In a couple of previous posts on this blog, we’ve looked at the impact the vikings had on the see of Utrecht over the course of the ninth century. I’ve argued that the impact was different and less inherently disruptive than is normally supposed – the fact that the bishops spent most of the latter half of the century at Sint-Odiliënberg then Deventer has rather more to do with the long-term impact of Bishop Hunger mismanaging his relationship with Lothar II than of the plundering of the area by vikings. Today, I want to look at one of the main sources we have for the church of Utrecht during this time: the so-called Cartularium Radbodi, a property inventory from the time of Bishop Ratbod in the early tenth century. Here’s the text:
Dip. Belg. no. 195
A memorial of the goods of the church of Sint-Maarten of Utrecht, which were formerly given there by the faithful.
In Dorestad, the church called Bovenkerk with all its appendages, lands, meadows, pastures, waters and watercourses, fisheries. All this with the island which lies next to the church of Sint-Maarten with the Rhine and the Lek all around; and the island which is next to Beuzichem which is closer to the estate of Rijswijk. All of this is Sint-Maarten’s. In addition from the above-said trading place, the tenth part of Sint-Maarten’s on all goods; and the land of Sint-Maarten between Holle Weg and Fengrimahusonham, and what is commonly called Rec.
In the estate of Rijswijk, churches with the lands pertaining to the same, and three other manses.
In De Loet, three churches with the lands pertaining to the same, and 7 other manses excepting the royal tithe; and in Haastrecht a third part of the whole estate, and moreover 1 manse which Hagabard gave; the estate of Doorn with a church and the whole of what is Sint-Maarten’s; similarly the estate of Galana.
In the estate of Werse 1 manse.
In Buurt three manses.
In the estate of Opburen 1 manse.
In Geestdorp 1, and the wood lying there.
In the estate of De Zemelen 1 manse.
In the estate of Houten, whatever Herlulf had there, and the church with five manses.
In Lanthem 1 next to the river Laca.
In the abovesaid estate of Buurt, 1 manse which Herlulf gave.
In Helspenni, 4 and a half manses.
In Loerik, 3 houses.
In Ruigenhoek everything of Sint-Maarten’s.
Similarly in Rumst.
In Werkhoven, two churches with lands pertaining to the same, and eight other manses.
In the estate of Odijk a third part of the estate.
In Fresdore a church with 4 manses.
The whole of Bunnik is Sint-Maarten’s. Similarly Vechten. Similarly Nederhorst [?]. Similarly Zwezereng.
In Rudinhem 4 parts of the whole estate. Similarly Zwezereng. Similarly Maarsen.
In Loenersloot, two parts of the whole estate are Sint-Maarten’s.
In Marsch [?], similarly 4 partes of the whole estate.
In the district of Germepi, 5 parts both in lands and also pastures and fisheries and of all goods are Sint-Maarten’s, also as the IJssel flows, in woods and in pastures or fisheries, 5 parts are Sint-Maarten’s.
In Woerden, everything is Sint-Maarten’s.
In Poederoyen [?], 5 manses.
In Woudrichem, 5 parts of the estate. In Harmelen [?], 4 parts.
The estate of Ginnele is the property of Sint-Maarten.
In Calmere, 4 parts of the whole estate.
In Alphen, two parts of the estate. Similarly in Braacanhem.
In Wilnis, 7 manses.
In Macteshem, 2 manses.
In Upuuilcanhem, three manses. In Zwieten similarly. In Hanatce, similarly.
In Holland [?], 4 manses. In the first place in Leiderdorp, 2; in the second, 1; in the third, 1.
In Roodenburg, five manses. In Leiderdorp, 5. In Lopsen, two. Similarly in Ter Lips. In Ter Wadding, three. Similarly in De Veur. 2 in Voorburg. Three in Voorschoten. 1 in Galinghem.
In Hosteppinheri, one manse. In Uuesteppinheri, 2.
In Corscan, three manses.
Thiatlind, daughter of Aldbert, with her son Reginbert, gave to Sint-Maarten whatever they had in Uphuson.
The church which is called Holtsele, with all its appendages, is Sint-Maarten’s.
In Maasland, all the tithes are Sint-Maarten’s, and all of Zwijndrecht. All of Oostbuurt.
Similarly the church which is called Valkenburg, with all its appendages, is Sint-Maarten’s wholly and entirely.
The whole of Houerathorp.
Four manses in Suthrem. 5 in Hillenaer. Three in Uabbinghem. 2 in Gintasstrip. 1 in Pillinghem. 1 in Marandi. 2 in Epbaradum. 2 in Elfnum. 2 in Uuirthvm.
In Monster whatever Elegswind had as an inheritance there, and was seen to be her possession she gave entirely to Sint-Maarten.
In De Lier, 3. In Ruiven, 3. In Hustingest, 3. In Litiongest, 3. In Langongest, a manse and a half.
In Houarathorpa, half of the whole estate, whatever Erulf and Ralph [= Heriolfr and Rudolf?] gave there and held as an inheritance.
In Rijnsburg, half of the whole estate is Sint-Maarten’s, and also Aldburga’s inheritance, whatever she had there.
The fishery which Gerulf had in the furthest part of the river Rhine, 6 parts pertain to Sint-Maarten.
5 Manses in Helsem. 2 in Osbragttashem. 3 in Heslemaholta. 3 in Lisse. 5 in Sassenheim. 2 in Schoot.
In Osfrithhem taglingthos, a third part and 6 manses.
In Sassenheim, everything except 2 manses.
5 in Lisse. 3 in Warmond. 2 in Oegstgeest. 2 in Poelgeest. 3 in Husingesgest. 2 in Oslem.
In Uuilkenhem with all its appendages, it’s Sint-Maarten’s; similarly in Burem with all its appendages and in Teilingen similarly everything is Sint-Maarten’s.
2 in Broek [?].
In Limmen, a church with 10 manses.
7 in Noordwijk.
In Leeuwenhorst, it is wholly and entirely Sint-Maarten’s, with woods and all adjacencies.
Similarly Akersloot, everything is Sint-Maarten’s.
3 in Haarlem. 2 in Velzen. 10 in Suattingabvrim. 10 in Scranaholt.
In De Vennep, everything is Sint-Maarten’s.
2 in Texel. 2 in Breem. 2 in Bakkum. 3 in Laan. 6 in Beinhem [?]. 5 in De Westen [?]. 2 in De Waal [?]. 1 in Broek [?]. 3 in Cunulfhem. 2 in Godolfhem. 1 in Pischem. 7 in Gank.
In Gnisingo, everything is Sint-Maarten’s.
5 in Wittinggeest [?]. 3 in Huisduinen. 2 in Lidum. 2 in Algarener. 3 in ‘t Torp. 2 in Petten.
In Suhthusum, everything is Sint-Maarten’s.
In Hargen, 3. In Suhtrem, 2. In Brechtdorp, 2. In Schoorl, 4. In Bergen, 5. In Bentveld, 2. In Camperduin, 1. In Beccanburen, 1. In Vroon, 1.
In Texel, a third part in Sint-Maarten’s. In Wieringen, two parts of the whole land are Sint-Maarten’s, with the churches of both parts of the land; and similarly in Vatrop. Also, the tithes from the ships which are wrecked there by storm winds, and the discovery of which pertains to Sint-Maarten, because the toll is not had of them.
Regarding tolls, and regarding business or anything which the right of the fisc ought to take as renders for the king’s part, the whole tithe is Sint-Maarten’s; similarly concerning the tribute which is called huslotho.
In Overmeer, all the fisheries; and in Uitermeer, all of the right to set up nets which is called tragal and half of the fisheries pertains to Sint-Maarten.
In Dalmersce, the whole fishery is Sint-Maarten’s.
In Getzeuuald, on the river Vecht, all the fishery is Sint-Maarten’s.
In Muiden, seven weirs for fishing.
In IJsselmeer, the tithe of the royal render which is called cogsculd.
In Nes, the estate with all the fisheries.
Moreover, in IJsselmeer the tithe from the drag-nets is Sint-Maarten’s; but now the other nine parts are the property of Sint-Maarten. But also the other fishery on the river Vecht is entirely Sint-Maarten’s, with all the ponds adjacent to it; and all the water in Nifterlake with all the fisheries is Sint-Maarten’s.
From Wieringen in Elft, a dominical manse with salt-producing land is Sint-Maarten’s, with the serfs dwelling in the same estate, of whom these are the names: Fulcheric, Hoffo, Redbald, Saxger, Thietmar, Redgar, Redulf, Sinath, Reingerd, Saxbraht, Aldo, Ricbald the deacon, Wibald, Tiebo, Huno, Wulfbald, Aldolf, Geldulf, Hildulf, Oatbald, Garhelm, Betto, Saxger, Everbald, Oslief, Osbruht, Tatto, Edo: whatever they have there is now calculated as 12 manses, of which Poppo has 1.
6 in Noorden [?]. 6 in Luddingem and in Stene. 3 in Huuuido.
There are 3 king’s manses in Eddingem, and what is left over is entirely Sint-Maarten’s, which makes 32 manses.
In the place which is called De Westen, 25 manses.
In Stroe, sixty and 12 manses, which belonged to God, SS Martin, Boniface, Willibrord, Liudger, Landbert and the lord king in Bante.
Abbo, Aldchrafan, Thrudlaf, Liudrad, Gerard, Siburg, Refnulf, Bulo, Fulculf, Garburg, Saxbald and his brother, who held Thangburgam: they are Sint-Maarten’s with the land which they have.
13 manses in Wittinggeest [?].
2 manses in Noorden.
5 manses in Wanbays.
3 manses in Laan [?].
4 manses in De Westen [?]. 2 in De Waal [?].
9 manses in Beverwijk [?].
3 manses in Hlithum.
In Hrothaluashem, which is now called Rijnsburg, 12 manses are Sint-Maarten’s. And concerning the inheritance of Ralph and Aldburga, which they gave to Sint-Maarten, and the manses lying at De Vliet; also the settlements which are called ofstedi, at De Vliet, which also the abovesaid people dwell.
In Beverwijk [?], Gytha [Gutha] gave a church which was not yet consecrated into the right and dominion of Sint-Maarten, on the condition that after the consecration of the same church tithes should go to the same church from the estates called by these names: Beverwijk [?], Gisleshem, Hegginghem, Schupildhem.
Besides which, there are bondsmen who ought rightly to be the property of the blessed Martin next to Velsen: Tetta and her son Abbo and her three daughters, also Betto and his sister, and Fritheswind and her sister Erinburg with their children.
In Texel, all the churches are Sint-Maartens, and a third part of all the land which pertains to the king is Sint-Maarten’s, excepting other lands which Christ’s faithful gave for love of Him. These all endured undisturbed until the time of Bishop Odilbald of good memory, in whose time there was also a certain priest named Sigbrand, who at the command of the aforesaid bishop ruled all the churchs on the same isle of Texel, whose brothers were named with these names: Othrauan and Liutrauan.
In Norhtuualde, the royal tithe, as in other places; and in addition all of Akersloot is Sint-Maarten’s.
In Medemblik, the royal tithes; and in addition everything as is contained in the water which is called Uiuuuarflet is all Sint-Maarten’s; and also in addition Vreeswijk is entirely Sint-Maarten’s in lands, woods, pastures, waters and fisheries.
Before we go further into this document, a bit of housekeeping. I’ve put as many place names into a modern form as I can, but you shouldn’t necessarily take them too seriously. (This is why I haven’t put a map here.) Even where not marked with questions marks, several of them are of uncertain validity. In other cases, I’ve picked one of several possibilities. If you’re really interested in identifying the names, there are easily Google-able web resources, and I’d also recommend going to the sources, the Diplomata Belgica edition I’ve used, or the Oorkondenboek of Utrecht, which is freely available on the open web. On the flip side, although specific place names may be more or less plausible, there are also studies indicating that even where we can’t pinpoint them, most of the unidentified place-names are in the northern part of the modern-day Netherlands, particularly in what is now Holland.
So, moving on to the text, we’ve got a pretty substantial list of properties here. How many of them did the church of Utrecht actually control by the early tenth century? The minimum reading here is probably that the church held only the documentation. Notably, this list is organised roughly geographically, describing a curve heading first west and then north, and no property east of the area of Dorestad is mentioned. That is, no property in the vicinity of the bishop of Utrecht’s then-current seat at Deventer is included in this list, which suggests that it was held more securely and didn’t need to have a record made of it. It is possible to reverse this logic, though: we know that Ratbod was interested in moving the see back to Utrecht itself, and this list could well have been to prepare a reorganisation of the lands in the immediate vicinity. That is, lands in (say) Deventer were not more secure, but less relevant. Certainly, as you can probably guess from the tenor of my previous posts on this question, I am something of a maximalist here. Part of the reason is that there is evidence from elsewhere that estates from this area were under the control of Frankish churches during this period. In particular, an estate survey from the abbey of Werden clearly shows that they had a man on the ground at this time in this area, and in some cases (such as Zwezereng) in precisely the same estates. I can’t see any reason that Werden’s control of its lands around Utrecht would be easier to implement than Utrecht’s.
Admittedly, we are clearly dealing with a moving target here. There’s something almost cubist about the Cartularium Radbodi. Take the case of Houerathorp, for example, which as listed as being half-owned and entirely owned by Utrecht at the same time. Presumably, we are dealing here with unmarked change over time. This comes through a bit more clear in the case of the church’s fishing rights at IJsselmeer, the entry for which is more clearly from two separate time periods. Ditto the entry regarding landholding at Wieringen: the reference to Poppo holding the estates ‘now’ is probably, although not certainly, contemporary. Nonetheless, it’s interesting that the only entry to be given anything like a full historical context is the reference to Utrecht’s church on the island of Texel. Here, we are told that Utrecht controlled this church until the reign of Bishop Odilbald. That is, they controlled it through the supposed disruption period under Roric of Dorestad, which is what we’d expect. Another thing we might expect is that they lost it in the 880s. Around the year 880, northern France, Germany and the Benelux were subjected to several years worth of severe and sustained viking attacks, which do seem to have been more disruptive than their mid-century equivalents; and Texel would have been right in the firing line. Even then, though, it’s only Texel which is explicitly noted as having been lost at this time…
In fact, there are hints that mid-century vikings may have patronised Utrecht. I’m not sure how confident I am in this argument – it’s certainly not what you’d call clinching – but hear me out. There were two sets of personal names which caught my attention. The first is the pairing of Erulf and Ralph at Houerathorp. Ralph (Radulfus), of course, is one of the most common Germanic names out there; but Erulf (Erulfus) is a bit less common. It’s still a good Frankish name, of course – except that it rung a bell at the back of my head. There’s are a few oblique references in Irish sources to a Northman named Herjolfr (=Erulf) whose floruit would have been in the mid-to-late ninth century. Radulfus is the same name as Rodulf, a Frisian viking leader who was killed in Ireland. Houerathorp clearly contains the place-name element –thorp, which in England is diagnostically Scandinavian, but which does exist in Old Frisian, although the work I’ve read on this have very differing views on whether or not it can still be taken as probably Scandinavian in this context. So we have two names associated with vikings with Irish associations and in one case definitely Frisia, who own an estate which may have an Old Norse place name element. There’s a lot of maybes in this, but it intrigues me. More convincing, I think, is the case of Gutha. I have never encountered this name in a Frankish context, and I can’t find it for looking except as a version of the Old Norse female name Gytha. Moreover, the estate Gytha gave, Beverwijk (if Beverwijk it was) is on the Kennemerland coast, a short walk from Egmond where – as we’ve seen in a previous post – Roric of Dorestad patronised the cult centre. Here, I feel like I’m on more solid ground in suggesting that this is a person of Scandinavian background.
The Cartularium Radbodi, then, is a really interesting and helpful text which supports the points I made in previous posts. It suggests that there was little global disruption to Utrecht’s property and – if my speculations are right – may even hint that Northmen acted as Utrecht’s patrons.
The Historian's Sketchpad 