A probably partly authentic papal letter of privilege issued by Pope Sergius I grants special rights to the monastery at Malmesbury dedicated to the Apostles *Peter and *Paul (S00036 and S00008), and to another besides the river Frome (both south-west Britain) dedicated to *John the Baptist (S00036). Written in Latin at Rome, 687/701, probably in 689.
E06661
Documentary texts - Charter or diploma
Documentary texts - Letter
Privilege of Pope Agatho (JE 2140; JH 3595) (excerpts)
Sergius, seruus seruorum Dei, Aldelmo abbati ejusque successoribus, et, per uos, uenerabili uestro monasterio [...] Unde, poscente a nobis religione uestra, ut auctoris nostri beati Petri apostolorum principis uice, cui creator et redemptor noster dominus Ihesus Christus claues ligandi atque soluendi in caelo atque in terra dignatus est impertire, cujus et nos, licet impares, ministerio fungimur, et ecclesiam ejus Dei dignatione disponimus, monasterium beatorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli, quod Meldum religiosae memoriae condidit, quod etiam aliud monasterium quod in honore sancti Iohannis Baptistae est in eadem prouintia positum iuxta fluuium qui uocatur From [...] apostolicis priuilegiis roboremus.
'Sergius, servant of the servants of God, to Aldhelm, abbot, and his successors, and, through you, your venerable monastery... Whence your religiousness has asked from us, that - on behalf of the authority of our blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, to whom our creator and redeemer, Our Lord Jesus Christ, deigned to impart the keys of binding and loosing in heaven and on earth, and whose ministry we, however unworthy, discharge, and whose church we look after, by God's grace - we might strengthen with apostolic privileges the monastery of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, which Meldum of religious memory founded, and also another monastery, named in honour of the holy John the Baptist, which is in the same province, next to the river which is called Frome...'
Text: Birch 1885-93, no. 105.
Translation: B. Savill.
Cult building - monastic
Places Named after SaintMonastery
Non Liturgical ActivityAwarding privileges to cult centres
Construction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - Popes
Ecclesiastics - abbots
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Theorising on SanctityConsiderations about the succession of saints
Considerations about the hierarchy of saints
Source
The Latin text of this privilege is extant only in copies from the twelfth century onwards, although an Old English translation also survives in an eleventh-century manuscript. It is missing its dating clause. While the text is not completely reliable in its current form, since the technical study of Anton (1975) it has usually been treated as essentially authentic.Discussion
Aldhelm, the recipient of this privilege, is the famous Anglo-Saxon scholar. He appears elsewhere on our database as the author of the huge treatise On Virginity (begins E06516), and a number of poems for the dedications of churches (E06916-31). Although this document is undated in its current form, Lapidge (2005) has argued persuasively for a date in or around April 689, when Aldhelm was probably in Rome, accompanying the dying King Cædwalla of the West Saxons as he sought baptism from the same Pope Sergius (E05710).This privilege is the only known witness to the early medieval monastery of St John the Baptist's, Frome, and indeed the only evidence of any early Anglo-Saxon church with a primary dedication to this saint.
Bibliography
EditionCartularium Saxonicum: a Collection of Charters Relating to Anglo-Saxon History, ed. W. de Gray Birch, 3 vols (London, 1885-93).
Further reading
Anton, H.H., Studien zu den Klosterprivilegien der Päpste im frühen Mittelalter unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Privilegierung von St. Maurice d'Agaune (Berlin and New York, 1975).
Lapidge, M., 'The Career of Aldhelm,' Anglo-Saxon England, 36 (2007), pp. 15-69.
Rauer, C., 'Pope Sergius I's Privilege for Malmesbury,' Leeds Studies in English, new series 37 (2005), pp. 261-81.
Benjamin Savill
22/10/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00008 | Paul, the Apostle | Paulus | Certain | S00020 | John the Baptist | Iohannes Baptista | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain |
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