The Magna Carta Project

Notification of the King’s confirmation of possessions and liberties to Beaubec Abbey

Identity

Title

Notification of the King’s confirmation of possessions and liberties to Beaubec Abbey

Beneficiary

Beaubec Abbey (Institutions)

Date of issue

26 October 1201

Place of issue

Montfort (Places)

Archive

Rouen, Archives départementales de la Seine-Maritime, 2H464

Copies

B = Ibid., in an original inspeximus by Henry V of England, 10 January 1421 C = PRO C64/15 (Norman Roll 8 Henry V part 3) m.12, the enrolment of B, 10 January 1421 D = Rouen, Arch. dép. Seine-Maritime, G851 (Coutumier de Dieppe) fo.58r-v, copy made in 1396 E = Paris, Archives nationales JJ46 (Register of Philip IV) fo.38r-v no.38, in an inspeximus by Philip IV of France, June 1311 F = A lost inspeximus by Charles VI of France dated 1400/1401, formerly in the Archives départementales at Rouen G = Paris, Archives nationales JJ155 (Register of Charles VI) fo.226r no.376, the registered copy of the inspeximus F, s.xv in. H = Dieppe, Bibliothèque Municipale ms.45 fos.102v-103r, copy from D, s.xvii.

Seal

Sealed sur double queue, single slit, tag and seal impression missing

Enrolled

Printed

(from F) D. Gurney, The record of the House of Gournay, 5 pts. in 4 vols. (London, 1848-58), i, 109-10 no.6; (from C) Sir William Dugdale and Roger Dodsworth, Monasticon Anglicanum, ed. J. Caley, H. Ellis and B. Bandinel, 6 vols in 8 (London 1846), vi, 1069; (calendar from E) Registres du Trésor des Chartes: Tome 1, règne de Philippe le Bel, ed. R. Fawtier and others (Paris, 1958), 250 no.1312; (from ABCDEFG) Norman charters from English sources : antiquaries, archives and the rediscovery of the Anglo-Norman past, ed. N.C. Vincent (London, 2013), 109-10 no.2. 

Scribes

Comment

Endorsed: Iohannes rex Angl(ie) de confirmatione om(n)i(um) possess(ionum) nostrarum et omnibus libertatibus quas ... (s.xiii); Cum iiii. reg(um) in scrinio (s.xiv); cu' iiii. in scrinio (s.xiv); various illegible or post-medieval endorsements.  Approx. 188 X 89 + 27mm. Foot damaged, with some letters missing.    

Letters in brackets <> below illegible in A, supplied from BC.

Notice the way in which the word u/sagia is inexpertly broken across two lines, and the way in which the last line (nostri tercio) ends 15mm. into the text block, with no infilling of the remaining 170mm. to the end of the line.

The inspeximus of 1421 also recites a charter of Henry II given at Le Mans 1172 X 1189 (Recueil des Actes de Henri II roi d’Angleterre et duc de Normandie concernant les provinces françaises et les affaires de France, ed. L. Delisle and E. Berger, 4 vols (Paris, 1909-27), no.477), similar to the present confirmation, in which the Irish estate at 'Killekeran' is also confirmed.  For the identity of 'Killekeran' or 'Gillekeran', perhaps Castlekeeran co. Meath, see The Irish Pipe Roll of 14 John, 1211-1212, ed. O. Davies and D.B. Quinn, Ulster Journal of Archaeology iv, supplement (1941), 40-1n. For various of the Norman place names, see S. Deck, 'Le temporel de l'abbaye cistercienne de Beaubec', Annales de Normandie, xxiv (1974), 131-56, 221-45.  The English lands specified here lay at Aston on Carrant (in Ashchurch, Gloucestershire) and Ashton under Hill (Worcestershire), for which see SC6/1125/15; VCH Gloucestershire, viii, 180, 246; Calendar of Inquisitions Miscellaneous, i, 145 no.440. The textual variants are noted below to provide some indication of the exactitude with which the inspeximus by Henry V was copied from the original award, and in turn of how accurately the original inspeximus is itself copied into the Norman chancery roll.

Photos
Photo of charter
Transcription

I(ohannes) Dei gratia rex Angl(ie) dominus Hibern(ie) dux Norm(annie) Aquit(anie) et com(es) And(egauie) omnibus ad quos presens scriptum peruenerit salutem.  Sciatis nos pro salute anime nostre et animarum antecessorum et successorum nostrorum concessisse et confirmasse Deo et ecclesie de Belbec et monach(is) ibidem Deo seruientibus nemus in quo abbatia fundata est cum omni dominico circa id(em) nemus et de Mesnilboschet, de Spineto, de Balleteria, de Morimont, de Cantecoc, de Torniaco, de Corcell', de Botell', de Boscoputeorum, de Hadencort, de Antiz,  de Mureaumont, de Sancto Oyno, de Haia Gonnor,  de Gillekeran', de Eston' et de Ayston' loca, domos, terras, nemora, vineas, prata, pascua, aquas, vias et semitas cum omnibus pertinentiis suis et omnia maneria, tenementa, terras, villas, redditus, redeuancias, decimas, patronatus ecclesiarum, molendina, viuaria, piscarias, gurgites, salinas, pasturagia, pasnagia, usagia et omnes res alias et possessiones quascumque acquisierunt et in futurum iustis modis acquirere poterunt in villis, burgis, portubus, castris, ciuitatibus et in cunctis aliis locis.  Quare volumus et firmiter precipimus quod omnia et singula predicta habeant et per quoscumque voluerint bene et in pace possideant in puram et perpetuam elemosinam, liberam penitus et quietam ab omnibus rebus pertinentibus ad regiam magestatem.  Damus eciam eis et omnibus hominibus et seruientibus ipsorum presentibus et futuris per terram et per aquam vendendo, emendo et transportando omnes libertates quas dare possumus.  T(estibus) Garin(o) de Glap' sen(escallo) Norm(annie), Hub(erto) de Burgo camerar(io) nostro, Stephano de Longocampo apud Mont'fortem, xxvi.a die Oct(obris) anno regni nostri tercio.

Calendar

Notification that for the health of his soul and the souls of his ancestors and successors the king has granted and confirmed to God and the church of Beaubec and its monks the wood in which the church was founded, with the demesne surrounding the wood and the demesne of ‘Mesnilboschet’, ‘Spineto’, ‘Balleteria’, ‘Morimont’, ‘Cantecoc’, ‘Torniaco’, ‘Corcell', de Botell', ‘Boscoputeorum’, ‘Hadencort’, ‘Antiz’, ‘Mureaumont’, ‘Sancto Oyno’, ‘Haia Gonnor’, ‘Gillekeran', ‘Eston' and ‘Ayston', with all appurtenances.

Original Charters of King John