Epistolæ

• Beatrice of Savoy

• public

In the name of the father and of the holy and indivisible trinity and the son and holy spirit, amen. In the year of the lord 12[64? sic], I, ... [Beatrice], widow of the renowned B[erengar], with weak/sick body but healthy mind and in good disposition, dispose and assign my movables and immovables in this manner and I make my last will. First, I commend my soul to Jesus Christ and leave him all my movable goods to be distributed in his honor as I shall specify below. I choose my burial [to be] in the church of the Jerusalemite hospital which I built at my expense at Les Echelles and all my land and all my immovable goods which I have and possess as they are from the grant of my mother of good memory and of my bishop-elect brothers in whatever castles, towns, rights, except the castle of Les Echelles with its dependencies which I already gave by my aforesaid donation to the Jerusalemite hospital which I built there.
... I give, bequeath to my dearest daughters Marguerite and Eleanor illustrious queens of the French and of England that they have, hold, and possess all the aforesaid at their will [disposition] for their lifetime. If one of them should ... [give over?] the aforesaid by ceding or death or willing, the other would hold all in her life as set forth above.(!1)If said queens abandoned said goods by death or other manner or should not wish to hold them for life, I wish and order that all the aforesaid goods revert to Thomas ... and Louis ... sons of Thomas my former/deceased brother whom I establish as heirs in the aforesaid. So that whenever any of them should die, the portion of the decedent would revert to the survivor or survivors.
To Eleanor, daughter of the present count Thomas, I bequeath 500 Tours pounds,(!2)to buy furs, gowns, and other necessities when she marries. Also, to the daughter of Rudolph of Geneva, I bequeath 250 Tours pounds for her marriage. Also, to the daughter of Henry of Geneva, 250 Tours pounds. [This sentence is repeated in the transcription.] Also to the daughter of the Contesson of Medoc/Meuillon [Medullionis], 250 Tours pounds. Also to the daughter of the lady of the chamber, 150 Tours pounds. Also to Berengaria, daughter of lord B. of Castellone, 100 Tours pounds.
Also I bequeath 1000 Tours pounds to be distributed by the hand of my executors in pious causes, from which I wish 300 pounds to be given in religious gifts where it seems to them most useful, the rest up to 700 to satisfy my claimants. If any remain, it is to be spent in pious causes where my executors think it most useful. Also, I bequeath to [her daughter] Beatrice, countess of Anjou, a hundred silver marks and designate her my heir in them.
Also, to the lord archbishop of Canterbury, my brother [Boniface], 100 marks. Also, to the lord bishop-elect of Lyons, my brother [Philip] 100 marks. Also, to lord Peter, count of Savoy, my brother, 100 marks. Also, I bequeath 3000 Tours pounds to construct a certain hospital at Les Echelles which will be called the house of God and that possessions be bought for the work of said hospital, from the fruits and revenues of which possessions I wish a general gift or distribution three times each week to all the poor who gather there for that reason.
This is my last will which I wish and assess named by right of testament or canonical equity forthwith, whether codicils or whatever other last will. So that it might be valid in any event and have force, I make the confirmation of this my last will and appoint as executors the venerable father lord John of Vienne, archbishop-elect lord John [Philip] of Lyons, my brother, Lambert, abbot of Hautecombe, Stephen, archdeacon of Canterbury, so that said abbots and archdeacons or another of them who might be first of the counsel of the aforesaid lord archbishop-elect of Lyons should administer all the aforesaid.
Enacted at Amiens in Picardy, in the year and day mentioned above in witness of which we, the aforesaid archbishop of Vienne and bishop of Grenoble, have had our seals affixed to the carefully transcribed document.

In nomine patris sancte et individue trinitatis et filii et spiritus sancti amen. Anno domini minesimo CCmo [sexagesimo quarto?] ego....relicta incliti B....infirma corpore tamen sana mente ac in bona disposicione constituta de rebus mobilibus meis et immobilibus dispono et ordino in hunc modum et meam facio voluntatem ultimam. In primis commanda animam meam Ihesu Christo eique relinquo omnia mea mobilia bona distribuenda ad honorem ipsius sicut inferius declarabo. Sepulturam meam eligo in ecclesia hospitale Jerosolimitanense quam ego edificavi meis sumptibus apud Scanas et totam terram meam que et omnia bona mea immobilia que habeo et possideo et quasi ex conatione bene memorie matris mee et electorum fractum meorum in quibuscumque consistant castris vinis juribus excepto castro accascalis (sic) cum appendenciis suis quod jam dedi donatione inte[rventione] predicta mea hospitali Jherosolimitanensi quod eodem construxi....Do lego carissimis filiabus meis et Margarete francorum Alionore anglie reginis inustribus ut predicta omnia habeant teneant et possideant pro suo libito voluntalis toto tempore vite sue. Altera autem earum cedente vel decedente vel in predictis....volente. Altera totum habeat in vita sua ut superius est expressum [quandocumque] vero dicta bona morte vel alio modo dicte regine dimiserint vel forte in vita tenere nonluerint. Volo el precipio quod onmia predicta bona ad Thomam....[et] Ludovicum....filios condam dicti Thome fratis mei libere revertatur quos in predictis heredes instituo. Ita quod quandocumque aliquis eorum decesserit porcio decedentis ad superstites vel ad superstitem revertatur Alionoir filie presenti comitis Thome lego quingentas turonensium pro emendis pellis vestibus et aliis necessariis quando maritabitur. Item filie Rodulphi Gebennensis lego ad maritandum eam ducentas et quinquaginta librorum turronensium. Item filie Henrici Gebennensis CCL librorum turronensium. Item filie Henrici Gebennensis CCL Iibronlm turronensium. Item filie comtessone de Medulione CCL librorum turronensium. Item filie domine de camera (?) CL librorum turronensium. Item Berengarie filie domini B. de Castelloni C librorum turronensium. Item lego mille librorum turronensium distribuendos per manus executorem meorum in pias causas De quibus volo quod tr[...]tum librorum dentur in [primis] donibus religiosi ubi melius viderint expedire residuas usque (?) septimgentas ad mandandos et pacifficandos clamores meos. Residuum si quod fuerit, expendatur in pias causas ubi melius executores mei viderint expedire. Item lego Beatrici Andegavie comitisse centum marchorum argenti et in eis ipsam michi heredem instituo. Item domino Cantuariensi archiepiscopo fratri meo C marcharum. Item domino Ludonensi electo fratri meo C marcharum. Item domino Petro comicti Sabaudie fratri meo centum marcharum. Item lego tria milia librorum turonensium pro construendo quoddam hospitale apud Scallas quod vocabitur Domus Dei et emendas possessiones ad opus dicti hospitalis de quarum possessionum fructibus et proventibus volo quod fiat generalis dona sive distribucio tres in singulis septimanis omnibus pauperibus ibidem convenientibus hac de causa. Hec est ultima mea voluntas quod volo et precio jure testamenti nuncupatim vel codicillorum vel cujuscumque alterius ultime voluntatis vel saltim de cannonica equitate. Itaquod in omni eventu valeat et robur obtineat firmitatem hujus mee ultime voluntatis facio et ordino executores venerabilem patrem dominum Johannem Viennensem archiepiscopum dominum Johannem Lugdunensem electum fratrem meum, Lambertum abbatem Altecombe, Stephanum archidiaconem Cantuariensem itaquod dicti abbates et archidiaconi vel alter eorum qui primus esset de consilio predictorum domini viennensis archiepiscopi domini Lugdunensis electi predicta omnia adm...terent....Actum Ambiani in Picardia anno et die supradictis in cujus rei testimonium nos viennensis archiepiscopus et Gratianopolitanensis episcopus supradicti hinc transcripto facta diligenti collacione cum originali sigilla nostra duximus apponenda.

Beatrice's will, which makes a number of bequests to women in the family, appears within a vidimus of 1401 which also includes her donation of Les Echelles to the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem and the permission given her by Peter of Savoy to make that donation. There are bequests to her three surviving daughters and to various nieces, as well as to religious causes.

(!1)The Latin transcription breaks up the sentences in an unclear way, so I have followed the French reading, which not only makes more sense, but which seems to be based here and elsewhere on a reading of the original texts, rather than on the transcription which is printed with them. (!2)The Latin transcription gives quingenta, 500, not quinquagenta, 50, but French translation gives 50. Since this is the first named sum and the subsequent bequests are reasonably large, but in declining amounts, I have accepted the Latin reading.

Archives départementales du Rhône, Series 48 H 1841, # 1.

Francisque Viard, Beatrice de Savoye (Lyon: L'Echo de Savoie, 1942) 132-34, document #16.