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Charta Renuntiationis Jurium Ecclesiae Sancti Martini

Alphanus Beneventianus Episcopus · ogl-pl

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machine-draft · no human review 3 passages · 339 words

Work dossier · summary and historical context

Summary

The Charta Renuntiationis Jurium Ecclesiae Sancti Martini is a formal episcopal charter in which Alphanus, Bishop of Benevento (1085–1112), renounces certain rights or claims held by his see over the Church of St. Martin. The document belongs to the genre of medieval Italian ecclesiastical charters, which were used to record legal transactions such as donations, exchanges, or relinquishments of jurisdiction. The text survives only in the OGL-PL digital collection, with no information about its manuscript basis, archival provenance, or earlier copies. The edition lacks critical apparatus, diplomatic transcription, or facsimile, making it impossible to verify readings or assess scribal interventions. The charter's date is unknown beyond the general period of Alphanus's episcopate, and no specific year or external dating evidence is provided.

This charter exemplifies the routine legal administration of the medieval Italian church, specifically the management of proprietary churches and episcopal rights. It provides a glimpse into the practical exercise of episcopal authority in the Norman period, though its value is limited by the absence of manuscript evidence and critical edition. It relates to broader patterns of ecclesiastical property management and the use of written records in southern Italy.

Historical context

The charter was issued during the episcopate of Alphanus I, who served as Bishop of Benevento from 1085 to 1112. Benevento was a major ecclesiastical center in southern Italy, then part of the Norman territories after the Norman conquest of the Lombard principality. The period saw ongoing tensions between papal and Norman authority, as well as internal church reform movements. Episcopal charters like this one were routine instruments of ecclesiastical administration, used to record legal acts such as renunciations of rights over dependent churches. The Church of St. Martin was likely a rural or urban proprietary church under the bishop's jurisdiction. The text survives only in a modern digital edition without critical apparatus; its manuscript basis is unknown, and no information is given about earlier copies or archival provenance. The charter's formulaic language and legal content are typical of the genre, but the lack of dating formula or specific context limits historical analysis.

Apparatus · what the pipeline recorded

Annotation and terms

17 commentary units 5 term4 structure3 background2 dating2 reception1 caution 0 derived notes 6 open questions 3 narrative
What the kinds mean

Pipeline notes

  • coverageNo English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed.
  • limitThe English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve.
  • registerRegister: other in Latin; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them.
  • structurePassages: 3 narrative.
  • sourceSource edition: ogl-pl — Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Term index

CopticRenderingCountFirst
no glossary terms recorded
tmp1351.tmp1351.opp-lat1:1 · narrativehigh
Source
SANCTI ALPHANI BENEVENTANI EPISCOPI, CHARTA RENUNTIATIONIS JURIUM ECCLESIAE S. MARTINI. in nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, ejusque sanctissimae Genitricis. Temporibng domini viri gloriosissimi Arichis summi ducis gentis Longobardorum, anno vigesimo quarto gloriosissimi ducatus, qui mense Martio, indictione quarta firmatus.
English
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and His most holy Mother. In the time of the lord, the most glorious man Arichis, supreme duke of the Lombard people, in the twenty-fourth year of his most glorious duchy, which was confirmed in the month of March, in the fourth indiction.
tmp1351.tmp1351.opp-lat1:2 · narrativemedium
Source
Nos dominus vir beatissimus hujus sanctissime sedis Beneventanae Alphanus reverendissimus episcopus, ob solutionem ecclesiae sancti Martini, tibi Trasemundo Schuldachis, qualiter tu nominate Trasimunde ipsam saepius dictam ecclesiam a novo fundamine, usque ad culmen consecrationis perducere visus es in tuo proprio territorio, loco qui vocatur Monsbonionis, qui esse videtur in Buente loco, canonica ratione absolvimus eam praedictam ecclesiam, ut non presbyter, diaconus, vel subdiaconus habeat potestatem eam dandam in plebutea parte e se voluerunt, aut subtrahendam, per quemlibet titulum, excepto presbytero, quem tu, nominate Trasimunde, vel tui haeredes per tempora, ordinare solveris, ipsa jam facta ecclesia, nobis, vel nostris successoribus in nominatam sanctam sedem nostram pervenit consecrandus, secundum canonicam sanctionem: nani aliam nullam rerum babeat potestatem dandi ea, neque a me Alphano Domini gratia episcopo, neque in posteris meis nunquam habeas aliquando aliquam requisitionem, aut reprehensionem de hac mea absolutione; sed ex nunc, et usque in perpetuis temporibus, qualiter superius legitur, in ipsa ratione permanere valent ipsa nominata ecclesia. Quod monumentum absolutionis tibi Nicolao notario nostro, ut scriberes praecipimus; et ut robur habeat, effigiem sanctae crucis affiximus. Actum Beneventi in episcopio, mense et indictione nomiuata feliciter.
English
We, the lord, the most blessed man Alphanus, the most reverend bishop of this most holy see of Benevento, for the settlement of the church of Saint Martin, to you, Trasemundus Schuldachis, inasmuch as you, named Trasimundus, are seen to have brought that often-mentioned church from its new foundation up to the summit of consecration in your own territory, in the place which is called Monsbonionis, which appears to be in the locality of Buente, by canonical reason we absolve that aforesaid church, so that no presbyter, deacon, or subdeacon shall have the power to give it over to a plebeian part, if they should wish, or to subtract it under any title whatsoever, except for the presbyter whom you, named Trasimundus, or your heirs over time, shall have arranged to ordain; that already completed church comes to us or to our successors in our named see to be consecrated, according to canonical sanction. For no other person shall have any power of giving anything from it, neither by me, Alphanus, bishop by the grace of God, nor shall you ever have at any time any demand or reproach from my successors concerning this absolution of mine; but from now and for perpetual times, as is read above, that named church shall remain valid in that same arrangement. We commanded this document of absolution to be written by you, Nicolaus, our notary; and that it may have force, we have affixed the image of the holy cross. Done at Benevento in the episcopium, in the named month and indiction, happily.
tmp1351.tmp1351.opp-lat1:3 · narrativemedium
Source
Ego Majorachi presbyt. me testem scripsi, astantibus sacerdotibus nostris, vel cuncto clero, Ego Aripaldus scribere me jussi et testes ascribere.
English
I, Majorachi, presbyter, wrote myself as a witness, with our priests and the entire clergy standing by. I, Aripaldus, ordered myself to write and to inscribe the witnesses.
Citation. Tergwame, “Charta Renuntiationis Jurium Ecclesiae Sancti Martini”, tmp1351.tmp1351.opp-lat1:1, machine-draft, 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/works/tmp1351.tmp1351.opp-lat1#s1
Colophon. Source: ogl-pl · licence: Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License · model: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor · provider: Relace · cost: $0.0017 · generated 2026-11-15.