"B.M.COOK" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>I have two references, in both cases he appears to be a member of the
entourage of the Abbot of Marmoutier (St Martin of Tours).
Dear Brenda,
although the Benedictine abbey of Marmoutier (_majoris monasterii_) was,
indeed, dedicated to St. Martin and was, indeed, in (actually in the Northern
suburb, just across the river from) Tours, it was not *The* "St. Martin of
Tours", alas: http://www.francebalade.com/tours/trsnord.htm#marmoutier .
in its heyday (2nd half of the 11th - early 12th cc.) Marmoutier had more than
100 (200??) priories all over france and abroad (second only to
Cluny in the size of its "order"??), which generated a quite *immense* _fonds_
of charters --which were kept in the muniments room of the Mother House and
then dispersed *back* to the regions/departements from which they came at the
time of the revolution (e.g., the 11th-12th cc. _fonds of the priories of
Marmoutier in the ancient diocese of Chartres
is probably second only to that from the Cathedral Chapter in the Eure-et-Loir
archives).
but it was the magnificent basilica of St. Martin,
http://www.francebalade.com/tours/stmartin.htm#basilique , which housed the
important pilgrimage site of the tomb of the Saint and which is what one
usually means by "St. Martin of Tours," and it was, i *believe* a collegial
abbey, housing "secular" canons, headed by (again i *believe*), not an Abbot,
but rather a layman who styled himself "Treasurer"
(Gannelon of Montigny in the early 11th c., when the place was "restored" by
him. (i'm not sure what the situation was in later decades/centuries,
however.)
>The references are to witnesses:
>(1) [Unnamed] - "Dominus Abbas Bernardus et bajulus ejus." c. 1096.
"Lord Abbot Bernardus and his _bajulus_"
>(2) Reginald - "Reginaldus abbatis bajulus." 1143x1147.
"Reginald _bajulus_ [of the] Abbot. [??]"
>The translation I have personally come up with is "courier" or
"transport manager". How does this strike skilled Latinists ?
have to ask one --not me, certainly-- but i rather like the suggestion which
Br. Alexis (of all people) made earlier, to the effect that every monastery
(not just Franciscans, btw) had a "porter;" and that, by extension, what you
might be looking at here is either the "porter" of
the monastery itself or, perhaps, a "porter" attached to the personal
household of the Abbot.
perversely, and for no particular reason, i rather prefer the former --in
spite of what would seem to be (literally) the styling of both of these guys
in the documents which you cite.
the only way to tell for certain would be to have enough documents from
MM around the same time to enable one to reconstruct the list of the holders
of the *monastic* office of _bajulus_ --or, alternatively, the holders of the
office within the various Abbots' households.
actually, this could be done, i believe, but would require an immense amount
of work, since the charters from MM are both widely dispersed and not
completely published. (i once heard a few years ago that there was a project
at Harvard [???] or somedangwhere to try and organize the publication of the
MM documents. anyone on the list know anything about this, or did i just
hallucinate it --again?? i just *hate* it when that happens.)
best to all from here,
christopher
____________________________________________________________________
Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1
|