Description of a Motte and Bailey Castle from Flanders, from the 12th century
(Latin transcription and English translation)

Walter, archdeacon of the diocese of Thérouanne, spent his youth among the regular canons of Saint Martin of Ypres whence he was called by John of Warneton, bishop of Thérouanne in 1115.  John made him archdeacon of Flanders in 1116 at a relatively early age, a task which brought him into frequent contact with Count Charles, whose confidence he appears to have enjoyed.  He in fact met with Charles shortly before the assassination.  John of Warneton asked him to write a history of Charles’s life, the Vita Karoli comitis Flandri_, immediately after the assassination, and Walter completed the work between July and September 1127.  Walter’s works suggest that he had been well educated, and he was, like his bishop, devoted to the “Gregorian” reform movement.  For more on Walter, see M. Duchet, “Sur un point erroné de l’Histoire littéraire de la France par les Bénédictins,” Mémoires lus à la Sorbonne dans les séances extraordinaires du Comité Imperial des travaux historiques et des sociétés savantes . . . histoire, philologie et sciences morales 8 (1867/68), 199-211; N. Huyghebaert, “Gautier de Thérouanne,” Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques 20 (Paris, 1984), 115-16; and The Narrative Sources from the Southern Low Countries, 600-1500, University of Ghent, http://www.lib.rug.ac.be/n-exec.html, ID numbers G009 and G010.  The edition of the charters of the bishops of Thérouanne that is currently being prepared by Professor Benoît Tock of the University of Strasburg will also help us fill in some pieces of Walter’s biography.  On the hagiographical context in which Walter composed his lives of Charles and John, see I. Van ‘t Spijker, Gallia du Nord et de l’Ouest.  Les Provinces ecclésiastiques de Tours, Rouen, Reims (950-1130), Hagiographies, ed. G. Philippart, 2 (Turnhout, 1996), 239-47, 263-79.

Jeff Rider, Dept. of Romance Languages & Literatures, Wesleyan University

From Walter of Thérouanne, Vita Karoli comitis Flandri_

16. De inimicitiis Burchardi et Thangmari.

 Serpens itaque ille antiquus [Apc 12.9] et humani generis inimicus, hanc su_ malici_ exercende oportunitatem speculatus, medium se malignantibus et superbientibus statim ingessit.  Et quia in ipsorum mentibus, qui se regem gloriatur super uniuersos filios superbi_, sui thronum regni collocauit, alium eis, quo peius irretirentur et deicerentur, laqueum callidus preparauit.  Quidam enim Burchardus, nepos prepositi illius, filius uidelicet Lamberti fratris eius, homo nimis elatus et in oculis suis magnus, aduersus Thangmarum, uicinum suum–qui in elemosinis pauperibus et precipue monachis expendendis magnum, ut ferebatur, studium habebat–et nepotem eius Gualterum graues, licet ex minimis causis ortas, exercebat inimicitias et ex utraque parte cedes hominum faciebant non minimas.

17. De conditione treugarum et infractione earum.

Sed cultor Dei Karolus treugarum conditiones ab eis sepe, pro potestate sibi a Deo commissa, exigebat et ad pacem etiam inuitos compellebat, in eorum studens numero inueniri, quibus promittitur ipsa ueritate dicente: Beati pacifici, quoniam filii Dei uocabuntur [Mt 5.9].  Uerum prepositus et sui, qui sibi ualidiores et superiores uidebantur, ad tutelam alterius partis eum intendere suspicabantur et, quia male, sibi conscii, liuore mentis interius torquebantur, quod ad communem utilitatem facere laborabat ad suam depressionem fieri querebantur.  Itaque inuidia stimulante incitati atque seuiente ira exasperati et superbia inflante elati, Thangmarum inopinatum et gratia treugarum nichil aduersi formidantem ex improuiso, federe pacis destructo, inuadunt et, curte inferius irrupta, in superiorem eum munitionem anxie satis confugere compellunt, uirgulta succidunt et cuncta in inferioribus reperta dissipant, demoliuntur et pessundant.

16.  The feud between Burchard and Thangmar.

And so the ancient serpent [Apc 12.9] and enemy of humankind, seeing this opportunity to exercise his malice, immediately hurled himself into the midst of these ill-willed, preening men.  And since he who boasts that he is king over all the sons of pride had set the throne of his realm in their minds, he cunningly prepared another snare for them in which they might be all the more desperately entangled and brought down.  For a certain Burchard, a nephew of the provost, the son of his brother Lambert, a most haughty man and great in his own eyes, began a bitter feud, albeit for a very small cause, with his neighbor Thangmar – who was reputed to be greatly devoted to disbursing alms to the poor and, especially, to monks – and Thangmar’s nephew Walter, and on both sides this feuding caused no little slaughter of men. 

17.  The conditions of the truce and their infraction.

But that godly man Charles, by virtue of the authority with which God had entrusted him, often demanded that they negotiate a truce and kept urging them, even against their will, to come to a peaceful agreement, vying to be numbered among those to whom the Truth Himself made a promise when he said: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God [Mt 5.9].  But the provost and his people, who in their own eyes were stronger and more exalted, suspected that his aim was to protect their enemies and, since they were badly tormented within, as they well knew, by envy, they complained that whatever he tried to do for the common good was in fact done to oppress them.  And so, spurred on by goading jealousy and exasperated by all-consuming anger and made haughty by puffing pride, they broke the peace treaty and suddenly attacked the surprised Thangmar (who feared no assault because of the truce), and, having burst into the courtyard below, forced him to flee in fear to the upper stronghold, cut down trees in the orchards, and scattered, pulled down, and destroyed everything they discovered in the lower areas.

From Walter of Thérouanne, Uita domni Ioannis Morinensis Episcopi

[15.]  Sed occurrit quod gestis eius adhuc opporteat stilo currente allegari et quod nouerimus id ipsum ut scribitur ex multo iam tempore a multis desiderari.  Plurimi enim ex fratribus fuerunt qui etiam eo uiuente h_c scribi uoluerunt.  Cum, autem, xu fere ante quam decederet annos, sollicitudine pastorali diocesim suam ex more lustraret, contigit ut in uilla cui Merchem uocabulum est hospitii mansionem haberet.  Erat autem secus atrium ecclesi_ munitio qu_dam, quam castrum uel municipium dicere possumus, ualde excelsa iuxta morem terr_ illius, a domino uill_ ipsius a multis retro annis extructa.  Mos namque est ditioribus quibusque regionis huius hominibus et nobilioribus, eo quod maxime inimicitiis uacare soleant exercendis et cedibus, ut ab hostibus eo modo maneant tutiores et potentia maiore uel uincant pares uel premant inferiores terr_ aggerem quant_ pr_ualent celsitudinis congerere, eique fossam quam late patentem multamque profunditatis altitudinem habentem circumfodere, et supremam eiusdem aggeris crepidinem uallo ex ligneis tabulatis firmissime compacto undique uice muri circummunire, turribusque secundum quod possibile fuerit per girum dispositis, intra uallum domum uel, qu_ omnia h_c despiciat, arcem in medio _dificare, ita uidelicet ut porta introitus ipsius uill_ nonnisi per pontem ualeat adiri, qui, ab exteriori labio foss_ primum exoriens, est in processu paulatim eleuatus columnisque binis et binis uel etiam trinis altrinsecus per congrua spacia suffixis inixus.  Eo ascendendi moderamine per transuersum foss_, consurgit ut, supremam aggeris superficiem coequando, oram extremi marginis eius et in ea parte limen prima fronte contingat.  In huiusmodi ergo asylo pontifice cum suo illo frequenti et reuerendo comitatu hospitari [solebat].  Cum ingentem populi turbam tam in ecclesia quam in atrio eius manus impositione et sacri chrismatis unctione confirmasset, ut uestimenta mutaret, eo quod c_miterium humandis fidelium corporibus benedicere statuisset, ad hospitium regressus est.  Unde illo, ut propositum perficeret opus, iterum descendente, et circa medium pontis, triginta quinque uel eo amplius pedum altitudinem habentis, certa de causa subsistente, populique non modica caterua ante et retro, dextra leuaque circumstipante, continuo antiqui machinante hostis inuidia pons ponderi cessit et dissipatus corruit, magnamque illorum hominum turbam cum episcopo suo ad ima deiecit.  Fragore autem ingenti e uestigio consecuto, transtris, trabibus tabulatis, et ruderibus magno cum impetu pariter et strepitu concidentibus, nebula qu_dam tenebrosa ita omnem illam ruinam repente circumfudit ut, quid ageretur, uix quisquam discernere potuerit.  Sed clementia Dei uelociter affuit, tenebrasque deiecit, et seruum suum cum tota illa multitudine de periculo illesum eduxit.  Pr_sentat se hic animo meo naufragium apostoli Pauli, in quo, nauigiis rebusque amissis, animas omnes Deus concessit oranti saluandas.  Hic uero cum tanta fuerit hominum ruina, tantaque per diuersa et sine ordine ruentium lignorum materia, nec homines aliquatenus l_si, nec in rebus eorum aliquid factum est damni.  Ipse quoque iucundo uultu et hilari, aqua ei uix usque ad genua pertingente, prodiit et, gratias agens Deo, fabricatori totius doli huiusmodi uerbis improperauit: “Diabolus,” ait, “opus Dei conatus est impedire, sed non pr_ualebit, ipso in omnibus adiutore,” et his dictis, ad benedictionem c_miterii nihil moratus alacriter properauit.