| Abstract: | Doubtless put together in Merovingian times, the temporal possessions of the archbishops of Rouen were enlarged in the twelfth century, thanks to restitutions and, above all, to royal donations. A rapid transformation took place in the thirteenth century: substantial growth and diversification — due to exchanges with the king, purchases of lordships, of houses, or of rents in direct ownership, and reclamations and other improvements — of a patrimony which had become an instrument of spiritual administration. Reaching their maximum revenue around 1330, these temporalities were scarcely modified thereafter as regards their composition, but difficulties in the first half of the fifteenth century, which halved the revenue, affected above all the rural elements, so that the proportion of urban revenues — especially dues on commerce — increased. At once vast and varied, these temporalities take on a somewhat original aspect by comparison with many other ecclesiastical temporalities based on the ownership of rural domains or urban properties. |
