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Extract from Florentine “Bullettone”

This extract is used to demonstrate that there was a church of Santi Apostoli in 1075. The community kindly helped me identify the glyph for "pro" so I understand that something occurred near the church, but I’m not sure what. Borgo Santi Apostoli is a neighborhood, and Ranieri was the bishop of Florence in 1075. I assume Gherardi de Burgo refers to Pope Nicholas II, Gerard of Burgundy, although he had died in 1061. For the full manuscript, go to this link. For this item, go to cap. 37, p. 171, item III.

Appreciate any help interpreting and translating!

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  • Do you have a link to the full manuscript?
    – brianpck
    Feb 4, 2022 at 16:46
  • @brianpck Yes! Will add the link to the question.
    – ed94133
    Feb 4, 2022 at 16:51

1 Answer 1

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I was able to transcribe enough to search online, and it appears that there is already a published transcription here: Sanctae ecclesiae florentinae monumenta.

The relevant section from pg. 862:

image

Latin text:

Qualiter Durante vocatus Rustichellus quondam Gherardi de Burgo Sanctorum Apostolorum o[b]tulit et donavit, pro remedio anim[a]e su[a]e Domino Ranerio Episcopo Florentino et Episcopatui unam domum positam prope Ecclesiam Sanctorum Apostolorum. Carta manu Rodulfi Notar[ii] sub [anno] MLXXVo Va Kal[endis] Maii Ind[ictione] XIIIa.

There are several parts of which I'm doubtful, including:

  • The "Qualiter..." beginning seems to be formulaic, since it is the first word of a long list of similar donations.
  • Is "Durante" a nominative name? It looks ablative, but based on similar entries before and after that one, usually a nominative name follows after.
  • Why is "Gherardi" in the genitive and why is it preceded by "quondam"? My guess, based on this entry on quondam is that quondam simply means defunctus (i.e. "the late"), and that the genitive refers to a father. I am pretty sure that Burgundia is the term for Burgundy, so this probably doesn't refer to Pope Nicholas II. As you mention, it appears to be a neighborhood.
  • I am not sure what indictio means, but based on this entry--which specifically mentions Florentine dating conventions--it seems to be a regional way of indicating the date. Perhaps a more enterprising answer could try to decipher what day it refers to here.

Here's my attempt at a translation (keeping all the caveats above in mind!):

...How Durante, called "Rustichellus," [son] of the deceased Gherardus of the Neighborhood of the Holy Apostles, offered and gave for the remedy of his soul, to the Lord Ranerius Bishop of Florence and to [his] Bishopric, one house located near the Church of the Holy Apostles. [By a] letter [written] by the hand of Rodulfus the Notary, in the year 1075 of the 5th day of the Kalends of May, the thirteenth indictio.

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  • 1
    Brilliant! Thank you!
    – ed94133
    Feb 4, 2022 at 17:27
  • Remember Durante is the name Dante Alighieri was baptised with.
    – JobRozemond
    Feb 4, 2022 at 21:13
  • Excellent response and interesting fact about Dante. If I may ask a minor point, what day is meant by the "5th day of the Kalends of May) (quīntā Kalendīs Maiī). Does it mean the fifth day after the Kalends of May and therefore May 5th, or does it mean the fourth day before as in classical practice. Or is there some aspect of "inclusive" counting that is also throwing me off?
    – Vegawatcher
    Feb 4, 2022 at 21:39
  • Good work! indictio means "[a] declaration"
    – Jesse Berry
    Feb 5, 2022 at 10:29
  • @JesseBerry That's the usual classical meaning, but it has other pretty specific meanings later on, including simply "a tax." In the entry I linked, look at the part beginning after Constantinopolitana indictio, which notes that the same usage occurred in Milan and Florence and gives some examples with dates. Unfortunately, I'm having a tough time figuring out what it means even with that context.
    – brianpck
    Feb 5, 2022 at 13:58

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