Monasterium, Valles [St. Alban of Bale; Payerne (Vaud); Romain-Moutier (Vaud); Vaux], et alibi, comedunt carnes indifferenter, et tam ab ebdomade majoris misse quam minoris. [Original parchment document; length 23 inches, width (In dorso): Visitatio in cameraria Alamaignie et Lothorengie, facta anno Domini. M°CC septuagesimo quinto. Hec est visitatio Alemannie et Lothoringie, facta per Guillelmum priorem de Vallibus,53 camerarium 54 Alemannie et Lothoringie, et Guidonem, priorem de Vandopera 55 Lothoringie, anno Domini MCC LXX quinto.56 In primis venimus apud Miges [Miéges (Jura)]; status talis est; sunt ibi duo monachi; prior ibi non moratur; domus nichil debet, ut prior dicit. § Status de Alta Petra (Haute Pierre) 57 talis est: tres monachi ibi cum priore; unus deficit pro uno qui defunctus est; domus debet IIII libras stephanensis monete; 58 bene regit domum suam prior, quamvis ab avocato (avoué) dicte domus multa incomoda et incessanter patiatur. (S. postea.) § Status Frigidi Fontis.59 Est ibi prior cum uno monacho; domus nichil debet. § Status domus Romani monasterii 60 talis est; sunt ibi decem et octo monachi regulariter viventes; duo monachi deficiunt; debet ducentas libras sine usuris; 53 The priory of Vaux-sur-Poligny (Jura), in the old French province of Franche-Comté, and diocese of Besançon. 54 Abbot of Cluni's vicar-general and chamberlain. 55 Vendœuvre, Meurthe-et-Moselle, near Nancy, in Lorraine. 56 This numeral has been erased, and replaced by VI. 57 Hautepierre (Doubs), in the diocese of Besançon. 58 See postea. 59 Froide Fontaine (Jura), in the diocese of Basle. 60 Romans-Moutier en Vaud, in the diocese of Lausanne, was founded before 527. prior sedule laborat circa edificia et aquirenda, et bonum nomen habet a vicinis, et negotia domus in manu sua prosperantur; et habet domus necessaria usque ad novos fructus sufficienter. Cetera sunt in bono statu; tamen prior querebatur de quodam monacho suo, Petro nomine, et de quodam alio, nomine Hugone, prout prior dicet vobis. [What here followed has been erased.] § Status domus Paterniaci (Payerne) 61 talis est; sunt 61 The historical evidences of Payerne are somewhat numerous, and not void of interest. The place was once the seat of the Kings of Burgundy of the second dynasty, and its abbey was founded some time in the tenth century by Bertha, Queen of Rudolph II. The foundation was confirmed by Otto II. (973), by Otto III. (986 and 997), by Henry II. in 1003, and by Conrad II. in 1024. It was made a Cluniac priory not long after that date, and shorn of its abbatial rank; still it held a foremost place among the representative houses in Cluni's General Chapters. The abbey of St. Mary of Payerne (ger. Peterlingen) was in the diocese of Lausanne and Pays de Vaud, and the year 962 is given as the date of its foundation. Queen Bertha, its foundress, was daughter of Burchard, Duke of Suabia, and married the above-named King, by whom she had Conrad, who succeeded his father; Rudolph, Duke of Burgundy; Adelhaide, who married Lothaire, King of Italy, and afterwards became Empress, as wife of Otto I. of Germany; and Burchard (or Berou), first Bishop of Lausanne, and afterwards (circa 947-8), Archbishop of Lyons. She married afterwards the King of Italy, by whom she had no issue. St. Odilon of Cluni remarks as to her virtues and sanctity. The religious foundations of this part of Europe, Transjurane Burgundy, or, as it has been termed, Petite Burgogne (ger. Klein Burgund) require some notice of their ruling family. The first King of Burgundy of the second period (for the race of the first Kings of Burgundy became extinct in Gondemar), was a Count of Stratlingen, on the borders of Lake Thun, and vice-regent in 888 of the country for Charles-le-Gros, Emperor of Western Germany. Profiting by the anarchy which ensued after his death, he seized upon that part of Europe, over which he proclaimed himself King. His dynasty, or the second kingdom which he thus founded, lasted for four generations, ending in Rudolph III. [Bouquet, IX., 24] (Ruchat). The convent of Payerne was founded and richly endowed by Queen Bertha, with the consent of Conrad the King, and the Duke Rudolph, for monks of the order of St. Benedict, or reformed Order of St. Odilon, (the restorer of the Order), the former of these subsequently confirming his mother's charter. She founded it, (as the foundation-charter runs, (given by Bouquet from the chartulary of Payerne), and endowed it with the consent and advice of her sons Conrad, the high and mighty king, and Duke Rudolf [of Burgundy], with certain lands in those parts, the revenues of the churches of Chiètres (Kerzers), Pauliacum, Privisint, and the cell of Baulmes. She gave the tithe of the vineyards in the district of Laupen and the river Broie; (Bibiena; Biber) (which joins the lakes of Neuchâtel and Morat); Colmar, and other places in Alsace (Zapf). She gave the monks license to coin money, with a yearly fair, and made them independent of all secular authority, and even (according to Ruchat) of Papal jurisdiction. All this she did "for her own soul's sake, and for those of her (aforesaid) sons; for the soul of Burchard, her son, Bishop of Lausanne; for the soul of her daughter, Queen (Empress) Adelhaide (of Italy) [pro animâ filii mei Burchardi Episcopi Lausannensis, pro anima filia mea Regina Adelheida]; of the Emperor Otto; and for the soul of her deceased consort." She omits the name of her second husband, the King of Italy, whom she married after Rudolph II.'s death, having (as Müller observes, V., 25, p. 87), “multarum concubinarum deceptus illicibris." But the concluding portion of her charter is worthy of note, for it embraces, like many foundation charters of that early age, the most violent denunciations and imprecations against any who might ever call in question the privileges of her foundation. After expressing the wish that whoever should read her charter with ill-disposed sentiments "might be struck with blindness," she appeals to the two "sacred apostles and glorious Princes of the earth (SS. Peter and Paul), and the Sovereign Pontiff occupying St. Peter's chair," praying that such an one "may be banished the church, and his name effaced from the Book of Life ;"" that his portion may be with those who said unto the Almighty, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways"" [Job xxi., 14]; with Dathan and Abiram, whom the earth opening its jaws swallowed up; that during life they may bodily suffer and anticipate the pains of hell; like Heliodorus, who was scourged by Angels, and like Antiochus, whom serpents bit, etc. . . . "Et ut hoc nefas omnibus temerariis ac improbis arctius inhibeatur, adhuc idem inculcans subjungo, et hoc obsecro vos, ô sancti Apostoli et gloriosi Principes terræ, Petre et Paule, et te Pontifex Pontificum Apostolicæ Sedis, ut per auctoritatem canonicam et apostolicam, quam à Domino accepisti, alienes à consortio sanctæ Dei Ecclesiæ, et sempiternæ vitæ, prædones et invasores atque distractores harum rerum, quas sanctæ Mariæ et prædictis Sanctis hilari mente promtaque voluntate dono; sitisque tutores ac defensores jam dicti loci Paterniaci, et servorum Dei ibi commorantium ac commanentium, harum quoque omnium facultatem propter eleemosinam et clementiam ac misericordiam piissimi Redemptoris nostri, si quis forté (quod absit, et quod per Dei misericordiam et patrociniam Apostolorum evenire non æstimo), vel ex propinquis aut extraneis, vel ex qualibet conditione vel potestate, qualicumque calliditate, contra hoc testamentum, quod pro Dei amore omnipotentis ac veneratione Sanctæ Mariæ', matris Domini, et prædictorum Sanctorum fidei sancivi, aliquam concussionem inferre tentaverit; primum, quod iram Dei Omnipotentis incurrat, auferatque Deus partem illius de terrâ viventium; fiatque pars illius cum his qui dixerunt Domino Deo, "Recede à nobis" (Job xvi, 14); et cum Dathan et Abiron, quos terra aperto ore deglutirit, et vivos infernus absorbuit; perpetuam incurrat damnationem: socius quoque Judæ Domini proditoris effectus, æternis crucialibus retrusus teneatur; et ne in presenti sæculo humanis oculis impuné transire videatur; in corpore quidem proprio futuræ damnationis tormenta experiatur; sortitus duplicem direptionem cum Heliodoro et Antiocho, quorum alter acribus verberibus coërcitus vix semivivus evasit; alter verò superno nutu percussus, putrescentibus membris, et scatentibus vermibus miserrimè interiit; cæterisque sacrilegis, qui ærarium domûs Dei temerare præsumpserunt, particeps existat; habeatque, nisi resipuerit, Archiclavum totius monarchiæ Ecclesiarum, juncto sibi Sancto Paulo, obstitorem, et amani Paradisi aditûs contradictorem, quos sibi, si vellet, habere poterat piissimos intercessores: Secundùm mundialem verò legem, his quibus intulerit calumniam, centum auri libras, cogente judiciaria potestate, compulsus exsolvat; et congressio illius frustrata nullum. omninò obtineat effectum; sed hujus firmitas testamenti omni auctoritate suffulta, semper inviolata ac inconcussa permaneat, cum omni stipulatione subnixa. Signum dominæ Berthæ Reginæ, quæ hanc traditionem, cum manibus filiorum suorum Conradi Regis ac Rodolphi Ducis, subtus confirmavit. Data in die Martis, Kal. Aprilis anno xxiv. regnante Conrado Rege. Actum verò Lausona civitate. Queen Bertha erected the still existing castles of Champvent (near Yverdun), and Vuflens (near Morges), and was a woman of note and laudable peculiarities, for she is said to have even spun her own apparel. But though she may not have been spinning Royal vestments when she penned the foregoing foundation-charter, she is recorded as usually occupied with the distaff; in fact, Ruchat gives an example of her seal, on which she is seated on her throne, with that emblem of industry. Hence it was that the French proverb arose-" Ce n'est plus le temps où Berthe filait" (Times have changed since Bertha spun). Did she wish (observes Müller) to imitate the mother of Charlemagne, Bertha, the wife of Pepin; or has this story been attributed to one in place of the other? St. Maïcul, of Cluni, is recorded its first abbot; Odilon and Hugh, abbots of Cluni, had rule also over Payerne as abbots. After these, from 1067-1087 the house was governed by a succession of Priors only, ending as the last recorded in Claude Marchand in 1493, and Jean de la Forest in 1535. The abbot of Payerne had a seat at the Diet, and bore the rank of Prince of the Empire, and the religious community, it may be added, had power to elect their own abbot. The foundation-charter is given by Bouquet, IX., p. 667, apud Sam. Guichenonem in Bibliotheca Sebusiana, p. 1 (Zapf.). In 1398 only 12 monks constituted the religious community. In 1536 it was secularized, and its revenues divided with Berne and Freiburg [Gall. Christ. XV., 388, 391]. It was suppressed at the Reformation. In 1817 Bertha's tomb was discovered in the abbey church at Payerne. * Tuesday fell on first day of April, an. 962. Hence the commencement of the reign of Conrad is to be reckoned from the beginning of 939. ibi viginti monachi bene et regulariter viventes; domus debet IIII libras lausannenses, tamen sine usuris, pro majori parte; prior laborat, quantum potest, pro dome sua deffendenda et juribus ipsius domus, et laudabilo testimonium habet a vicinis; cetera sunt in bono statu. § Status domus de Vilar talis est; sunt ibi quatuor monachi, computato priore; domus tenetur in quinquaginta libris lausannensium; 62 habet necessaria usque ad novos fructus, § Status Montis Richerii; sunt ibi IIIIor monachi; domus tenetur in III XXIIII libris bernensibus. Apud Plauseum est quidam monachus, nomine Rodulfus, de incontinentia diffamatus, precepimus ei ut apud Cluniacum veniat, penam pro meritis recep turus. § Status sancti Albani in Basilea (Saint Alban of Bâle); sunt ibi octo monachi, priore computato; domus tenetur in centum viginti libris basiliensibus; bene se [h]abet spiritualiter et temporaliter. § Status domus de Ystain; 63 sunt ibi quinque moniales, et prior, et unus monachus, et una conversa : domus debet decem libras basilienses. § Status prioratus de Rubeo Monte (Rougemont, in diocese of Lausanne, and canton of Vaud); sunt ibi duo monachi et prior; set prior non moratur ibi propter guerras et malum statum loci; tamen posse suum facit de tenendo locum, et res dicti loci deffendendo; et debet XV. lib. lausannenses. § Status domus de Vulpas (Welpach or Feldbach); viginti quatuor moniales sunt ibi, et prior cum duobus This monastery has been wrongly set down as the foundation of Bertha, Queen of Robert, King of France and Duke of Burgundy. Neither must she be confounded with another Bertha, consort of one of the Counts of Neuchâtel, who erected its cathedral in the 12th century. [S. Conservateur Suisse, IX., 386-407; Ruchat, Abrégé de l'histoire ècclésiastique du Pays de Vaud; Müller, Geschichte der Schweitz; Herrgott, p. 159). 62 3,000 écus d'or of France equalled 3,700 livres lausannoieses. approximate value may be obtained by reduction. 63 Istein in the diocese of Bâle. (See antea). The |