Document 2/137/25 (Robertson, Concilia Scotiae, ii, 234)
- Description
- Pope Innocent III writes to R[alph], abbot of Jedburgh, G[eoffrey] abbot of Dryburgh and Master J., rector of Lilliesleaf, stating that whereas his beloved sons, the abbot and monks of Melrose, have related in his presence that the noble man, Alan, wishes to reduce violently certain lands to forest, which were assigned in alms by his late father, Walter, to their church of Mauchline (AYR), the pope commands the said men, with apostolic authority, to disregard the appeal and proceed to pronounce judgement in favour of the monastery, since it is plain from the tenor of the deed that the mind and intention of the donor was that the clause of forestry, which is at the end of the deed, does not refer to the earlier (superior) gift, (which was unrestricted and pure enough to be exempt from vexation and secular use), but rather to the later (inferior) grant, in which a fixed payment is inserted; in contracts a liberal interpretation is applied, in testaments a more liberal, and in privileges the more liberal.
- Firm date
- 6 March 1204
- Dating Notes
- 2 non. Mar., pontifical year 7
- Place date (modern)
- Anagni
- Place date (document)
- not given
- Related Place
- Anagni
- Trad. ID
- Robertson, Concilia Scotiae, ii, 234
- Calendar number
- 2/137/25
- Charter type
- Papal letter
- Language
- Latin
- Notes
- Cooper, Select Scottish Cases, no. 3; Ferguson, Medieval Papal Reps., App. I, no. 21