An authentic Merovingian royal diploma in the name of Sigibert III, king of the Franks, records that the king had previously granted the villa of Trébosc (south-west Gaul) property to the cathedral dedicated to *Peter (the Apostle, S00036) at Cologne and that dedicated to *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030) at Metz (both north-east Gaul). Written in Latin in Gaul, 640/7.
E08404
Documentary texts - Charter or diploma
MGH DD Mer. 77 (excerpt)
Sigibertus rex Francorum viro inlust[ri]... Recolimus nos anno superiore pro remedium animae nostrae seu assidua beneficia, qua vir apostolici patris nostri dom[ni Chunibertus et Abbo episcopo pro stabilitate re]gni n(ost)ri tam in palatio quam in reliquis utilitatibus n(ost)ris strenuo ordine invigelare non cessant, villa cuius vocabolum est Trib[ono sita in pago Rutenico super fluvium Avarione, cum] omni adiacencia sua, sicut a Brunichildae reginae vel postea a precelso avo n(ost)ro Chlothatio seu domno et gen[etore nostro Dagoberto quondam regibus fuit] possessa, ad ecclesias Colonense domni Petri seu Mettense domni Stephani p(ro)tomartyris, ubi suprascripti patres [apostolici pastorale ad praesens fungere videntur] officium, plenissima voluntate ad integrum concessisse [...]
'Sigibert, king of the Franks, to his illustrious men... We recall that last year, for the remedy of our soul and ongoing reward - because of the vigorous service that our apostolic fathers, Lords Chunibert and Abbo, never ceased to watch over in both our palace and in other affairs - we granted, with abundant will, in its entirety, a villa whose name is Trébosc, situated in the pagus of Rodez, over the river Aveyron, with all its appurtenances, just as it was possessed from the fisc by Queen Brunhild, and afterwards our excellent grandfather Chlothar (II) and our father Dagobert (I), the former kings, to the churches of the Lord Peter at Cologne and the Lord Stephen the Protomartyr at Metz, where the abovementioned apostolic fathers are seen to presently fulfil their pastoral office...'
Text: Kölzer 2001, 194-7.
Translation: B. Savill.
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Monarchs and their family
Source
According to the judgement of their most recent editor, 54 authentic or substantially authentic royal diplomas/charters survive from Merovingian Gaul which are dated or datable to the period up to AD 700. Of these, 36 appear to relate directly to the cult of saints, and are included in our database. All but one, possibly two (E06133, E06141), of the charters included here date from the 7th century, mostly its final quarter. Although a number of these diplomas have come down to us only in later cartulary copies, a remarkably large proportion (21 of our 36) survive as single-sheet, original manuscripts, the great majority of which come from the monastery of Saint-Denis. Due to the nature of western archival survivals, all these documents concern either land, legal immunities, or rights to tolls, and are preserved exclusively through interested religious institutions. For a sense, however, of the kind of Merovingian documents we may have lost, the scribal templates found in the Formulary of Marculf are suggestive (see e.g. E06231, E06233).This diploma survives at Cologne in a single fragmented copy from the 9th century, together with an 18th c. copy from a now-lost medieval manuscript. The text used here is from Levison's reconstruction of 1938, now reprinted in Kölzer's edition.
Discussion
It is worth noting the considerable distance between this property of Trébosc, deep in the south of Gaul, and the beneficiary churches of Saint Stephen's, Metz, and Saint Peter's, Cologne (c. 670 and 900 km north-east of the villa respectively).'Lord Abbo', the bishop of Metz, appears elsewhere in our database as the culted Saint Abbo/Goeric (S02971).
Bibliography
EditionKölzer, T., Die Urkunden der Merowinger, 2 vols. (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Diplomata; Hannover, 2001).
Further reading
Brühl, C., Studien zu den merowingischen Königsurkunden, ed. T. Kölzer (Cologne, 2001).
Kölzer, T., Merowingerstudien, 2 vols (Hannover, 1998-1999).
Benjamin Savill
22/02/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Stephanus | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Benjamin Savill, Cult of Saints, E08404 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08404