§ 1. Sancti Sigeberti uxor Imnechildis, filius Dagobertus rex Austrasiorum; neptis sancta Irmina, abnepos sanctus Gregorius Ultrajectinus, aliique a sancto Sigeberto, prognati.
§ 1. The wife of Saint Sigebert, Imnechildis; his son Dagobert, king of the Austrasians; his granddaughter Saint Irmina, his great-great-grandson Saint Gregory of Utrecht, and others descended from Saint Sigebert.
1.
Uxor sancti Sigeberti fuit Imnechildis, nonnullis Emnechildis, Eumechildis et Chinechildis appellata; e qua Dagobertus et forsan plures liberi prognati sunt. Mortuo sancto Sigeberto, Dagobertus, octo aut decem annos natus, cui jure haereditario regnum debebatur, factione magnatum, et potissimum Grimoaldi majoris domus, pulsus est, atque in clericum, Didonis Pictavensis episcopi consilio, attonsus, in Scotiam, sive Hiberniam insulam directus, proque eo in regnum Austrasiorum intrusus Childebertus filius Grimoaldi; quem a sancto Sigeberto in regni haeredem fuisse adoptatum, et Dagobertum defunctum, esse falsus rumor sparserat, uti alibi ex antiquis auctoribus probamus. Imnechildis uxor sancti Sigeberti, abducto in Hiberniam filio videtur Parisios 313Cfugisse, opem imploratura contra regni invasorem. Hoc namque pulso, ipsa cum Childerico adolescente Austrasios rexit, cujus regni an. 2 tam Childericus rex, quam Imnechildis regina Barisiacum monasterium in agro Laudunensi sancto Amando condonarunt. Ejusdem etiam reginae Imnechildis consilio traditur Childericus in Alsatia superiore monasterium in valle sancti Gregorii fundasse.
1.
The wife of Saint Sigebert was Imnechildis, called by some Emnechildis, Eumechildis, and Chinechildis; of whom Dagobert and perhaps several other children were born. When Saint Sigebert had died, Dagobert, then eight or ten years old, to whom by hereditary right the kingdom was owed, was driven out by a faction of the magnates, and above all of Grimoald the mayor of the palace; and, tonsured a cleric on the advice of Dido, bishop of Poitiers, he was sent off into Scotia, that is, the island of Ireland; and in his place Childebert, Grimoald's son, was thrust into the kingdom of the Austrasians — the false report having been spread abroad that he had been adopted by Saint Sigebert as heir of the kingdom, and that Dagobert was dead, as we prove elsewhere from ancient authors. Imnechildis, the wife of Saint Sigebert, once her son had been carried off to Ireland, seems to have fled 313Cto Paris, to implore aid against the invader of the kingdom. For when he had been driven out, she herself governed the Austrasians together with the young Childeric; and in the second year of his reign both Childeric the king and Imnechildis the queen granted the monastery of Barisiacum, in the territory of Laon, to Saint Amandus. By the counsel of the same queen Imnechildis, too, Childeric is said to have founded a monastery in Upper Alsace in the valley of Saint Gregory.
2.
Vivebat eo tempore in Anglia sanctus Wilfridus, an. 664 episcopus consecratus, et circa an. 669 toti Northumbriae praepositus. Hic Dagobertum, ex Hibernia ad se venientem, hospitio excepit, et equis sociisque adjutum in patriam remisit: cui Imnechildis mater in locis magis remotis partem regni procuravit, et inter utrumque regem pacem concordiamque fovit. Dagobertus rex constitutus sanctum Wilfridum ad se venientem benigne excepit, multisque precibus fatigavit ut provinciam remanentia sua dignaretur, episcopatum Strateburgensem accipiens. 313DQuae alibi ex Actis sancti Wilfridi deducimus. Dagoberto huic uxorem fuisse Mechtildem Saxonum ducissam colligimus ex Bruschio, in Episcopis Argentinensibus, in sancto Arbogasto. Imo Dagobertum regno pulsum cum conjuge sua apud Thuringos habitasse tradit e Chron. Mss. Matthaeus Merianus, in topographia archiepisc. Moguntini, agens de Heiligenstadio Eichsfeldiae urbe primaria, quem locum sua primordia Dagoberto debere aiunt. Quae etiam in additionibus ad Lambertum Schafnaburgensem a Pistorio editum, pag. 264, de monasterio Erphurti exstructo leguntur, ad eumdem Dagobertum referenda videntur, et tempus Kygiberti seu Richberti, episcopi Moguntini, probat, sed pro ann. 707 substituendus est an. 677, aut huic vicinus. Ipse autem 314BDagobertus appellatus est rex Germanorum, Francorum, Germanicorum, et Francorum Transrhenanorum, ac praeter ditiones trans Rhenum sitas, obtinuit etiam Alsatiam cum urbe Argentoratensi. In hac Alsatia palatium suum Kirchemium aliaque loca monasterio Haselacensi attribuit, cum sanctus Florentius, dein episcopus Argentoratensis, filiae ejus visum ac loquelam reddidisset. Varia item a Dagoberto ecclesiae Argentoratensi et monasteriis Schutterano et Saraburgo, donata sunt, cum filius ejus a sancto Arbogasto, episcopo Argentoratensi, fuisset ad vitam revocatus. Videtur hic Dagoberti filius in arce regia Semburgo, sive Isemburgo, in lucem editus, ac sacro baptismatis fonte renatus, de avi sui nomine Sigebertus appellatus. Hinc temporibus non distinctis, ipse sanctus Sigebertus suscitatus a morte perperam traditur a Brusch. et Guilliman., de Episc. Argentin., in sancto Arbogasto, atque a Coc., in Dagoberto praevio, c. 15. At resuscitatione omissa, ab apro in venatione ad insulam Rheni Novietensis occisus dicitur 314Ca Joan. Isacio Pontano, l. II Hist. Gelricae; exstinctus veneno per Grimoaldum a Miraeo, in Fast. Belgic., 21 Febr., in elogio Beati Pippini ducis. Veneni suspicionem movent etiam Sanmarth. tom. I Hist. Geneal. reg. Francor., l. V, c. 8. Quae omnia temporum ac personarum facta distinctione corruunt. Reliqua ex Actis sanctorum Arbogasti et Florentii episcoporum Argentoratensium alibi firmamus.
2.
At that time there was living in England Saint Wilfrid, consecrated bishop in the year 664, and about the year 669 set over the whole of Northumbria. He received Dagobert with hospitality when he came to him from Ireland, and sent him back to his native land helped with horses and companions; for whom his mother Imnechildis procured a portion of the kingdom in the more remote regions, and fostered peace and concord between the two kings. Dagobert, once established as king, received Saint Wilfrid kindly when he came to him, and wearied him with many entreaties that he would deign to remain in the province, accepting the bishopric of Strasbourg. 313DThese things we draw out elsewhere from the Acts of Saint Wilfrid. That this Dagobert had as wife Mechtild, duchess of the Saxons, we gather from Brusch, in the Bishops of Strasbourg, under Saint Arbogast. Indeed, that Dagobert, driven from his kingdom, dwelt with his consort among the Thuringians is reported from a manuscript chronicle by Matthaeus Merian, in the topography of the archbishopric of Mainz, when treating of Heiligenstadt, the chief city of the Eichsfeld, which place is said to owe its beginnings to Dagobert. The things also that are read in the additions to Lambert of Hersfeld, published by Pistorius, page 264, concerning the monastery built at Erfurt, seem to be referred to the same Dagobert; and the time of Kygibert, or Richbert, bishop of Mainz, confirms it — but for the year 707 the year 677, or one near to it, is to be substituted. This same 314BDagobert, moreover, was called king of the Germans, of the Franks, of the Germanic peoples, and of the Franks beyond the Rhine; and besides the dominions situated across the Rhine, he obtained Alsace also with the city of Strasbourg. In this Alsace he assigned his palace of Kirchheim and other places to the monastery of Haslach, when Saint Florentius, afterwards bishop of Strasbourg, had restored sight and speech to his daughter. Various things likewise were given by Dagobert to the church of Strasbourg and to the monasteries of Schuttern and Saarburg, when his son had been recalled to life by Saint Arbogast, bishop of Strasbourg. This son of Dagobert seems to have been brought into the light in the royal stronghold of Semburg, or Isemburg, and, reborn at the sacred font of baptism, to have been named Sigebert from his grandfather's name. Hence, the times not being distinguished, Saint Sigebert himself is wrongly reported to have been raised from death by Brusch and Guillimann, On the Bishops of Strasbourg, under Saint Arbogast, and by Cointe, in the preliminary matter on Dagobert, chapter 15. But with the resuscitation omitted, he is said to have been killed by a boar while hunting at the island of the Rhine at Neuss 314Cby Johannes Isacius Pontanus, Book II of the Gelrian History; and to have been destroyed by poison at Grimoald's hand, by Miraeus, in the Belgian Fasti, 21 February, in the eulogy of Blessed Pippin the duke. The Sainte-Marthes also raise the suspicion of poison, in volume I of the Genealogical History of the Kings of the Franks, Book V, chapter 8. All of which collapses once the distinction of times and of persons has been made. The rest we establish elsewhere from the Acts of Saints Arbogast and Florentius, bishops of Strasbourg.
3.
Imnechildis uxor sancti Sigeberti, ac hujus Dagoberti mater commorabatur apud Childericum regem, etiam postquam hic Bilichildem uxorem duxerat. Donationes monachis Stabulens. et Malmundariens. a sancto Sigeberto factas hi tres confirmant. Ipsum diploma infra dandum sic incipit: « Childericus rex Francorum, Emnechildis et Bilechildis gratia Dei reginae, viris illustribus Gundoino duci et Odoni domestico. » Et haec ejus clausula: « Ut haec praeceptio nostra in membranis conscripta, firma et inviolabilis perseveret, manu nostra subter eam decrevimus 314Daffirmare. Signum gloriosi domni Childerici regis. Signum Emnechildis reginae. Signum Bilichildis gratia Dei reginae. Signum Gundoini ducis. Data quando fecit mensis Septemb. dies 6, anno 8 regni domni Childerici regis. Trajecto feliciter. » Annus is est 672. Dein an. 686, mortuo Clotario III, Neustriae et Burgundiae rege, Childericus successit, et una regnum Austrasiorum retinuit; in quo Imnechildem reginam aliqua adhuc cum potestate vixisse innuitur in Vita sancti Praejecti episcopi Arvernorum, 25 Jan., ex Ms. Ultraject. edita, ubi, n. 11, ita legitur: « Cum vir Dei Praejectus (in jus ab Hectore comite vocatus) se undique arctatum cognovisset, necessitate compulsus, ita respondit, se causas Ecclesiae Imnichildae reginae ditioni commendatas habere. Cumque 315Ahanc assertionem cognovissent, imperfectum opus permansit. Beatus igitur Praejectus operis sui laborem, et quomodo per fidejussores venisset exhibitus, tandem depromit. Rex vero et regina Bilichildis (ita nomen in altera Vita exprimitur) timore perculsi, veniam coram omnibus a praedicto episcopo expetunt. » Contigerunt ea an. 679, in solemnibus vigiliis Paschae. Non diu superfuit Childericus, ab insidiatoribus impiis cum regina praegnante interfectus, et Rothomagi in basilica sancti Petri sepultus
3.
Imnechildis, the wife of Saint Sigebert and mother of this Dagobert, was residing with King Childeric, even after he had taken Bilichild to wife. These three confirm the donations made by Saint Sigebert to the monks of Stavelot and Malmedy. The diploma itself, to be given below, begins thus: « Childeric, king of the Franks, Emnechildis and Bilechildis by the grace of God queens, to the illustrious men Gundoin the duke and Odo the domesticus. » And this is its closing clause: « That this our precept, written out on parchment, may endure firm and inviolable, we have determined to confirm it below with our own hand. 314DThe sign of the glorious lord Childeric the king. The sign of Emnechildis the queen. The sign of Bilichildis by the grace of God queen. The sign of Gundoin the duke. Given when the month of September made the 6th day, in the 8th year of the reign of the lord Childeric the king. At Utrecht, happily. » That year is 672. Then in the year 686, upon the death of Chlothar III, king of Neustria and Burgundy, Childeric succeeded, and held the kingdom of the Austrasians along with it; in which that Queen Imnechildis was still living with some measure of power is intimated in the Life of Saint Praejectus, bishop of the Arverni, 25 January, published from a Utrecht manuscript, where, at number 11, we read thus: « When the man of God Praejectus (summoned to court by Count Hector) had realized that he was hemmed in on every side, compelled by necessity he answered that he held the causes of the Church entrusted to the jurisdiction of Queen Imnichildis. And when 315Athey had learned of this assertion, the work remained unfinished. Blessed Praejectus therefore at last discloses the labor of his work, and how he had come forward by means of sureties. But the king and Queen Bilichildis (so the name is expressed in the other Life), struck with fear, sought pardon of the aforesaid bishop before them all. » These things happened in the year 679, during the solemn vigils of Easter. Childeric did not long survive, slain by impious plotters together with his pregnant queen, and buried at Rouen in the basilica of Saint Peter
4.
Occiso Childerico, Theodericus a Neustriis Burgundisque ad regnum revocatus est; ab Austrasiis vero Clodoveus quidam, quod Clotarii III crederetur filius, rex constitutus est, sed eo dein rejecto, legitimus regni haeres Dagobertus sancti Sigeberti filius ab optimatibus evocatus, videtur patris regnum, cujus aliqua parte jam pridem potiebatur, ultro oblatum potius accepisse, quam armis, ac vi bellica subegisse. Hoc novi belli Austrasios inter et Neustrios 315Bfomes fuit. Quod bellum ex Vita sanctae Salabergae abbatissae ab auctore coaevo scripta alibi deducimus.
4.
When Childeric had been killed, Theuderic was recalled to the kingdom by the Neustrians and the Burgundians; but by the Austrasians a certain Clovis was made king, because he was believed to be the son of Chlothar III; but when he had afterwards been rejected, the lawful heir of the kingdom, Dagobert the son of Saint Sigebert, was summoned by the magnates, and seems rather to have accepted his father's kingdom — some part of which he had long since been in possession of — as freely offered, than to have subdued it by arms and the force of war. This was the tinder of a new war between the Austrasians and the Neustrians. 315BWhich war we draw out elsewhere from the Life of Saint Salaberga the abbess, written by a contemporary author.
5.
Inter illustriora monasteria a sancto Sigeberto exstructa, mox dicemus eminere Stabulaum et Malmundarium: quibus donationem a patre suo factam confirmavit Dagobertus jam rex apud Austras. constitutus. Quod diploma ita incipit: « Dagobertus rex Francorum illustris vir. Illud nobis ad stabilitatem regni in Dei nomine provenire confidimus, si facta domni et genitoris nostri Sigeberti quondam regis pro nostris oraculis in Dei nomine firmare deliberamus. Atque ideo vir venerabilis Goduinus, abbas de monasterio Stabulau et Malmundario clementiae regni nostri suggessit, eo quod Dominus . . . et genitor noster Sigebertus rex. . . . per suam praeceptionem concessisset. » Integrum diploma alibi damus, et aliis imperatorum tabulis ac constitutione sancti Leonis IX papae confirmamus. Frisiorum ad fidem 315Cconversionem a Dagoberto rege commendatam fuisse ep. Colon. tradit sanctus Bonifacius archiep. in epist. hac de re ad Stephanum papam missa, atque inter illius epistolas ad Serrarium, n. 97, edita; quam alibi damus et de Dagoberto filio sancti Sigeberti intelligendam esse probamus.
5.
Among the more illustrious monasteries built by Saint Sigebert, we shall shortly say that Stavelot and Malmedy stand out: to which Dagobert, now established as king among the Austrasians, confirmed the donation made by his father. Which diploma begins thus: « Dagobert, king of the Franks, illustrious man. We trust that this will come about, in the name of God, for the stability of the kingdom, if in the name of God we resolve to confirm by our own utterances the acts of our lord and begetter Sigebert, once king. And therefore the venerable man Goduinus, abbot of the monastery of Stavelot and Malmedy, has suggested to the clemency of our kingdom, that the Lord . . . and our begetter King Sigebert . . . . had granted by his precept. » The whole diploma we give elsewhere, and we confirm it by other charters of the emperors and by a constitution of Saint Pope Leo IX. That the conversion of the Frisians 315Cto the faith was entrusted by King Dagobert to the bishop of Cologne is reported by Saint Boniface the archbishop in a letter sent to Pope Stephen on this matter, and published among his letters, in Serarius's edition, number 97; which we give elsewhere, and prove is to be understood of Dagobert the son of Saint Sigebert.
6.
Praeter filium precibus sancti Arbogasti a morte suscitatum plures fuerunt Dagoberto filiae; inter quas praecipua est sancta Irmina virgo monasterii Horrei apud Treviros prima abbatissa, etiam Fastis Martyrol. Rom. ad 24 Dec. ascripta. Sepulta ea est in monasterio Wissenburgensi munificentia Dagoberti parentis dotato, a quo plura monasteria fundata aut dotata fuisse alibi ostendimus. Altera Dagoberti filia, et sancti Sigeberti neptis est Adela, quae post mariti obitum, Irminae sororis exemplo inflammata, monastico item cultu assumpto, vitam sanctissime traduxit, ac monasterio Palatiolo ad Mosellae fluminis ripam exstructo abbatissa praefuit, ejusque ecclesiam bonorum suorum haeredem 315Dscripsit, testamento signato Kal. April. anno 12 Theoderici regis, scilicet, ultimi, an. Chr. 731. In eo testamento mentio fit sororis Regentrudis, qua omissa, alii Rathildem, seu Rothildem, tertiam filiam Dagoberti statuunt, voluntque nuptam fuisse Luderico Bucano, Castri Insulensis in Galloflandria fundatori. Sed id necdum antiquis monumentis probatum reperimus. Id certum est, Albericum dictae Adelae filium plures procreasse liberos, ex quibus sanctus Gregorius individuus sancti Bonifacii ad obitum usque socius, postea Ultrajectinae sedi vice episcopi praefuit presbyter; cujus vitam scripsit sanctus Ludgerus, ejus discipulus. An ex aliquo fratrum sancti Gregorii prognatus sit sanctus Albericus, dein episcopus Ultrajectin. et ab avi nomine ita appellatus, alibi inquirimus. Coluntur santus, Gregor. 25 Augusti et sanctus Albericus 14 Nov. An qui sanctus Dagobertus martyr colitur apud Sathanacenses in Lotharingia, rex fuerit Francorum, et 316Afilius sancti Sigeberti, hactenus judicio nostro definire non audemus.
6.
Besides the son raised from death by the prayers of Saint Arbogast, Dagobert had several daughters; among whom the chief is Saint Irmina, virgin, first abbess of the monastery of Oeren at Trier, inscribed also in the calendars of the Roman Martyrology at 24 December. She was buried in the monastery of Wissembourg, endowed by the munificence of her father Dagobert, by whom several monasteries were founded or endowed, as we show elsewhere. Another daughter of Dagobert, and granddaughter of Saint Sigebert, is Adela, who after her husband's death, kindled by the example of her sister Irmina, likewise took up the monastic habit, passed her life in the greatest holiness, and presided as abbess over the monastery built at Pfalzel on the bank of the river Moselle; and she named its church heir 315Dof her goods, the testament being signed on the Kalends of April in the 12th year of King Theuderic — that is, the last — the year of Christ 731. In that testament mention is made of her sister Regentrudis; and, omitting her, others set down Rathildis, or Rothildis, as a third daughter of Dagobert, and would have her married to Ludericus Bucanus, founder of Insulense Castrum in Gallo-Flanders. But this we have not yet found proved by ancient records. This is certain, that Alberic, the son of the said Adela, begot several children, from among whom Saint Gregory was the inseparable companion of Saint Boniface until his death, and afterwards, as a presbyter, presided over the see of Utrecht in the bishop's stead; whose life Saint Ludger, his disciple, wrote. Whether from one of Saint Gregory's brothers was descended Saint Alberic, afterwards bishop of Utrecht and so named from his grandfather's name, we inquire elsewhere. Saint Gregory is venerated on 25 August, and Saint Alberic on 14 November. Whether he who is venerated as Saint Dagobert the martyr among the people of Stenay in Lorraine was king of the Franks and 316Athe son of Saint Sigebert, we do not thus far, in our judgment, dare to determine.
§ II. Monasteria exstructa, dotata.
§ II. Monasteries built and endowed.
1.
Monasteria duodecim exstructa refert in Actis sancti Sigeberti auctor; quae soli Ardennae attribuit Gelenius; universim viginti exstructa cum Gelenio volunt Molan., in Auctario Usuardi, Galesin. et Sauss., quorum verba supra dedimus. Brouwerus de iis, in sua Metropoli, necdum edita, ita scribit: « Anno 651, Sigebertus Austrasiorum rex Metis in sua regia, eximia vitae innocentia ac praestanti in omne religiosorum genus liberalitate florebat, viginti amplitudine non vulgari conditis exstructisque et vectigalibus perpetuis auctis passim monasteriis, in quibus Malmundariu II et Stabulense in Ardennae finibus, sancti Martini vero in Metensi suburbano fuere. » Haec Brouwerus, sed reliqua monasteria nec ipse, nec alii nominant. De Metensi condito et 316Bdestructo infra agemus. Ad Vitam sancti Amandi, 6 Feb., referemus apud Austrasios, dum iis praeesset rex sanctus Sigebertus, multa in Belgicis et Germanicis provinciis exstructa esse monasteria, quae hic omittimus recensere. Ante Stabulense et Malmundariense, aliud erectum est Casaeconguduni in ducatu Luxemburgensi ad amnem Sesmarum seu Sesomirim, vulgo Sesmoy aut Semoy, inter Chinium et Bullonium oppida: cujus posterioribus saeculis exstitit prioratus in pago Cougnon. De eo pluribus agemus 3 Feb., ad Vitam sancti Hadelini. Damus infra (Col. 319, dipl. I) diploma sancti Sigeberti nobis ab humanissimo viro Joanne Antonio Gournesio congregationis Oratorii presbytero communicatum, ex quo constat sanctum Remaclum abbatem constitutum esse, cum necdum esset episcopus Trajectensis, superstite adhuc episcopo Metensi Godone, aliis Dodone, seu Godeo, cui successit sanctus Clodulphus filius sancti Arnulphi, ad quem episcopum 316CRemaclus primo anno sui episcopatus sanctum Trudonem misit. Hinc optime refellitur Bouchetus, qui, p. I Originum familiae regiae Francorum, cap. 6, tempus episcopatus Godonis numerat ab anno 659 ad 667, eique suffectum sanctum Clodulphum vixisse ad annum 707 arbitratur. Qui in diplomate praeter Sesomirim nominatur Alsnia fluvius, supra Luxemburgum exortus, urbem alluit, et Atarto mistus, aquam in Suram exonerat, ac dein in Mosellam delabitur. Silva autem Uriacuise ad vicum Ures infra Bullonium pertigerit, aut potius Viracuise legendum, et tum referretur ad vicinum Viram amnem. His ante expositis diploma facilius intelligetur.
1.
The author in the Acts of Saint Sigebert reports twelve monasteries built; which Gelenius attributes to the Ardennes alone; twenty built in all, with Gelenius, Molanus, in the Auctarium to Usuard, Galesinius, and Saussay would have it — whose words we have given above. Brouwer writes thus of them in his Metropolis, not yet published: « In the year 651, Sigebert, king of the Austrasians, at Metz in his royal seat, flourished by the singular innocence of his life and by outstanding liberality toward every kind of religious, with twenty monasteries founded and built on no common scale and enriched with perpetual revenues here and there, among which were Malmundariu II and Stavelot within the bounds of the Ardennes, and Saint Martin's in the suburb of Metz. » So Brouwer; but the remaining monasteries neither he nor others name. Of the one at Metz, founded and 316Bdestroyed, we shall treat below. At the Life of Saint Amandus, 6 February, we shall relate that among the Austrasians, while Saint Sigebert the king was set over them, many monasteries were built in the Belgic and Germanic provinces, which we here omit to enumerate. Before Stavelot and Malmedy, another was erected at Casaeconguduni in the duchy of Luxembourg on the river Sesmarus, or Sesomiris, commonly Sesmoy or Semoy, between the towns of Chiny and Bouillon: of which in later ages there existed a priory in the district of Cougnon. Of it we shall treat more fully on 3 February, at the Life of Saint Hadelin. We give below (Col. 319, dipl. I) a diploma of Saint Sigebert communicated to us by that most courteous man Jean Antoine de Gournay, presbyter of the Congregation of the Oratory, from which it is established that Saint Remaclus was appointed abbot when he was not yet bishop of Maastricht, while Godo — by others Dodo, or Godeo — bishop of Metz, was still surviving, whom Saint Chlodulf, son of Saint Arnulf, succeeded, to which bishop 316CRemaclus in the first year of his episcopate sent Saint Trudo. Hence Bouchet is excellently refuted, who, in part I of the Origins of the Royal Family of the Franks, chapter 6, reckons the period of Godo's episcopate from the year 659 to 667, and judges that Saint Chlodulf, put in his place, lived until the year 707. In the diploma there is named, besides the Sesomiris, the river Alsnia, which rises above Luxembourg, washes the city, and, mingled with the Atarto, discharges its water into the Sûre, and thence glides down into the Moselle. And the wood Uriacuise would have reached to the village of Ures below Bouillon; or rather Viracuise is to be read, and then it would be referred to the neighboring river Vire. These things having been set out beforehand, the diploma will be more easily understood.
2.
Notgerus, episcopus Leodiensis, in Vita sancti Remachi episcopi Trajectensis, 3 Sept., meminit alterius Vitae ab auctore antiquiore et fere coaevo conscriptae, de quo in prologo ad Werenfridum abbatem haec scribit: « Obtulistis libellum de Vita tam nostri, quam vestri specialis patroni, domini, 316Dscilicet, Remacli, conquestus propter incuriam tamen praedecessorum vestrorum brevius, quam ut res postularet pro magnitudine gestorum ejus esse eruditam; simulque visus es, ut ne dicam precari, sed potius exhortari, ut eam non modo exemplari, verum aliquanto lepidius mandarem poliri. » In hoc priori libello, seu Vita sancti Remacli, de exstructis monasteriis Stabulensi et Malmundariensi ita legitur: « Contigit, Deo favente, juberi a piis principibus regni Francorum Sigeberto rege, et Grimoaldo duce, ex voluntate Dei et consilio optimatum suorum, ut construerentur infra forestem monasteria, sita in pago qui Ardoenna dicitur, cognominata Stabulaus, sive Malmundarium, in quibus commanerent religiosi monachi, qui spiritualiter inibi Christo famularentur; et pro statu totius regni, et regis salute vel filiorum, sive curam regni exercentium, omnipotentem Dominum exorarent. Tunc coeperunt aedificare attentius, et, ut assolet in tali opere, virtus divina 317Asubsecuta est, prosperoque successu velociter adimpleta sunt. Cumque adesset tempus ut ecclesiae nova materia ornatae dedicarentur, mittens praefatus rex ad beatum Remaclum episcopum, quia alter eorum, id est, Stabulaus, ad ejus pertinebat dioecesim; alterum vero, id est, Malmundarium, quia metropolim respiciebat, cum consensu Cuniberti, qui erat metropolitanus Agrippinae, evocavit eum, ut, sicut conveniebat ejus ministerio [ Al., mysterio], eas dedicaret. Quod sanctissimus vir illico obaudiens, cum magna diligentia explevit opus sibi injunctum, quod ejus dispositione dudum fuerat actum; quia, cum esset regi ac primis palatii propter maximam sanctitatem vicinus ac amatus, nihil praecipuum absque ejus consultu fiebat. Unde factum est, quia tam charus eis habebatur, ut missarum peractis solemniis, traderet ei praedicta loca jam dictus major domus Grimoaldus, sua ditione cuncta ordinari, et monasticae vitae instituta isthic servari. Post non multum vero temporis impetravit tandem a rege, quatenus relinquens 317Bsuccessorem post se in sede pontificali, ut diu desiderabat, hunc eremi locum adiret, et ibi ab hominibus remotus soli Deo vacaret . . . . Manens itaque pervigili cura, absque ulla reprehensione, in monasticis documentis, multos nobilium virorum animos convertit, ut imitatores fierent illius vitae, cujus erat doctrina 318Aperfecta: quia, quod ore docebat, prius opere adimplere curabat. Unde factum est ut crescente religione cresceret etiam census ejusdem ecclesiae, in usus ibidem servorum Dei famulantium. Nam audientes cultum hujusmodi religionis jam dicti piissimi principes, evocantes beatum virum, tradiderunt ei ex ipsa foreste duodecim leucas in longitudine, similiter et in latitudine, in quo spatio nullus contradictor existeret suae ditioni vel succedentium ei, ut quiete Deo militarent. Nec non affirmarunt testamento cum signaculis imperialibus, ut stabile illud omni tempore duraret: quod Pater sanctissimus suscepit libenter ac tenuit reverenter. Verum non multo post ipsum spatium abbreviare studuit, ut sine impedimento fieret sequacibus, et sine ullo obstaculo rectores loci possent servare, quod ad nostrum usque tempus inconvulsum durare videtur omnino. » Haec ibi. Sunt vero monasteria Stabuletum et Malmundarium dissita Leodio o to fere leucis horariis, qua versus Orientem et Treviros abitur. Exstrui 318Butrumque coeptum circa annum Christi 655, qui erat episcopatus sancti Remacli sextus; diplomata vero concessa sunt sub finem vitae ejusdem regis Sigeberti. Horum partem profert Notgerus in Vita sancti Remacli. Haec diplomata damus infra.
2.
Notger, bishop of Liège, in the Life of Saint Remaclus, bishop of Maastricht, 3 September, makes mention of another Life composed by an older and almost contemporary author, concerning which he writes thus in the prologue to Abbot Werenfrid: « You have offered a little book on the Life of the special patron both of ours and of yours, that is, of the lord 316DRemaclus, complaining that, owing to the negligence of your predecessors, it had been treated more briefly than the matter required for the greatness of his deeds; and at the same time you seemed — that I may not say to entreat, but rather to exhort — that I should bid it be not merely copied out, but polished somewhat more elegantly. » In this earlier little book, or Life of Saint Remaclus, we read thus concerning the building of the monasteries of Stavelot and Malmedy: « It came to pass, by God's favor, that it was ordered by the pious princes of the kingdom of the Franks, King Sigebert and Duke Grimoald, by the will of God and the counsel of their magnates, that monasteries should be built within the forest, situated in the district which is called the Ardennes, named Stavelot and Malmedy, in which religious monks should dwell together, who might there spiritually serve Christ; and might beseech the almighty Lord for the state of the whole kingdom, and for the safety of the king and of his sons, or of those exercising the care of the kingdom. Then they began to build more earnestly, and, as is wont in such a work, the divine power 317Afollowed after, and with prosperous success they were swiftly completed. And when the time was at hand that the churches, adorned with new material, should be dedicated, the aforesaid king, sending to the blessed bishop Remaclus — because one of them, that is, Stavelot, belonged to his diocese, but the other, that is, Malmedy, since it looked to the metropolitan see, with the consent of Cunibert, who was metropolitan of Cologne — summoned him, that, as befitted his ministry [ Al., mysterio], he might dedicate them. And that most holy man, obeying at once, with great diligence completed the work enjoined upon him, which had long since been carried out by his own arrangement; because, since by reason of his very great sanctity he was close to the king and to the chief men of the palace and beloved by them, nothing of importance was done without his counsel. Whence it came about, since he was held so dear by them, that when the solemnities of the Masses had been performed, the aforesaid mayor of the palace Grimoald handed over to him the said places, that all things should be ordered under his jurisdiction, and that the institutes of the monastic life should be kept there. But after no long time he at last obtained from the king that, leaving behind 317Ba successor after him in the pontifical see, as he had long desired, he might go to this place of the desert, and there, removed from men, be free for God alone . . . . And so remaining with unsleeping care, without any reproach, in the monastic disciplines, he converted the minds of many noble men, so that they became imitators of that life whose teaching was 318Aperfect: because what he taught with his mouth, he took care first to fulfill in deed. Whence it came about that, as religion grew, the revenue of that same church also grew, for the uses of the servants of God serving there. For the aforesaid most pious princes, hearing of the practice of religion of this kind, summoning the blessed man, handed over to him from that same forest twelve leagues in length, and likewise in breadth, within which space there should be no gainsayer of his jurisdiction or of those succeeding him, so that they might quietly serve God as soldiers. Moreover they confirmed it by a testament with the imperial seals, that it might endure stable for all time: which the most holy Father received gladly and held reverently. But not long after he took pains to shorten that same space, that it might be without hindrance to those who followed, and that the rulers of the place might be able to keep it without any obstacle — which down to our own time appears to endure altogether unshaken. » So far that. Now the monasteries of Stavelot and Malmedy lie about o to hours' leagues distant from Liège, in the direction in which one goes eastward and toward Trier. The building 318Bof both was begun about the year of Christ 655, which was the sixth of the episcopate of Saint Remaclus; but the diplomas were granted toward the end of the life of the same King Sigebert. Notger sets out a part of them in the Life of Saint Remaclus. These diplomas we give below.