Cluny's Foundation Charter

Cluny's foundation charter is likely the most reproduced source of Cluniac History. On pages 184-187 of Rosenwein's reader, you will find a translation of it as well as a short introduction she wrote to accompany the text. We will comment on it on Perusall here.

At this stage you will likely know little about medieval monks, charters, dukes, or even where Aquitaine or Cluny is. That's to be expected. But we'll try to make sense of the document, even if there are some things you need to figure out still. You can start reading it there and making notes in the margins, highlight things you find important, or confusing. And then we can do the same online together using hypothes.is.

Sources

If you want to see different versions of this foundation charter, consult any of the following:

B&W digitization of a microfilm of photos of the original foundation charter and a fifteenth-century copy, at the BNF
colour digitization of an eleventh-century Cluniac copy of the foundation charter.
the foundation charter in the seventeenth-century Bibliotheca Cluniacensis
a seventeenth-century hardwritten copy of the Bibliotheca Cluniacensis edition
a ninteenth-century edition in Recueil des chartes de l'abbaye de Cluny.
the original source for the translation of the foundation charter is reproduced in the Internet Medieval Sourcebook from Ernest F. Henderson, Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, (London: George Bell and Sons, 1892), 329-333 here: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/chart-cluny.asp.

Digital editions:

CCE. Latin text of foundation charter.
Telma. Description of original foundation charter (in French, measurements and line by line transcription of Latin).

Foundation Charter Translation

I'm posting a copy of the translation from Rosenwein's reader here so that we can annotate it together using Hypothes.is. We will work together to identify its structure, themes and purpose. Be aware that the translation is originally from Ernest F. Henderson's Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, (Google Book facsimile here) (London: George Bell and Sons, 1892), 329-333.

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To all right thinkers it is clear that the providence of God has so provided for certain rich men that, by means of their transitory possessions, if they use them well, they may be able to merit everlasting rewards. As to which thing, indeed, the divine word, showing it to be possible and altogether advising it, says: “The riches of a man are the redemption of his soul.” I, William, count and duke by the grace of God, diligently pondering this, and desiring to provide for my own salvation while I am still able, have considered it advisable—nay, most necessary, that from the temporal goods which have been conferred upon me I should give some little portion for the gain of my soul. I do this, indeed, in order that I who have thus increased in wealth may not, perchance, at the last be accused of having spent all in caring for my body, but rather may rejoice, when fate at last shall snatch all things away, in having reserved something for myself. Which end, indeed, seems attainable by no more suitable means than that, following the precept of Christ: “I will make his poor my friends” and making the act not a temporary but a lasting one, I should support at my own expense a congregation of monks. And this is my trust, this my hope, indeed, that although I myself am unable to despise all things, nevertheless, by receiving despisers of the world, whom I believe to be righteous, I may receive the reward of the righteous. Therefore be it known to all who live in the unity of the faith and who await the mercy of Christ, and to those who shall succeed them and who shall continue to exist until the end of the world, that, for the love of God and of our Savior Jesus Christ, I hand over from my own rule to the holy apostles, Peter, namely, and Paul, the possessions over which I hold sway, the villa of Cluny, namely, with the court and demesne mansus, and the chapel in honor of St. Mary the mother of God and of St. Peter the prince of the apostles, together with all the things pertaining to it, the villas, indeed, the chapels, the serfs of both sexes, the vines, the fields, the meadows, the woods, the waters and their outlets, the mills, the incomes and revenues, what is cultivated and what is not, all in their entirety. Which things are situated in or about the county of Mâcon, each one surrounded by its own bounds. I give, moreover, all these things to the aforesaid apostles—I, William, and my wife Ingelberga—first for the love of God; then for the soul of my lord king Odo; of my father and my mother; for myself and my wife—for the salvation, namely, of our souls and bodies;—and not least for that of Ava who left me these things in her will; for the souls also of our brothers and sisters and nephews, and of all our relatives of both sexes; for our faithful ones who adhere to our service; for the advancement, also, and integrity of the catholic religion. Finally, since all of us Christians are held together by one bond of love and faith, let this donation be for all,—for the orthodox, namely, of past, present or future times. I give these things, moreover, with this understanding, that at Cluny a regular monastery shall be constructed in honor of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, and that there the monks shall congregate and live according to the rule of St. Benedict, and that they shall possess, hold, have and order these same things unto all time, provided that the venerable house of prayer which is there shall be faithfully filled with vows and supplications, and that celestial converse shall be sought and striven after with all desire and with the deepest ardor; and also that there shall be diligently directed to God prayers, beseechings and exhortations both for me and for all, according to the order in which mention has been made of them above. And let the monks themselves, together with all the afore- said possessions, be under the power and dominion of the abbot Berno, who, as long as he shall live, shall preside over them according to the Rule and consistent with his knowledge and ability. But after his death, those same monks shall have power and permission to elect any one of their order whom they please as abbot and rector, following the will of God and the rule promulgated by St. Benedict,—in such a way that neither by the intervention of our own or of any other power may they be impeded from making a purely canonical election. Every five years, moreover, the aforesaid monks shall pay to the church of the apostles at Rome ten solidi1 to supply them with lights; and they shall have the protection of those same apostles and the defense of the Roman pontiff; and those monks may, with their whole heart and soul, according to their ability and knowledge, build up the aforesaid place. We will, further, that in our times and in those of our successors, according as the opportunities and possibilities of that place shall allow, daily, works of mercy towards the poor, the needy, strangers, and pilgrims will be performed with the greatest zeal. It has pleased us also to insert in this document that, from this day, those same monks there congregated shall be subject neither to our yoke, nor to that of our relatives, nor to the sway of any earthly power. And, through God and all his saints, and by the awful day of judgment, I warn and abjure that no one of the secular princes, no count, no bishop whatever, not the pontiff of the aforesaid Roman see, shall invade the property of these servants of God, or alienate it, or diminish it, or exchange it, or give it as a benefice to any one, or constitute any prelate over them against their will. And that such unhallowed act may be more strictly prohibited to all rash and wicked men, I subjoin the following, giving force to the warning. I adjure you, oh holy apostles and glorious princes of the world, Peter and Paul, and you, oh supreme pontiff of the apostolic see, that, through the canonical and apostolic authority which you have received from God, you remove from participation in the holy church and in eternal life, the robbers and invaders and alienators of these possessions which I do give to you with joyful heart and ready will; and be protectors and defenders of the aforementioned place of Cluny and of the servants of God abiding there, and of all these possessions—on account of the clemency and mercy of the most holy Redeemer. If anyone—which Heaven forbid, and which, through the mercy of the God and the protection of the apostles I do not think will happen—whether he be a neighbor or a stranger, no matter what his condition or power, should, through any kind of wild attempt to do any act of violence contrary to this deed of gift which we have ordered to be drawn up for the love of almighty God and for reverence of the chief apostles Peter and Paul; first, indeed, let him incur the wrath of almighty God, and let God remove him from the land of the living and wipe out his name from the book of life, and let his portion be with those who said to the Lord God: Depart from us; and, with Dathan and Abiron whom the earth, opening its jaws, swallowed up, and hell absorbed while still alive, let him incur everlasting dam- nation. And being made a companion of Judas let him be kept thrust down there with eternal tortures, and, lest it seem to human eyes that he pass through the present world with impunity, let him experience in his own body, indeed, the torments of future damnation, sharing the double disaster with Heliodorus and Antiochus, of whom one being coerced with sharp blows and scarcely escaped alive; and the other, struck down by the divine will, his members putrefying and swarming with worms, perished most miserably. And let him be a partaker with other sacrilegious persons who presume to plunder the treasure of the house of God; and let him, unless he come to his senses, have as enemy and as the one who will refuse him entrance into the blessed paradise, the key-bearer of the whole hierarchy of the church, and, joined with the latter, St. Paul; both of whom, if he had wished, he might have had as most holy mediators for him. But as far as the worldly law is concerned, he shall be required, the judicial power compelling him, to pay a hundred pounds of gold to those whom he has harmed; and his attempted attack, being frustrated, shall have no effect at all. But the validity of this deed of gift, endowed with all authority, shall always remain inviolate and unshaken, together with the stipulation subjoined. Done publicly in the city of Bourges. I, William, commanded this act to be made and drawn up, and confirmed it with my own hand.

(Signed by Ingelberga and a number of bishops and nobles.)

Sources

Foundation Charter Translation

Further Readings