Law and spiritual sanctions: asserting the stability of pro anima donation charters in late tenth- and eleventh-century central Italy

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article examines the citation of legal texts in late tenth- and eleventh-century pro anima donation charters in favour of ecclesiastical institutions in central Italy. It argues that, in general, these texts were cited by notaries to insist on a general principle, derived from Lombard law, of the irrevocability of all donations and testamentary dispositions in favour of ecclesiastical institutions. It then discusses the spiritual sanctions that were likewise used in such charters, arguing that the prevalence of legal citations as well as spiritual sanctions relates to the same general heightened desire to stress the irrevocability of property donations in the face of ongoing tensions regarding ecclesiastical property. Finally, I point to some evidence that notaries, donors (and donees) were increasingly aware of alternatives to an irrevocable pro anima donation charter, namely the Roman law testament.KEYWORDS: Early Middle AgesCentral Italylegal citationspiritual sanctionsmonasteries AcknowledgementsI am grateful to the participants of the workshop, ‘Early Medieval Law in Italian Charters and Manuscripts’ (2021), for their comments and for the feedback of two anonymous reviewers.Notes1 Throughout this article the laws of the Lombard kings are cited with reference to the specific lawgiver in question (Rothari, Grimwald, Liutprand, Ratchis, Aistulf). These laws are edited by Friedrich Bluhme in Friedrich Bluhme and Alfred Boretius, eds., Leges Langobardorum. Monumenta Germania Historica, Leges 4 (Hanover: Hahn, 1868), and an English translation is available in Katherine Fischer Drew, The Lombard Laws (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1973). Central to the article is also Chapter 1 of Charlemagne’s Capitulare Italicum of 801 (Capit. 1, 98.1), ed. Alfred Boretius, in Capitularia regum Francorum, vol. 1. Monumenta Germania Historica, Capitularia regum Francorum 1 (Hanover: Hahn, 1883), 205.The following cartularies or later collections of documents are used in this study, referred to in abbreviated form: Casauria: Alessandro Pratesi and Paolo Cherubini, eds., Iohannis Berardi Liber instrumentorum seu Chronicorum monasterii Casauriensis seu Chronicon Casauriense. Fonti per la storia d’Italia medievale, Rerum Italicarum scriptores, 3rd series, 14. 4 vols. (Rome: Nella sede dell’Istituto, Palazzo Borromini, 2017–19); Chieti: Antonio Balducci, ed., Regesto delle pergamene della curia arcivescovile di Chieti (Casalbordino: Nicola de Arcangelis, 1926); Farfa: Ignazio Giorgi and Ugo Balzani, eds., Regesto di Farfa di Gregorio di Catino. Biblioteca della Società romana di storia patria, 5 vols. (Rome: Presso la Società, 1879–92); Fermo: Delio Pacini, ed., Il Codice 1030 dell’archivio diplomatico di Fermo (Milan: Giuffrè, 1963); S. Bartolomeo: Berardo Pio, ed., Alexandri monachi Chronicorum liber monasterii sancti Bartholomei de Carpineto. Fonti per la storia dell’Italia medievale, Rerum Italicarum scriptores, 3rd series, 5 (Rome: Istituto storico italiano, 2001); S. Maria di Tremiti: Armando Petrucci, ed., Codice diplomatico del monastero benedettino di S. Maria di Tremiti. Fonti per la storia d’Italia 98. 3 vols. (Rome: Tipografia del Senato, 1960); Sulmona: Nunzio Federigo Faraglia, ed., Codice diplomatico Sulmonese (Lanciano: R. Carabba, 1888) [all examples referenced from this volume are documents that were formely preserved in the cathedral of Sulmona]; Volturno: Vincenzo Federici, ed., Chronicon Vulturnense del monaco Giovanni. Fonti per la storia d’Italia 58–60. 3 vols. (Rome: Tipografia del Senato, 1925–38).On such donations see generally, Arnold Angenendt, ‘Donationes pro anima: Gift and Countergift in the Early Medieval Liturgy’, in The Long Morning of Medieval Europe: New Directions in Early Medieval Studies, eds. Jennifer R. Davis and Michael McCormick (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), 131–54; Eliana Magnani, ‘Almsgiving, Donatio Pro Anima and Eucharistic Offering in the Early Middle Ages of Western Europe (4th–9th century)’, in Charity and Giving in Monotheistic Religions, eds. Miriam Frenkel and Yaacov Lev (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2009), 111–24; Ilana F. Silber, ‘Gift-Giving in the Great Traditions: The Case of Donations to Monasteries in the Medieval West’, European Journal of Sociology 36, no. 2 (1995): 209–43; Susan Wood, The Proprietary Church in the Medieval West (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), especially 729–88; Janet L. Nelson, ‘Church Properties and the Propertied Church: Donors, the Clergy and the Church in Medieval Western Europe from the Fourth Century to the Twelfth’, English Historical Review 124 (2009): 355–74.2 See below, nn. 28–31.3 Silber, ‘Gift-Giving’, 222–3; for examples, see especially Wood, Proprietary Church.4 François Bougard, ‘Jugement divin, excommunication, anathème et malédiction: la sanction spirituelle dans les sources diplomatiques’, in Exclure de la communauté chrétienne, eds. Geneviève Bührer-Thierry and Stéphane Gioanni (Turnhout: Brepols, 2015), 215–38.5 François Bougard, La justice dans le royaume d’Italie de la fin du VIIIe siècle au début du XIe siècle (Rome: École française de Rome, 1995), 146–7, 293–4. Also valuable is Giulio Vismara, ‘Leggi e dottrina nella prassi notarile italiana dell’alto medioevo’, in Confluence des droits savants et des pratiques juridiques: actes du Colloque de Montpellier (12–14 décembre 1977) (Milan: Giuffrè 1979), 313–40, reprinted in idem, Scritti di storia giuridica, vol. 2, La vita del diritto negli atti privati medievali (Milan: A. Giuffrè, 1987), 49–78.6 On this juridical culture, see especially Charles M. Radding, The Origins of Medieval Jurisprudence: Pavia and Bologna, 850–1150 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988); Ronald G. Witt, The Two Latin Cultures and the Foundation of Renaissance Humanism in Medieval Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 166–78; Mario Ascheri, The Laws of Late Medieval Italy (1000–1500): Foundations for a European Legal System (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 9–104.7 For this explanation, see, for example, Laurent Feller, Les Abruzzes médiévales: territoire, économie et société en Italie centrale du IXe au XIIe siècle (Paris: École française de Rome, 1998), 41–2.8 Michel Zimmermann, ‘Le vocabulaire latin de la malédiction du IXe au XIIe siècle: construction d’un discours eschatologique’, Atalaya: Revue Française d’Études Médiévales Hispaniques 5 (1994): 37–55; Amedeo Feniello and Jean-Marie Martin, ‘Clausole di anatema e di maledizione nei documenti (Italia meridionale e Sicilia, Sardegna, X–XII secolo)’, Mélanges de l’École Française de Rome: Moyen Âge 123, no. 1 (2011): 105–27. See also the work of Lester K. Little, especially, ‘La morphologie des malédictions monastiques’, Annales 34 (1979): 43–60; and idem, Benedictine Maledictions: Liturgical Cursing in Romanesque France (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993), 52–9.9 Jeffrey A. Bowman, ‘Do Neo-Romans Curse? Law, Land, and Ritual in the Midi (900–1100)’, Viator 28 (1997): 1–32; Bougard, ‘Jugement divin’.10 Bougard, ‘Jugement divin’, 235: ‘le politique et le spirituel ne sont pas du même registre.’ I am grateful to François Bougard for drawing my attention to this line of research.11 Full references to the cartularies and the laws concerned are given in note 1.12 Walter Pohl, ‘Leges Langobardorum', in Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, eds. Johannes Hoops and Heinrich Beck (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2001), 208–13; Walter Pohl, ‘Le leggi longobarde nell’Italia carolingia: contesto e trasmissione', in Paolino d’Aquileia e il contributo italiano all’Europa carolingia: atti del Convegno internazionale di studi, Cividale del Friuli-Premariacco, 10–13 ottobre 2002, ed. Paolo Chiesa. Libri e biblioteche 12 (Udine: Forum, 2003), 421–37. See further the website by Karl Ubl and others, ‘Bibliotheca legum: A Database on Carolingian Secular Law Texts’, at http://www.leges.uni-koeln.de/en/lex/leges-langobardorum/.13 Stefan Esders and Helmut Reimitz, ‘Diversity and Convergence: The Accommodation of Ethnic and Legal Pluralism in the Carolingian Empire’, in Empires and Communities in the Post-Roman and Islamic World, c.400–1000 CE, eds. Walter Pohl and Rutger Kramer (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021), 227–52.14 Hubert Mordek, Bibliotheca capitularium regum Francorum manuscripta: Überlieferung und Traditionszusammenhang der fränkischen Herrschererlasse (Munich: Monumenta Germania Historica, 1995); see also Christoph Meyer, ‘Auf der Suche nach dem lombardischen Strafrecht: Beobachtungen zu den Quellen des 11. Jahrhunderts', in Neue Wege strafrechtsgeschichtlicher Forschung, eds. Hans Schlosser and Dietmar Willoweit (Cologne: Böhlau, 1999), 341–88. See further the website, Karl Ubl and others, eds., ‘Capitularia: Edition of the Frankish Capitularies’ (Cologne, 2014–), at https://capitularia.uni-koeln.de/en/.15 ‘Capitulare Italicum’ [BK 98], in Ubl and others, ‘Capitularia’, https://capitularia.uni-koeln.de/en/capit/pre814/bk-nr-098/ (Accessed 3 October 2022).16 Vismara, ‘Leggi e dottrina’; Giorgio Costamagna, ‘L’alto medioevo’, in Alle origini del notariato italiano, eds. Mario Amelotti and Giorgio Costamagna (Rome: Consiglio nazionale del notariato, 1975), 151–314 (217).17 For the Farfa cartulary, see, with further bibliography, Marios J. Costambeys, Power and Patronage in Early Medieval Italy: Local Society, Italian Politics and the Abbey of Farfa, c.700–900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 15–19; Carlrichard Brühl, ‘Überlegungen zur Diplomatik der spoletinischen Herzogsurkunde’, in Atti del 9° Congresso internazionale di studi sull’alto medioevo, Spoleto, 27 settembre–2 ottobre 1982 (Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo, 1983), 231–49; for that of Volturno, see Federico Marazzi, ‘San Vincenzo al Volturno tra VIII e IX secolo: il percorso della grande crescita (Un’indagine comparativa con le altre grandi fondazioni benedettine italiane)’, in San Vincenzo al Volturno: cultura, istituzioni, economia, ed. Federico Marazzi (Monteroduni, Isernia: Edizioni Cep, 1996), 41–90 (42–6); Chris Wickham, ‘Monastic Lands and Monastic Patrons’, in San Vincenzo al Volturno 2: The 1980–86 Excavations. Part 2, ed. Richard Hodges (London: British School at Rome, 1995), 138–52; for that of Casauria, see the introduction by Paolo Cherubini, to the critical edition, especially 31–2, cited above in n. 1, and Laurent Feller, ‘Le cartulaire-chronique de San Clemente à Casauria’, in Les cartulaires. Actes de la table ronde organisée par l’École nationale des chartes 1991, eds. Olivier Guyotjeannin, Laurent Morelle and Michel Parisse (Paris: École des chartes, 1993), 261–77 (269–77); for that of S. Bartolomeo, which survives in seventeenth-century and later copies, see especially the introduction, by Berardo Pio, to the critical edition, cited in n. 1 above, and Swen Holger Brunsch, ‘Urkunden und andere Schriftstücke im “Chronicorum liber” des Klosters S. Bartolomeo di Carpineto’, Quellen und Forschungen aus Italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken 82 (2002): 1–46; for that of Fermo, see Delio Pacini, Il Codice 1030, 11; for that of S. Maria in Tremiti see the assessement by Petrucci, 1: 141, in the introduction to the critical edition (vol. 1), cited in n. 1 above.18 The earliest examples, from S. Bartolomeo, nos. 9, 10–11 and 12, are dated to 962, but these documents are arguably later forgeries, or at least heavily interpolated; see Feller, Les Abruzzes médiévales, 579, n. 83; Laurent Feller, ‘Monastères privés et réforme dans les Abruzzes (X–XII siècles): l’évolution du statut de San Bartolomeo di Carpineto (962–1120)’, Sanctorum 7 (2010): 65–82 (73–4). The latest example comes from Sulmona, no. 38 (1177).19 The exception is Adam, iudex et notarius, responsible for numerous donations in favour of Farfa in the second half of the eleventh century, whose donation charters always begin with the same arenga that cites Lombard legislation; see below, n. 38.20 Casauria, no. 1878 (1041); S. Bartolomeo, no. 10–11 (dated to 962, but see above, n. 18); Chieti, no. 2 (1012); S. Maria di Tremiti, no. 6 (1016), no. 29 (1041), no. 30 (1042), no. 33 (1044).21 Bluhme and Boretius, eds., Leges Langobardorum, 109: ‘Si quis Langobardus, ut habens casus humanae fragilitatis egrotaverit, quamquam in lectolo reiaceat, potestatem habeat, dum vivit et recte loqui potest, pro anima sua iudicandi vel dispensandi de rebus suis, quid aut qualiter cui voluerit; et quod iudicaverit, stabilem debeat permanere.’22 S. Bartolomeo, no. 29 (1042): ‘Ideoque ego Sanso, filius quodam Rainaldi, declaro enim qui cum quadam die proterea retacitus iacere in lectulo meo, cogitare cepit infra me absum qualiter in peccati concesu sum et natum … confirmavimus in ea videlicet ratione pro quia dominus Liuprandus in suo capitulare sic affixit. “Si qualibet Langobardus egrotaverit quamquam in lectulo iacet.’” A similar description is found in one of the foundational donation charters for the monastery, a text which Feller has argued to be a later forgery or at least heavily interpolated (see above, n. 20), S. Bartolomeo, nos. 10–11. Compare also the description of the monastery’s foundation in Alexander’s chronicle, Book. 1, which describes Bernard’s illness (‘die quadam gravi esset corporis infirmitate correptus’) as prompting his generosity. See also the closely related example, no. 110 (998), which as Feller has argued, was likely used in part as the basis for redacting this document; see further below. Other examples come from S. Maria di Tremiti, no. 6 (1016), which cites all three pieces of legislation, and from Casauria, no. 1969 (April?, 1049), which also cites Capit. 1, 98.1.23 Casauria, no. 1988 (1050): ‘sicut in edicti Langobardorum continet pagina, ut, qui res suas pro salute animę sue in sanctis locis causa pietatis iudicaverit, stabile debeat permanere.’24 Bluhme and Boretius, eds., Leges Langobardorum, 137: ‘De donatione quae sine launigild aut sine thingatione facta est, menime stare deveat. Quia et sic specialiter in edictum non fuit institutum, tamen usque modo sic est iudicatum: ideo pro errore tollendum hoc scribere in edicti paginam iussimus … excepto si in ecclesiam aut in loca sanctorum aut in exeneodochio pro anima sua aliquit quiscumque donaverit, stabile deveat permanere, quia in loga sanctorum aut in exeneodochio nec thinx nec launigild inpedire devit, eo quod pro anima factum est.’25 Farfa, no. 780 (1045).26 Farfa, no. 780 (1045): ‘Et non reprobemus postea causam ipsam quam fecimus, nec nos nec haeredes nostri, quia excellentissimus Liutprandus rex in suis capitulis adicere curavit: si quis piam donationem de rebus suis fecerit in locis sanctorum, nec tinx nec launegild impedire debent, eo quod pro anima facta est, et non sit postea causa ipsa reprobata ut diximus.’27 Farfa, no. 780 (1045): ‘quae sum natione romana et ad meam reversa modo legem, quia in capitulare domni Lotharii regis legitur ut mulier romana, eius defuncto viro, sit soluta et ad suam revertatur legem.’ The reference is to Cap. 1, no. 158.16.28 For example, Casauria, no. 2004 (1051): ‘et pro launegild inputo mercedem meam, quia do(m)nus Liuprandus in suo capitulare affixit, quia “in casis sanctorum aut in synodochio launegild impedire non debet.’” Similarly, no. 2026 (1056?), no. 2039 (1061). Codice Sulomonese, no. 2 (1050), no. 3 (1051), no. 4 (1051), no. 6 (1057), no. 11 (1071), no. 12 (1073), nos. 14, 15, 17, 19, 28 (1085–1115) [all by the same notary], no. 32 (1130). S. Bartolomeo: no. 13 (962).29 Casauria no. 1330 (877); no. 1378 (892).30 S. Maria di Tremiti, no. 77 (1065): ‘ … unde nec premium, nec pretium exinde quero neque launegilt petiero, nisi precibus et orationes die noctuque ad Deum pro anima mea et de parentibus meis.’31 See above, n. 28. For donors expecting a heavenly launegild for pro anima donations, see further Chris J. Wickham, ‘Compulsory Gift Exchange in Lombard Italy, 650–1150’, in The Languages of Gift in the Early Middle Ages, eds. Wendy Davies and Paul J. Fouracre (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 193–216 (197–8, especially n. 11).32 Volturno, no. 195 (1023): ‘sicut in edicti Langobardorum continent pagina pro quia domnus Liuprandus rex, in suo capitulo sic instituit, ut si quis res suas, pro anima sua, in loco Sanctorum, seu in sinodochia donaverit, stabile debeat permanere.’ This donation charter proceeds to also cite Capit. 1, 98.1. Another example comes from Casauria no. 1686 (1017), which likewise proceeds to cite Capit. 1, 98.1.33 Farfa, no. 649 (1010): ‘firma et stabilis permaneat usque in perpetuum, quomodo in edicti langobardorum continent pagina.’34 Boretius, ed., Capitularia regum Francorum, 1, 205: ‘De cartis donationum faciendis. Si quis Langobardus statum humanae fragilitatis praecogitans pro salute animae suae de rebus suis cartam donationis cuilibet facere voluerit, non, sicut actenus fieri solebat, ius sibi vendendi, commutandi et per aliam cartam easdem res alienandi reservet, set abolute faciat unusquisque de rebus suis quod velit, et noverit sibi a nostra autoritate penitus interdictum duas de eadem re facere donationes, set postquam unam de rebus suis traditionem fecerit, aliam de ipsis faciendi nullam habeat potestatem: ita tamen, ut usum fructuum per precariam et res traditas usque in tempus diffinitum possidendi sit concessa facultas.’35 Volturno, no. 190 (1014) [notary Petrus]; Casauria, no. 2017 (1055) [notary Atto], no. 2033 (1058) [notary Sanso], no. 247 (1065) [notary Atto].36 Farfa, no. 537 (1022? or 1024?): ‘sicuti in capitulo gloriosissimi Karoli constitutum habemus. Si quis langobardus est humanae fragilitatis recogitans, pro salutae animae suae de rebus suis cartulam donationis cuilibet facere voluerit, non sicuti hactenus fieri solebat, iussit, vendendi, et commutandi, et pro alia carta eamdem alienandi reseruet, sed absolute faciat unusquisque de rebus suis, cui velit, et sine huius nostrae auctoritatis interdictum penitus. Duas de eadem re non faciat donationes, et postquam unam de rebus suis traditionem fecerit, aliam de ipsis faciendi nullam habeat potestatem.’ Similarly, but less extensively, Farfa, no. 564 (1034?, 1036?).37 Casauria, no. 2054 (1068): ‘quia do(m)n(us) Karolus imperator constituit et nobis facere iussit, ut Langobardus potestatem habeat de re sua iudicare pro anima sua, quod illi placuerit et iudicaverit pro anima sua firmum et stabile permaneat.’38 See Farfa, no. 862 (1057) and the subsequent citations listed in the Appendix: ‘Decetrum domni Karoli regis Francorum et Langobardorum, et dei nutu magni imperatoris ac patricii Romanorum, per quod instituit ut si homo de rebus suis pro salute animae suae donare vel iudicare voluerit, faciat quaemadmodum hic continentur … ’ S. Bartolomeo, no. 119 (1090) and the subsequent two citations listed in the Appendix: ‘Decretum domini Caroli regis, qui fuit rex Francorum et Langobardorum, quibus ipse instituit ut homo de res sua, pro salute anime sue, donare vel iudicare voluerit, sic faciat, quemadmodum sic continetur … ’39 Bluhme and Boretius, eds., Leges Langobardorum, 199–200.40 S. Maria di Tremiti: no. 16 (1035) [Aist. 12]; no. 65 (1059) [Liutpr. 6, Liutpr. 73 and Aist. 12]. Both of these documents were redacted in Puglia (Ripalta and the monastery of S. Giovanni in Piano).41 S. Maria di Tremiti: no. 16 (1035): ‘quod dominus Astolfus rex in suo capitulo sic affixit: si quislibet Langobardus in sanitate aut in egritudine rem suam ordinaverit per loca sanctorum aut in sinodochia pro redemptione anime sue stabile debeat permanere.’42 Casauria, no. 1926 (1047), redacted by the notary Giso: ‘cuicumque vendidisset aut donasset firmum et stabile permansisset et ut, quicquid pro anima nostra iudicaverimus vel dispensaverimus, omni tempore firmum et stabile permaneat.’ The capitulary of Pippin in question is Capit. 1, 95.11: Boretius, ed., Capitularia regum Francorum, 201. Cf. similarly, Casauria, no. 1981 (1049).43 For example, Farfa, no. 66 (766). For discussion of desire for firmitas in legal documents in the early Middle Ages with extensive examples, see Maurizio Lupoi, Alle radici del mondo giuridico europeo: saggio storico-comparativo (Rome: Istituto poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Libreria dello Stato, 1994), trans. Adrian Belton, The Origins of the European Legal Order (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 438–57.44 Farfa, no. 335 (888): ‘Sed omni tempore in ipso sancto monasterio firma et stabilis permaneat donatio nostra, sicuti in lege langobardorum et in edicti continent pagina’. See also no. 333 (884), no. 337 (890).45 Bougard, ‘Jugement divin’.46 Examples with spiritual sanctions: Farfa, no. 372 (920); no. 385 (951).47 Casauria, no. 1686 (1017).48 Casauria, no. 2017 (1055).49 Charles West, Reframing the Feudal Revolution: Political and Social Transformation Between Marne and Moselle, c.800–c.1100 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), here 255. My thanks go to an anonymous reviewer for drawing my attention to this point.50 Regarding early medieval Italian notaries generally, see Costamagna, ‘L’alto medioevo’, 151–204.51 See the documents cited in the index to Farfa (Regesto di Farfa), vol. 1, p. CXV: ‘Iohannes iudex et notarius (s. XI)’.52 Farfa, 981 (1067). Like other pro anima donations redacted by Adam, this charter includes a generalised usage of Charlemagne’s Capitulare Italicum of 801; see n. 38.53 Bougard, ‘Jugement divin’, 225.54 Farfa, 564 (1034? or 1036?) (law cited, no spiritual sanction); Farfa, 534 (1021? or 1022?) (spiritual sanction, no law cited); Farfa, 537 (1022? or 1024?) (law cited and spiritual sanction); Farfa, 565 (1034? or 1036?) (neither).55 West, Reframing the Feudal Revolution, 1.56 Bougard, ‘Jugement divin’, 237.57 Destructio monasterii farfensis, in Chronicon farfense di Gregorio di Catino, ed. Ugo Balzani. 2 vols. (Rome: Forzani, 1903), 1: 27–51.58 For Hugo’s legal strategies, see further Maya Maskarinec, ‘Monastic Archives and the Law: Legal Strategies at Farfa and Monte Amiata at the Turn of the Millennium’, Early Medieval Europe 29 (2021): 331–65.59 This is particularly apparent in Casauria’s cartulary where citations are to be found of Liutpr. 6; Liutpr. 19; Liutpr. 74; Liutpr. 73; Liutpr. 101; Aistulf 16; Capit. 1 [= Boretius, ed., Capitularia regum Francorum.] 40.12; Capit. 1, 95.11; Capit. 1, 98.1; Liber Papiensis, Louis the Pious, 11, [= ed. Alfred Boretius, in Bluhme and Boretius, eds., Leges Langobardorum, 289–585]; and Liber Papiensis, Louis the Pious, 53.60 This point is made by Laurent Feller, ‘Les patrimoines monastiques dans les Abruzzes (VIIe–Xe s.)’, in L’environnement des églises et la topographie religieuse des campagnes médiévales: actes du IIIe congrès international d’archéologie médiévale (Aix-en-Provence, 28–30 septembre 1989), eds. Michel Fixot and Elisabeth Zadora-Rio (Paris: Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 1994), 150–5 (150).61 These events are described in Book 2 of the chronicle, Casauria, 987–1016.62 For this and what follows, see especially Laurent Feller, ‘Pouvoir et société dans les Abruzzes autour de l’an mil: aristocratie, incastellamento, appropriation des justices (960–1035)’, Bullettino dell’Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo 94 (1988): 1–72.63 Casauria, no. 1686 (1017). An even earlier donation, no. 1533 (980), also cites Lombard law to the effect that a religious woman who remains at home has the right to dispose of a third of her properties for the benefit of her soul to anyone whom she wishes and that this donation should remain firmum et stabile. The legislation in question is Liutprand 101.64 These events are described in Book 3 of the chronicle, Casauria, 1039–66.65 Laurent Feller, ‘Casaux et castra dans les Abbruzzes: San Salvatore a Maiella et San Clemente a Casauria (XIe–XIIIe siècle)’, Mélanges de l’École Française de Rome: Moyen Âge, Temps Modernes 97 (1985): 145–82.66 As in John’s cartulary of Casauria’s documents, similarly Alexander’s cartulary of S. Bartolomeo’s documents often only includes documents in abbreviated form. This contrasts with Gregory’s cartulary of Farfa’s documents, in which all documents are cited in full.67 For the foundation of the monastery, see especially Feller, ‘Monastères privés’.68 S. Bartolomeo, nos. 9–11.69 See above n. 18 and below n. 115. Feller also bases his argument in part on the fact that other contemporary documents do not cite this Lombard/Carolingian legislation, and in part on these donation charters’ inclusion of castella (such as Fara and Carpinetum) that do not seem to have come into the monastery’s possession until considerably later and/or that were disputed between the monastery and some of the Bernard’s descendants. See discussion by Feller, Les Abruzzes, 589–90.70 S. Bartolomeo, no. 12 (962): Liutprand 6; no. 13 (962): Liutprand 73; no. 18 (979): Capit. 1, 98.1; no. 16 (977): includes spiritual penalty.71 S. Bartolomeo, no. 20. Included in the cartulary are a series of documents from 998 to 1015 (nos. 110–14); these, however, pertain to the monastery of S. Vitale di Pietra Scritta which came into the possession of S. Bartolomeo in 1071.72 See the discussion by Petrucci, in S. Maria di Tremiti, 1: 14–17, in the introduction to the critical edition (vol. 1), cited in n. 1 above.73 Farfa, no. 559 (1028).74 Farfa, no. 559 (1028): ‘dedi et donatum a praesenti die concessumque in perpetuum esse volo.’75 Farfa, no. 559 (1028): ‘praesens aepistola donationis vel cessionis omni tempore firma et inviolata permaneat cum stipulatione subnexa.’76 Farfa, no. 559 (1028): ‘si forsitan fecerit quomodo in lege nostra langobardum continetur, ut pro peccatis alii viro nubere praesumpserit, ipsae res revertantur in suprascriptum monasterium.’77 Bluhme and Boretius, eds., Leges Langobardorum, 43.78 Farfa, no. 559 (1028): ‘Et sicuti in lege nostra langobarda continetur, si quis se desperaverit propter infirmitatem corporis aut propter senectutem filios non posse procreare, et res suas alii thingaverit, et postea filios procreaverit, omne thin[x] quod ante fecerit, rumpatur. Quod ego suprascriptus etsi propter mea peccata et facinora atque destinatione non habeo legitimum filium, si forsitan dominus noster ihesus christus michi filium legitimum dederit de mea legitima uxore, ipsae suprascriptae res revertantur ad me et ad filium meum legitimum, excepto quantum michi congruum fecerit concedere in suprascripto monasterio. Et si ego sine filio legitimo decessero, ipsae omnes res revertantur in suprascripto monasterio sine ulla calumina.’79 Translation modified based on Drew, Lombard Laws, 82; Bluhme and Boretius, eds., Leges Langobardorum, 39–40: ‘Si quis se disperaverit aut propter senectutem aut propter aliquam infirmitatem corporis, filius non possit habere, et res suas alii thingaverit posteaque eum contegerit, filius legitimus procreare: omne thinx quod est donatio, quod prius fecerat, rumpatur, et filii legitimi unus aut plures, qui postea nati fuerint, heredes in omnibus patri succedant.’80 For example, Farfa, no. 845 (1050? or 1054?): ‘In tali vero tenore ut si donadeus nepos noster mortuus fuerit sine filio legitimo, sicuti in ista carta legitur, veniat in suprascriptum monasterium et sicuti iam dictum est.’81 Casauria, no. 1969 (1049). This donation and the following documents are discussed by Feller, Les Abruzzes, 498–501.82 Casauria, no. 1968 (1049).83 Casauria, no. 1970 (1049).84 The editors plausibly suggest that this refers to Liber Papiensis, Louis the Pious, 11.85 As calculated by Feller, Les Abruzzes, 498–9, this was significantly less than the maximum amount that Liutprand 102 (Bluhme and Boretius, eds., Leges Langobardorum, 149) allowed for a Lombard to leave to a daughter.86 Casauria, no. 1994 (1050?): ‘sicut in edictis Langobardorum continet et qualiter do(m)nus Liuprandus rex in sui capitulo affixit de infante que infra ętatem est, ut licentiam et potestatem habeat vel in synodochia iudicare vel cui voluerit, et quod iudicaverit pro anima sua, stabile debeat permanere’; Feller, Les Abruzzes, 499–500 interprets this document as indicating that Octeberto’s donation charter to the monastery was not respected and that Purpura had entered into possession of her inheritance. I am not convinced that this was the case. I agree that the document suggests contestation (or concern regarding possible contestation) of the donation charter, but we do not need to assume that it was regarded as de facto annulled for the monastery to have wished for Purpura’s assent to the donation. In particular, I think it is telling that nowhere in the charter are the verbs donare or tradere used; instead Purpura’s action is described as iudicavi atque confirmavi.87 Liutprand 19, in Bluhme and Boretius, eds., Leges Langobardorum, 117: ‘Et hoc statuimus adque definimus, ut si cuicumque ante ipsos decem et octo annos evenerit egritudo, et se viderit ad mortis periculum tendere, habeat licentiam de rebus suis pro animam suam in sanctis locis, causa pietatis, vel in senedochio iudicare, quod voluerit; et quod iudicaverit pro animam suam stabilem deveat permanere.’ The editors of the text suggest that the textual reference is to a combination of Liutprand 73 and 74; but the close textual similarity to Liutprand 19 makes this, to my mind, the obvious reference. Thus it is patently not true, as claimed by Feller, Les Abruzzes, 42 and 500, that we are dealing here with ‘une pure et simple falsification destinée à masquer une action frauduleuse: le notaire, pour aider le monastère de Casauria dans une entreprise de caption d’héritage inventa un texte de loi qui disait le contraire d’une novelle de Liutprand’. The law to which Feller is referring here is Liutprand 58.88 Bluhme and Boretius, eds., Leges Langobardorum, 415–16: ‘Petre, te appellat Martinus, quod pars monasterii sancti Apollinaris unde tu es advocatus tenet sibi malo ordine terram in tali loco. – Ipsa terra propria est de monasterio sanct