Introduction (by Richard Barton)
1. Date: No specific date is given in the act. From what
is known of the abbacy of Abbot Rannulf, we can assert that these episodes
occurred at some point between 1080 and 1100.
2. Author: the monks of the abbey of St. Vincent of Le Mans
(in western France). Their cartulary, from which this series of episodes
is taken, was compiled in the late 12th century.
In these days, just as the Truth foretold, the end of the world draws near, evil grows in force and the love [Note 1] of not only many people but almost everyone flags; and, as the prophet attests, "faith perished and was torn from the hearts of men [Jer. 6:28]." For this reason it is necessary that whatever affects the holy church of God be set down in writing, lest oblivion consume it.
For this reason, I, Rannulf, abbot of the abbey of Saint-Vincent, made a certain settlement with one of our men, whose name was Raherius. Because Raherius' pertinacity greatly fatigued me and my predecessors, I deemed it right to make a record of this agreement.
My first complaint concerns this: that Raherius came to [a legal hearing at] Le Mans at our summons to negotiate, yet he left without either an agreement or my permission. Whence [at this legal hearing] it was judged that he ought to pay his fine to me, and he therefore gave me his warranty and offered his brother-in-law, Walter, as his security [Note 2].
[My] second [complaint is] that he ignored our prohibition and [went ahead and] divided his land with his brother Warner; whence it was judged that I should take possession of Warner's part.
[My] third [complaint] concerns the land of Apolchardus, which land his father bought against the prohibition of Alger, monk of St Vincent. And it was judged that he ought to hand it over to me from him, so that I might affirm it.
[My] fourth [complaint] concerns [the feudal taxes of] pontage, vicaria and pannage, which neither his father nor Apolchardus had held; whence it was judged that he not have these rights, unless he was able to prove it before witnesses. [Note 3].
[My] fifth [complaint] concerns the land which he had unjustly seized. I, with Walter the Norman and other monks, had justly obtained this land, and received from it the annual harvest tithe, which came to four measures of winter wheat. Yet in the following year, Raherius again seized it. And it was judged that he ought to render to me, along with a fine, whatever he had taken thence; and I returned to him his pledge for his entire tenement.
[The] last [complaint] concerns the assault which he had made against Abbot Rannulf [Note 4] and his men, in which he had killed one of the abbot's men, wounded three, and set the abbot to flight. This came about for the following reason: Raherius had undergone a judicial duel in the court of the count of Le Mans and, since the Abbot was already wholly victorious, at the humble supplication of all those present, and especially of Hubert Ribola, Abbot Rannulf came to an agreement with such an understanding that Raherius would give up the entire tenement of his father, receive from the abbot 20 shillings, and withdraw from there free with all his men. Yet when Abbot Rannulf sent Reginald Luvellus to him on the stated day with the money, Raherius refused to accept it. After this, Abbot Rannulf proceeded to survey and take possession of the land in the company of his knight [miles], Bencelinus, and his other men. But Raherius had gathered phalanxes of his kinsmen and other thieves, and, as we have already said, together they put the abbot to flight with much disgrace and with injury to his men. Whence it was judged that Raherius pay for the dead man with 100 shillings, that he atone for each of the wounded through 22 shillings, 6 pence, and that he, along with his men, become the unfree tenants [coliberti] of Saint-Vincent forever.
They came to an agreement concerning these matters at the prayer of those who were present, under the following terms: Raherius was to relinquish free to us the whole tenement which he, his father, and his [men] had held, whether justly or unjustly, except the fief of Apolchardus, which we granted to him with the consent of our brother-monks, but only providing that he, with all his men, both present and future, should uphold this concord peacefully and quietly for ever after. We gave to him the land of Apolchardus free and clear, so that he might serve us as a knight, and we absolved him and all his offspring from the taint of being serfs for as long as he shall uphold this concord. If, truly, either he or his [kin], should lay any claim to these things which we mentioned above, he shall return to the status of serf for the entire length of his life and he shall lose that which we affirmed to him with [his] freedom. Raherius legally commended himself to our hands for this land of Apolchardus, just like a free man, and he made to us an oath of fidelity over the text of the holy gospels; and in addition, so that he might be wholly faithful to us, we gave to him all those taxes in this land that we had disputed.
These were the judges, onlookers, and listeners of this matter: Hubert Ribola, Fulk of Bugnon, Viventius son of Beringer, Hugh son of Guy, Peter son of Achardus, Adam Fessart, Herbert of Braye, Morandus and Albericus his brother, Fulk of Tussé, Robert Calamus, Guy son of the monk called Walter the Norman, Roger Bald-Donkey, Durand of Lusdo, Pretty Day, Anseisus the butcher, Reginald son of Raymond, Nicholas and Guy and also Herbert Payn, and Elizabeth their mother, Baldwin of Sarcé, Theobald son of Gislandus, Theobald of Courdemain, Warin the clerk, Gilbert the monk, Artusus, Walter, Litolesens of Sarcé, Algerius, Peter, Richard, Peter of Posterna, Beringer, Berniers and Abbot Rannulf.
On the same day Guy, son of Elizabeth, in the same place and in the same court, at the request of his mother Elisabeth and his brother Nicholas, received the fief of Sarcé from Abbot Rannulf, namely that part that used to pertain to his mother, just as his grandfather had held it, and he commended himself into the hands of the abbot. And he made an oath of fidelity to him and to the monks of this place, over the four gospels and over the most precious relics, with all those whose names are written above seeing it.
Yet after the aforesaid Raherius left the city of Le Mans, he returned the 20 shillings to the monks of Saint-Vincent, namely to [the monks] Algerius and Peter, saying he had [only] agreed to those things through coercion, and that he didn't want to serve anyone [as a knight] in the manner described above. For which reason, he returned to his usual crimes and began to ruin us with his customary perfidies. For which reason Abbot Rannulf, relying on the judicial authority of Hubert of Champagne, held another legal hearing with him, [this time] in the villa which is called Luché, in the house of Saint-Aubin. And all those who were at this meeting judged Raherius to be faithless and a perjuror, [and considered] that neither his oath nor his fidelity ought to be believed any longer, and that [therefore] he no longer ought to hold [the land] either in liberty or in right.
The judges and witnesses to this matter were these: Adam brother of Gervase [of Chateau-du-Loir], Hugh of Saint-Christopher, Walter of Montsoreau, Hubert of Champagne and all those who came with him from the expedition which they had made against the castle of Briollay, where they had lost many horses, from whom we list [only] certain names: Ralph of Fointinellis, Fulcoius Helperi, Hubert son of Fromund, Odolric, William et Fulcoius his brother, and Alberic their brother-in-law, who was nicknamed "Barratus", Robert of Avese, Geoffrey Belsarius, Hubert of Locai, Tegrinus of Trovata, Godfrey son of Hugh, Watso his son, Geoffrey of Vipereis, Bencelinus the abbot's knight, Geoffrey son of Hervey, Fulcoius the vicar, Gosbert Godion, Bernard of Courdemain, Lambert of Capella, Frodo of Sarcé, David of Montmorin, Grossinus, Reginald the vicar, Herbert the priest, Hugh his brother, Durand of Lusdo, Abbot Rannulf, and Richard and Warin both monks of St Vincent. This was done in the villa of Luché, at the fourth hour on a Sunday, on the eve of the feast of John the Baptist.
Shortly afterwards, Abbot Rannulf held another hearing with Warner, brother of the aforesaid Raherius, in the full court of lord Gervais [of Chateau-du-Loir]; and we deemed it right to write down a record of this hearing. Indeed, this Warner, persisting in his usual rebellion with his son Vitalis, was pillaging the land of Saint-Vincent, for which reason the abbot and monks claimed his person [Note 5]. But Warner, wanting to avoid this, promised to defend himself by battle in the aforesaid court, if safe conduct would be granted. The abbot did not object, so long as the court might judge it, and so they came together in the same court on July 29. And there Bencelinus [the abbot's knight] recounted the [history of the affair, including] the judicial duel fought by the aforementioned Raherius, and how Abbot Rannulf had seized Hubert, his brother, by the judgement of this same court, and how Warner had himself acknowledged this, and [how Warner] had placed 4 pennies on the altar of Saint-Vincent for his person and how because of this Warner had been made the provost of Sarcé. Although he wanted very much to excuse all these things, Warner was prevented by his very own words, and therefore he was judged by the whole court to be a serf, together with his descendants.
The judges of this matter were: Lord Gervais [of Chateau-du-Loir], who had learned the whole history of the matter through frequent listening, Burdechin, Nihard, Drogo of Courtiran, Bencelinus [the abbot's knight], William of Mange, Algerius Franciscus, Goslin of Semmur, Theobald son of Hubald, Godfrey of St-Jean, Bernard of Courdemain, who was about to hold a duel with the witness of William of Nuliaco, Isembard the priest, Succherius of Lucé, Alardus et Siegfred the vicars, Galatinus and Clarus the foresters, Wiscelin of Vaux, Gerard of Vaas. Vitalis, also, son of the aforesaid Warner, wanting to resist nothing, appeared, along with his uncles Engelbert and Geoffrey, Mainard and their brother-in-law Walter the grammarian. Abbot Rannulf and the monks Richard and Warin.
After a little time, the aforesaid Raherius, seeing he was not able to acquire anything by force from the monks, converted himself to mercy, and asked Warin the monk, who at that time held that obedience, whether the abbot and monks might give to him enough to live on. Which they did, according to this agreement: first Raherius gave up everything, according to the judgment, namely whatever he had held, and after this the abbot and monks gave him the one third of the piece of land that his father had bought, and the vineyard which he held there; but [these things were granted] only for his lifetime. Afterwards Raherius gave security [lit. "oath-helpers"] that never more would he or his heirs make any claim on those things he had abandoned, and he made an oath by his own hand, that he would be the faithful man of the monks of Saint-Vincent for all time.
These were the simple pledges: Bencelinus, Sivinus, Watso of Ruiniaco. These were the pledges who gave an oath: Gerard and Richard de Rescolio and his son, Engelbald; Odo and Hugh, Herbert the nephew of Raherius, and Hugh his brother-in-law, and also Theobald. These men witnessed this: Herbert the priest, Lisiard, Gerard of Sourches, Rainer, Alberic Ragot, Hugh, Lambert of Capella, Mainard Guainard, John the Breton and Warin the Breton, Geoffrey the Short and many others.
NOTES:
1. That is, "caritas" or Christian love.
2. Literally "as his oath-helper"; Walter is acting here as security for his brother-in-law's good behavior.
3. Pontage is the right to collect tolls at bridges; vicaria is general rights of judicial taxation; pannage is the right to tax a man for pasturing his pigs in your forest. Clearly Raherius had wanted to collect these taxes himself; the abbot was having nothing of it.
4. Here the text switches from first person to third; it is probably a product of the process of compiling the cartulary.
5. Presumably by the terms of the agreement above, since Raherius and his kin had agreed that if they broke the agreement they would return to servile status
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