks’), underlined by a later scribe.