Domnolus, bishop of Le Mans, grants property to the basilica of *Vincent (deacon and martyr of Zaragoza and Valencia, S00290) and *Laurence (deacon and martyr of Rome, S00037), which he had built in Le Mans (north-west Gaul), and also mentions the shrine and personal patronage of *Victorius (bishop of Le Mans, 4th c., S02952). Charter written in Latin in Le Mans, dated 4 September 581.
E08328
Documentary texts - Donation document
Documentary texts - Charter or diploma
Charter of Domnolus of Le Mans, 581:
Domnolus issues a charter on 4 September 581, to supplement gifts already set out in his will; this he does on the occasion of a visit to Le Mans of Bishop Audoveus of Angers, whom Domnolus had invited to the city to 'visit the sacred thresholds of my particular patron, Bishop Victorius, and to celebrate his feast' (visitare sanctis liminibus patroni pecculiaris mei Victori episcopi, immo et sollemptinatem ipsius cęlebrassem).
Dono basilicę sanctorum Vincentii et Laurentii, quem meo opere construxi, et edific[io] pro salvationem civitatis et populi conlocavi ....
'I grant to the basilica of saints Vincent and Laurence, which I have built through my effort, and have placed as a building for the salvation of the city and people ...'
There follows a description of the property, along with two slaves, that Domnolus grants. Audoveus heads the short list of witnesses.
Text: Havet 1896, 421-22.
Summary and translation: Bryan Ward-Perkins.
Cult building - independent (church)
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Burial site of a saint - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivitySaint as patron - of an individual
Visiting graves and shrines
Saint as patron - of a community
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Construction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Source
The text of this charter (as well as that of Domnolus' earlier charter, E08327) is known only through it being reproduced in two ninth-century histories written in Le Mans, the Deeds of the Bishops of Le Mans (Actus pontificum Cenomannis in urbe degentium) and the Gesta Aldrici. The Actus and Gesta were compiled to justify the claims of the ninth-century bishops of Le Mans to extensive properties and rights. They quote in full 86 royal, episcopal or private charters, including this one. Many of these documents are obvious forgeries, while others, almost certainly containing a genuine core, have clearly been altered and interpolated to favour the ninth-century bishops' claims. The charters relating to Domnolus' foundation dedicated to saint Vincent are, however, accepted by modern scholarship as substantially authentic.For a full introduction to the Actus and the texts it purports to quote, see Goffart 1966; and for a detailed argument in favour of the authenticity of Domnolus' charters, see Havet 1896, 307-17.
Discussion
For the careers of Audoveus and of Domnolus (to the latter of whom Gregory of Tours in his Histories attributed the power to effect miracles, E02183), see Pietri and Heijmans 2013, 235-36, 'Audoveus', and 588-90, 'Domnolus 2'.The charter is dated 4 September, three days after the feast of Victorius (on 1 September) which Audoveus had attended.
From this grant, but not from Domnolus' earlier one (E08327), we learn that the church of Vincent was also dedicated to a second deacon martyr, Laurence of Rome, a choice of saint presumably determined by Domnolus having been abbot of the basilica of Laurence in Paris (E07768), before he became bishop of Le Mans; the dedication to Laurence, however, did not persist.
Bibliography
Edition and discussion:Havet, J., 'Les actes des évêques du Mans', in J. Havet, Oeuvres de Julien Havet (1853-1893), I Questions Mérovingiennes, Paris 1896, 271-445; Latin text at 421-22 (Appendice II).
Further reading:
Pietri, L. and Heijmans, M., Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, 4 Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne (314-614), 2 vols. (Paris 2013).
Bryan Ward-Perkins
02/09/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00037 | Laurence/Laurentius, deacon and martyr of Rome | Laurentius | Certain | S00290 | Vincentius/Vincent, deacon and martyr of Zaragoza and Valencia | Vincentius | Certain | S01280 | Victorius, bishop of Le Mans, ob. c. 490 | Victorius | Certain |
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Bryan Ward-Perkins, Cult of Saints, E08328 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08328