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Samuel Gedge Ltd
FOUNDATION OF A CHANTRY AT A BELGIAN BEGUINAGE
45. [HOOGSTRATEN BEGUINAGE.] [Notarial instrument of Winric, notary of the diocese
of Cambrai, concerning the founding by Henry Ymmen and his wife Katherine Boom of a
chantry dedicated to the Virgin Mary at the new beguinage at Hoogstraten, with details
of hours of vespers and goods bestowed on the chantry.]
Meerhout, 3 March 1380. Manuscript on single sheet of vellum (22 x 44cm) initial “I” decorated in the form of a fish,
28 lines, in Latin, 4 line note penned at foot with notarial seal of a fleur-de-lys, old folds, light wear, later endorsement
to blank verso, very good; attached: Letters of John, Bishop of Cambrai, approving the foundation. Brussels, 30
March 1380. Manuscript on single sheet of vellum (14 x 34cm) first line with some calligraphic ascenders, 9 lines, in
Latin, signed off by notary Stephen de Matheny, old folds, very good, with the seal of John, Bishop of Cambrai in red
wax appended on vellum tab, edges chipped with loss of section at base and legend along one side.
The Beguines, societies of women arranged in semi-monastic communities, emerged in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries as an important religious movement in Belgium and the Netherlands. Without their
own rule, and organised in autonomous communities in complexes known as beguinages, they combined
an inner life of prayer with service of the needy.
This document records the endowment 3 March 1380 by Henry Ymmen and Katherine Boom of a
chantry in the name of the Virgin Mary at the new beguinage at Hoogstraten near Antwerp. It is noted
that Mass was to be held each week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and the goods bestowed by the
couple, asserted to be worth twenty golden florins per year, are recorded in detail and include a house,
barn and yard and a number of portions of land and pastures identified by their names in the vernacular.
The couple confer the first gift of the chantry to Nicasius Pauli, clerk of the diocese of Cambrai, on condition
that he and his successors serve it in person as is required, or cause it to be served by an adequate
priest as stated by law; if the services are not performed, then the superintendents (provisores) of the
beguinage shall apply to the repairs of the fabric half an old groats (Gros Turnois) for each mass. The notary
has recorded that the document was drawn up at the couple’s dwelling-house at Meerhout in the diocese
of Liège in the presence of William de Busco the parochial curate of Hoogstraten, John Willim, priest,
John Ondegeds, and Stephen Winen, alderman (scabinus) of Hoogstraten, witnesses of the diocese of
Cambrai especially called.