The Formulary of Tours (north-west Gaul) includes a template for a document whereby the wardens of the shrine of *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050) could attest to the abandonment of a newborn infant at the site, and its subsequent sale into slavery. Written in Latin at Tours, possibly before c. 700.
E08353
Documentary texts - Charter or diploma
Documentary texts - Sale document
The Formulary of Tours, 11
Epistola collectionis
Nos quoque in Dei nomine matricularii Sancti Martini, dum matutinis horis ad hostia ipsius ecclesiae obseruanda conuenissemus, ibique infantulo sanguinolento, periculo mortis inminentem, pannis inuolutum inuenimus, et ipsum per triduum seu amplius apud plures homines inquisiuimus, quis suum esse diceret, et non inuenimus, cui nomen ipsum inposuimus; sed postea, pietate interueniente et Domini misericordia opitulante, ipso infantulo homini aliquo nomine illo ad nutriendum dedimus, ut, si, Deo presule, conualuerit, ipsum in suis seruitiis ac solatiis iuxta legis ordinem retineat; pro quo pretium accepimus, in quod nobis bene complacuit, ualentem soledos tantos. Et ut presens epistola firmior sit, manus proprias subter firmauimus et bonis hominibus roborandam decreuimus secundum sententiam illam, quae data est ex corpore Theodosiani libri quinti, dicens: 'Si quis infantem a sanguine emerit [aut nutrierit], si nutritum dominus uel pater eum recipere uoluerit, aut eiusdem meriti mancipium aut pretium nutritor quantum ualuerit consequatur.'
'Document for the collection (of a foundling)
We too, in God's name wardens of the poor-relief (matricularii) of Saint Martin, when we had gathered at the doors of this church to observe the hour of matins, discovered there an exposed newborn infant, wrapped in cloths and in imminent danger of death. And after we had asked various people for three days or more whose it was said to be, and we did not find out, we gave it a name. But afterwards, with the pious intervention and favour of God's mercy, we handed over that infant to a certain person named A, in order for it to be reared, so that if - with God as its patron - its health should be restored, that person might retain it in his (or her) service and support, according to the law. For this we accepted a payment which we deemed agreeable, to the value of so-many solidi. And so that this present document might be rendered more secure, we confirm it below with our own hands, and we decree before men of good standing that it should be corroborated according to that sentence which is given in book five of the Theodosian Code, which says: 'If anyone should buy or rear an exposed newborn child, and if the father or master should wish to take back the infant once it has been reared, then the one who reared the child should receive a slave of its value, or the same price.''
Text: Zeumer 1886, 141.
Translation B. Savill.
Service for the saint
Cult PlacesCult building - monastic
Cult building - independent (church)
Places Named after SaintMonastery
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesChildren
Ecclesiastics – unspecified
Slaves/ servants
Source
The Formulary of Tours is one of several formularies (collections of template documents for scribes) surviving from early medieval Gaul. Its earliest manuscript is datable to c. 795/816. The original collection was almost certainly compiled at the monastery of Saint-Martin de Tours. Various dates have been proposed for its compilation, ranging across the sixth and eighth centuries: according to Alice Rio, the 'arguments are all so tenuous as to be almost worthless,' and the original date of the formulary cannot be accurately determined. Moreover, individual items collected within the formulary may be much older than the formulary itself (for full discussion see Rio 2009, 112-17).For further Gallic evidence of this kind, see the Formulary of Marculf (E06231, E06232, E06233, E08351).
Discussion
This template provides an important glimpse into a chain of events - the exposure of a child at a saint's shrine, its sale into slavery - which may have taken place comparatively frequently at a site such as Saint-Martin (hence its retention for future reproduction in the Formulary of Tours) but which would otherwise not have left a trace in the long-term documentary record (individual records of this kind are unlikely to have been archived for long after the death of the slave concerned).The legal citation at the end of the text is to the Breuiarium of Alaric (Lex Romana Visigothorum), 5. 8. 1 (issued 506: interpreting Theodosian Code, 5. 10. 1).
Bibliography
Edition:Zeumer, K., ed., Formulae Turonenses, in: Formulae Merowingici et Karolini aevi (Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Leges V; Hannover, 1886), 128-65.
Further reading:
Depreux, P., 'La tradition manuscrite des "Formules de Tours" et la diffusion des modèles d’actes aux VIIIe et IXe siècles,' Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest, 111-3 (2004), 55-71.
Rio, A., Legal Practice and the Written Word in the Early Middle Ages: Frankish Formulae, c. 500-1000 (Cambridge, 2009).
Benjamin Savill
01/10/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00050 | Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 | Martinus | Certain |
|---|
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