Description
[Indre-et-Loire]
The consecrated bread at Nazelles-Négron, 14th century
Ecclesiastical charter, on parchment, c. 1380, 28 x 25 cm
written in brown ink entirely in medieval legal and ecclesiastical Latin
Deed issued by the Officiality of Tours settling the dispute and establishing the perpetual dues for the Blessed Bread of Pentecost for the parish of Nazelles, payable by Guillaume Guespier from his holding (2 bushels of wheat and 2 sols in rent)
The ‘baker’ of Nazelles Church accuses Guillaume Guespier of failing to fulfil his obligation to provide the blessed bread for the Pentecost Mass, charging him with breaches of duty and deceit. To avoid excommunication or the financial ruin that a lawsuit would entail, Guillaume Guespier agreed to a binding settlement. The obligation became perpetual and hereditary: it was attached to his ‘tenement’ (his farm). The obligation to provide the consecrated bread was a genuine land-related servitude that could be passed on with the land. If the family failed to deliver the grain on the Saturday evening before Pentecost, the church had the right to seize their property immediately in order to buy the bread at the market.
Originally, offering the ‘blessed bread’ to the church on the day of a major feast (such as Pentecost, Saint Florentin’s Day in Amboise or Saint Symphorien’s Day) was an honour reserved for the village’s leading figures or prominent families. However, in the 14th century (the period covered by your document), the economic crisis caused by the Hundred Years’ War transformed this honour into a dreaded financial burden. The price of wheat fluctuated enormously. To ensure that the altar was always supplied, the churches of Touraine began to link this obligation to specific plots of land (the ‘tenement’).
In Touraine, the blessed bread for major feasts was no ordinary bread. Archival texts describe a loaf made from pure wheat (the most expensive grain, reserved for the wealthy and for the altar, unlike the rye or mixed grain eaten by the common people), often enriched (which later became the famous Touraine brioche or ‘gâteau de rôle’).
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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