''Pancartes'' were medieval historical documents, drawn up by a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

, that recorded a sequence of gifts to the monastery. They were created in order that the whole group of grants or gifts could be confirmed by the ruler.Van Houts "Historical Writing" ''Companion to the Anglo-Norman World'' p. 117 They are known from Normandy and other northern French regions. Sometimes they were created over a number of years as successive gifts were added to the original document. Generally the various grants were tied together with a narrative, usually quite short, that linked the various gifts to a short history of the religious house.Chibnall "Charter and Chronicle" ''Church and Government'' p. 11 These documents were a frequent product of monastic houses in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

during the early 11th century and afterwards. Normally, they were not a product of the lay administration's chanceries, but came from ecclesiastical sources. The historian David Bates has argued that the term ''pancartes'' has been overused in historical studies, pointing out that the strict definition of the term is "a charter which reproduces the text of more than one charter". The important point to Bates is that the document duplicates the original

diplomatic Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents: especially, historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, p ...

of the copied charter.Bates "Introduction" ''Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum'' p. 22 Sometimes the ''pancarte'' was recopied after a number of additions had been made to the original, and this could occasionally lead to errors in chronology, as the additions to the original might have been made without respect to the actual order of the donations. The historian

Marjorie Chibnall Marjorie McCallum Chibnall (27 September 1915 – 23 June 2012) was an English historian, medievalist and Latin translator. She edited the ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' by Orderic Vitalis, with whom she shared the same birthplace of Atcham in Shr ...

states that the medieval historian

Orderic Vitalis Orderic Vitalis ( la, Ordericus Vitalis; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. Modern historia ...

used now lost ''pancartes'' of various Norman monastic houses as sources for his historical writings.Chibnall "Charter and Chronicle" ''Church and Government'' pp. 12–13 The surviving ''pancartes'' are important not only for their recording of now-lost charters, but also for understanding the history of historical writing. The practice of writing ''pancartes'' influenced English monasteries, which were in contact with Norman houses after the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conqu ...

in 1066. Post-Conquest cartularies, such as ''

Hemming's Cartulary ''Hemming's Cartulary'' is a manuscript cartulary, or collection of charters and other land records, collected by a monk named Hemming around the time of the Norman Conquest of England. The manuscript comprises two separate cartularies that we ...

'', bear many similarities to the Norman ''pancartes''. Later, in the reign of King

Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin kin ...

, the monastic writers

Benedict of Peterborough Benedict, sometimes known as Benedictus Abbas (Latin for "Benedict the Abbot"; died 29 September 1193), was abbot of Peterborough. His name was formerly erroneously associated with the ''Gesta Henrici Regis Secundi'' and ''Gesta Regis Ricardi'', En ...

, Roger of Howden, and Ralph Diceto also built on the ''pancarte'' when they inserted documents into their narratives, although their connecting stories were much more elaborate than many other ''pancartes''.Van Houts "Historical Writing" ''Companion to the Anglo-Norman World'' p. 120

Citations

References

* * * {{Short description, Medieval monastic legal documents Medieval legal texts Anglo-Norman literature