“as it is certain that you will come to death” cum apenditiis suis pia largitione per testamenti conscriptionem eidem monasterio contulerant after a hearing of the inhabitants of the Zurichgau. Retrospectively, the sale and donation transactions of Beata and Lantpret were perceived as wills, since the clause activated in the case of death had actually come into effect. However, religious motives for this journey to Rome must also be considered. The Alemannic nobility at the time of Beata had already been steeped in Christianity for more than a generation. Even the relations with Italy were older and perhaps went back to the 7th century. The donation of Wolfhart from 844, effected in Wangen on Lake Zurich, was intended for the Monastery of Bobbio, whose founder Columbanus was present in the area as patron saint of the Church of Wangen.18 For the use of the transferred property, Wolfhart and his descendants undertook to pay interest each year at the altar above the saint’s head, namely two good albs for the celebration of Holy Mass on the day of St John, 24th of June. Wolfhart apparently fulfilled this obligation, because otherwise the original document would not have ended up in Bobbio or today in the Turin State Archives. Apparently his descendants took this obligation seriously, because on 20 April 855 Wolfhart’s son Posso also made himself ready for such a pilgrimage and had a testamentary disposition fixed on parchment.19 Posso left no doubt about his pious intentions: limina apostolorum Petri Paulique orationis gratia visitare cupiens and in view of the uncertain outcome of the journey – ignoransque varios itineris eventus – he wanted to donate some possessions to the Monastery of St Gall. In view of this uncertainty, “holy places” (loca sancta) such as the Monastery of St Gall were ideally suited to secure a family of bondsmen, six chuck oxen, a stud farm, and a herd of cows, to be retrieved without complaint upon his return. Posso was not only a descendant of Wolfhart, but he also came from the same clan as Beata and Lantolt. 18 Erhart 2021, n. 408. 19 Erhart 2021, n. 459. 136
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=