medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Tom Izbicki <[log in to unmask]>
> I mean Pitances as defined in the OED:
> A bequest made to a religious house or order for the provision of an
additional allowance of food, wine, etc., at particular festivals, or on the
anniversary of the benefactor's death, in return for the saying of masses; an
allowance or dole of this sort; (also) a service held on the
anniversary of a benefactor's death.
ahhh, *those* pitances.
well, yeah.
except that, the way i have always looked at it, as reflected in the Chartres
necrologies there were two, rather distinct, sorts of them --as reflected in
the variations in the definition:
--money/property (or, in at least one instance, a service or favor) given in
return for a (rather straightforward) mass held annually (usually, but not
always, on the anniversary of the donor's/honoree's death) --i.e., the third
definition above;
--and money/property given in return for an anniversary *feast* --a "splendida
refectio" as Abbot Udo's charter puts it, a real Blast, a Blow Out, a Pig
Fest-- the OED's definition 1b above.
in other words, there's pitances and then there's, well, there's Pitances.
sometimes it is not always clear which sort of pitances is meant, though the
simple necrology entries which begin "Obit. N." would seem to be of the first
type, while the ones which begin "Anniv. N." (and esp. if they go on to detail
a substantial gift) i've always assumed to mean the second type.
but, as i say, it is not common for the charter which lays all this out in
detail --which "founds" the Anniversary Blow Out-- to have survived (assuming
that suchlike a document ever did exist).
which is one reason why i was interested enough in Abbot Udo's charter to edit
it for the web,
http://ariadne.org/cc/abbeys/st-peter/CSP391-2.htm
about 10 years ago.
the other --and main-- reason being the light the charter shed on his family
background, genealogy being my primary obsession at the time.
Udo was a member of the "Chenard" family/clan, seated _en pleine Beauce_, SSE
of Chartres, minor castellans who were all mobbed up with the Le Puiset crew,
Abbot Suger's betes noires.
i thought it was interesting that he should have been the abbot of St. Peter's
of Chartres (1130-50), just at the time when Hugh [III?] of Le Puiset,
Viscount of Chartres, was looting and pillaging the lands of St. Peter and of
St. Mary of Chartres (and, incidentally, of St. Denis) to the best of his
ability.
but, i was much Older then --i'm Younger than that now.
so such Happenings don't bother me nearly so much as they used to.
c
> Christopher Crockett wrote:
> > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> >
> > From: Tom Izbicki <[log in to unmask]>
> >
> >
> >> Are we dealing here with Pitances?
> >>
> >
> > you mean figuratively (i.e., small, insignificant amounts)?
> >
> >
> > i wouldn't say so.
> >
> > the initial rent mentioned in Udo's charter
> >
> > http://ariadne.org/cc/abbeys/st-peter/CSP391-2.htm
> >
> > is 35s. on the vineyard, to be supplemented, if necessary, by 14s. from
> > Udo’s worldly brother, taken from the market of Chartres, and an
additional
> > 10s. (if needed) on the port of Conflans.
> >
> > these are not insubstantial sums, in c. 1150.
> >
> > many gifts to the chapter for simple anniversary masses recorded in the
> > necrology are smaller --20s. or so.
> >
> > but, if you mean "pitances" in some canonical sense, you should axe
someone
> > else, cause i'm no scholard in the law.
> >
> > c
> >
> >
> >> Christopher Crockett wrote:
> >>
> >>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture
> >>>
> >>> here is the earliest example of an anniversary foundation that i know
of
> >>>
> > from
> >
> >>> the Chartrain, a charter of Abbot Udo of St. Peter's of Chartres, done
> >>>
> > shortly
> >
> >>> before 1150:
> >>>
> >>> http://ariadne.org/cc/abbeys/st-peter/CSP391-2.htm
> >>>
> >>> property (appropriately enough, "rent" [in kind?] on a vineyard) from
> >>>
> > Udo's
> >
> >>> family property given "...per annos singulos sollempniter celebretur
> >>> anniversarium....ut semper in die anniversarii nostri splendida
refectio
> >>> paretur fratribus..."
> >>>
> >>> based on this example (and a few others, though none quite so specific)
i
> >>>
> > have
> >
> >>> always assumed that an "anniversary" notice in a necrology referred to
> >>> something more than a simple mass by the chapter or members of the
house.
> >>>
> >>> c
> >>>
> >>> ------ Original Message ------
> >>> Received: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 10:21:49 AM EDT
> >>> From: Christopher Crockett <[log in to unmask]>
> >>> To: [log in to unmask]
> >>> Subject: Re: [M-R] anniversarium panis et vini
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> >>>>
> > culture
> >
> >>>> From: Aaron Hope <[log in to unmask]>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>> I am working on a capitular foundation agreement from the 1460s that
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>> established a yearly anniversary for a donor's soul. The document
> >>>>
> > states
> >
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> that
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> the dean and chapter of the cathedral promised “librare seu librari
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> facere
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> in eorum celtario panem et vinum inter presentes, ut in aliis
> >>>>
> > anniversariis
> >
> >>>> panis et vini in eadem ecclesia fundatis est fieri solitum”. My
> >>>>
> > question
> >
> >>>> is: what is meant by the phrase 'anniversary of bread and wine'? Is
> >>>>
> > this
> >
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> just
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> another way of describing the mass,
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> no, not to my best understanding of the term/institution (and i would
> >>>> appreciate being corrected if i'm wrong here).
> >>>>
> >>>> we have these "anniversary" foundations in the Chartrain region from
the
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> 12th
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> c., becoming more common in the 13th and later (cf. the multiplicity
of
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> them
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> recorded in the Chartres cathedral necrologies, available on
> >>>> http://www.gallica.bnf.fr ).
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> in my understanding it's a matter of a sum of money (or property)
being
> >>>> bequeathed to the cathedral chapter (in this case) in return for an
> >>>>
> > annual
> >
> >>>> celebration of the death of the deceased.
> >>>>
> >>>> though this most likely did include an anniversary mass, because these
> >>>> "anniversary" entries (rather than the more common simple "obit. X"
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> notices)
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> seem to have involved more expense, i have always assumed (and it's
just
> >>>>
> > an
> >
> >>>> assumption on my part) that they also implied an anniversary meal of
> >>>>
> > some
> >
> >>>> sort.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>> or would they distribute unconsecrated bread and wine (as one would
> >>>>>
> > assume
> >
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>> from the location mentioned, the 'celtarium', which I understand to be
a
> >>>> storeroom or cellar)?
> >>>>
> >>>> yet another reason to see this as more than the foundation of a simple
> >>>> anniversary mass.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>> If the latter, was this a common practice?
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>> definitely.
> >>>>
> >>>> at least in the Chartrain.
> >>>>
> >>>> at least in the late 12th-13th + cc.
> >>>>
> >>>> c
> >>>>
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