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The property register of St Maarten's Church in Utrecht is a list of lands and privileges that the church owned from the 8th until the 10th century. The list is part of the cartulary compiled by bishop Radbod.
Originally, the possessions of the church were recorded in charters. In the year 857, the Vikings captured the city of Utrecht. Bishop Hungar escaped and took his exile in the cloister of Saint Odiliënberg near Roermond. He took the charter archive with him. Later, Hungar moved to Deventer. On the orders of his successor Adalbold (Othilbold), copies were made of the charters. After Adalbold, bishop Radbod continued the copying and he also added some personal epistles. Hence the name Cartularium Radbodi. Apart from copies of the donation charters, the cartulary also contained a compilation of the properties, probably made to prove which goods ought to be returned to the church, once the Vikings had left. During the episcopacy of Radbod's successor, Balderik, the coast cleared up again. So, in 922, Balderik returned from Deventer to Utrecht. Work on the cartulary probably continued during subsequent years, until 948. Although the property register was compiled during the first half of the 10th century, its contents are based on older data. The first article in the list (about Dorestad) is based on charters from AD 777 or before. Towards the end of the register there is an article about the time of bishop Adalbold (866-898). The articles in between can not be dated exactly, but they must be based on donations that were done during the years between AD 777 and 866. Roughly, that's the first half of the 9th century. The original Cartularium of Radbod, and most of the original charters, are now lost. Two medieval transcriptions have been preserved. The older copy dates from the end of the 11th century and is now in the British Museum (Codex from the Cottonian Library, numbered Tiberius C.XI; herein, the property register is number CR 23). The second copy is about a century younger and is kept in the Archive of the Bishops of Utrecht (Invent. number 43). This Utrecht manuscript is also known as the Liber Donationum. Sources Gysseling & Koch, Diplomata Belgica, 1950, nr. 195. Henderikx, Het Cartularium van Radbod, 1998. Muller & Bouman, Oorkondenboek van het Sticht Utrecht, 1925, nr. 49. Further pages on the Property register of St Maarten's Church: Text - the full Latin text, Geographical - names of towns, villages an rivers, mentioned in the register, Persons - personal names mentioned in the register, Pictures - the manuscript from the British Museum. Dutch Medieval Sources - Start Page |