Beaumont Charters

Date range: c.1157-1839 (bulk late 12th-14th centuries)

Medium: Archive

This sequence of over one hundred charters relating to abbeys in Normandy was part of a collection assembled by the Abbé Gervais De La Rue (1751-1835), the noted Norman scholar. In around 1840 the charters were acquired in Paris by Thomas Stapleton (1806-1849), editor of the Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae (1840-44).

The collection constitutes a significant source for studies of land-holding and the organization of religious houses in medieval France. Documents comprise grants, confirmations of grants, vidimuses, licences and legal agreements concerning lands belonging to abbeys at Ardenne, Aunay-sur-Odon, Barbery, Caen, Fècamp, Fontenay-le-Tesson, Gouffern, Troarn and Vignats. The majority of items relate to religious houses and their estates in the Dèpartement of Calvados, with smaller numbers concerning the Départements of Manche, Orne and Seine Inférieure. Much of the material dates from the late 12th, 13th and early 14th centuries.

Among the most interesting items are a Bull of Pope Nicholas III, and a Bull of the Antipope Benedict XIII relating to the Benedictine Abbey of La Sainte-Trinité in Caen.

Further information:

• Catalogue available online via ELGAR.

Location:

• The John Rylands Library, Deansgate  [Map]
• Find out how to use the reading rooms in the John Rylands Research Institute and Library