https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/letter/26156.html
Above: Salomea of Poland in an 1837 painting by Maksymilian Piotrowski.
Salomea of Poland (born in 1211 or 1212, died 1268), also known as Salomea of Cracow or Blessed Salomea, was a Polish princess and from 1215 to 1219 the Queen of Halych by virtue of being the wife of Kálmán or Coloman of Galicia.
Salomea was the daughter of Leszek I the White, who was the Duke of Kraków and thus the High Duke in Poland, and his wife Grzymisława of Łuck (or Lutsk). She was the older sister of Bolesław V the Chaste. Her marriage to Kálmán, who was the son of King András or Andrew II of Hungary, was negotiated when she was about three. Since her mother had ancestral connections to the lands of Galicia, and both her father and King Andrew wanted to dominate that area, this plan seemed to meet the needs of both parties. The marriage of Salomea and Kálmán, who was seven at the time, occurred in 1215. In 1219 their control in Galicia was ended and for a time they were taken as prisoners. After their release they returned to Hungary and lived in Szepes, now Spiš in the nation of Slovakia.
In 1226 Kálmán was named Duke of Slavonia by his father, and he took responsibility for the rule of Slavonia, Croatia, and Dalmatia. He died in 1241 from wounds suffered at the Battle of Mohi during the Mongol invasion of Europe.
In 1245 the widowed Salomea joined the Order of Poor Ladies and founded a monastery in Zawichost in which to live as nuns according to the Rule of Saint Clare. Because of the danger of a Mongol invasion into Poland, Salomea and the other Poor Ladies moved westward from Zawichost in March 1257, and relocated to Skała (or Grodzisko), north of Kraków. Salomea was considered saintly and it was said that she had preserved her chastity in marriage. She was beatified in 1672 by Pope Clement X. Her tomb is in Kraków in a chapel within the Church of St. Francis of Assisi.
The letter:
Vniuersis presentes litteras inspecturis, Humilis Ancilla christi Soror Salomea, noticiam subscriptorum. Nouerit vniuersitas vestra, quod ego domino adiuuante sana corpore et spiritu existens, de rebus meis taliter duxi disponendum. Volo enim, quod omnes ville ad monasterium meum de Lapide sancte Marie pertinentes, cum omnibus rebus mobilibus sint in potestate et disposicione domine Abbatisse et conuentus eiusdem monasterij; Res vero alias, quas ad honorem dei et sanctorum eius et ad decorem domus dei comporaui, nolo esse sub potestate Abbatisse et conuentus ipsius, prohibens firmiter sub atestacione diuini iudicij, ne eas vendant, commutent uel quolibet alio modo a monasterio predicto alienent, sed Soror Salomea, quam ad conseruacionem predictarum rerum iudicaui esse ydoneam, cui ipsas custodiendas committo, bona fide et diligenter eas custodiat et conseruet. Sunt autem huiusmodi Res: Reliquie sanctorum, Calices aurei et argentei, Cruces, thuribula, Tabule et ymagines depicte, ornatus ecclesie multiplex et preciosus: in Casulis, Stolis, Manipulis, Albis, et in alijs ornamentis varijs existens, que per singula explicare non expedit propter nimiam numerositatem. que omnia predicta soror Salomea, quam ad conseruacionem predictorum iudicaui ydoneam ut predictum est, diligenter et sine aliqua distractione ea conseruabit; Hoc excepto, quod si sororibus meis karissimis per incendium aut per hostilem insultum in rebus domus aliquod dampnum contingeret, quod tunc ad reparacionem domus et ad sue paupertatis subleuamen aliquas de predictis, quas uoluerint, possint vendere et distrahere de consilio fratrum minorum discretorum. Libros autem tam chorales quam ad studium pertinentes, et eos quos pro fratre Borizlao Lectore comparaui, post decessum ipsius conferre (s) fratribus ad usum, qui circa predictas Sorores meas karissimas morabuntur et eis diuina ministrabunt sacramenta. Prohibeo autem firmiter, ne quis eos a predicta domo fratrum quoquomodo alienare presumat. Vt autem hec inuiolabiliter debeant obseruari, Karissimi fratris mei illustris principis Bolezlay, Cracouiensis et Sandomiriensis ducis, et Venerabilis patris domini Pauli Episcopi Cracouiensis, et meo sigillis duxi presentes litteras roborandas. Hec autem sunt acta in lapide sancte Marie, Anno domini M. ccLxviii, iii Kalendas Septembris, hijs fratribus ordinis minorum (presentibus): Thoma custode Cracouiensi, Alberto confessore meo, Iustino gardiano Cracouiensi, Gunthero de Lapide sancte Marie, Laurencio de Bythom gardianis, Pribizlao, Iacobo, Borizlao Lectoribus, Rinero.
English translation:
To all who will see the present letters, the humble handmaid of Christ, sister Salomea, [gives] notice of what is written. Your whole community should know that I, living as a helper to the lord with healthy body and spirit, have determined to dispose of my things in this way. For I wish that all the towns pertaining to my monastery of the Stone of St. Mary, with all their movable goods be in the power and disposal/control of the lady Abbess and the convent of that monastery; but other things which I bought for the honor of god and his saints and the adornment of the house of god, I do not wish to be under the power of the Abbess and her convent, firmly prohibiting under witness of divine judgment, that they not sell, exchange, or in any way alienate them from said monastery, but sister Salomea, whom I judged suitable for the preservation of the aforementioned things, to whom I commit them to be cared for, will care for them and preserve them diligently and in good faith. These are the things: relics of the saints, gold and silver chalices, crosses, thurifers (incense-bearers), tablets and painted images, multiple and precious adornment of the church, that are: chausubles, stoles, maniples, albs, and various other adornments, that are too numerous to list separately, all of which the said sister Salomea, whom I declared suitable to preserve the listed things as was said above, will preserve them diligently and without any distraint. With this exception that if any harm should come to my dearest sisters by fire or hostile attack against the possessions of the house, then for the repair of the house and the relief of its poverty, they may sell and distrain/dispose of as they wish with the counsel of discriminating minor brothers. The books, pertaining to singing as well as to study, and those which I bought for the lector, brother Borizlaw, to be conferred after his death for the use of the brothers who will remain around my dearest said sisters and minister the divine sacraments to them. But I firmly prohibit anyone presuming to alienate them in any way from the said home of the brothers. That these should be observed inviolably I have had the present letters strengthened by the seals of my dearest illustrious brother prince Bolezlaw, duke of Kraków and Sandomierz, and the venerable father lord Paul bishop of Kraków, and my own. These were enacted at the Stone of St. Mary, in the year of the lord 1268, 3 kalends of September, in the presence of these brothers of minor order: Thomas, guardian of Krakós, Albert my confessor, Justin warden of Kraków, Gunther of the Stone of St. Mary, Lawrence warden of Bythom, Pribizlaw, Jacob, and Borizlaw, lectors, Rinero.
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