3220

September 1 – 30. Acre. Florentius, bishop of Arce (episcopus Acconensis), and his chapter record that they have reached agreement under seal with frater Anno, magister, and the convent of the Hospital of St Mary of the Germans, which is residing in Acre. Following an old agreement, the bishop claims a rent of 1 marcha argenti for the Order’s church, payable each year to the church of Acre on the Feast of the Purification, and obedience from the capellanus who serves in the church. He claims full tithes for the lands in the diocese of Acre worked by the magister and brothers or at their expense, with particular reference to the produce of the casalia of Bassa, Massob, Cafriasim, Busenen and Saphet. He believes that the church of Acre was despoiled of tithes at the casale called Noye. He maintains that the magister and brothers should compel their villani and rustici to pay full tithes on that portion of the produce which they retain for cultivation or any other reason. He claims full tithes on the Order’s mills. He wants the delivery of the tithes to his house in Castrum Regis and he requires an annual rent of 40 besants, to cover the possessions left by Benencasa, a burgensis of Castrum Regis, and subsequently acquired by the brothers of St Mary. He demands that he and his familia be no longer molested by the Order. For their part, the magister and brothers of the Hospital of St Mary of the Germans claim that their ignorance of the lands and possessions they had gained, and the way the lands were worked, resulted in an inadequate estimate of the extent of noval and other exempt lands, and led to an overpayment to the bishop and chapter of 24,000 Saracen besants, while their losses on houses, vineyards, gardens and lands at Castrum Regis, which the bishop held iure dominii from them, amounted to 30,000 Saracen besants. They also demand 1,000 Saracen besants as a penalty for the bishop’s contumacy. After the mediation of friends, the following agreement has been reached. The Hospital of St Mary will pay a fifth part of the tithes on the produce of lands which they have worked themselves or have had worked on their behalf. This relates to wheat, barley, pulses, lentils, beans, oats, melica (meliqua), cotton (coctonum), millet (milium), maize, peas (pisaus), sheaves (gerbains) and everything planted in the ground. Also included are vine, charagium (carragium), oil, suomet olium, counting of goats (computagium caprarum), bees, exenia villanorum, payable 3 times a year, at Christmas, Lent and Easter, the denarii paid for chickens, eggs and cheese, and all trees, except for those in the gardens and of the villani. Exempted, however, are carriage (portagium) to the threshing floors, scribanage (scribanagium), weights and measures (mensuragium), wardship (gardagium), scenequie, and the rights of Ysembardus and Lambertus in the casalia, which they had customarily enjoyed before this agreement. Also excluded are the woods on the hillside, which are reserved for the bishop, for firewood and making fences. The bishop may have his share of the tithes from the casalia beyond the cavea carried at the expense of the brothers of St Mary to his house in Castrum Regis, although he may give a loaf of bread to the villanus who undertakes this task. Should the magister and brothers of St Mary create sugar plantations or saltings, the bishop will continue to be paid the fifth of the tithe, half in wheat and half in barley, as estimated by reputable men. The Order is exempted from the payment of tithes on all its mills, gardens and trees in the [territory of the] cavea that stretches from the garden of the great spring to the territory of Manuettum; its width across being the equivalent of that which can be seen by a man standing on the bank of the river at the bottom (in fundo) of the cavea, although the fifth of tithes will be paid on vineyards planted on this land. The brothers of St Mary are exempted from the payment of tithes on irrigated gardens. They will not exact anything from property bought by the church of Acre for its provisioning. They and their successors are bound to pay us and our successors one Saracen besant annually for the burgesii and tenements and one pieceof land which they now hold in Castrum Regis. This agreement applies to all lands in the diocese of Acre, noval or acquired, and especially to the casalia called Labassa, Massob, Noye, Sapheth, Cafriasy and Busenen. The magister and brothers of St Mary will pay the annual rent of 1 marcha argenti to the treasury of the church of Acre on the Feast of the Purification. Breach of this composition will incur a penalty of 3,000 marchae argenti. Witnesses: magister Guillelmus decanus; dominus Adam archidiaconus; dominus Bernardus cantor canonicus; dominus Iohannes thesaurarius canonicus; dominus Gerardus canonicus; frater Evrardus magnus preceptor domus Theutonicorum; frater Arnoldus thesaurarius domus Theutonicorum; frater Ulricus domus Theutonicorum; frater Winandus domus Theutonicorum; frater Fredericus domus Theutonicorum.