Polyptych of Irminon


The Polyptych of Irminon, also known as the Polyptych of St Germain-des-Pres, is an inventory of properties compiled around 823 by Irminon, the abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
The Polyptych describes the possessions of the monastery, located primarily in the Paris region, between the rivers Seine and Eure. It lists the names of thousands of tenants and their children.

History of the text

The Polyptych text is preserved in a ninth-century manuscript, containing 20 quires that describe 25 villages or settlements, and that name more than 10,000 individuals living on these lands. At least four other quires have been lost, together with almost all of a sister volume listing lands given in benefice.
The repetition of a chapter shows that the Polyptych, in its current form, was produced from a number of working copies, and was written by about a dozen scribes. The Polyptych seems to have been based on two tours of local enquiry undertaken by monks, each one asking inhabitants a different set of questions in the estates they visited.

Editions