Two Forged Thirteenth-Century Alms-Raising Letters used by the Hospitallers in Franconia

The archives of the former Hospitaller commandery in Würzburg have preserved two strange parchments which raise several difficult questions. ¹ In form and script the two parchments closely resemble charters issued in Würzburg under Bishop Hermann of Lobdeburg (1225–54). The larger parchment (known today as the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv München, Würzburger Urkunden 4828 and referred to hereafter as parchment A) purports to be a letter by the Master and the Convent of the Hospital to all ecclesiastical and secular dignitaries.