![CARTULARY OF THE MONASTERY OF SANT MIQUEL DEL FAI, in Latin, manuscript on vellum, Sant Miquel del Fai, Catalonia, [c.1364-c.1389].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16019_0013_001(cartulary_of_the_monastery_of_sant_miquel_del_fai_in_latin_manuscript053442).jpg?w=1)
![CARTULARY OF THE MONASTERY OF SANT MIQUEL DEL FAI, in Latin, manuscript on vellum, Sant Miquel del Fai, Catalonia, [c.1364-c.1389].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16019_0013_002(cartulary_of_the_monastery_of_sant_miquel_del_fai_in_latin_manuscript053450).jpg?w=1)
![CARTULARY OF THE MONASTERY OF SANT MIQUEL DEL FAI, in Latin, manuscript on vellum, Sant Miquel del Fai, Catalonia, [c.1364-c.1389].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16019_0013_000(cartulary_of_the_monastery_of_sant_miquel_del_fai_in_latin_manuscript070547).jpg?w=1)
Details
CARTULARY OF THE MONASTERY OF SANT MIQUEL DEL FAI, in Latin, manuscript on vellum, Sant Miquel del Fai, Catalonia, [c.1364-c.1389].
A handsome 14th-century cartulary: this repository of legal records created at the Catalan monastery of Sant Miquel del Fai situates the community of Benedictine monks at the centre of a complex, interdependent web of legal titles and privileges in medieval Catalonia, connecting the monastery to the local communities. The additions made to the charters across the centuries are a testament to the enduring relevance of cartularies as legal records and their continued use.
360 x 270mm. ii + 230 + i, apparently complete, written chiefly on the skin-side of the vellum. Approximately 207 charters and deeds of title written in nine 14th-century notarial hands and bearing their individual sigilla, some opening with decorative initials, contemporary pagination (I-LXI; then I-CLXVII), profuse annotations throughout in a number of later hands (the lower portions of ff.6 and 13 removed, occasional cockling, marginal losses and staining throughout, wormholes affecting the first c.15 leaves). 19th-century tree calf over boards, metal studs and clasps (lacking one stud, worn at edges).
Provenance: Monastery of Sant Miquel del Fai, Bigues i Riells, Catalonia, Spain; the manuscript titled ‘Capibrevium mon[a]st[er]ii s[an]c[t]i michael de falho dioc[esis] barch[eno]n’ on f.15. The completion of the cartulary seems to correspond with the priorate of Deodat Jordà (‘Prior Jordà nu[mer]o I’ in a contempory hand on f.1); his term is generally given as 1373-8, but a charter from 6 March 1389 copied here (f.228v) names ‘deodato jordani’ as the prior of Sant Miquel del Fai, offering evidence that he remained in position for longer than was previously thought. Marginal additions – and, in one case, an inserted paper slip, dated 1724 – continue to be made in the manuscript into the 18th century, generally offering contemporary transliterations of place and family names for ease of indexing, suggesting that the manuscript remained in use as a reference text. The monastery Sant Miquel del Fai was dissolved in 1832, the buildings were sold in 1835 and their contents dispersed.
Contents: Index of 51 religious and lay communities in surrounding Catalonia (ff.1v-13; added by later hands) and names of c.342 individuals (ff.15-20; in a contemporary hand) mentioned in the charters, ff.1-20; charters and deeds of title relating to the monastery of Sant Miquel del Fai, ff.21v-228v; blanks, with a later charter in Catalan added, ff.229-230.
No fewer than nine notaries were responsible for drawing up the present charters and deeds of title; their names appear throughout the manuscript, prefaced by their unique sigilla and, most often, followed by ‘auctoritate regia’ to signify that these were men in the employ of the king of Aragon, not merely local Catalan notaries.
The earliest charters in the present cartulary seem to be those two dated 1364, relating to property owned by the Viaplana family of Riells (ff.110-111); unlike the rest of the charters and deeds of title in the cartulary, these mention Deodat Jordà’s predecessor, Bernard de Lausensons (1363-5). Otherwise, the present manuscript serves as a detailed legal record for the monastery of Sant Miquel del Fai during Jordà’s term as prior, as well as providing compelling new evidence that his priorate extended over ten years longer than had previously been thought.
A handsome 14th-century cartulary: this repository of legal records created at the Catalan monastery of Sant Miquel del Fai situates the community of Benedictine monks at the centre of a complex, interdependent web of legal titles and privileges in medieval Catalonia, connecting the monastery to the local communities. The additions made to the charters across the centuries are a testament to the enduring relevance of cartularies as legal records and their continued use.
360 x 270mm. ii + 230 + i, apparently complete, written chiefly on the skin-side of the vellum. Approximately 207 charters and deeds of title written in nine 14th-century notarial hands and bearing their individual sigilla, some opening with decorative initials, contemporary pagination (I-LXI; then I-CLXVII), profuse annotations throughout in a number of later hands (the lower portions of ff.6 and 13 removed, occasional cockling, marginal losses and staining throughout, wormholes affecting the first c.15 leaves). 19th-century tree calf over boards, metal studs and clasps (lacking one stud, worn at edges).
Provenance: Monastery of Sant Miquel del Fai, Bigues i Riells, Catalonia, Spain; the manuscript titled ‘Capibrevium mon[a]st[er]ii s[an]c[t]i michael de falho dioc[esis] barch[eno]n’ on f.15. The completion of the cartulary seems to correspond with the priorate of Deodat Jordà (‘Prior Jordà nu[mer]o I’ in a contempory hand on f.1); his term is generally given as 1373-8, but a charter from 6 March 1389 copied here (f.228v) names ‘deodato jordani’ as the prior of Sant Miquel del Fai, offering evidence that he remained in position for longer than was previously thought. Marginal additions – and, in one case, an inserted paper slip, dated 1724 – continue to be made in the manuscript into the 18th century, generally offering contemporary transliterations of place and family names for ease of indexing, suggesting that the manuscript remained in use as a reference text. The monastery Sant Miquel del Fai was dissolved in 1832, the buildings were sold in 1835 and their contents dispersed.
Contents: Index of 51 religious and lay communities in surrounding Catalonia (ff.1v-13; added by later hands) and names of c.342 individuals (ff.15-20; in a contemporary hand) mentioned in the charters, ff.1-20; charters and deeds of title relating to the monastery of Sant Miquel del Fai, ff.21v-228v; blanks, with a later charter in Catalan added, ff.229-230.
No fewer than nine notaries were responsible for drawing up the present charters and deeds of title; their names appear throughout the manuscript, prefaced by their unique sigilla and, most often, followed by ‘auctoritate regia’ to signify that these were men in the employ of the king of Aragon, not merely local Catalan notaries.
The earliest charters in the present cartulary seem to be those two dated 1364, relating to property owned by the Viaplana family of Riells (ff.110-111); unlike the rest of the charters and deeds of title in the cartulary, these mention Deodat Jordà’s predecessor, Bernard de Lausensons (1363-5). Otherwise, the present manuscript serves as a detailed legal record for the monastery of Sant Miquel del Fai during Jordà’s term as prior, as well as providing compelling new evidence that his priorate extended over ten years longer than had previously been thought.
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