In Western Francia, the proliferation of cartularies, collections of copies of original charters, began in the eleventh century. Cartulary practice became common in monasteries who received many donations then. Generally, pragmatic control and protection of their rights and properties are main concerns which led monasteries to compose cartularies. On the one hand, monastic cartularies appeared in the eleventh and twelfth centuries are characterized by the reconstruction biased of past or the projection of image of that these monasteries desired to be. In order to illuminate the making process and utility of cartularies which meet various concerns of monasteries, our study focused mainly on the original cartulary of the abbey of Saint-Cyprien of Poitiers.Through codicological, paleographical and morphological analyzes of the cartulary of Saint-Cyprien, we detailed its making process and dated its compilation in twice; the first one carried into effect right after 1100 and second one pursued in the 1110s. Furthermore, we examined the text of charters copied in this cartulary and indicated the features of its inner structure which adopted a geographic classification. The organization, layout, choice and description of charters all showed clearly that Saint-Cyprien had a principle of cartulary production to create a perfect reference recording the existing condition of its properties, which had been kept after the social change at the end of eleventh century. But the organization of Charters is influenced also by some elements of collective memory. Our investigation undertaken on the papal and episcopal privileges and the count’s charters copied at the head of this cartulary indicates that the reconstruction of the past throws into relief the prestige as an “episcopal abbey”. Legendary foundation, monastic liberty, institutionalization of dependent churches, reform campaign, these elements of collective memory were established progressively by each compilation. Finally, our study addressed the charter no. 43, only charter in narrative style and referring the abbey of Cluny, demonstrated a conscious cancellation of past in this cartulary, with disclosing the conflict between Saint-Cyprien and Cluny at the turn of the eleventh and the twelfth centuries. These analyzes suggest that the cartulary of Saint-Cyprien is composed as a codex which represent precisely a phase of material and cultural heritage at the beginning of the twelfth century. Its principal utility should be utilitarian purpose as a reference for the administration of properties, while it would serve as an emblem for monastic community of Saint-Cyprien.
