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Add Ch 75724
- Record Id:
- 032-002167270
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002167270
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000002031.0x000036
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100177809527.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add Ch 75724
- Title:
-
Foundation charter of Bordesley Abbey by Empress Matilda
- Scope & Content:
-
Empress Matilda (b. c. 1102, d. 1167), daughter of Henry I, King of England (r. 1100-1135), founds the Cistercian abbey of Bordesley and grants it lands and rights.
Witnessed by Robert, Earl of Gloucester (b. before 1100, d. 1147); Waleran, Count of Meulan (b. 1104, d. 1166); Milo, Earl of Hereford (d. 1143), and six others.
Given at Devizes, sometime between 25 July 1141 (the creation of Milo as Earl of Hereford) and 24 June 1142 (when Robert, Earl of Gloucester left for Normandy (Cronne and Davis, Regesta Regum (1968), no. 116).
Affixed with Matilda’s red seal, depicting the Empress as Queen of the Romans, enthroned. She wears a crown of three points and a long garment with full sleeves, and in her right hand she holds a long sceptre terminating in a fleur-de-lis. Her left hand is held open in front of her and her feet rest upon a flat footstool. The legend reads: ‘+ MATHILDIS DEI GRATIA ROMANORUM REGINA’. The seal was at some stage detached from the document and the leather tag is a replacement (Borrie, 'A sealed charter' (1969-70), p. 105). The seal is contained in a contemporary blue and gold woven silk bag. The fabric has been described as 'weft-faced 1/3 compound twill of Mediterranean manufacture' (Borrie, 'A sealed charter' (1969-70), p. 106 n. 3).
The rights of Waleran (b. 1104, d. 1166), Count of Meulan, as founder of Bordesley Abbey are ignored in this charter. Waleran had founded the abbey in 1138, but he must have acquiesced in Matilda's claim to have founded the abbey, since he witnessed the charter. He also witnessed Matilda's earlier charter to Bordesley (Add Ch 20420), which contains some of the same grants (Borrie, 'A sealed charter' (1969-70), p. 105).
The charter and its seal were formerly housed in a wooden box, now kept separately as Add Ch 75724/1.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Charters and Rolls
Medieval and Renaissance Women - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-002167270", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add Ch 75724: Foundation charter of Bordesley Abbey by Empress Matilda" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002167270
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-002167270
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
- 1 leaf
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100177809527.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1141
- End Date:
- 1142
- Date Range:
- between 1141 and 1142
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment.
Dimensions: 137 x 315 mm.
Foliation: f. 1.
Script: Gothic.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
Devizes, Wiltshire, England.
Provenance:
Sir Clement Throckmorton, (b. 1580, d. 1632), MP for Haseley, Warwickshire: in his possession by 1630 when it was edited and described by the English antiquary Sir William Dugdale (b. 1605, d. 1686) (see Monasticon Anglicanum, V, p. 409; Borrie, 'A sealed charter' (1969-70), p. 106, n. 1).
William Willes Esq. of 35 St James Place and Goodrest Lodge, Reading: in his possession by 1875, when the English historian Walter de Gray Birch (b. 1842, d. 1924) edited and described the document (see de Gray Birch, 'Charters of Mathildis, Empress of the Romans' (1875), pp. 392-93). The charter remained in the possession of the Willes family for the next century.
Edward John Willes (b. 1923, d. 1978) of Dennis Farm, Shipston-on-Stour, formerly Worcestershire, now Warwickshire: in his possession until 1968 (see Borrie, 'A sealed charter' (1969-70), p. 106, n. 1).
Purchased by the British Museum at Sotheby's, 10 July 1968, lot 268, with the aid of a contribution from the Friends of the National Libraries.
- Publications:
-
Birch, Walter de Gray, 'A Fasciculus of the Charters of Mathildis, Empress of the Romans', Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 31 (1875), 392-93 [printed edition].
Borrie, M. A. F., 'A sealed charter of the Empress Matilda', British Museum Quarterly, 34 (1969-70), 104-07, pl. XXIII.
Cronne, H. A., and R. H. C. Davis, eds., Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, iii (1968), no. 116 [printed edition].
Dugdale, W., Monasticon Anglicanum: A History of the Abbies and Other Monasteries, Hospitals, Frieries... in England and Wales, 8 vols (s.l.: Bohn, 1846), V, p. 409 [printed edition].
Johns, Susan M., Noblewomen, Aristocracy and Power in the Twelfth-Century Anglo-Norman Realm (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003), appendix 1, no. 4.
Sir Christopher Hatton's Books of Seals, ed. L. C. Loyd and D. M. Stenton (Northamptonshire Record Society Publications, XV, for 1941-42), no. 514 [printed edition].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)