medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Marjorie Greene <[log in to unmask]>
>...it appears Maurice had a son, also named Maurice who was the husband of
Raingarde and the father of P the V. I have seen Peter called "Pierre Maurice
de Montboissier,"
though he certainly *might* have had two first/"given"/"Christian" names
(though that would have been a bit rare), this "Pierre Maurice" would more
likely be a mis-translation of an original which would have read (probably in
a charter) something like "Petrus Maritii", the last name perhaps
superscripted over the first.
i.e., "Peter, son of Mauritius" --and the patronym would not have really have
been his "first name," as we understand the term, but rather a species of
cognomen. if Peter himself had had a son name after his grandfather, that guy
would have been styled "Mauritius Petri" (the latter superscripted over the
first in, for example, the charter witness list).
the Wretched and Lamentable French Letch for translating Latin names which
occur in 12th c. charters into modren French ones has numerous disadvantages,
one of the best of which can be seen in this instance.
> the V's great-grandfather was Hugues de Pallier or d'Usson....He and wife
Isengarde had 6 kids, among them Maurice de Montboissier, Peter's grandfather.
note that the name "Maurice" might have come from either side of the family,
and entered the family "namengut" (the family-specific pool of names from
which childrens' names were chosen) at any time.
in most regions and in most families --there are certainly exceptions and
variations-- the first son took the name of his paternal grandfather; the
second son could be named after his maternal grandfather or from another high
ranking name from the namengut of either side.
(exceptions to this "rule" would be, for example, cases in which the wife's
family was *much* more prestigeous than the husband's --the first son of Count
Stephen-Henry of Chartres and his wife, the "Most Noble" Adela of England, was
named William, after *her* father, the second being named Theobald, after
*his* father.)
>Maurice is mentioned in a charter (mid-11th-c.) in which he gives a donation
to the monastery of Sauxillanges. The castle of Montboissier is the patrimony
of Peter and the source of his appellation. (No mention of how Montboissier
came into the family; note that Hugues was "de Pallier" or "d'Usson.")
unencumbered by any actual knowledge of this particular family (which, i'm
sure, is very, very well documented, perhaps back to the end of the 10th c.,
in the Cluny charters, which survive in *vast* numbers, have been published
and are available on Gallica.bnf.fr) one possible scenario might be:
the primary family holding was at Pallier and/or Usson;
Montboissier was a secondary holding, perhaps comming to the main family as
dower lands, either from Peter's mother or some previous distaff-side
ancestor;
depending upon the naming patterns in vogue in the region (and within the
family), it might well be that Maurice, son of Maurice and father of Peter,
was a second son of the first Maurice.
so, the Lordship of Montboissier went to a second (or third, or fourth) son,
who carried the name Maurice, named after his father. (Cf. the Capetians: King
Louis VI's first son was named Philip, after his grandfather; the second son
was Louis, after his father; the third Henry, after his great-grandfather.
Philip died as a young prince and co-king; Louis, probably destined for the
Church, was crowned in his place; Henry was an ecclesiastic, first "abbot of
the royal abbeys [collegials]", then converted by St. Bernie, a Cistercian
monk [for two years], then Bishop of Beauvais, ending up as Archbishop of
Reims.)
as you get further down the line of sons, the more likely it is that those
sons will be destined, from the womb, for an ecclesiastical career and,
perhaps, given very "Christian" names which would be more suitable for such a
vocation.
"Peter" would certainly have been one of those (esp. considering the Patron of
the most important ecclesiastical institution in the region, which he became a
part of) --and might never have appeared (as far as we can tell, from the
surviving charters) in the family namengut previously.
the name given to suchlike would-be ecclesiastics might also reflect their
future sponsor, an Abbot or Bishop who might have been godfather to the boy
and would have taken him under his wing from an early age.
the best case i know of such a thing happening is that of a rather modest
family in the Chartrain Beauce, the Ouarvilles, who may have been related to
the much more powerful family of Leves (just below Chartres on the Eure).
the preferred name for the Lord of Leves in the late 11th-early 12th c. was
Goslen [Gauslinus].
a younger son, named Godfrey [Gaufridus], was Bishop Ivo's sucessor on the
cathedra of Chartres, dying in (i think) 1145 --one of the most significant
ecclesiatics of his time, Papal Legate, friend of Suger & St. Bernie, defender
of Abelard, etc.
Godfrey was suceeded by his nephew, Goslin of Muzy (his sister had married the
Lord of Muzy, just across the Epte, in Normandy, dio. Evreux) .
there was some sort of _lieu-dit_ with the name Ouarville near Leves, which i
have never been able to run down --so there may well have been some long-term
connection between the two families --the Ouarvilles might well have been some
distant cadet branch of the Leves.
in any event, Lord Raginaldus of Ouarville returned from the disaster of the
2nd crusade in 1149 or so, bringing with him relics (of St. Thomas, i believe
it was) which he had acquired in Constantinople and which he gave to his
village church, which was a priory of the collegial of St. John of Chartres.
the charter solemnizing this event records that it was witnessed by Bishop
Goslen and Raginaldus' wife and children, including a young Goslen, "whom the
Bishop held at the font."
this Goslen of Ouarville, presumably with the aid of his godfather, became,
early on, a canon of the cathedral, a Provost of the chapter and ended his
career (c. 1225) as Cantor --the second highest dignatary (_persona_) of the
chapter, after the Dean.
he is the most well-documented dignitary of the Chapter of Chartres from this
period, appearing in more than a dozen charters, from the font to beyond the
grave, the last of which was issued by the executors of his estate, his
nephews, one Lord Raginald of Ouarville, the other Goslen, a canon of the
cathedral.
c
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