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process for St. Yrieix is a document dated in the 1060s that refers to the return of the
monastery of Moutier-Roseille (Chapter II) to St. Yrieix. This monastery was taken from
St. Yrieix 5 as early as the eighth century by the Viscount of Aubusson and returned under
the good graces of the Aubussons and the influence of the Count of Auvergne in the mid-
eleventh century. With the return of Moutier-Roseille as a dependency of St. Yrieix, the
stage was set to initiate a major expansion program to the collegiate church of St. Yrieix.
The final two conventional steps of re-establishment, according to Trumbore
Jones, were: (3) to establish a reformed observance at the establishment, and (4) assemble
powerful witnesses to these events to provide public support and endorsement. While it
was not unusual in this period for canons and monks to be co-located in a monastery, the
closing of the monastery of St. Yrieix (1070) with the death of Seguin, its last abbot,
necessitated legitimization of the chapter of canons at St. Yrieix as inheritors of the
monastic establishment and its dependencies. A separate formal agreement (dated 1090)
between St. Yrieix and St. Martin re-affirmed the authority of St. Martin over the chapter
of canons at St. Yrieix. However, to strengthen their position further, the chapter
produced a foundation diploma for St. Yrieix, purportedly issued by Charlemagne in 794,
that established the chapter of canons. This diploma was a forgery of the 1090s, but
according to its terms the Chapter was authorized thirty-two prebends and a full
administrative staff under the imperial authority of Charlemagne. 6 The diploma thus
maintained the earliest monastic traditions of St. Yrieix through Charlemagne, who
fulfilled the intention of his own predecessor, Pepin III, and thus continued the royal
protection offered by the Merovingian Kings at the foundation of St. Yrieix. Although
St. Yrieix was formally under the jurisdiction of St. Martin of Tours, and protected in
5 See Michel Aubrun, L’Ancien Diocèse de Limoges: n.75, p.151-52.
6 See Chapter II for the details of the diploma.
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