A letter from Widukind ()

Translated letter:

May the huge work to be begun or rather repeated — for it is in great part done — shine with your grace who are recognized by right as lady/ruler of all Europe and wherever in Africa and Asia the power of your father extends. I hope that whatever is found in it less suitable will be relieved by the glorious gentleness of your mercy, and that it will remain dedicated with that devotion with which it was begun.

Original letter:

Ingens opus coepturus vel certe iteraturus — nam magna ex parte peractum est — tua gratia fulciatur, quae domina esse dinosceris iure totius Europae, quamquam in Affricam Asiamque patris tui iam potestas protendatur. Spero enim, quicquid in eo invenitur minus idoneum, gloriosa tuae clementiae lenitate sublevetur, permaneatque ea devotione dedicatum, qua est inceptum.

Historical context:

Widukind dedicated his Res Gestae Saxonicae, a history of their people, to her, which he wrote to provide models for her.

Printed source:

Res Gestae Saxonicae, ed. Albert Bauer and Reinhold Rau, Quellen zur Geschichte der Sachsischen Kaiserzeit (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1971), preface to book two