Introduction:
This notice comes from the cartulary of the Norman possessions of the
famous monastery of Marmoutier, located in Tours. Marmoutier possessed
priories throughout western France, including many in Maine (where Laval
is located) and Normandy. The initial act of confirmation by Duke
William occurred in 1055, before his conquest of England and while Gervase
was still bishop of Le Mans and Maurille was still archbishop of Rouen.
The attestation of "Count Robert, son of the king of England" [ie., Robert
Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror and duke of Normandy from
1087 to 1106] is clearly subsequent to the initial confirmation. This practice
- of obtaining re-confirmation by the sons and heirs of original donors
or confirmers - was quite common in western France in the eleventh century.
Guy de Laval was the first important lord of what became one of the most
powerful lordships in Maine. After John became a monk, his brother
Hamo succeeded to the lordship of Laval.
The peace of many of the faithful and the quiet of almost everyone has been disturbed by the insatiable greed of depraved men [pravorum hominum], until what these just men are seen to possess, those unjust ones seek to dissipate, and what the good hold for their livelihood and sustenance [vivere et sustentari habent] in the service of God, the impious dispute with shameless boldness in order to satisfy their greed. Whence it happens that we often see things once thought entirely immutable [rata] afterwards brought into question [irrita fieri], and [things] long possessed without any dispute snatched away as if from their very bosum by heedless yet aware individuals [et diu absque calumnia possessa quasi ab ipso sinu incautis et nihil minus cogitantibus erepta]. It is therefore prudent for the future to always prepare agreements concerning these matters, whether donations or sales, and, lest it perish in oblivion, to set down in writing what is may be useful for them or their successors to remember [lit. ‘to not ignore'; the whole last sentence is translated loosely]
We, therefore, the monks of Marmoutier, want it to be made known to our successors that a certain knight [miles] named John, a native of the county of Maine, son of Guy de Laval, gave to us a certain estate [fundus] in Normandy in the territory of the Vexin with the assent and agreement of both his father and his brother, Hamo. Namely, he gave us half of the entire lordship [potestas] of Vesly. He also gave a complete church not far from this, in the villa called Gournay located on the river Epte, together with a mansura of land, two mills, seven acres of meadows, and seven peasant homes [hospitiis].
Guy, father of John and Hamo, had accepted the estate [fundus] of Vesly as his marriage portion when he married Bertha, mother of John and Hamo, but he [had only] bought the church of Gournay with its fields, mills, acres of meadow, and peasant dwellings after he accepted Vesly.
Because he was very old and weighed down with years [cum ipse grandaevus esset et senis gravis] and because these territories were so far away, Guy gave them all to John, the first-born, while he was still a youth.
But finally after some time had elapsed, John, who was now one less than 30 years old, had reached the age of manhood and went about dressed as a soldier, inasmuch as he was a man born of illustrious stock. But, considering that by the grace of God he might have been named John as a foreshadowing of the future, and having been moved in his heart, he began to abhor the world, which he saw sinking daily into worse and worse shape.
And thus he despised the riches of the world, so that he might be enriched with the poverty of Christ. He condemned earthly things so that he might obtain the heavenly ones. He rejected earthly matters so that he might deserve to pursue heavenly ones. And he cast off transitory things [transitoria] so that he might be worthy to pursue eternal ones. After thinking for a long time about a place where he could fulfill more completely his desire for conversion, at length he chose Marmoutier, where he might fulfill his goal through the merits of the most excellent of confessors, St Martin [a rough translation of the last clause]; and therefore once he had abandoned secular dress and taken up the habit of conversion, he gave the aforesaid estate and church in entirety, with its lands [terra], mills, acres of meadow, and peasant-dwellings to that monastery, to be possessed by perpetual right free and clear from any and all custom.
Concerning this deed, Lord Abbot Albert, who was then directing [praesidens] Marmoutier, since he knew no other way to make this donation permanent, came to William, prince and duke of the Normans [principem et ducem] and, as is said more accurately than what you find in other situations, king of all his land. Presuming on the highest intimacy and love [familiaritate et dilectione] that they held for each other, Albert begged William to authorize and affirm the aforesaid donation. Through the prerogatives of the utmost liberality by which his power shone over others and through which he had already expanded our monastery with a superabundance of gifts and benefices, William affirmed with unhoped-for ease what was sought and then strengthened and authorized it before the witnesses listed below.
Sign of Duke William [of Normandy]
Sign of Maurilius, Archbishop [of Rouen]
Sign of Gervase, bishop [of Le Mans]
Sign of William, bishop
Sign of Robert, bishop
Sign of Count Robert, son of the king of the English
Sign of Robert son of Roger de Beaumont
Sign of Ralph son of Herluin
Sign of Ralph Pagan
Sign of Robert son of Roger
Sign of Richard, count of the city of Evreux
Sign of Roger de Montgomery
Sign of Ralph the chamberlain
Sign of William fitzOsbern
Sign of Hugh, viscount de Montfort
Sign of Richard son of Humphrey
Sign of Theobald the chaplain
Sign of Robert son of Giroie
Sign of Gilbert
Sign of Ingenulf de Laigle
Sign of Hugh de Grandmesnil
Sign of Gilbert Crispin
Sign of Hugh the butler [buteillerie]
Sign of Odo Instigandae
Sign of Gerald the seneschal
Sign of Hugh the archdeacon
Sign of Baldwin
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