Collection of Letters: Detail
| The details of the letter you've selected: |
Sender(s):
- Ivo of Chartres
Receiver(s):
Date:
Translated letter:
The charity with which I have loved your nobility from the beginning in no way cools in me, but burns more and more from your former and subsequent favors to me. Wherefore asking I admonish your excellency and admonishing I ask that if there is any suggestion that I have done or said anything against you or your people, you do not believe it and do not, impelled by wrath, act on whatever those serving you demand. For when the land is disturbed outside, if inner wars also arise, danger can suddenly threaten the people and the city. But when with God's favor you come to us then you will learn everything truly and you will take counsel sanely according to what you have heard. Fare well.
Original letter:
Ivo, humilis Carnotensis Ecclesiae minister, Adele excellenti comitissae, salutem et obsequium.
Charitas qua nobilitatem vestram ab initio dilexi, nullatenus in me refrigescit, sed praecedentibus et subsequentibus in me beneficiis vestris, magis ac magis inardescit. Unde excellentiam vestram rogando moneo, et monendo rogo, ut si quid sinistrum [al., sinistri] me adversum vos vel vestros fecisse vel dixisse suggestum fuerit (epist. 121), nullatenus credatis, nec quidquam quod ira dictante servientes vestri postulent, ad praesens statuatis. Cum enim terra exterius sit turbata, si etiam intestina surgerent bella, periculum repente imminere plebi posset et urbi. Cum autem Deo prosperante ad nos veneritis, tunc omnia verius addiscetis, et secundum audita, sanius consilium capietis. Valete.
Historical context:
This and ep.121 (PL 162) are part of an ongoing dispute over sworn oaths and the need for papal dispensation for them, which was connected with the larger issue of admitting low-born men into the cathedral chapter (see LoPrete, 'Adela and Ivo,' 147).
Scholarly notes:
Manuscript source:
Printed source:
PL162, ep.116 c132; also in footnote c, HGF15 p.122