A fragmentary charter (or will?), traditionally attributed to Ansoald of Poitiers (western Gaul), records his foundation of an oratory dedicated to *Luke (the Evangelist, S00442) within a xenodochium in Poitiers. Written in Latin in Gaul, perhaps at Poitiers, 678/97.
E08424
Documentary texts - Charter or diploma
Documentary texts - Will
Monsabert, Chartes de l'abbaye de Nouaillé, 1
[...] Precor ut haec institucio, quam propter amorem Christi vel compendium servorum Dei feci, firmum et inconvulsum permaneat, sindoxium pauperum, id est egrotorum et debilium, intra muros Pictavis civitatis nostro opere constructum, in quo et oratorium in honore sancti Luce evangeliste aedificare jussimus, et constituimus ut semper sint numero duodecim egrotantium [...] Locella vero que ad sustenationem ipsorum pauperum, unde victum et vestitum vel necessaria habere possint, tam de ratione ecclesiae vel de quolibet adtracto ibidem semper quorum sunt vocabula [...] Quod vero senodochium cum omni constructione vel prefata locella in omnibus nutrito ac fideli nostro Guidobaldo commisimus [...]
'... I pray that this document, which I have made for the love of Christ and for the profit of the servants of God, will endure firm and unshaken. And we have ordered that the xenodochium for the poor, that is, the sick and infirm, which is constructed within the walls of the city of Poitiers through our own expense, within which I have ordered to be built an oratory in honour of Saint Luke the Evangelist, is always to have twelve sick persons... And these are the names of the places which are for the sustenance of those poor, so that they might have clothes or food or other necessities, which have been perpetually granted to that same place, whether by ecclesiastical reason or some other... And we commit this xenodochium, and all its buildings and aforesaid properties, in all things, to our familiar and faithful man Guidobald...'
Text: Monsabert 1936, 1-3.
Translation: B. Savill.
Cult building - secondary installation (fountain, pilgrims’ hostel)
Non Liturgical ActivityDistribution of alms
Construction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
The socially marginal (beggars, prostitutes, thieves)
Aristocrats
Source
This charter has been transmitted via copies of the 11th century onwards; only its modern copies are now extant. In its current form it provides neither a date nor the name of its issuer. Scholarly literature nevertheless continues to treat its traditional attribution as genuine (see e.g.Topographie chrétienne des cités de la Gaule).Discussion
Ansoald appears elsewhere in our database as the dedicatee of Ursinus' second Martyrdom of Leudegar (E06463), which depicts his translation of the saint to his final resting place in Poitiers.Bibliography
EditionLes chartes de l'abbaye de Nouaille de 678 à 1200, ed. P. de Monsabert (Poitiers, 1936).
Benjamin Savill
28/02/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00442 | Luke, the Evangelist | Lucas evangelista | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Benjamin Savill, Cult of Saints, E08424 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08424