The Hausbuch of Abbess Elizabeth de Bierbais of Nivelles Abbey, in Latin and French, decorated manuscript on vellum

provenance

The present manuscript was almost certainly written c.1280 for Elizabeth de Bierbais, abbess of Nivelles, who held office from 1272 to her death in 1293 (see below). After her death it must have passed to the chained library of the canonesses, where it remained, receiving small marginal additions in the fifteenth and sixteenth century on fols. 47v and 73r-4r, and a renewed binding in the early fifteenth century (but reusing the earlier boards). The abbey of Nivelles was founded soon after 640 by the widow of Pippin of Landen (who held office as the Mayor of the Palace for the Merovingian king Dagobert I), and with the couple's daughter, Gertrude (later St. Gertrude, d. 659) as its first abbess. It was converted into a chapter of female canons in the twelfth century, and was suppressed in 1798 and its archives and library dispersed or destroyed. The present manuscript was acquired at that time and has passed by descent to the present owner.

text

This manuscript contains a collection of texts essential for the performance of the liturgical office, as well as some that are more personal to the abbess. In these there is a wealth of local detail which is apparently unpublished. The volume begins with a detailed calendar (fols. 1v-8, with numerous entries in red relating to the patron saint of the abbey and its first abbess, St. Gertrude: elevat[i]o s[an]c[t]e Gertrudis in February, the dedicatio Ecc[les]ie  b[eat]e Gertrudis, the dedicat[i]o altaris b[eat]e Gertrudis in July, and the consecrat[i]o b[eat]e Gertrudis in December; and a number of other local features in red including the feast of Lamberti ep[iscop]i on 17 September: St. Lambert of Maastricht, d. 700) with some calculation tables at the end. These are followed by an Ordinal (fols. 9r-54r), with the title Liber ordinarius ostendens qualitur legatur et cantetur per totu[m] anni circulum in Eccl[es]ia niuellen[sis]. It gives the liturgical services for the entire year, accompanied by a wealth of notes, lined through in red here for emphasis, on local details. That on fol. 27r states that on the Sunday before Easter, 'Mass shall be celebrated in the main church by the canons, and before the altar of St. Peter', and specifying even the smallest details, such as the children in attendance are to carry candles. The statutes of the abbey follow in French (fols. 54v-6v), with a single clause on fol. 55v on the foodstuffs to be rendered by the abbess, also lined through in red for emphasis, and a note explaining that althoughthis subject is dealt with briefly here it will be discussed more fully at the end of the volume. This in turn is followed by a detailed Sanctoral listing the saints worshipped by the community according to their appearance in the calendar, as well as a great deal of information on the services to be performed for them (fols. 57r-93r, with Gertrude on fol. 74r and with a contemporary note in the lower margin on her vision and its commemoration).

There is then a section in French on the food which the abbess owes to the nuns annually on the jour dou bland dioes (fol. 95r), including 'a dish of white peas', 'a dish of peeled onions', 'four herons', and 'a piece of salmon the size and width of which is shown here in vermilion'. This last item refers to a remarkable practical tool used in the measurement of these gifts. Two long and thin columns in red are painted onto the page, one horizontally across the middle of the first column (94mm. by 7mm.) and another vertically up the entire length of the outer margin (276mm. by 7mm.). The first is accompanied by the inscription hec est latitudo fultri salmonis scutelle dominarum (here is the width of the dish of salmon of the women) and the second by hec longitudo fultri salmonis scutelle dominarum a domina Abb'a niuellen. (here is the length of the dish of salmon of the women, [given] by the lady abbess of Nivelles).

An account of the opening of the tomb of St. Gertrude by Abbess Elizabeth de Bierbais on 8 July 1293 is added at the end of fol. 95. This is probably the earliest record of that exhumation, added to her book immediately after the event itself. The saint was found incorrupt (with the exception of three teeth which had been removed earlier as relics), but as Elizabeth died soon after it was rumoured that her death was caused by the saint's anger, and the reliquary was not opened again until 1848 (R. Hanon de Louvet, 'L'inspection des ossements de Sainte Gertrude eut-elle lieu en 1292 ou en 1293?', Annales de Société archéologique et folklorique de Nivelles et du Brabant wallon 17, 1952, pp. 249-54). The final section contains a number of charters of the abbey, a document in French on the parochial churches under the control of the abbey and a description in French of the lands of the abbess under the titles Chest li pais des abbesses (fol. 96v) and li seconde pais des Abbesses (fol. 98r).

This book was clearly assembled for Abbess Elizabeth de Bierbais of Nivelles: its  size indicates that it was written for a patron(ess) of some considerable standing, the land registers and other details relate only to the estates of the abbess, and she is named on a number of occasions in the documents and charters as Elyzabeth de burbato (see fols. 95r & 102r for examples). Moreover, the documents which bear dates all lie within the range 1270-92, and most focus on the period of her abbacy, 1277-93. The years immediately before her abbacy saw the local aristocracy, in particular Jean I, duc de Brabant and de Lothier becoming closely associated with the community. The de Bierbais family were known to be allies themselves of the duchy of Brabant in the thirteenth century, and it is possible that they may have already begun their association, and influenced Elizabeth's election. She oversaw a period of great internal troubles within the community, culminating in a serious dispute between them and certain tradesmen of Nivelles over taxes (a detailed account can be found in J. de Fréson, Le Chapitre noble de Nivelles, 1892, pp. 109-16).

The present manuscript is an extremely rare and historically important record of the abbess and community of Nivelles. It is from the first century of the existence of the Chapter, and much of its content is, to the best of our knowledge, only found in this single manuscript. The majority of the surviving material from the abbey is surveyed by G. Willame, Essai de Bibliographie Nivelloise, 1911 (see in particular his sections on the archives in the Bibliotheque Royale: pp. 313-16, and the Church of St. Gertrude in Nivelles: pp. 344-6), and he notes few, if any, records of the community which survive in manuscripts predating the sixteenth century, apart from a small number of charters.