An Inventory of the Abbey of St. Bertin, 867
The Abbey of St. Bertin made a survey of its possessions in the year 867. The
various possessions of the Church of Saint Saviour, which belonged to the Abbey, together
with its revenues and outlays were all described by classified lists.
Account of the goods, taxes, and expenses of the church of Saint Savior, when
Hilduin, the Abbot, rightly took all these things from the hands of Gumbert on the first
of September.
Concerning the ministry of the church of Saint Savior: There are 4 chests fitted
with gold and silver; 3 crosses; 1 chalice with a silver paten; 1 copper thurible. There
are 3 chalices there; 4 rings of bells suspended from ropes and finished in gold and
silver.
Concerning clothing: 4 pallia, 1 linen altar cloth, 2 corporals, 3 girdles, 1
alb, 2 chasubles, 1 stole, 1 sword belt finished with gold, 1 deacon's dalmatic.
Concerning books: 1 missal, 1 lectionary, 1 antiphonal, 3 books of homilies, 1
Book of Kings, 1 book of the rite of baptism, the homily of Gregory, Epistles of Paul,
Book of Genesis, Book of the Prophets.
Concerning land and servants: At the entrance to the church of Saint Savior
there are 65 bonniers of arable land, 20 bonniers of meadow, 20 bonniers of acorn and
beech wood, and 15 bonniers of small timber. There are 19 male and female servants who
have only 7 holdings among them, the whole being 12 bonniers. There are 14 serfs. The
herdsman has 4 bonniers, the shepherd, 3....
Concerning gifts to the poor: Also for dispensing to the poor 1 pisa of cheese,
5 solidi for cloth, setiers of fat, 1 large setier of honey.... 1 ounce of cumin, 1 ounce
of gall-nut, cinnamon, cloves, 7 or 8 muids of wine, 1 muid at Mons, 3 pounds of wax. On
the 26th of November, at the feast of the dedication of the church, for the needs of the
brethren and the poor, 5 muids of fine flour, 15 of ale; for guests and the poor, 2 and a
half pisa of cheese and 4 young pigs; for 365 poor as much coarse flour as is necessary, 5
solidi for cloth, 7 muids of wine, and 15 chickens. On the 27th of December 1 muid of wine
to the brethren; the same on the 6th of January; the same on the 15th of February; and
food for 100 people, 2 muids of coarse flour, 1 muid of beer with bread. On the 7th of
March one muid for the poor, as above. On the octave of Easter, or at the feast of Easter,
1 muid for the poor, as above. On the 4th of May 1 muid for the poor, as above. On the
16th of July, 1 muid for the poor, as above. On the 6th of August, 1 muid for the poor, as
above. On the 14th of September, 1 muid for the poor, as above. On the 12th of October, 2
cups for the poor, as above. 1 muid of new wine at the harvest.
Concerning the cattle: Ratwin has 7 cows, both young and old; 2 milk cows with
calves; 3 heifers; 3 three-year-old heifers. He pays taxes. There are 10 head altogether.
Vodel has 50 ewes with lambs; 23 ewes; 13 wethers; 50 lambs. There are altogether 136
head. In Cormeilles, Huobel has 13 wethers; 8 yearlings; 36 with lambs; 14 ewes; 36 lambs.
There are 107 head altogether. He pays 30 pounds in tax. In Steneland there are 30 pigs,
both large and small; there are 2 oxen for killing; 12 chickens; 3 ducks. There are 15
measures of spelt there over and above what is required for sowing; 30 loads of barley; 15
of oats; 2 loads of rye grass; 30 loads of hay. There are 300 head of oxen, cattle, sheep
and pigs.
In the month of June in the following year, I, Gundbert, obtained, besides these, 2
tablets of purple marble, worth 4 pounds, 1 subdeacon's dalmatic, 1 hoop for a bell, worth
5 solidi in silver, divers books of the Old Testament. And I gave 8 denarii for wood for
an altar in Boulogne.
Source:
B. E. C. Guerard, ed., Collection de Documents inédits sur l'Histoire de France,
(Paris, 1840), Book II, pp. 164-167; reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H. Coulson, A
Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1936;
reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), pp. 314-316.
Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by
Prof. Arkenberg.
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© Paul Halsall, October 1998
halsall@fordham.edu
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