peter erhart 127 ntheearly Middle Ages, anyone who undertook a journey to Rome also had to seriously reckon with the possibility of dying on the way, which is why the writing of a last will probably seemed advisable. The frequency of such a document is reflected in its inclusion in important collections of formulae such as the ones compiled by the monk Marculf in the second half of the seventh century, probably in the royal abbey of Saint-Denis, or by Notker Balbulus in the abbey of St Gall towards the end of the ninth century. In addition to these collections, several documents have survived from the Abbey Archives of St Gall in which the arrangements for a journey and all its contingencies were described. A contemporaneous copy of a charter from the 740s with its folded format almost gives the impression of a passport, one which was to accompany the possessor unhindered through Lombard Italy with its severe pass laws, bolstered by financial security and pious intentions. In most of such cases the testamentary dispositions were disguised as the most frequent forms of a charter, the precaria and the praestaria. Such precautions with regard to property can be observed in a few charters from the West Frankish monastery of Saint-Bertin (in today’s Département Pas-de-Calais). The most illustrious case is the story of the monk Guntbert who in 826 was presented by his father Goibert to St Peter in Rome, where he received clerical ordination from Pope Eugene II. Before the wealthy Goibert embarked on this uncertain adventure with his mother Ebertruda and his young son, he took precautions with regard to his property. He entrusted all his movables and real estate, his serfs and animals, to twoboni homines, who had to watch over the execution of his arrangements. Thus, if he did not return from his pilgrimage, parts of his property were to be donated to the Church of Saint-Omer as alms to be distributed to the poor; others were to be given to the monks of Saint Bertin. In return, the Brothers were to sing Holy Mass and the Divine Office for him, his son, and his parents. Such pilgrimages to Rome I Abstract
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